Tuesday 29 April 2014

A year of Boxed Pixels

I'll be honest,  a year ago I never would have imagined I'd write an anniversary post. I started this blog for a number of reasons, but if I'm absolutely truthful the primary one was to justify buying a new Boxed Snes game each week! There were other reasons of course, as hours of typing, reading and internet searching, would be somewhat excessive to combat buyer's remorse. When I was at University I wrote all the time, thousands of words each week heavily researched. At the time it was a chore but ten years later I really miss it. I'm lucky that my job is a creative one, but writing is minimal and mainly consists of voice over scripts. BoxedPixels became an outlet, a chance to string sentences together and hopefully have that writing enjoyed by others. 


I know it's often said but I genuinely didn't mind if no one read it, I quickly realised how much I liked the process of researching and writing. Amazingly though people have read it; over 10,000 unique views in a year across the 40 games I've written about. The feedback I've had in the comments and on a Twitter has been universally complimentary. Amazingly I have people keen to read the weekly post, even noticing when it's delayed. I wouldn't be arrogant enough to call them fans but they are certainly eager readers. So eager in fact that over the year I have received free reproduction boxes, one off art pieces, box protectors and even astonishingly rare games. I never dared dream, nor do I feel I deserve to be the recipient of such kindness. It's amazing to think that others feel a desire to thank me for something I enjoy doing anyway. 

I've learnt a lot from doing it too. I think my writing has evolved over the year, though it still rambles and heads off on random tangents at times. I've realised that 3000 words on a game is too much, 800 words is not enough. Hopefully devoted readers will have seen an increase in screenshots, quotes and even first hand insight from developers who are happy to answer questions in Twitter. I've tried to cover a range on genres, which has been a brilliant way of encouraging me to explore games I wouldn't normally have touched. This hasn't always gone well, but it has meant I have a much more varied Snes diet than I would have had if I didn't write. I've even started doing requests which has been another eureka moment. It means I'm being introduced to other people's favourite games, which in some cases have become my favourite games.

BoxedPixels, has also presented fantastic opportunities. It seems strange that when I wanted to find a way into journalism at university I struggled to get noticed. Now that I work in a different area and write simply for fun, opportunities to take my writing further have started coming in. From writing articles for websites, to guesting on podcasts I never imagined that the thing I did to keep me busy on my work commute would presents such creative adventures. 

It's been a great year, filled with hours upon hours reliving my childhood, replaying old favourites and discovering new things. Better still in my possession I have a boxed Snes collection that will hopefully increase in value year on year, the thought of which alone makes me smile. The 12 year old version of me would never have believed that 20 years later I would have such a brilliant well stocked Super Nintendo library.

So what does the future hold? I have no intention of stopping my blog, especially now it's finding it's feet. I have a stock pile of 77 games so have 37 more to write about at least - that's six months of weekly posts right there. Some of these are titles often considered the best on the Super Nintendo, some are obscure, and others are Japanese exclusive titles that I'd never heard of till I started looking beyond the familiar games. Hopefully there will be something in future posts for everyone. 

So thank you, dear reader for joining me over this first year. The first of many many more I hope. 

6 comments:

  1. Well done mate. I recon I'm one of these fans you talk about! Always look on Fridays. How do I go about sending a game? Is there list of what you have I can see?

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    1. Thanks for the kind workds. The best way to contact me is via Twitter (julianhilluk). Please only send a game if the alternative is it going in the bin, your support is enough. Why not suggest a game I could look to buying next instead?

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  2. Congrats chap

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  3. No way has it been a year. Keep at it

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  4. you blog is one of my favorites

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