will’s blog

Hey folks! If you stumbled across this page, you found my blog! This is a place i normally like to echo my progress updates on certain projects, keep you in the loop and just to be a bit vulnerable in a space I don’t think makes sense for larger spaces. Thanks for stopping by! - Will

three years of dawn of the dimetrix

21/08/2024

Three years ago Dawn of the Dimetrix premiered, at a time of public uncertainty in the governed world. Lockdown hit everybody hard in one facet or another, and yet happened to be one of the most community involved times in YouTube history as a result. For better or worse, the world became more community driven, and part of our experience was releasing this album all those years ago.

This album grew into so much more than one album, it became an entire beginning to a fleshed out story to go alongside it, and would drastically change the fate of IRIS as a whole. With a fleshed out set of characters, a vast and open world to explore, and a way to really homage the album track-list into episodic experiences with different interpretive takes, this album was written to not be the best album, but the most variety in an album for just about anybody to go away with a favourite depending on the genre, how it was written, etc etc.

It was important to me because during the pandemic I had undergone a foray of emotions, not one single one remained consistent at the same time, and as such reflected on the album with numerous feelings, styles, paces, toughness and softness, the list goes on. It’s my favourite album out of the three because it allowed me to have a creative experience instead of feeling somewhat attached to some consistent framework. At that time I wanted more eyes on IRIS and to do so required expanding on the genres within, and just overall giving it the best I could at the time, the most raw they could be. It’s another album that taught me more about being a better engineer, it helped DAGames as DAGames helped IRIS.

It was the album that taught me IRIS needed its own standing, its own place outside of the DAGames ecosystem, to help it spread wings further unto a new set of eyes. And personally I feel like it was the best decision to create the album altogether.

It was also at the time the best album to finish the chronicles of IRIS’s music altogether. Three great albums that end up solidifying all that was needed with the story. This album taxed me more than it should have, and the pressure kept rising to go on and be better than the last. Instead of trying to be better and risking IRIS’s future in musical quality, it felt right to end off the discography at this album, a really cool finisher that helped set the groundwork for the stories altogether. As much as a new album might be desired, we only have to look at projects that stopped when they were amazing, and coming back it wasn’t the same. I want to avoid that to the best of my abilities and keep the three standing albums as the ones to enjoy.

This doesn’t / didn’t mean IRIS is / was over. We now have an entire story to work on. The world’s getting grander, and Behemoth Arc has just had Chapter One finished finally! I’m beyond thrilled to continue working on IRIS in another medium than music, and it was DOTD that helped it spread more wings. As a result I keep reliving the album to remind myself on the arcs that we paved out, and it still remains today as one of the best decisions I feel I made. DOTD’s existence as well as its story also made the exact reasons why HOAA:R felt wiser to return to. Now Story of Vegala holds a great place within that album, and once again it is all thanks to this pinnacle album we’re celebrating today.

Three years is a time, short or long is undetermined and varies depending on who you are, but I can still say a lot has happened in three years. The story is in the works, schematics for a game have been THOUGHT about and written down, and potentially we could even go as far as making these other experiences tabletop! Imagine a board game of IRIS, that would be so fun!

Have I considered a follow up to DOTD’s album? It’s happened every now and then, but as of right now there is and has always been a very strong stance on “no”. For what ever original song I wanted to make initially, Will Ryan Originals is now there for, considering Solitude and the other Pandorium stories are all being worked on. I like to think of IRIS’s discography as just a Will Ryan discography. I’ve not changed my process of creating music despite the different IPs, so I didn’t feel like there needed to be a return. That being said if the story continues and there is some desire to make anything, I might reconsider. Let’s say the GT arc of the story gets large enough to warrant an album I’d be more inclined to think it’s a possibility. Because again, you all think GT just ends at Going Away, absolutely not, the GT story arc pretty much encompasses the near BEGINNING for the story entirely. There’s definitely a sign it could happen, but I’m not holding myself to it, and I imagine many of you aren’t holding yourself to a new album. If you are, it’s saner to think it’s not going to happen, trust me it’ll be easier to cope with, haha.

All of this to say I’m incredibly thrilled with what IRIS is doing right now. Three years isn’t one of the main milestones for sure, but it’s certainly a milestone still! All of this, and the future? I’ve got DOTD to thank for. Seeing how this album has transformed peoples peak interests with music, the many things the album has done for the community at large and more personal, and the many stories I’ve heard from said community has been astonishing, humbling, warming, and emotional. So thanks guys for sticking with us on this journey, three years, and let’s hope three years more! - Will

Taking it a day at a time

13/08/2024

Before I get through this one, wanted to update on FlashDrive: SSD! Bronze has been given a baseframe just like the previous albums lengths, so progress is well underway! However now this has been brought up, I’ve been thinking a lot lately and I reflect on an old video I made about taking time. Though in saying this, I think the example provided was a bit less literal and precise on what it was for.

Back then I remember this was the first foray into a climate such as content creation, and if you thought the world was fast back then? It only got faster. The improvements in AI, the downgrade in our ability to nuance and contextualise, the increasing demand for information overload at the very first second of desire, the list goes on. In the same vane I’m tied to my work and family. They certainly aren’t the same thing, but the point is cut from the same fabric. As the nature of content online has become so die hard and in demand, so is the weighing pressure of getting content delivered, let alone at a timeframe that’s reasonable. As a result, my body had taken a large hit from the vast demand, often times it still does, not necessarily exclusive either.

It goes without saying, we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t enjoy what we did, but this doesn’t always mean the job at hand is easy, let alone fun. I wanted to give some perspective for future aspiring creatives as a hindsight measure, it doesn’t need to be heeded, but I feel it’s important to talk about when it comes to the baggage of the content grind. As somebody who emotionally and physically tied myself to the whim of a democracy for several years, I feel more inclined to pass on that it’s no cake walk, and often times I would heavily discourage it. If you aren’t taking care of yourself first, you can’t possibly please anybody. It’s a losing battle to please everybody, and the more you try, the more you will take a hit both mentally and physically. It isn’t noticeable until you look back, but it really does open your eyes.

Take care of your own garden first before you take care of somebody else’s.

The first person (and realistically the only person) you should be pleasing is yourself. I love what we’ve fostered, but it’s a known and unavoidable fact that audiences will absolutely come and go. The difference is you don’t just get to come and go, you are simply you, and always will be you. And if you aren’t happy with you, then nobody else can be happy with you. The only thing your woe will attract are those who love the idea of suffering, and that’s absolutely not an audience you want to give any credence to. I wouldn’t worry so much about what content you “should” be making. The only person I feel should decide on what content you make is yourself. It’s your life, your actions, and an audience will be there for you. You can either stay knowing full well the course that is taken, or leave knowing you aren’t getting what you want, tying yourself to something and getting mad you tied yourself up doesn’t make jack a happy boy.

Does that mean it will result in riches? Absolutely not, and perhaps that’s the answer you were looking for. Unfortunately I’m not the person to ask for monetary advice, as I don’t believe in riches over personal standards, and we do set ourselves on a high enough standard for ourselves as is. Doesn’t always mean we’ll stick the landing, but it also doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about how we can be better ourselves. The easy answer? Just keep doing FNAF and Bendy songs ‘till the day I die and nothing else. But I wouldn’t be happy, and it would absolutely reflect on the quality. Does this mean I’m gonna make viral hits? No, and again this may be a metric for many peoples successes. By no means am I invalidating the reality of the metric, but it simply isn’t mine. And personally I’d rather be happy and have less people around than mentally unwell and have several.

This all being said, this is what I’m reflecting on today, taking the time for my own garden, the things I desire to have in life. Right now FlashDrive is well underway and I couldn’t be happier with the progress, and rest assured I’m making this FUN, not a chore. Same with Solitude and same with IRIS, they are making progress at a pace that isn’t a detriment to myself or the teams. This is exactly what I feel most people would prefer a person to do, be sure to have fun with it, and at a pace that’s healthiest. A perfect cake walk would be if I actually enjoyed staying in one lane with the nerdcore material, that way more people have their content, and I would also be the happiest I could ever be. But I’m also human, somebody with their own neural engine, my own wired brain with different paths and thoughts, and I clearly don’t enjoy being in one place, so you deal with the cards you’re dealt really, hands are tied. Whatever answer and solution brought to me would results in a benefit gain on something I simply just wouldn’t want a commitment to on a full basis. There will be nerdcore content down the line, but I’m afraid it’s just not going to be as sporadic as your average content ingest through other artists, and I’m personally fine with that. Because would I rather bend my life to something that only brought with it bad memories and limitation? Or would I choose the path that spread us thin but it’s the things we wish to do? I’m personally fine with the latter, that’s just how it is.

Taking it a day at a time. I can only hope you get to take the time for yourselves as well, give yourself the love you’ve given to others. I’m off camping with family soon, been doing a lot more of that lately so it’ll be very fun to explore the country! Work still continues, but it’s taken at a pace the teams and I are comfortable with.

Stay healthy, stay awesome, stay fun! - Will

YT TAKEDOWN DEBACLE, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE

30/06/2024

We understand there is a current debacle with copyright takedowns on several fan made lyric videos. There is an explanation, and a resolve.

Press Start To Rewind was accidentally sold at TooManyGames by our partners after taking all DAGames stock from their base. This also included fresh new prints of PSTR, which weren’t supposed to be sold. After running around the convention to solve this, the CDs were taken out of the booth until we could decide what to do. We decided to sell the album early exclusively for the convention, but to prevent the special stuff getting out there we decided to blacklist those specific songs to be automatically taken down, giving a tentative release date for July 15th.

There are several theories about what this could have caused as a result. potentially there was an accidental blacklist of the entire albums catalogues, or the takedowns brought to our attention are completely unrelated. We have talked to our partners ourselves who assured us these are purely claims. We recently underwent a content ID refresh to update our catalogue, but as far as we are aware this takedown debacle seems to only be happening to songs that only featured on PSTR. We have also been told that they may have previously been claims, but after DISPUTING said claim it would then result in a takedown. However multiple different accounts are saying different things.

We understand there may be evidence to support they were genuine takedowns. If this is the case, we please ask all those effected to reach out to copyright@screenwavemedia.com and file a request to have the takedown revoked, as taking down videos that are already officially online within the dagames, iris and will ryan originals ecosystem, lyric videos or fan made contents, is not our goal unless deemed harmful and malicious, otherwise we disagree with takedowns altogether. This weekend happened to be the weekend of an extremely busy convention at the same time, slip ups seem to happen if there are any. I trust in my partners at Screenwavemedia that they can help with all disputes if there are any.

Hope this answers anything, we’re a bit confused about all of this as again there are multiple different sightings and wavering stories from both parties, but for all future issues regarding takedowns or copyright disputes, please use the email provided, as the copyright department isn’t necessarily our department.

Stay awesome, lots of love, hang in there - Will

We’re switching Distributors!

12/06/2024

So you’ve probably been some of the few who have noticed duplicate items on digital stores right now, and wanted to reassure you this is not a bug, this is in fact a transition. We are switching distributors at the moment from DIstrokid to “Too Lost”.

To explain why we made this decision, it’s down to the feature base, customer support and regularity in analytical data / revenue reports. There’s a lot of brand new things Too Lost does for us that hasn’t happened with our current PROVIDER which will come to help us out a whole lot moving forward. It brings with us many opportunities such as:

  1. Billboard charting

  2. sync licensing

  3. greenlight / blacklist features

  4. more integrated pitch features

  5. easier collaborative tools

  6. smoother onboarding experience

There are dozens more features, but this will help us a whole lot more. As for what you may notice as the weeks go forward:

  1. Duplicate uploads on stores (this is normal during the transition)

  2. no longer seeing distrokid on topic videos, but DAGames records

After the onboarding process has finalised, it should be as easy as requesting termination from our previous platform and we will slowly over time start seeing the duplicates disappear.

We wanted to be transparent about this as we know a bunch of you were very confused about the process. This is not something that will happen with any of the newer material moving forward, for instance there are no duplicates of HOAA: Relived Edition, nor will there be any for join the bloodline or any of the open infinitum releases, etc etc.

We hope this clears things up, and hope to speak soon! - Will

Music to my ears

09/05/2024

Wow so this is the first post I’m making on this page. Normally I’d tell you of the projects we’ve been working on, but seems we’ve pretty much updated on almost all fronts so there’s not a lot to talk about, haha. But something has been on my mind for a while now and I wanted to share my thoughts on what it is. I thought it’d be a sort of good entry point into what can be expected on these blogs. They’re best suited here because there’s a lot of words. It takes out the TL;DR and keeps it raw as I’ve never liked narrowing down a thought to a singular sentence.

SO! This first blog, it’s about music, you all know about it and probably know me most for it. When I was young I was always surrounded by the reality of music being a poets lyrical entry to sound, something from the heart that was truly felt, hooks that were spur of the moment goldmines, something you knew was genuine, it was your very own and it showed. Yet music in recent times has always troubled me, and people have for a while wondered why, or that there’s no reason. To look at the reason we have to go back in time a bit. This is sort of a vulnerable discussion because I usually prefer to keep my life to myself, but in order to explain the shift in my life it is this time machine that’ll add the context.

Since 5 I’ve made comic books, short stories, whacky characters, animations, generally anything you can think of that told a story. I’ve still got a lot of these things lying around in a memory bag, I’ve shown them a few times in the server. But from a young age I also had a voice. I didn’t like using it all that much, but when I did, people kept pestering me to sing again, in front of everyone, always performing something. At first I felt like it was genuine love I was given, and in a way I’m sort of sure it was, but it wasn’t for something I expected to do, it felt pressuring and embarrassing sometimes. I still invested in it just to make people proud, not what I wanted to do. Cut to school days, I had been bullied for even pursuing animation, story telling or writing altogether. This would last for a long number of years until I finally performed my first song in front of an assembly, it was the last assembly before we ended up finishing school altogether. Suddenly I wasn’t being bullied, once again I was “respected”, often times demanded in order to be a part of the social climate, else I’m another voice lost. Again, something I didn’t want to commit to, but felt I needed to in order to be loved. This would then carry on into work life, nobody knew how much there was until I sung in karaoke. Suddenly now I’m respected. In my personal life going to bars just wanting to talk, suddenly karaoke again and instantly recognised.

This would be my life all the way through to… Well, today. As you can probably tell, the only way I genuinely felt loved was through something I didn’t necessarily want to do the most, and it’s been this way since long before anyone would think, long before dagames. It’s the explanation of why I’ve felt disheartened to have to come back with music often. I only ever liked doing it on my own terms, and those terms weren’t long lasting ones. It’s something I didn’t always want to do, but now instead of it being made to feel loved, it’s been made for survival and for the well being of my family and friends, everyone who works for DA altogether. I’ve lived a life where the bread winning scenario is something I didn’t want to do full time, and there’s a reason for this too. It goes right back to the beginning paragraph, what music means to me, rather than what it’s worth.

As the years have gone by I’ve felt restless knowing I’m waiting for the perfect vibe and it isn’t happening. I’ve tried forcing material out and it doesn’t work as expected, I don’t end up being proud of rushed content I didn’t get to connect with, so I have to wait for a good moment and a good vibe to be present, I have to feel these things before I’m confident or proud enough to release it. But the current climate demands you release what I personally believe is an incredibly tall order, weekly musical content and expected to keep a good musical track record? It doesn’t suit me, it doesn’t work for me, and all while it actually does pain me to do. If I am going to release music, it’s when I feel I’ve got a vibe, and lately? I just haven’t been feeling many if any good ideas personally. I’ve been writing demo tracks just on the off chance I might get an idea, but then I realise it’s not the music I wanted to write, it was the message. Listening back to the demos doesn’t fill me with confidence and they end up being tossed to the side.

A lot of the reason why I release it this way is because I don’t want a disconnection happening. There are many songs I’m just not proud of looking back, and it results in a disconnect between me and my audience, especially when they love it and cannot understand why I don’t like it. That’s why I’m only ever willing to release material I’m proud of first, that way when a song is loved? I too also love it, it becomes a shared experience. And that? Takes a lot of time for me. Something the current climate would not allow anyone to pursue without it astronomically “failing” in the eyes of the algorithm, and especially by those who see numbers as the penultimate definition. I don’t want to release just about any old tat, I want bangers I can be proud of and knew it didn’t kill my body to create. I simply don’t agree with boat loads of grind. This is why I’d prefer people held their breaths on something else that we have to offer, not this part in particular. This for some reason makes it sound like I’m ungrateful. You can be grateful and still wish you had it different, you CAN think these two at the same time. In my experience this only ever happened in the music space. So imagine not only did you want to pursue something else, but you’re told to feel bad about wanting it. “What kind of life is that to live?” I’d wonder. but A space I DID find people would prefer you take your time was story telling, world building, games, etc. all those things require the best from you, and it is absolutely understood good things come with time. That’s where my body and mind was most suited, and it’s shown. Solitude has been developing interest over the years, IRIS developed an insanely devoted fan base. They’re smaller than DA absolutely, but I couldn’t be happier.

It always felt I was supposed to feel like a failure for not getting views, like success in completing a task was measured at a monetary level. My favourite tracks are songs that didn’t peak at a million views, you gonna tell me the song sucks because it isn’t at 1 million views? You can say it ‘till the cows come home but it isn’t gonna change that I’m proud of the “under achievers” all the same. still, doesn’t hurt any less hearing the things your peers say that goes against what you would do, and makes you feel like all you’re doing is the wrong thing. that’s me, that’s what i feel. But stories? My friends notice me smile every time I talk about it, how proactive I become when having huge brain blasts, and you can’t ignore when that happens. The community I’ve fostered is patient, excited, committed. It’d be foolish of me to say “Bah nah I’m not happy with it” when clearly I am. And in this life you’re supposed to do what makes you happy. Well why do something that makes you miserable? More to the point why should anybody make you feel bad for finding happiness?

So what’s next? Like I say, I didn’t want to commit to full time music. So while music is still a part of my life, don’t expect concurrent material at all. Once every full moon, but when it happens it will be filled with love. I’ve got two more albums to produce, i will be taking my time with them now instead of pushing them to the deadlines i presumed i would have. By 2025 I intend on having a comic series in the works for Solitude, a game hub with consistent updates, constant pursuit of writing the IRIS novels, overall I intend on finding ground with my actual core audience and giving to them as they’ve given to me. I finally want to know who actually stuck through with us and desired the worlds built. I desire to not feel remotely unhappy with the decision I’ve made, but it will always fill me with upset knowing people would much rather you have weekly churned out music than waiting for something special. It’s one of those “each to their own” arguments I’m sure, but it personally killed me.

i will admit story telling does come with its share of problems too. media literacy can make any good intended chill fest look like a documentary, or that a fan fiction has more canonical value than the canon itself, or how a fixation on a character can sometimes leave them in disappointment when their head canon wasn’t what it was despite never giving the indication it was ever going to be. but honestly that part didn’t bother me. it just made me think of more ideas, it got me to keep working and imagining. best part i didn’t feel rushed to coming up with a better idea, unlike the music scene i felt like i had all this time on my hands to make the best thing i could. and despite every up and down in this life, it’s story telling i would unapologetically return to without a second thought. i couldn’t say the same for music.

I don’t know how else to say stepping into a studio you didn’t want to go into that day but you had to because you’ll fail otherwise will always feel like a massive turn off. The spite I receive for stepping out or the passive dismissal only fuelled my desire to stay out. I don’t know what kind of encouragement that was supposed to be, but it certainly didn’t work, and will never work on me so long as I’m around. I’ve never been the kind of person who keels easily to binary methodology, like there’s only one true way to make material, and I really didn’t like being told what to do. People still get confused on why I made a certain piece a certain way, and it’s simple: Because it’s my way. I don’t work well with anybody else’s way but my own, and it’s proven to be that way for all of these years.

If you’ve made it this far I can only hope you didn’t skim because there’s a lot to take away from this. I’m not ungrateful for what I was given, and I have not fallen out of love. I STILL know music is some part of my life, but it’s just not often at all. i don’t want this to sound like i’m ungrateful, nor dismissive of what i got given. but I do ask to think differently, I am happier as a result. I have my down points and I still have a lot of conditioning to ween out of, but time’s healing and I’m happier now. Can’t put a price on happiness… Well you kind of can, but you get what I mean.

Peace and love - Will