Tell us what's the most influential game in your creator career and why for $5!

My most influential game of my content creation has definitely been Fallout 4. What began as an innocent first playthrough on my channel then became the series that gave me respectable numbers for a relatively new casual streamer that could have potentially pushed over into Partner (if life hadn't gotten in the way of that push) as the numbers kept climbing- both in terms of viewers and followers. Back then I was also streaming directly from my PS4 as I didn't have a powerful enough PC/laptop to use with my capture card, so almost becoming a Partner through that would have been quite the accomplishment. It just shows how much people enjoyed me learning the game extensively, exploring and having fun while also providing my classic witty British commentary; it proved that I didn't need a fancy setup if my personality and passion for the game were prominent enough. As more playthroughs occurred, the more I memorised key details, made notes of hidden mechanics and even a few skips and tricks that still educate my viewers to this day.

Fallout 4 also gave me other opportunities outside of streaming as well. Due to my love of the game, I became an Ambassador for Bethesda UK as I was fairly known for my Fallout 4 content at that time; including my voiceacting work in various Fallout mods and audiodramas which only continue to grow to this very day. Now, with over 3,000hrs in the game I have become a notable challenge runner who has come up with some pretty interesting challenges all set in a completely vanilla, unmodded version of the game to really test my creativity. Over 5yrs of streaming Fallout 4 and it's a game that will be a part of who I am forever, with its permanent place on my Twitch channel.

Finding the most influential game in my creator career is a journey back in time, to the dawn of MMOs around 2003-2004. I was immersed in Ragnarök Online, EVE Online, Warcraft, and Lineage 2. Each game, especially EVE Online, significantly impacted me, but it was Lineage 2 that truly opened the door to the video game industry.

My friends were playing on an unofficial Lineage 2 server, and soon I joined them, initially as a player, then as a tester, and eventually as a configuration manager. A major part of my role involved adjusting loot drops, and my love for data and numbers quickly led me to game-balance tasks.

This unique experience became a stepping stone in 2008, enabling me to secure a game designer position at a small studio. My career progressed rapidly, moving from project manager to game producer. Although my focus was on browser and social games, with several projects for National Geographic, this period was a vital learning curve.

However, my growing passion for gaming journalism eventually took precedence. This career shift allowed me to merge my love for playing games with insights gained from game production and design. I could delve deep into core game concepts, mechanics, balance, and more in my reviews.

So there you have it, the roots of my current career are firmly planted in the configurations of an unofficial Lineage 2 server!

For me that's the game I started streaming with, Final Fantasy XIV. My first stream was our Delubrum Reginae Savage raid and my first video on Youtube was also a segment from this raid. Even though I made guides for other games and trying to branch out now towards variety and stream other games too, FFXIV is still my most watched content.

Maybe because on our Discord I have going live notifications and people will tune in, I easily get over 10 people watching our raids, while for other content (even my more casual FFXIV streams has less viewers) But definitely it makes me think what is unique about those streams and why are people still checking out my speedkill video from over a year ago, and now I'm planning my future content with this success in mind.

There are two I have to give real credit to:

1. Hades

2. Alice: Madness Returns

Hades is actually the one that came later but it really felt like the first game that people associated with me, so if I was ever in other streams and chats if people mentioned Hades there'd usually be comments of "Oh you want to watch Hades done well? Go watch Stu" and that felt like a great milestone for me. I never set out to pigeon hole myself and I still don't, but to have a game that popular and be one of the first names that comes to people's minds was really humbling.

Alice is one of the first games I played on stream, potentially second game after Monster Hunter World. But it's the game at the start of my journey that I can use to trace back how I know such a core of my community. I started looking for other streamers playing it and found only 2 at the time. The one I chose I can use as the example of connecting me to some of my very best friends on Twitch. Their name has changed since I found them but AstrayCafe as they are now on Twitch is the reason I can say I know X, who led me to Y, who led me in turn to Z. Alice is one of my favourite games anyway and to find someone who shared that excitement for the game and got me connected to so many great people is something I will always be forever grateful for.