What Silksong's Hardest Boss Taught Me

They say that you need to be consistent when posting content on YouTube, for both the algorithm and for any subscribers or potential people who might come to your channel to view your content. For that reason, whenever you're making content and getting ready to do an upload to YouTube, it's advised that you do a gut check. Ask yourself: If this particular video happened to pop off, would you be comfortable making 100 more of them?

I wouldn't say this is probably the first one, but probably the one I felt the most passionate about and strong about — that I could absolutely do 100 of these, 200 of these, a million of these.

a random thought in my head

The idea for this one started as just a random thought in my head as I was driving to pick up my kid. I was just thinking, as I sometimes do, about why I even bother to continue on with these YouTube uploads: two kids, a wife, a full-time job, and I keep internally waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for the moment when I'm just like, “screw this.”

Because it's kind of an emotional journey in a way. You're being vulnerable on the internet. I kind of experienced that when I started posting more on social media, but when you're creating content, it's your face, your voice on this thing. It's really difficult to upload something and sometimes not see the results you want to see, or even get negative comments or feedback.

act 3, specifically karmelita

It really just made me think about Act 3 of Hollow Knight: Silksong, specifically the Karmelita boss. Silksong is full of tough bosses and encounters, but this was by far the hardest (at least for me). It took me at least 50 tries over the course of 2–3 days to get her down.

Why did I even keep plugging away at it though? It was for a number of reasons. I had come too far to stop. At that point I'd put over 40 hours into this Metroidvania and not gotten a satisfying ending, so I felt compelled to just keep going. I just had to see what was on the other side.

i kind of feel the same way about youtube

I know what happens if I put the controller down and walk away. I don't know what happens if I beat the boss (algorithm).

It's just that curiosity, that perseverance that you have to have to keep going, even when seemingly the world is maybe telling you to stop, or there's a force that's telling you to stop, or there's a force that's telling you to push or that's pushing back on you.

I don't know if the force is telling you to stop necessarily. It's just a force that's pushing back on you, and that's the thing: things are going to push back on you.

back to the video

The next morning, on my dog walk, it popped back into my head and I was like, “You know what? I'm just going to sit down and yap about it.”

So that's what I did. I did a 12-minute yap, and the idea was just to edit it and upload it as is, raw. For uploads 30 through 40 I've committed to experimenting with no scripting. I wasn't really sure how to present the information though. Do I just post the video edit, or do I throw some gameplay on top of it?

I didn't have any footage of me fighting Karmelita, so I couldn't do that. All I had at the time was some ultrawide footage of some early gameplay. Maybe I'll just throw that on with brief cuts to my A-roll at key moments.

the press kit

I found the Silksong press kit so I could make thumbnails and stuff. They had a folder in there called ‘Ambient’ and it contained a handful of 4- to 5-minute videos of Hornet just standing in various places with ambient music and sound effects. I got to thinking, huh, that would be kind of cool. What if I just literally had Hornet stand there, with the ambience and the amazing soundtrack sort of playing, and I just yapped under it? I kinda liked the sound of that.

I re-downloaded Silksong, fired up OBS, and made my way over to Mount Fay clumsily, because I'd forgotten all my muscle memory of how to actually even play the game, dash, or use the abilities. A few near deaths and several missed hook grabs later I'd made it to an acceptable looking peak. I just sat there on the edge of the cliff, watching Hornet, listening to the wind and the awesome soundtrack. It was very peaceful, and felt appropriate for the type of story I was telling.

do i feel good about it?

Stationary footage of the peak in hand, I spent a couple hours editing the yap to try to make it consistent and not rambly. I cringed and overcriticized myself at the sound of the voice coming out of my desktop speakers (typical), but when I put the Hornet footage on top of it, that's kind of when it all came together.

Corny and confusing for the algorithm I'm sure, but I was really proud of what I put out. That's sort of the one filter and the one parameter I have. Is it perfect (lol no). But do I feel good about it? Am I happy with where it's at? Yeah, I was immensely happy with where it ended up, and I would love to make more of them.