ABOUT
My name is Max Allen, though I go by Mantis on the internet. I am currently 19 years old and in high school. I am working on improving my skills as an independent game developer. I occasionally post gaming videos on YouTube and stream on Twitch. For more information about my history online and as a game developer, take a look through this page.
History of Content Creation
I have always loved YouTube as a place for free entertainment and education. My first big video was a tutorial on how to port forward a Minecraft server, which I posted when I was 10 years old. Back then my username was "Mjbgtaad56" (Mu-ga-bu-tad 56).
In June 2016, I started uploading gaming videos more consistently, almost daily! On October 12, the same year, I rebranded to Mantis Gaming, designating myself as Mantis. I kept on posting for a few months, but I fell on hard times socially and was diagnosed with depression. I couldn't focus on YouTube anymore.
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After about a year, I was starting to recover and I decided to try streaming on Twitch since that doesn't require editing. It went pretty well. I started building a discord server and became a Twitch affiliate, from playing Geometry Dash. I wanted to play Overwatch, but I was having performance issues and wasn't getting any views there either.
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Soon I got tired of Geometry Dash and other popular streaming games, like Shell Shockers. I couldn't get an audience playing games that I really wanted to play, so I stopped streaming. I still occasionally post youtube videos, but I'm not as invested since the monetization policy changed, requiring me to have 1000 subs to monetize my channel again, which I am nowhere near at the moment. So, without much motivation from lack of views and no possibility of making a living, I've had trouble getting back into YouTube and Twitch, but once I feel motivated to really try again, I'll get it back up and running!
History of Game Development
This page is still in development. Come back later to read about my history as a game developer!
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