#If you sign up for the physical reward tier now and stay for 6 months you can receive 3 postcards and 10 stickers~

[lioden-sim]

NEW SERVER, Explanations, Some(brero) Update

Downtime Again?? This will be a bit technical, if you're not too bothered about what happened, please skip to the next header. On Friday 5th May at approximately 7am server time, Lioden started lagging very heavily. We initially thought it was just a small blip and that it would all sort itself out. Upon further investigation we discovered that our database had corrupted pretty badly, which we believe was caused by the disruption earlier in the week with the physical data centre migration. The admin team very quickly went into alert mode; we discussed a plan of action. We weighed up whether it would be worth a 24 hour downtime for DNS propagation or whether it would be quicker to wait for our host to diagnose and repair whatever was going on. We also had the option of a new database server. The database server was sold to us under the promise that it would take 8 hours - we asked to be fast-tracked as we wanted to get the game back up ASAP. We were then told 4 hours (this was after 4 hours of downtime already, after first thinking it was a temporary blip and then having to diagnose the problem ourselves). 20 hours later, we finally get the message that the server is up and running. Throughout this time we took turns in sleeping and staying up to see if the server would come up, so the communication between admins was unfortunately very disjointed for a time. Had we known sooner that our total downtime would be upwards of 25 hours, we would have switched hosts immediately. We are extremely unhappy with the customer service we received while trying to get our server fixed/moved. Since we are on a new server, expect some lag for first 24-36 hours of your gameplay as your data is being cached. What will happen next? We will be moving host. We do not want to give this company any more money. We are temporarily staying put until we can set up a server with another company. We will then be requesting a refund for all of our pre-paid services (we like to pay a year in advance). We will schedule game maintenance for later this month, on a week day, early in the morning (server time) so that we can switch hosts. In 5 years of Lioden's life (and in 15 years of having our websites hosted) we have never experienced something like this that was also handled so poorly by the hosting company, and we aim to never experience this again.

I lost out on time playing! If you go to the main News page, we have set up a Downtime Care Package for you! This bundle gives Food & Toy bundles and Nesting material based on the number of lionesses you own, along with a bunch more goodies (some GB items as well). We can't apologise enough for this downtime - it has been completely out of our control. Your lions should be also maxed out on happiness and hunger. This item will be available until Tuesday.

Have you lost our messages again? >_> Thankfully we were able to retrieve some messages. We only have from Tuesday when we came back up, up to a certain time on Thursday evening, but we have been able to restore at least a partial backup this time. If you purchased GB and your new GB are no longer on your account, please send a PM to Abbey #1 with your PayPal transaction ID and we will refund it for you. BACKUP RESTORATION TIMES: Rough Estimate on backup times, as depending on specific Lioden feature, they are stored at different hours: 4 and a half hours before rollover for main backups, 3 hours 50 minutes before rollover for lions, 4 hours 15 minutes for Hoard. This means userlogs, inboxes, lions and other things can be restored from different times and there might be some discrepancies. If you notice "ghost notifications" just delete them please, we tried to restore inboxes but the data was still corrupted a bit. What about May Event and our lost progress? What about the storyline? If you guys will struggle with the event tiers due to downtime we'll see about tweaking them as the month goes! May Storyline will help you gather some Tokens and Manticora Beetles! Unfortunately we were unable to code or work on it ... again. So we might launch it within a day or two and include it in May news post along with a notification that it was launched.

Friday Update

Unfortunately thanks to the downtime our Friday update was cut short. We were able to implement a couple of nice moderating tools, including a tool to make moderator posts stand out more when they want to get your attention ;)

We will be working very hard to bring you a much bigger coding update next week. Bug Fixes * Roasted Lamb notice showing on all lions when applied to king has been fixed - it will now only show on your king. * When cubs are born, the cub number given by the ultrasound bat will be removed - you will need to visit the bat for each new pregnancy to find out the accurate number of cubs. * Patrolling males are no longer chaseable, killable or reserve-able. * We have attempted a fix of aging lionesses dropping to negative fertility - please let us know if you still experience this bug. * We have also attempted a fix of lionesses not going into heat immediately for the tutorial. Terms of Service Change We have made a minor change to the Terms of Service based on a confusing situation that has arisen lately. In order to address this properly, here is the new rule regarding referrals which will apply from now. "While the referral rewards and monthly referral contests exist, referring a friend to the game should not be incentivised in any way. This includes, but is not limited to, offering in-game or off-site rewards for signing up and rolling over enough to earn the referral points. Anyone found to be incentivising referrals will have any referral points revoked."

Remember that the event ends on May 31st at 11:59 pm, and all your currency will be stored in your account until next year. There are new avatar Tags made by Shad, for May and Misc, check them out as always!

Raffle Lioness

We had to run the Raffle again as the progress from yesterday was wiped. Our apologies. Congrats Khorshid (#8241)! You have won the last raffle lady! New lady with the Sunset over Entabeni BG is up for impressing in Special Lioness area in Explore or in NEWS section under News Post List! ;D She has first Margay marking!

Polls

Poll LINK - We plan to add a new Mutie on Demand item for 2017's Black Friday sale (don't worry, we're not replacing previous MoD, we're just adding new stuff), We had some ideas so maybe you can help us decide which exactly would go well on Lioden? Twin MoD - Another 6 piebald designs, completely new and unique to the new item. We'd call it MoD: More Piebald or something. Somatic Black Patches - basically what I'm linking below - would look like somatic breaks that you can see on horses etc. I am open to suggestions on their shapes. Visually it'd look a bit like Melanism cutouts. Real life black patch on a lion - LINK - Front leg :D

#lioden-sim #lioden-news #lioden

[celtfather]

Celtfather Monthly: January 2020 News and 2020 Goals

It's a brand new year. Compiling stats to watch my growth each month is a little time consuming. But it is also pretty fantastic for plotting statistical growth. I know exactly where I was this time last year.

I’m gonna start the show with the usual updates. Then I’ll go into stats and finish up with goals for 2020.

1:53 - PODCASTS

I published a bonus episode of the Pub Songs Podcast to 2019. I shared my love of the new Frozen 2 movie. The next couple of episodes I’m gonna share thoughts about my next album, Selcouth, as well as talk about individual songs on the album. I think February will move towards promoting St Patrick's Day featuring some top 5 and 10s.

I don’t have any specific Stories from the Road episodes planned. But I hope to get ahead when I get a full work day next week.

The first episode of the 2020 season of the  Irish & Celtic Music Podcast kicks off next week. I took a much needed break. You can still expect more features of women in the upcoming year. I also want to draw attention to our environment, something close to the heart of the Celts.

The Celtic Christmas Podcast released three episodes last year. I'm already planning to launch an early fundraiser for the show in 2020.

Mikey Mason and I recorded an episode of In the ‘Verse back in December. We did not release it because with the holiday, I think we both had trouble making time to write a song. But I finally sat down with my song.

The episode we wrote songs for was "War Stories". It's one of my favorites. I had trouble writing a song for the episode though. But right before we left for Christmas vacation, I wrote "My Man". It's from the perspective of Zoe, and wow, I love it. It kinda helped me understand Wash better than ever. Hopefully, we'll release it soon.

I'll see Andrew McKee at Georgia Filk next weekend. I suspect we will record a Brobdingnagian Bards podcast while we're together. We also have some videos we need to record together to complete our Kickstarter rewards.

4:20 - VIDEOS

Season 5 of Coffee with the Celtfather begins on January 8. The show will continue at 10:30 AM Eastern on Wednesday. However, It will be exclusively available on Facebook.

I made quite a few updates to my YouTube channel. In particular, I deleted many of my most-successful videos. That's because they were episodes of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast... and they were blocked by Facebook. It seems Facebook will only keep podcasts up if it's not primarily a music show.

I'm still debating whether I want to keep episodes of the Pub Songs Podcast up there. I talk in a lot of those so many of those aren't getting blocked. But I think I might just rework the entire channel into a Marc Gunn music channel.

It's wild looking at the most-popular videos now that all the Celtic podcast videos are gone. Bizarre!

My top video is a review of my portable amp. Then comes a "Whiskey in the Jar" video featuring the Bedlam Bards. "Danny Boy for Cat Lovers" is after that. Then just a recording of my version of "Whiskey in the Jar" with just the album cover. And #5 is Funny Irish Pub Songs, a live video I made.

Wild! The channel will see a big change in the days to come.

7:07 - MERCH

I posted a Gunn Runners Card on Patreon. This card gives Heroic Gunn Runners on Patreon a 25% discount on all merch in my store and at shows.

Seems like a lot of Gunn Runners are happy to pay full price to support my music. I am very grateful to all of you. But if you need or want the discount. It's there for you.

Selcouth is the name of my next album. The Kickstarter officially launches on January 27 and goes through February 14. I still have a TON of videos and text to write for this Kickstarter. Heck! I still don't have an album cover. So stay tuned.

Oh! And make sure you subscribe to my mailing list if you're not already. I will let you know when it goes live.

In the middle of that, the Brobdingnagian Bards officially release I Will Not Sing Along, our 10th studio album on February 2, 2020--GROUNDHOG DAY!

9:00 - TRAVEL

I still have space for my Celtic Invasion of Venice. You can listen to the Celtic Invasion Vacations itinerary. To find out how amazing this trip will be. Email me if you have questions. The deadline to sign up is February 15.

9:51 - SHOWS PLANNED FOR JANUARY

JAN 10-12: GaFilk in Atlanta, GA JAN 16: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM JAN 18: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM JAN 24: Interstellar Ginger Beer & Exploration Co, Alabaster, AL @ 7:30 PM JAN 25: Maggie McGuinnes Pub, Huntsville, AL @ 7:00 PM

FEB 1: Tucker Brewing Company @ 6:30 - 9:30 FEB 13: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM FEB 15: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM

MAR 7: The Lost Druid, Decatur, GA @ 7:30 PM MAR 12: Internet Concert on YouTube @ 8:30 PM MAR 20-22: ConCoction, Cleveland, Ohio

Jan 8 and on, Weds 10:30 AM EDT: Coffee with The Celtfather, Facebook (Season 5!)

I will continue to provide audio versions of most shows for Heroic Patrons.

12:45 - STATS

Mailing list subscribers = 1030 is down from 1077

YouTube Subscribers = 4355 is up from 4324 YouTube Watch Time = 32.1K min (535.0 hours) is up from 27.1 YouTube Views = 12.2K is up from 11.6K

Facebook Likes = 3653 is up from 3646 FB Page Views = 447 is up from 434 FB Reach = 10942 is up from 5684 FB Video Views = 6419 is up from 1883

Spotify Latest Single Stats: "Slainte Mhaith Christmas": 3238 up from 0 Spotify Latest Single Stats: "The Last Jedi Drinking Song": 539 up from 0 Spotify followers: 1428 is up from 1400 # Number of listens on Spotify: 10184 is up from 4237 Most-popular songs on Spotify: Christmas in the Shire (4.9K), Frosty the Irish Snowman (14.6K), Slainte Mhaith Christmas (3.2K), Celtic Christmas Elf (2.3K), Jingle Bells (2.3K),

Top Irish & Celtic Music: 426 is up from 416 Fun Christmas Songs for Kids & Families: 1858 is up from 1573 Firefly Drinking Songs: 101 is up from 99 Joyful Celtic Christmas Music: 83 is up from 58 Christmas Drinking Songs: 29 is up from 24

18:31 - PATREON

Patreon Subscribers: 152 is down from 158 Patreon Monthly Income: $946 is down from $968

Tier Changes in 2020:

GUNN RUNNERS: Behind-the-Scenes. $5 or more per month. Includes:

DOWNLOAD new MP3s that are recorded and mixed before they are released. Plus get rough mixes of new songs

EARLY ACCESS to some publicly available content

GO BEHIND-THE-SCENES with the Stories from the Road podcast. I share my adventures, thoughts and news exclusively with you.

HERO. $10 or more per month. You'll get everything above, plus

BOOTLEG audio recordings of coffee shows and some concerts.

LEARN how to play my songs with PDF sheet music. Make a request for a song you'd like to learn.

SAVE 25% off everything in my MageRecords.com store!

ACCESS to over 40 Bootleg Concerts, both audio and video and 7 Full-Length Albums.

SUPERHERO. $25 or more per month. Includes:

SPECIAL THANKS to you in each new single that is released.

One-time Physical Copy of "Heroes" CD, autographed at your request, after 3 months of membership at this level

24:17 - GOALS FOR 2020

My success is ultimately defined by how I inspire you. So if you are sharing, enjoying, And creating, then I am successful.  And if all that happens, then I should see an increase in everything I do in online.

So many people focus on metrics. But that distracts from the point of what we are trying to do.

Hopefully, this will inspire you to create your own goals for 2020.

I spent a lot of time in December trying to plan my next year. I haven't even thought about that five, ten or twenty year plan. I just needed to get in control of THIS YEAR'S plan. But I feel I did.

BEST WAYS TO GROW MY FANBASE

Live Shows

Promote hit songs

Give away free music

Irish & Celtic Music Podcast

Music videos. Covers, keywords or popular songs.

One evening video concert per month. Second Thursday of the month at 8:30 pm.

Coffee. At least one newbie concert a month. Create an event. Last

BEST WAY TO SUPPORT EXISTING FANS

Live Shows

Marc’s Musings. Should I go monthly? or bi-monthly?

Irish & Celtic Music Podcast

Pub Songs Podcast

Stories from the Road

In the Verse

Teach fans to play/sing along. Monthly tutorial.

Video Singles

New music

Build Community

One evening video concert per month. Second Thursday of the month at 8:30 pm.

Coffee. At least one newbie concert a month. Create an event. Last

30:35 - BEST STRATEGIES

Perform live

Increase mailing list. With free Lead generator.

Promote top videos and songs

33:40 - MUSIC

Release Selcouth

Release 3 singles with other musicians

Hero of Christmas

Hobbit tune with Samantha Gillogly

Molly Malone with Jesse Ferguson

Write 10 new songs

Hit #1 on reverbnation in March.

Teach online how to sing and play 10 songs. Also videos.

Release 10 sheet music pieces

38:35 - GIGGING

Play 6 new venues

Play 8 monthly internet concerts

Play 24 coffee shows. 12 episodes over two seasons.

Play 2 house concerts

Contact 20 conventions

40:18 - PODCASTS

Pub Songs Podcast. 2 podcasts per month. 20.

Commit to one more year of the pub Songs Podcast. And I see if it has done me any good. Or should I do just monthly? What if I plan each episode in advance to do about songs? For new album? Or classic song?

12 about a song episodes. 2nd episode of the month.

10 episodes custom to promote stories

Stories from the Road. Weekly. 45

Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Weekly. 48

Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast. Monthly. 11

In the 'Verse. Monthly. 10

43:03 - VIDEO

1 Official music video for a CD.

3 travel videos to promote Celtic invasion vacations

8 videos of me singing live some of my most-popular songs

1 videos of me singing along with myself on a song

1 official off-the-wall music video. Fun and silly. Unrelated to the music played.

update YouTube channel to reflect Celtic Geek

46:26 - SALES

Bandcamp sales. $300 per month. $3600 for the year.

Social = 10000 followers on YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, mailing list

Thanks as always for supporting my music. Remember. You can help me create and release more music. Join the Gunn Runners Club to step behind-the-scenes with bonus podcasts, new music, videos, and live concerts. Slainte!

#CFMonthly

Check out this episode!