Kinda my job. I have been apart of IMVU since 2006 and have had the pleasure to watch it grow and mature to what it is today. I don't think I will ever completely stop developing for them, though I do take breaks more often than the average developer for life related stuffs. Here is a link to my catalog.
For those of you unfamilar to IMVU, it is an online 3D chat program. Essentially you have paper dolls (your avatar) for your computer where your paper doll can have conversations with other people's paper dolls. It is free to use, but if you want to upgrade your avatar and run out of starter credits, you'll have to poney up some dough. Yes, people actually pay money for this stuff. :P Read more at the IMVU ABOUT page.
I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday season. I expect 2023 will be one of my best years yet! Why? Because I have worked so hard to make to so.
So let's have a look at what's coming up for this year.....
Meet the Creator
This is a new, once a month "podcast style" interview on Twitch where I talk with some of your favorite creators to learn about how they got started and what kind of things inspire them. My first guest was the one and only gaf210! We spoke of many things including his history with IMVU and his involvement with the community.
JazzKat was my second interview which took place on Jan 10th. I will eventually put up a dedicated page on the site where all of the interviews will live. In the mean time, look out for his interview on YouTube in the coming week.
IMVU Tutorials
I have plans for this year to start creating more tutorials....once this dog pet is done. LOL I get frequent requests for tutorials, especially for learning Studio, so I will start small and work my way up through each feature and hopefully make the transition a bit easier for veteran and newer creators alike! Feel free to pop a comment below about what you would like to learn.
Etsy Shop
My little experiment with etsy went fairly well. I want to start putting more effort into it, especially as we start to approach the racing season. In case you were unaware, I grew up around the races, specifically sprint car racing, and there is a shocking lack of merch related to general sprint car racing. I want to start filling that niche. If you want to purchase sprint car merch, I do suggest RedBubble over etsy, as there are no shop fees and prices can be lower, however, etsy has a pretty wide reach, hence me doing multiple platforms.
Well folks our favourite time of year is moving in quite quickly! Before you know it we will all be stuffing our faces with candy and scaring the bajesus out of young trick or treaters. I freakin love it. LOL Now I'm not exactly taking requests because that usually leads to burnout on my part, but I am totally up for suggestions. I want to try to support any Halloween celebrations that Gaf210 plans on having with my usually fun gifts and a live stream, but this is Halloween we are talking about here. I do tend to enjoy it in the flesh. :P I'll keep you posted on the plans of the season as they progress. But for sure post any product ideas you may have below or join us for a live stream and we can have a lively discussion.
Ok, on to Christmas in July. I want to thank everyone who participated!! It was an amazing event again and we all had a lot of fun. I think it was Gaf's biggest event yet!! Visit https://gaf210.gafcodes.com/cij/ for a summary of the event and check out my recap video below. :D
The Christmas in July celebration is an event Gaf210 hosts every year where IMVU users can show off their products and rooms. It is halfway to Small Business Saturday and is a great way to support IMVU creators! I will be live streaming this event again this year with a way to earn free gifts....if you can find me. :D More details on this soon, but in the mean time, check out Gaf's official page below!
So for those of you who are not in the know, after about a yearish hiatis, I have resumed my weekly Twitch streams. In these streams I focus on IMVU product creation and uploads and give quick tips. I also get a bit goofy at times and go off topic often....just to warn you. If you have a questions about being an IMVU creator, or IMVU in general, this is the best place to ask as I can answer in real time.
The streams start around 6pm CT every Wednesday. Here is a running list of upcoming topics in no particular order:
Particles
Scalers
Opacity maps
Simple avatar animation
Simple furniture animation
If there is something you want to see on the list, comment below and I will add it. I will also keep the Twitch portion of this website up to date as best as possible. Hope to see you there!!
