Lightning Fish Update

Attention Institute Personnel!

I wanted to provide a quick update on what’s been going on, and what you can expect in the next few weeks. If you’ve been following our release schedule, it’s no secret the implementation of the  “Lightning Fish” update has been rough. So here’s what’s happening. 

Something I’ve struggled to admit, even to myself, is that I’m just not working as fast as used to. While almost all of my physical symptoms are gone, I have increasingly become aware of the oft-described “mental fog” and how it affects me. My scripts on average are taking multiple times as long to finish, and include a ton of freaky mistakes that make me think my brain is shutting off for milliseconds at a time. Thankfully, this is apparently not entirely unusual, not permanent, and has already shown signs of improvement.

It’s also clear I underestimated just how much work had gone into all the animations, video intros, sound effects, project templates, etc between 2019 and 2024. Trying to recreate all of that from scratch has proven to be a monumental task. The Templin Institute uses entirely custom built visuals and doesn’t look like any other channel on YouTube, but that does mean we’re spending a lot more time on things like graphic design. 

And finally, rebuilding every aspect at the Templin Institute has served as a great/terrifying way to take stock of just how complex the Templin Institute has become. For both good and ill, we are no longer the nimble channel of 5 years ago. We are now reliant on a number of different suppliers and partners for our Patreon rewards, storefront, content, etc. Fixing issues, coordination and communication between all these moving parts, especially when they’re all in the middle of being refreshed, was a major job in itself. Chasing down Templin lanyards at a shipping depot in the industrial heart of Calgary doesn’t leave a lot of time for writing. 

So here’s what we’re doin. 

Over the last few months we’ve been refining all our templates and projects to make sure the actual workflow is more efficient. For those with experience, you’ll know, an After Effects template in isolation, is very different from one in regular use. We’ve also brought on some more staff to help on the backend so the chasing down of lanyards is left to someone else. 

With Stellaris Invicta III coming up, I’m impatient to get the Templin Institute back in full form, but I need to make sure that we’re not just going to end up rushing things. So, the last thing we’re going to do is take a bit more time to finish some of the parts of Lightning Fish that kept getting delayed, and come back strong in December. 

Thanks everyone!