As part of my birthday bash livestream earlier this month, we had a stretch goal for a studio tour video. My viewers funded that stretch goal, so let’s take a little look through the studio!
True to my interests, the room is a mix of fantasy decor and retro gaming memorabilia, with three book shelves covered in little figurines, treasure chests, and more.
Watch the video and then we can chat a little bit about my setup.
Here’s some info about my janky livestream setup:
- Elgato Facecam Mk2
- Elgato Streamdeck XL
- $5 thrift store mic arm
- Hardware store can lights with dollar store tissue paper diffusers
- Cheapo “Oh hey we’re all doing Zoom” Covid Special USB microphone w/ pop filter
Most of my streaming setup is pretty low budget. When I first started streaming, I was using my phone as a camera, using the DroidCam app. This worked pretty well, but I didn’t like I didn’t have easy access to my phone for emergencies and it was difficult to control settings like zoom and exposure.
Earlier this year, I upgraded to an Elgato Facecam Mk.2, which has been amazing. It’s got great picture quality and some robust settings, but it does have a finicky issue where it likes to drop my settings when I reboot. Still working out how to fix that.
With viewer donations and some funds from my editing work, I was able to pick up an Elgato Streamdeck XL on sale, which has really helped with transitions and effects during my livestreams.
The rest of my setup is dirt cheap. I found a mic arm at a local thrift store — this is a great tip if you’re just getting into streaming. Online video content creation has a huge burnout rate, so you can often find barely used gear at thrift stores, yard sales, or local online marketplaces for cheap prices.
My lights are hardware store can lights from Lowes’ with some LED bulbs. I use dollar store white tissue paper as diffusers, held on with some zip ties. Overall, these were really inexpensive, but make sure to check the heat output on your bulbs before adding the tissue paper. My bulbs stay pretty cool and I check them regularly for signs of heat, but if your bulbs get too hot, they could be a fire hazard.
Eventually I’d like to upgrade these to some professional photography bulbs with softboxes, but this works for now.
Finally, my microphone is just a simple USB microphone that I picked up back during the Covid lockdowns when I needed one for work. I did add a pop filter to remove some background noise, and use some OBS audio filters to help make my audio sound decent.
Computer Specs
- Two 27″ monitors (Asus and Acer)
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor
- Nvidia GEFORCE RTX 2060 video card
- 4 sticks of 16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR4 memory (64 gb total)
- Red Dragon K556 keyboard
- Logitech G502 mouse
- 8Bitdo SN30 Pro game controller (wired)
- Old school Xbox 360 game controller (wired)
My computer also dates to the Covid-19 pandemic. My old PC was on its last legs, so I used some of the government stimulus money I received to purchase a prebuilt Skytech Shiva gaming PC.
I’ve made some upgrades to it since then, replacing the memory, processor, and fans.
Both of my monitors were purchased secondhand. I wish they were the same model, because there’s some slight color difference between them. The Acer has better picture, but the Acer has a better mount. One day I’d like to upgrade to matching monitors (and possibly add a third, but I’d need to get a different desk for that.)
The mouse and keyboard that came with the computer were both pretty lackluster, so I replaced them. For years, my go-to keyboard was a Logitech G510 I’d had since college, but it finally bit the dust.
I replaced it with a Red Dragon K556, which lacked the macro keys (but the Stream Deck takes care of that). I’ve got it paired with a Logitech G502 mouse, which has a nice selection of buttons and customizable weights.
Finally, I swap between two game controllers, depending on what I’m playing. Most of the time, I use an 8bitdo SN30 Pro wired controller that I got for Christmas in 2024. I like the small form factor and the retro feel for most of the games that I play.
I also use an old Xbox 360 controller, which is still one of my favorite gaming controllers of all time. It’s heavier than the SN30 Pro, though, and one of the joysticks is missing some of the rubber, so it doesn’t get as much use these days.
I opted for wired controllers (and a wired mouse) mainly because I do almost all of my gaming at my computer, so there’s only a couple feet between my office chair and the tower where the controller plugs in. I like that I don’t have to fiddle with battery charging or latency issues.
Decor and Collections
Most of the decor and figurines on the shelves came from thrift stores or yard sales, though some was purchased on Ebay or Etsy.
I have a fair number of Super Mario figurines, most of which are fairly modern. Mario-themed McDonalds toys and plushies turn up in thrift stores all the time, so I always keep an eye out for them.
The rest is a mishmash of Voltron, Aliens, Star Wars, Final Fantasy, LEGO, Mega Man, and Gundam stuff.
Upcoming Livestreams
Every week, I livestream videogames on YouTube.
Diamonds & Dragons Minecraft
On Wednesdays, I stream a series called Diamonds & Dragons Minecraft where I take classic maps from Dungeons and Dragons modules and maps from modern TTRPG creators and turn them into Minecraft builds.
We’ve just finished up Marpenoth Hall by Dyson Logos, and we’ll soon start on the dungeon from In Search of the Unknown.
My Rocketfuel Ko-fi members get an exclusive build in this Minecraft world as well. For as little as $1 a month, you can support this blog and my YouTube channel and get a unique Minecraft build in your honor.
Diamonds & Dragons Minecraft airs every Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST.
Final Fantasy 6: T-Edition
I recently started a livestream of Final Fantasy VI: T-Edition, a fan-made romhack that adds new items, enemies, quests, bosses, music, and more.
Overall, the T-Edition romhack makes fewer early-game changes than Final Fantasy IV Ultima did, but I’m still enjoying it so far. As we progress deeper into the game, I hope we’ll see more changes.
The fourth episode of Final Fantasy VI: T-Edition will air on Thursday at 7 p.m. EST.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Because of the recent announcement of Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, I decided to play back through Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a great metroidvania from former Castlevania designer Koji Igarashi.
I’ve only aired one episode of this so far, but it airs on Fridays at 7 p.m. EST.
Sunday Night NES
Every Sunday night I livestream classic NES games, mostly platformers. We’ve played a bunch of great games, some of which are personal favorites from my childhood, while many others are games I’ve never played before.
Sunday Night NES airs every Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.
Special Livestream Events
Aside from my regularly scheduled streams, I’ve got some special events coming up soon:
Four Against Darkness Solo TTRPG Livestream
On August 3rd, 2025, I’ll be playing some Four Against Darkness on stream, a solo dungeon-delving TTRPG. This was another of the stretch goals from my birthday bash stream, and I can’t wait to get into it.
I actually picked up a copy of Four Against Darkness ages ago, but it’s just been sitting on my shelf since then.
As I play the game, I’ll be asking chat viewers for input on decisions as we explore the dungeon.
Wobblerocket Art Livestream w/ Mario Paint SNES
On August 24th, I’ll be holding a special art stream using Mario Paint for the SNES. Considering that my art skills are middling at best and painting with a mouse isn’t the easiest thing in the world, this should be hilariously bad, but I’ll be taking doodle requests from players.
We may even play the built in fly-swatting game, or try to compose some music with the music function.
