Work and Life, Gaming and Technology

Streaming Schedule Update: What to Expect

Greetings everyone!

In today’s blog post, I’d like to explain how my streaming schedule is going to look. I’ve chosen this schedule to allow my YouTube series to catch up to my livestreaming world for the Creative Engineering modpack, partly so that I won’t forget what I’ve learned in my livestream world when I record a new episode, and partly so that I don’t become bored with it too easily. I’ve chosen different themes for each day I will go live when I can, and I have an announcement later about Saturdays, so please read on.

Let’s start off by discussing that weekday streams are dependant on a couple of things being satisfied:

  1. I must have the day off work (ie. I must not have been offered a shift and accepted it) OR
  2. I must work a morning shift AND
    1. I must work 4 hours or less AND
    2. I must start by 8 am.

If either set of conditions is met, I will stream that weekday – but I also must not have released a video on YouTube that morning (so no livestreams Monday, Wednesday, or Friday). The weekday streams will start around 8 or 9 am America/Edmonton time. I appreciate your understanding as I juggle work, livestreaming, and creating content—it means so much to me!

With that clearly explained, I can now explain the theme for Tuesdays going forwards: Retro Gaming Tuesday. This means I will be playing games like Mario Party 7, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and other Nintendo titles that I own via emulation on my PC (which is completely legal as I actually own the games themselves), using my controller instead of a standard Nintendo one. I love playing these old games and I hope to share my enthusiasm for them with you on Tuesdays going forwards – don’t forget I have a Mario Party 7 Party Map to finish and one final vs CPU map to beat!

Thursdays are going to be “OpenTTD Thursdays” from now on folks! You got that right – I’ll be working on growing my transportation empire in this game – I got until 2050 before my current game ends and I want to have a blast doing so with you folks! From building larger and larger railway networks, to building new highways and airports, this is gonna be epic! I love watching my company grow and ensuring that I don’t hit bankruptcy is part of the fun – what good or fun is a large company if it’s not profitable?

Saturdays are gonna be “Modded Minecraft Saturdays” where we dive into the world of modded Minecraft together – I’ll mainly be streaming from my Creative Engineering streaming world, but maybe I’ll switch it up in the future – I do have a Minecolonies settlement that I’d love to show off live to you all – and if either my Banished or Factorio series ends before the other (most likely the scenario that will happen), I’ll start a new streaming world in my Peaceful Mekanism modpack! Due to real-life situations, I may not always go live on Saturday – if so, I’ll be sure to announce it via social media – so consider following me there! Be sure to not miss a second of the action – you’ll probably regret it if you do! I should also mention that if I get enough viewers concurrently when I am live, I will consider making the first Saturday of each month “Community Saturday” instead where we’ll be playing “Golf With Your Friends” or “Quiplash” together for fun and laughs!

Finally before I let you go today, I’d like to mention that I have set up a second store with FourthWall. You can find merch there with discounts for Tier 3 Twitch subs and members there – you can support me via merch, memberships, or via simple donations in this store! The membership gives you a discount in the store as well as access to the Supporter Area of my Discord as a “Full Member” there – don’t forget, that’s where you can help me beta-test modpacks before they are released to the public on CurseForge! Your support allows me to keep producing content and livestreams that we can all enjoy together. It means the world to me and helps keep this community thriving! Did you know that any purchases you make in my shop will appear as alerts whenever I’m live? It’s a fun way to show your support and get recognized in real time!

Until the next time I post here, may God bless all of you!

Videos

Swag Plays Banished S2 E23 | From Summer to Winter: New Builds, Tough Times in Otterview

Video

In this episode, the citizens of Otterview complete the new trading dock and hunting lodge, but with no one to staff the latter, challenges arise. As iron supplies dwindle, construction halts to preserve resources. Winter hits hard—citizens face hunger and freezing conditions while struggling to gather essentials. Can they survive the harsh season, or will Otterview’s future be in jeopardy due to a shrinking workforce? Tune in to find out!

Podcast

Episode 35: St. Francis of Assisi

Audio

Discover the inspiring story of St. Francis of Assisi, from his privileged beginnings to his humble embrace of poverty and devotion to God. Learn how his faith transformed lives, inspired movements, and left a legacy that endures to this day. Plus, explore thought-provoking reflections on living a life worthy of your calling. Don’t miss this heartfelt journey into the life of one of history’s most beloved saints!

Gaming and Technology

Goodbye Pyramid, Hello Display Sign

Dear readers,

It is time to say goodbye to the Pyramid of Support. It was cumbersome at best and took a while to get started on any new world. I am also never in the mood to do sandstone block square pyramid math to figure out if the pyramid has the right number of blocks on it, due to people unfollowing and un-subscribing to my channels making it more complex than it needed to be.

Fear not, my faithful supporters – your support is not in vain and you will still be rewarded for milestones. Instead, say hello to the much more efficient Supporters Sign powered by Create’s Display Board! With simple name tags that can updated in any anvil, updating the numbers is easy, and the math is simple – just addition of the two channels separate totals to get my total supporters number!

Milestones will still be celebrated by the posting of signs – so please help me get to 500 Twitch followers and 75 YouTube subscribers – they are the next two big milestones I want to achieve – and it would be awesome if we did so sooner rather than later!

Another bonus of switching to the Display Board for visually showing the totals is that next season, I will be automating it with the ComputerCraft:Tweaked mod and it’s Create addon. Yes, I will have to learn Lua between seasons (sorry, but I’m not gonna learn it on-stream), but it will reduce the work I have to do once I get it setup correctly.

I’ll be able to do more automation next season with this computer mod in the pack as well as the changes I’ve got planned for season two of Creative Engineering on both YouTube and Twitch! I will not give you any hints as which mods are staying and which mods are going and getting replaced as I want to keep that close to my chest until I am ready to start putting together the season two modpack.

Overall the Creative Engineering modpack for season one was designed for a classic flat Minecraft world, where you would need to treat every resource you could get your hands on as precious. Season two will be returning to regular world generation, and so you can guess how this might effect my choice of mods for it. I will say that Villager life and happiness will be one of the focuses of season two, but how that will affect the modpack is still in the air.

In conclusion, the move from the Pyramid of Support to the Supporters Sign represents a step toward simplicity and efficiency, both for now and as we head into the future with new tools and plans. I’m excited about what’s to come with season two of Creative Engineering—new challenges, creative opportunities, and the chance to grow this community even further.

Thank you for your continued support—it truly means the world to me. Let’s hit those next milestones together and keep building something amazing!

Videos

Creative Engineering E16: Trading for Emeralds to Unlock Refined Storage!

Video

In this episode, Swag trades with villagers to gather the 81 emeralds needed to craft 9 emerald blocks for a Creative Controller from Refined Storage. Watch as he navigates trades, shares his quick emerald-gathering techniques, and kickstarts the Refined Storage mod. Join the adventure and learn efficient trading strategies in this exciting video!

Videos

Swag Plays Factorio S2 E29: Streamlined Research & Green Circuits Galore!

Video

In this episode, Swag streamlines his research to fast-track the logistics network, setting the stage for full factory automation. He expands the factory setup by adding more basic circuit production lines, essential for crafting the third type of circuits. As he progresses, he realizes the need for production research and a fifth type of science pack to unlock the rocket silo and secure the season’s victory. Tune in to witness the factory’s productivity soar in this exciting episode!

Videos

Swag Plays Banished S2 E22 | Dock Demolition & Iron Shortage Drama!

In this episode, the builders of Otterview face the challenge of clearing the final stored items from the old trading dock before demolishing it to pave the way for the new one. Iron shortages continue to hinder construction efforts, and a tragic walk in the woods leads to another citizen succumbing to starvation. Don’t miss this gripping episode to see all the drama unfold!

Gaming and Technology

My Modpacks: Updates, Insights, and Future Steps

In this week’s blog post, I’m diving into my modpacks: what they are, their current status, and when you can expect to download and play them yourself. Just to clarify, all of my modpacks are currently designed for Minecraft 1.20.1.

Before I explain my modpacks, let me explain the three statuses of modpacks and what each one is:

  • Alpha: Active development of the modpack – no private or public releases
  • Beta: Released for private testing on my Discord server (must be a Ko-fi Full Member or Twitch Subscriber to access the files and reports area), with bug fixes after they are reported. Lasts for six months.
  • Public: Released to CurseForge for anyone to download and play. Updates if game-breaking bugs are found.

My first modpack is called Peaceful Mekanism, and it is designed to help the player learn the Mekanism mod in Peaceful mode. There are no mods which do things that the Mekanism mod can do itself, even if they are late-game. It is currently in Alpha. It will be released for Beta-testing after I do a full YouTube series on it, probably after my Factorio series ends, as it will likely be completed before my Banished series is done. If you’re interested in joining the beta testing or following the development journey, make sure to check out my Discord and YouTube channels for updates!

The next modpack is called The Land of Peace and it is focused around the Minecolonies mod with ProjectE assisting (maining to provide resources that have no limit). The task of the player is to build a settlement into a thriving town in Peaceful mode. With its emphasis on creating a peaceful, thriving town, this modpack offers a unique and relaxing gameplay experience for those who enjoy building and strategizing without the pressure of hostile mobs. It is currently in Beta, although the files on the Discord don’t match what I’m currently testing as I reverted to the Beta 1.0 release with some small changes. It will be released to the public in about three months time.

My final modpack is called Creative Engineering and it’s in Alpha. This modpack is for the first season of the YouTube series of the same name, and will be changing between seasons. It will be entered into Beta after the end of the current season. Season one’s modpack is focused around surviving on a classic flat world with the assistance of mods in Peaceful mode. As the world is just four blocks deep, mining is out of the question in this modpack, and thus you will have to follow a similar process to a skyblock world, except without the fear of falling into the void to your death. Stay tuned for updates as the season unfolds and this modpack evolves in preparation for Beta!

As you can tell, I have three very different modpacks currently under development. I have not listed here the two modpacks that are already available to the public on CurseForge as they were for an earlier version of the game. I enjoy coming with new concepts for modpacks and if you have an idea, I’d love to read your idea in the comments! There are a few limitations to what I add to my modpacks like an emphasis on avoiding magic and preferring technology, and that they must be playable in Peaceful mode, so please keep that in mind when suggesting an idea. I’m looking forward to reading your ideas and exploring new possibilities together!

Videos

Creative Engineering E15: Farming Trees with Create & Farmer’s Delight

Video

In this episode, Swag demonstrates how to use Create and Farmer’s Delight to farm oak and birch trees. Discover his techniques, learn from his mistakes, and find out why he now needs birch logs in addition to the oak he’s been content with so far. Don’t miss this exciting episode!

Your Portal to Personal Takes, Modpacks, And All Things Fun!

Swagnilla Ice

Your Portal to Personal Takes, Modpacks, And All Things Fun!

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