ItsZebraTV interview: making a story out of a bad idea

I try to look beyond what the developer intended the player to do and think about what ridiculous situation I could create within the game’s mechanics.

Simulator games are especially great for this because they’re usually designed around running a business, making money, or completing tasks efficiently. My first instinct is often to ask, “Okay, but what if I did this in the absolute worst way possible?”

For example, with Bookshop Simulator, I came up with the idea of running a bookstore while only selling one book. The game gives you all these opportunities to expand your inventory and grow your business, but deliberately restricting myself creates an entirely different experience.

Suddenly, there’s a story. Can I actually make this work? How badly will it go? Will I somehow become successful despite making terrible business decisions?

That’s what I’m looking for. The game provides the playground, but the challenge gives viewers a reason to stick around and see what happens.

I generally go into a recording with a clear premise, a few goals, and a rough idea of how I’d like the video to unfold.

But I don’t want to script the actual gameplay too heavily because some of the funniest moments happen when everything falls apart.

Simulator games are unpredictable in a way that makes them perfect for this. You might start recording with a perfectly reasonable plan, and 20 minutes later you’ve created a financial disaster, ruined a customer’s day, or discovered a mechanic that completely changes the direction of the video.

I think there’s a balance between planning enough to make the video interesting and allowing yourself to react naturally.

The challenge also has to be understandable immediately. I want someone who’s never heard of the game to understand what I’m attempting and why it might be entertaining.

Ideally, the viewer is following a story rather than just watching somebody play a game.

Absolutely, although I think audience feedback can come in different forms.

My channels are still relatively small, so I’m not going to pretend I have a massive community directing every decision. But I pay attention to which ideas connect with people, especially when the results surprise me.

One example is TCG Card Shop Simulator. I’ve spent a lot of time with that game, but one of my Shorts performed particularly well compared with some of my longer content.

It reinforced something I’ve been learning: sometimes viewers connect more with a funny, self-contained moment than with the actual management or progression systems of a game.

That has influenced how I think about future videos. Instead of asking only whether a game has enough content to record, I increasingly ask whether there’s a memorable situation, character, or story hiding inside it.

I also try not to assume my perspective is the only interesting one. Different players find entirely different things entertaining about the same game, and that’s something I want to keep learning from as the community grows.

A big part of it came from realizing how quickly YouTube content can disappear from people’s attention.

You can spend hours recording and editing a video, publish it, and then watch it gradually disappear into the enormous amount of content being uploaded every day. But the information and experience inside that video can still be useful months or even years later.

That’s what motivated me to start developing ItsZebra.tv into something more substantial than a basic creator website. I wanted a place where someone searching for a specific game, a gameplay question, or recommendations for their next simulator could discover my content without needing YouTube to recommend it first.

The written side also serves a different purpose. Someone might not want to watch a 40-minute video to figure out whether a game is worth buying. They might prefer a quick review, a guide, or a list of similar games.

That’s where my Cyber Stripe rating system comes in. It’s my way of giving people an at-a-glance understanding of a game while keeping some personality in the reviews. Horror games even get a “Soiled Pants Risk” rating, which probably tells you everything you need to know about how seriously I take myself.

I’m also trying to connect everything together. A game can have its own review, guide, recommendation listing, and YouTube playthrough, all accessible from one place.

Ultimately, I’d love for ItsZebraTV to become somewhere people visit specifically to discover unusual games, rather than somewhere they only end up after watching one of my videos.

The developers who make the biggest impression are usually the ones who respect a creator’s time and demonstrate that they’ve actually looked at what the channel covers.

A recent example was an indie horror developer who discovered my submission page and sent over a concise explanation of their game, why it might fit my horror channel, a gameplay preview, and an offer of access without any obligation to cover it. That’s exactly the kind of approach I appreciate.

It doesn’t need to be an elaborate email. Give me a clear idea of what makes the game interesting, provide a Steam page or playable demo, and let me decide whether there’s something I can do with it.

A proper press kit is also extremely helpful. Screenshots, logos, gameplay footage, and accurate release information make it much easier to put together a professional video or written feature.

As for mistakes, the biggest one is treating every gaming creator as interchangeable. Sometimes I’ll receive pitches that have absolutely nothing to do with either of my channels. You can usually tell when someone has sent the same message to hundreds of people without checking who they’re contacting.

Another thing I’d encourage developers to remember is that a smaller creator can’t always promise immediate coverage. Many of us are balancing content creation with full-time jobs and other responsibilities.

And receiving a review key shouldn’t create an expectation of positive coverage. An honest review benefits everyone more in the long run.

I think the best relationships happen when developers and creators understand that they’re both trying to get something they’re passionate about in front of the right audience.