Genius Red Dead Redemption 2 livestreamer put himself in the game

YouTuber and Twitch streamer Blurbs is known for some of his wackier game mods and live video projects: He’s modded a stock market into Grand Theft Auto V; used text-to-speech to allow his Twitch chat to voice Skyrim‘s NPCs; and even livestreamed from Tamriel.

But Blurbs’ latest project might be his funniest yet. During a livestream on Aug 4, he inserted himself into Red Dead Redemption 2, using two cell phones rubber-banded together.

Blurbs took to social media to share clips from the stream, which show him riding in a hot air balloon, receiving an unwanted bath from an NPC, and laying down on in-game train tracks. Naturally, Polygon wanted to know what was going on in this guy’s head. Speaking over email, Blurbs explained the inspiration — and the rubber band method — behind the madness.

Our first question: Where on Earth did this idea come from?

“I was supposed to be working on an upcoming ‘I made your dumb ideas into mods’ video on YouTube, but got sidetracked thinking of ways to make more unique short-form content,” Blurbs, who prefers to go by his online moniker, says. “I wondered if I could film stuff from within the game. Not just a green screen, but actually projecting myself into the 3D space. So I started coding to see if it was possible!”

This was no small task however. Blurbs tells Polygon the tools he employed to get the project working included two cell phones stuck together with a rubber band, a custom Red Dead Redemption 2 mod, OBS, background-removal tech, visual filters, a custom Unity app, and “a really shitty selfie stick I had laying around.”

“The most challenging part by far is managing all of those moving parts at once,” he said. “To get the effect just right everything has to be perfect. It’s quite the headache.”

But the headache was worth it in the end. Blurbs says that the project took three days to complete, and that he plans to post a full video to YouTube once he perfects his methodology.

“For me, the most fun thing about any of my projects is accomplishing what I set out to make, getting to share it with people on Twitch/YT/etc., and seeing people’s reactions,” he said.

As for what’s next, Blurbs says he plans to continue working on perfecting his self-insert Red Dead Redemption 2 mod, along with taking viewer requests. Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the streamer’s favorite games, he says, in large part because it’s so mod-friendly.

“The fact that we have access to so many tools means I can ruin the game in so many stupid ways,” he says. “And that brings me (and hopefully others!) so much joy.”