ABOUT ME

Husband, father of four, and a part-time content creator running a small-time stream operation with big-time ambitions.

 

Twitch Partner & YouTube Partner

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Personal

 

I was raised in Japan and I am a self-identified metropolitan Texan.  Naturally, the cultural impact of being raised in a foreign country has shaped and molded the core of my character and you'll see a lot of that seep through my personality and interests.

 

My wife, LevelUpMindy, and I have been married for nine years and we have four children: Sophie, LT, Kenji, and Chloe. For anyone who's been around the channel, many of you already know that LevelUpMindy has been a huge supporter of the community and the efforts here. She also even dabbles a little bit in the world of streaming, too!

 

As for my quirks, I have an abnormally high tolerance to spicy food, I will always make time to enjoy a good brew, my guilty pleasure is to binge anime with free time I don't have, and I have a not-so-hidden passion to express my creativity through streaming and content creation (but not many places outside of that).

 

Style of Gaming

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Growing up, I played a ton of 2D/3D fighters, classic JRPGs, rhythm games, and had an intense involvement during the MMO renaissance era circa 1999 - 2007.  Import gaming in general was also very near and dear to my heart very early on.  Let it be made clear here that I am a SEGA fanboy for life. :)

 

EverQuest has been my go-to game for nearly 25 years and has taken the position of my "primary stream game" for the last five years. For those unfamiliar, EverQuest is the first commercially successful MMO that launched back in 1999 and paved the way for the MMO genre in unprecedented ways. It is by far one of my all-time favorites. Some of it driven by nostalgia, some of it is holding onto something that I feel has not been replaced.  I typically only play on emulated servers such as Project 1999 and Project Quarm.

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Streaming and Content Creation

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As of January 2024, I've been streaming for 5 years, 3 months and it's been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had this lifetime.  Being able to interact with individuals, build new relationships, and form a community of LevelUppers has been nothing less than amazing. 

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If you haven't had a chance to check out a stream yet, you should probably know that I take a lot of care into production value.  I feel like producing a high quality stream creates incremental value to the viewer. Furthermore, I actually really, REALLY enjoy expressing myself through my stream and I've learned that a lot of my creative ideas and technical skills translates quite nicely when put into the context of live streaming games.  And while I have spent the majority of my time playing EverQuest, I strive to provide an experience that isn't tied to any single game, or in other words, the viewer will be entertained by the cohesive brand, production and ecosystem of the channel itself!

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FAQ

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Q: What's the plan for 2024?

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A:  Every year brings in new ideas and new ambitions.  Some of it materializes, much of it does not.  Five year is a self-proclaimed milestone, so I do hope to organize my content in a way that explores other games and genres.  

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Q: Are you a graphic designer/artist in real life?

 

A:  I am not!  Many of my ideas are turned into reality by working with talented artists, many of which are part of the LevelUpCommunity.  I've learned to be semi-effective with Photoshop and Premier, though, which has helped quite a bit.

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Q: How do you do all of the things that you do on your stream?  I mean, I've seen you get attacked by a DRAGON, for crying out loud.

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A: There's not really a simple answer to this, unfortunately. I've spent quite a bit of time learning advanced techniques with OBS Studio (broadcasting platform) that has been critical to removing many of the technical roadblocks. This has allowed me to focus more on my own creativity as a ceiling. Tools like Lioranboard and hardware such as Elgato's Stream Deck has also allowed me to really add some complexity and automation to a lot of my production.

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Q: Why is there sometimes a bar of empty space on the top and bottom of your stream?

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A:  This occurs because of two things: 

1) My OBS canvas (what you see as a viewer) is set to 1920x1080

2) My primary gaming monitor is a 3440x1440 ultrawide

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There's a bit of scaling that happens, which creates that 'cinematic' effect with the top and bottom bars.   This initially was a challenge, but I've decided to use it as an area where I can highlight production value elements that don't clutter the game content.

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Q: I see that you stream three days out of the week.  Is there a way to keep in touch and get updates when you're offline?

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A: So glad you asked!  You basically have a direct line of communication with me on the LevelUpDiscord server at almost any time.  My social media presence is about as strong as my YouTube content (aka not strong), so at this point in time, feel free to follow but that whole effort is a work in progress.   

 

Protip:  You can find links to all of my socials on the top right corner of the site.

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