I am Northernlion, a "professional YouTuber" who has made my living playing video games and posting videos about them for over a year now. AMA!

do you use shoe shine on your head, or how do you make it shine so bright as a second sun.

Alibambam, everyone, friend of the channel.

Any chance of some more vlogs in the future? Made in Korea was hilarious!

Not vlogs specifically but I want to do more on camera stuff starting this summer once I move into a bigger place. I have a dream of doing a nightly 1 hour on camera stream in the style of a late night talk show, but one with a hugely unprofessional public access vibe. We'll see where things go in a couple of months but, yes, I think on camera stuff is definitely a big part of the future of this kind of content (not just facecam horror videos) and I don't want to miss the boat.

When are you publishing "The Northernlion Story"?

PS: Loved your X-Com playthrough

Thanks! I loved the XCOM series too. Fizzlebeef for life.

My internet has died! Answering from my phone until it returns!

Bored of Isaac yet? I'm not, I adore the game myself, but I suspect you've played an awful lot more than me!

Challenge runs have gone a long way towards stemming the boredom!

On that note, do you plan to do any more themed runs, like the current TF2 challenges?

Which boss do you consider most annoying? Mask of infamy can be damn near impossible sometimes, but then there's also the headless horseman occasionally showing up on the first floor....

Headless Horseman or The Fallen early in the game can ruin you, but it's a rare occurrence. Mask of Infamy is a huge pain if you lack piercing shots, but champion versions of The Bloat are the most consistently rage-inducing for me.

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I...love you too?

The thing with Isaac is that there's a lot of people who think its run its course, but there's also a lot of people who still really like it and consider it part of their routine like a morning radio show or Regis and Kelly or something. I still enjoy playing the game and the metrics show that there's still a large chunk of my audience that enjoys watching it, so I'm going to keep doing it for the time being.

The thing to keep in mind is that Isaac videos never take away from the other content I produce, they're just in addition to it. I've never skipped over a game for a Let's Look At or something because I've felt an obligation to dedicate a 'timeslot' to Isaac instead.

Where does the name "Northernlion" come from?

I was 13, lived in Canada (northern) and my name rhymes with lion. Thank god I didn't go with like xXxMOHSNIPER69

How much is your steam library worth?

Damn, this is a good question. According to Steam I have 400 games, but most of those are indie titles usually in the $5-$15 range. Factoring in AAA titles that I've received or bought myself, you're probably looking at maybe $5,000? That's kind of a staggering number to me, so guys that have been doing this a lot longer (TotalBiscuit, for example) must have libraries worth as much as a new car.

I've watched every binding episode to date and I just wanted to tell you thanks. That's actually one of my favorite "breaks" in the day is to sit back for 15-30 minutes and watch a good isaac run.

No question from me, just an appreciative fan.

No, thank you!

What introduced you to doing videos, was it watching others doing it too?

Yep, I was primarily influenced by guys like AVGN, Spoony, and Angry Joe (who I had the pleasure of meeting at Paradox Con a couple of weeks ago) . I started out doing reviews in a similar vein to them but branched into more unscripted content once I found that I sound like a robot when I'm reading off of a page.

Proof?

Just tweeted verification on my account.

Thank you and everyone else!

My question is, how did you network and advertise your content to gain your subscriber and following base?

(I am a small YouTuber, mostly LoL content with 700,000 views and 1400 subs)

It's mostly search traffic. I haven't done much network or many collaborations. The landscape is more competetive now, though.

Yeah, I use to make content (on a separate account) way back in 2008 and you would get 1000-4000 views on it if it was a popular topic... and now it is like 10-20... :\ oh well...

YouTube is a pretty harsh mistress. You can have a decent following but if you stop posting videos and lose momentum, people will just go elsewhere since there's no shortage of channels doing similar types of content.

What game in your opinion, is the most underrated? Also, what is the most overrated?

Fan since SMB, you're easily one of the best LPers on YT, dat voice.

Thanks for the support, first.

This is a tough question so I'm gonna answer in recent terms as opposed to "all-time" context. I think Skulls of the Shogun is super underrated right now. It's a fun strategy game that seems to be getting no attention due to its weird distribution strategy/obligation.

Most overrated, recently? I think DmC is a decent game but I don't think it's "85 on Metacritic" good. Borderlands 2 didn't hook me at all, either.

Was Roll Fizzlebeef responsible for moving that asteroid just out of impact range using telepathy?

All I'll say is that I have Roll in a cryosleep chamber in my basement ready to be thawed when the Earth needs him the most.

What's involved in managing your youtube channel? For example, what are your usual daily activities? How many hours do you typically work?

Edit: You're a pretty cool guy.

An hour or so shooting emails to devs/publishers, few hours recording, few hours playing games to get acclimated enough to record them later, maybe a half hour writing meta data and making thumbnails. Thanks!

When was your biggest, "Holy crap! People actually like my videos," moment?

I try to stay pretty humble and self-deprecating so I get these moments all the time. Just yesterday Edmund McMillen tweeted and blogged about my "Top 10 Items in The Binding of Isaac" video and that made me a bit giddy.

Dude, you got Edmund McMillen in one of your videos! Retweet is nothing after that!

True! We're going to probably do another collaboration in the future if I can get my shit together. He's really good about stuff like that but I'm terrible at setting it up.

How do you find such terrible games for poison mushroom?

Metacritic and sort by lowest score in the past 5 years or something. Lots of gold to be mined there.

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I was getting tired of it for a while but after a short break I always find myself wanting to return. Challenge runs have also helped mix things up for me. I have almost 300 hours in the game according to Steam and I'm super excited for Rebirth to be here in the winter.

Would you please announce your streams on facebook? I am not using twitter that much, and i miss it EVERY TIME!

My bad!

Also please figure out how to stream in multiple qualities if you stick with Youtube Live. My net is shit and can't stream 720p

This is on my to-do list for sure, but I'm also strongly leaning towards streaming on Twitch. It's a complicated decision and streaming on Twitch doesn't make financial sense for me, but I want to produce high quality content and that's very difficult for me to do on YT Live.

Do you ever feel like following your degree in Biology might've been better for you/more interesting?

It's a touchy subject since what I'm doing now has literally zero relation to my degree (not that I'm necessarily complaining). I make myself feel better by thinking that the four years I spent in university made me a little more confident and a little funnier, which are probably skills that have contributed to my modest success so far.

Oh yeah, onother thing. I really want to see one of your livestreams but I live in Europe, so fuck me, right? :D Totally screwed! Btw, will you do a Let´s play of the Day Z standalone game? Because you played the mod.. and it was nice! ;D

So how about a season 2 on Day Z? :33

And do you know the gamescom in cologne, germany? Will you be there someday? :DD THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! love you <3

Planning on playing Day Z standalone, yep. Not sure if I'll LP it, but at least a Let's Look At.

Are you at liberty to comment on your payment/fee structure with YouTube? How does this go from being a hobby to YouTube saying "we'll pay you?" Understandable if you want to refrain to avoid divulging 'trade secrets,' for the sake of my/our curiosity...

I'm not allowed to talk financial specifics, but the process is pretty standardized by now. You start your channel, eventually you grow to the point where a "network" takes notice of you and offers you a partnership whereby they serve ads on your videos, take a cut of the revenue, and give you the rest. You can monetize directly with YouTube as well, but networks provide some secondary benefits like promotion (sometimes) and protection from publishers/takedown notices (sometimes).

The landscape is changing though. Networks are going through major restructuring and it'll be interesting to see how things look a year from now.

How did you deal with the transitional phase from smaller channel to a medium sized channel? This is something I'm currently going through, and I'll be entirely honest here, it's extremely stressful at times. Knowing you need to focus all your efforts onto the channel to encourage growth leaves little time for anything else. This means income can be a problem. So, how did you deal with that period in your channels life?

Luckily for me I was in a financial place where I could kind of risk it. When my contract teaching ESL in Korea expired in Nov. 2011, I had a decent amount of money saved up so even though my channel wasn't making me too much income, I could afford to dedicate a few months towards growing it without breaking the bank. Ended up being a good decision!

The big change for me from a content perspective was producing a lot more videos. I went from doing around 1/day to 3/day as I started to realize that there were people out there who relied (for lack of a better word) on my videos for entertainment. So from my perspective, that transition wasn't necessarily about hitting X number of subscribers, but rather a philosophical change from being "that dude whose videos you watch now and then" to "that outlet where you can get a ton of gaming content every day".

Hope that helps, and good luck!

What games, if any, are you playing outside of your usual Isaac and Let's Look At routine? Is there any time left to play games just for fun, without doing anything for the channel?

I play a ton of games but usually it's for limited durations. I drop in, play a few hours (or if it's for review, beat the whole thing), make my content, and move on. The line between fun and work is blurry but I like it that way.

I played a lot of recreational XCOM:EU and, although I know it's blasphemy, spent a decent amount of time in BLOPS 2 online as well.

what is, in your opinion, the worst game you have ever played ?

There's been a lot of games that are just broken, and by that metric I think Action 52 is definitely the worst. For me, though, I at least find those games interesting because they're such spectacular failures. The worst times I've had with games have been games that are bland in their badness, so for that I usually mention Drug Wars and Tunnel Rats 1968.

What Isaac items do you have little or no knowledge of? (Crystal Ball, Dead Dove, etc)

Acording to commenters: all of them.

Ey Ryan, watched literally all your videos and I´m addicted to you. :( Congratz! Greetings from germany... Has your voice always been like this? Have you trained it somehow? Because i love it! :D

Just lucky I guess! Puberty hit me like a ton of bricks. Thanks for the support!

How exactly do you make your money? Do you just strictly enter gaming competitions that award cash to the winner? Or do you have some sort of partnership with youtube? How can you support yourself by just playing video games?

It's entertainment, not competitive gaming. Basically, I have a partnership with a network. The network runs ads on my videos, and I get paid a small amount for each ad viewed.

How does one obtain a partnership with a network?

Basically just exist, make content, and have a reasonably sized audience. There are a ton of networks that will sign channels basically sight unseen but your best bet is to work your way up a bit until you qualify for a major and reputable network.

why is your voice so great?

Just lucky I guess!

Remember when you made "top 10 funniest porn names"? what drove you to make that.

I've always been interested in making silly content for the internet and that was part of that silliness. :)

Not a question but a thanks, watching your channel has brought my attention to a lot of games I would not know about otherwise, and even changed my mind about at least one thing on greenlight (cook, serve, delicious! for the record), you do good stuff.

Thanks a lot! I love Cook Serve Delicious and I do hope it gets Greenlighted...Greenlit?

Ive always gone with Greenlit.

Yeah on the page itself (the comments section) they say its at about 50% or so, and it was yours and giant bombs look ats that got it that high.

On that note, I have to recognize GB as an influence as well. I love those guys and everything they do.

Are you planning on doing more Let's Plays in the future? If so, what games are you planning to do?

Yes, and you'll see :)

Awesome. Also, think you make a Let's Look at of the re-release of System Shock 2? Even though everybody knows what System Shock 2 is?

P.S: All your videos are awesome. Keep up the good work.

P.P.S: Brimstone mothafucka.

Nah, I'm gonna abstain from SS2. I think it's cool that it's come out, but I have no experience with the game and I'm not sure my comments on it are relevant given I've never played it before.

• Have you met any other youtubers before, and if so who impressed you the most?
• Have you gone to conventions before and was it strange interacting with your fans?
• Do you feel like youtube is over-saturated in video game youtubers?
• What do you feel like separates yourself (i.e. competitive advantage) from other video game youtubers?
• Have you ever seen a lion before?

• Not really. I met AngryJoe and RageGaming at PDX Con a couple of weeks ago and they all seem like nice people.

• I got recognized at PAX a couple of times last summer. Not strange necessarily, but surreal.

• Yeah, definitely.

• I started doing it earlier and I think I have a more mature angle than a lot of people are. I hope so, anyway.

• Yes, at the zoo.

Wha tis your current stand in pixel art graphics in games these days? Its getting used more and more frequently but I kinda like that :)

It doesn't bother me at all. I think there's a backlash to it because some people think it's the developers jumping on a retro/nostalgia bandwagon, but the reality is that pixel art is relatively easy and cheap to do, which makes it a nice choice for small teams or programmers who have no/limited art skills.

As nice as it would be for every indie game to have its own unified and unique art style, it's just not practical for most of these studios in their current states.

who do you think nintendo's target audiance for the Wii U was? I think they were targeting Youtubers who want to show new games on their channels for review/opinions etc. The other option is people who have a Wii but not a PS3, 360 or computer and I'm pretty sure there are more of the former than the latter. (Im a big nintendo fan btw, but their last few offerings have been somewhat lacking. I just bought my first 3DS game this week after having it for more than a year now) hope you're feeling better soon man!

The Wii U is in a weird place. I like it a lot as a gadget but I haven't turned it on once in 2013. I hope that Nintendo's first-party lineup bolsters sales a bit and third-party studios don't lose confidence, but it'll be interesting to see where the Wii U is at in a year or two.

If you could spend one day with anybody in the entire world, who would you spend it with? Batman is not an option.

Good question! Maybe Larry David? It would probably be super awkward but that's fine with me.

Hey Northernlion, just wanted to ask what you think attributed to your success as a YouTuber. I'm a fan and love your commentary to be sure, but there are so many fairly entertaining channels out there that get completely ignored. This isn't a question about how to get famous on YouTube, but what you consider maybe turning points in the channel's popularity? Moments of success?

My marketing strategy is basically just to make the best content I can and then make it as easy as possible for people to find it. Check out /r/letsplay. I have some posts there regarding how to optimize your metadata and tags in a non-sleazy way to improve your chances of new people finding you.

Favourite childhood video games?

Super Mario World, yo. I play that and TMNTIV like once a year.

I watch your videos, the Scribblenauts series was great. That is all.

Thanks, I loved doing that game, too.

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I went to high school with Fox, and Josh and I met on an internet forum like 10 years ago weirdly enough. We meet up in person a few times a year to hang out, get silly, and play video games.

I didn't play as many AAA games last year as I would like, but I loved XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Have you played any of the dead space games? or any ideas for lets look ats for them

I haven't played any but I have a copy of Dead Space 3 coming next week, so there should be a LLA.

I've watched many of your Binding of Issac videos (if not all). You mentioned that in the past you would play off camera. Several times you had unlocked items off camera. I was curious if there was any particular off camera run that you are really upset you didn't get on camera?

I haven't played Isaac off-camera in a while, but definitely I should have recorded more of my runs when I was brand new to the game. I had this philosophy that people didn't want to see me derping around in (what was once) a difficult game. If only I knew then what I know now.

Do you plan on doing anymore Mario Party games with Kate and or others?

Yep, now that Kate's schedule is a bit less hectic we're going to be doing this more often (once my voice returns anyway).

If you directed a game, what would it be like?

I'm smart enough to know that if I directed a game, it would be garbage as I have no experience in the field. That being said, I'd like to think I'd make something with like a more Roguelike-y XCOM (surprise surprise).

What are some TV shows that you watch? PS: Big time fan here!

I don't want that much TV, but lately I've been really digging into Peep Show. Mark is horribly easy to relate too and Super Hans is one of the funniest characters I've ever seen. Also, thanks :)

Which "series" made you more famous ? (I know you since you posted videos about Super Meat Boy, but i wonder if you have statistics on that)

Super Meat Boy, Isaac, and Scribblenauts Unlimited have been the big ones in terms of bringing in a new audience. Terraria was pretty big as well when I was much smaller, and I think Spelunky and FTL helped out a lot on a smaller scale as well. One thing is for sure, without Isaac I wouldn't be as big as I am today, but without Super Meat Boy I probably wouldn't even be in the same ballpark.

Is there a way to silence your coffee maker? Thank you for all of the great videos you make us.

The coffeemaker is a pivotal player in my videos these days. He's like my Tom Servo.

Why didn't you include the D6 as one of your top 10 items in tboi?

NEXT QUESTION

Are you looking at play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and if so how much?

I'll definitely check it out in March. I loved Dark Souls (obviously) and everyone says MH is similar to that, so I owe it to myself. Plus, I mean...what else am I going to play on my Wii U in the next couple months?

I've been a big fan from near the beginning of your Youtubing adventure (not trying to be a hipster or anything...)

What is your favourite/least favourite part about doing what you do full time? I'm guessing favourite is quite easy to answer, doing what you love doing but for a living, but anything else? Certain perks that keep you trundling along?

Also, you should get a catchphrase. "This game is great, and I ain't Lion" could be a good one... ...okay, I just really wanted to make that joke and had to force it in somehow.

There's obviously a lot of perks to my job. I work from home, set my own hours, can take sick days or vacations whenever I want (like today, as I have laryngitis), and perhaps most importantly from a grown-up perspective, even if I don't 'go to work' I still make money, which is awesome. The 14-year old in me loves getting big games a week before they release to the public as well.

The worst part is definitely internet commenters. I've grown better at ignoring trolls but people often levy personal attacks at you based on your content/voice/appearance and it adds up sometimes. It's easy to say that you should just let it roll off your back and ignore it, but it's harder to do in reality. Also, when I genuinely make a mistake, I feel like Peter in Office Space, because I have one person who clues me in, followed by dozens/hundreds/thousands of people telling me exactly the same thing.

Overall, this is obviously an awesome job and ignoring a few trolls is a small price to pay.

What is your favorite color? and also pizza topping?

Pizza topping is probably ham/canadian bacon (love Hawaiian). Don't really have a favorite color!

1. Why did you stop making Poison Mushroom? I loved it and so did my friends!
2. What do you think makes a good gaming YouTuber?
3. How would you start doing gaming videos if you had to start from the beginning today?

1. PM is a lot of pressure as with that distribution format you have to put out 1 episode a week for 12 weeks rain or shine (or technical issues). That combined with the general...unpleasantness of playing shitty games week in week out makes it a drag sometimes production-wise, although I like how the videos turn out.

2. Authenticity and doing their own thing as opposed to just hopping onto bandwagons. There's a thin line between playing something popular and bandwagoning, but as a former supreme court justice formerly said about pornography, "I may not be able to describe it, but I know it when I see it".

3. Very good question. I'm not sure, honestly. I'd spend more time coming up with a better name than "Let's Look At", though.

I just wanna say I absolutely love your videos and I watch them pretty much every day. Keep up the best commentary YouTube has ever had!

Thanks :)

i need a game to play with a really good story. i only have ps3 and a mac and i already have all the valve games. any recommendations?

Maybe try Ni No Kuni

Are you ever going to do Poison Mushroom again? It was my favorite series.

It's possible but it's a little up in the air for a few reasons. I wouldn't rule it out!

Awesome! Thanks for the response, you're a pretty cool guy.

That's what my mom tells me.

I had no idea this was happening! Uhh... I've only been watching since about/around your Super Meat Boy playthrough... How're you?

Pretty sick, actually. Mild fever and it feels like I swallowed broken glass with a draino chaser. I'm just hanging at home and writing a review though, so it's no big deal! Thanks for asking :)

Haha, of course! I do hope you feel better soon, though~... Drink some tea, maybe?

Kate brought me back some tea after she finished school, because she's the best girlfriend ever. She also took a nap right afterwards so I could focus on my review. At least, that's what I tell myself.

What do you think about bronies?

I have no opinion basically. I've never watched the show and if people want to identify themselves so strongly with a single piece of media then it's none of my business.

1) When is the next Saving Progress podcast going to be uploaded on YouTube? It seems like it has been forever.

2) Any Saving Progress Areans coming up soon?

3) You're very verbose and seem to have a vast vocabulary, at least juxtaposed to most LPers. Who is your favourite author and what is your favourite book?

Also, thanks for all your videos! Everyday I always check for a new Binding of Isaac video once university is over, those are my afternoon breaks.

We've having some problems on the SP front. We live in different timezones and Josh and Mike both work full-time jobs. When they're off of work it's only like 3PM my time and I feel obligated to complete my solo stuff before I do collaborations. On top of that, Fox had problems with his ISP and had no internet for 3 weeks, and then I was in Iceland/recovering from jetlag for a couple Wednesdays as well. SP will return and collaborations will become more frequent, but it's an adjustment period right now.

I'm kind of ashamed to admit I don't read much. I mostly listen to podcasts like Dan Carlin's excellent Hardcore History.

Do you ever speak to people at a thousand miles an hour like in your videos, and if so, what do they do?

Usually just smile and nod like they know what I'm talking about.

Why in your opinion are indie games better than AAA games nowadays, in my opinon they are anyway.

It's a difficult topic because it's all subjective. I don't know if indie games are usually 'better' than most AAA games, but they appeal to me because they're oftentimes more daring and unique, and they are able to produce games that are impossible for large studios to do because they won't sell hundreds of thousands of copies. I love great indie games, I love very well-made AAA games. I don't really think of it as an either/or situation.

Have you ever considered screencasting for any of the more e-sports centric games?

You would make one hell of a LoL season championship announcer.

I casted a bit at PDX Con for The Showdown Effect and War of the Roses and learned that it's not as easy as it looks. Maybe if I'd stuck with Dota instead of quitting cold turkey I could be half-decent at it now, but I'm woefully unqualified to do this, as much as I'd love to.

Quick! You just won the first ever Oscar for "Excellence in Let's Playing"! What's your acceptance speech?

(Feel better soon!)

"Thanks to everyone who's supported me. This is an unbelievable honor and I promise to continue working hard in the future!"

I'm boring

What are your professional goals? Do you want to just keep using YouTube to distribute or do you want to make the leap to TV?

I think it's going to go the opposite way, really, where personalities/shows on TV are going to be making the leap to the internet. Right now, YouTube is the leading online distribution platform so I'm going to stick with that. Things change fast on the internet so it's hard for me to predict where things will be in 6 months, much less well beyond that.

What Isaac run have you had that you are most surprised was successful? Once, I was just screwing around using Maggie, and I ended up beating the womb with Number One, My Reflection, and Tammy's Head.

Hard to say, they all kind of blur together! I don't even see Isaac runs at this point, all I see are blondes, brunettes, redheads...