ncase
patreon
My next project + Vote on the future of my Patreon!
🕑 Added 2019-10-29 15:57:41 +0000 UTCTHE IMPORTANT BIT: Vote on the future of my Patreon via 👉THIS SURVEY 👈. Thank you thank you! 💖
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Thank you so much for all the replies to my previous post! If you recall, it was a mix of existential dread + 11 project ideas.
...I figured out my next project idea!
As with all my major life decisions, I used a spreadsheet. A row for each project, a column for each decision criteria, each cell a rating from 0 to 5. (This is the one useful tip I remember from Thinking Fast & Slow)
Quantum Computing In Playable Pictures and Statistics Without The Excruciating Pain were big runner-ups – I still wanna make 'em someday! – but the winner right now is clear:
An all-in-one, free, online, open-source voice training app for trans/non-binary folk!
I personally want to androgynize my voice, I'd learn the Web Audio API + the physics of voice, it'd give me an excuse to collaborate with my many queer friends, and doing this project actually seems like fun. (Besides: every existing voice-training app I've tried so far was crucially flawed in two or more ways. An itch in this niche.)
Here's a screenshot of my first prototype, with in-browser spectrogram!
And here's a GIF of a more recent prototype:
Hang on, my anxiety wolf (their name's Hofstadter, coz talking to a sub-agent in my mind is a strange loop) wants to say something:
Thanks Hof, that's a fair concern! I know the whole revelation in my last post was "hey, maybe my own needs & values should have a higher coefficient in my moral utility function", but I feel like what I'm making should be a bit valuable to, y'know, the ~1200 people funding me to make it. (i.e you) So, this Voice Trainer app will be simultaneously released with another project:
An explanation of the physics of sound + voice! (this is a part of the voice-training, anyway)
Waves! Spectrograms! Fourier transforms! Formants! Fricatives! Resonance! Psycho-acoustics of gender perception! I've spent hours looking at disgusting videos of people's vocal cords, so it better be worth it.
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This Patreon is, thanks to your love, my full source of income. 💖
We're coming up on my Patreon's 5-year anniversary! This started in December 2014. It was right after Vi Hart & I released Parable of the Polygons, which got unexpectedly popular, so Vi said "oh dang Nicky you oughta bank on this before the social media cycle forgets it". So I hastily slapped some rewards together... and my Patreon's been the same ever since.
Since 5 years ago. Some stuff's changed since then:
- Patreon + payment processor fee increases.
- Patreon UI changes. (Patreon's new interface makes it seem like you can't pledge outside of the non-sold-out reward tiers.)
- Good ol' monetary inflation.
- I realized my rewards were seriously un-scaleable. (The last batch of Hand-Drawn Peeps took me longer to fulfil than actual explorables I've made like Fireflies, Attractors, and Sight & Light)
But, I've always been reluctant to change the Patreon tiers, because:
But recently I reconsidered, because a couple patrons themselves reached out to me suggesting I increase the tiers.
However, I still want to be fair, so I'll leave the future of this Patreon up to... you! Let's have a vote! (SURVEY HERE & link again later) For inspiration, I looked at the Patreons of creators I adore. Here's some changes I'm considering:
Possible NEW Patron-Exclusive Rewards???
(Why not "yes" to all? The downside of each is they'll take varying amounts of time to implement)
- 💬 Discord chat secret club. Basically every other Patreon I know now does this.
- 🤖 "What's Nicky Learning?" A monthly review of papers, books, videos, etc I've "consumed" + skills I'm trying to learn.
- 📹 A monthly vlog.
- 📹 Monthly Q&A Livestreams.
- 🚮 Access to weekly "builds", no matter how WIP or incomplete.
- 🖼 Laptop/phone wallpapers. A scaleable but artsy reward!
- ❤️Different your-name-in-credits rewards. For example, $2/mo: your name in a Wall of Thanks on my site. $5/mo: your name's highlighted in gold. $10/mo: your name in in-game credits, etc. (Many YouTubers have different tiers for on-website vs in-video-description vs in-video credits)
- 💙Discord name rewards. e.g. at some level your Discord username gets a flair or rainbow colors or something?
- 📓 Photos from my sketchbook. Lots of terrible handwriting and scribbled designs for future/past projects. (If any pics have "spoilers", I'll clearly mark them and put them behind a link.)
- ⏰ 24-hour early access to new stuff before launch. I'm honestly surprised I don't already do this.
Possible Changes to EXISTING Patreon Rewards???
- Drop the $1 "just a thank you" tier? On one hand, the $1 tier doesn't do anything, and there may be an "anchor effect" bringing the avg pledge down. On the other hand, I don't want to discourage & exclude folks with less disposable income?
- Drop the "$10 Hand-Drawn Peep" tier, or increase it to $50/mo? Of course, if I do this, I'll fulfil all backlog Peeps first. Maybe open up some new slots so anyone who missed it before can get it before it's gone! Coz, this reward turned out to be completely un-scaleable, and at its current pledge level, it always sells out, so people always feel left out.
- A bunch of high, you're-awesome-thank-you-but-there's-no-actual-extra-reward-here tiers. Coz Patreon's annoying new interface makes it seem like if there's no tier at a certain amount, you CAN'T pledge at that amount.
I can't decide! Or rather, I've decided I want you to decide. So, vote here:
👉 THE FUTURE OF NICKY'S PATREON: DEMOCRATIZED 👈
Also: next month, I'll finally make a Patreon video. Five years late. Coz Patreon's new UI truncates my "About This Page" text by default, so my lack of video is a big detriment now. Ugh.
Also x2: you may remember the many Patreon PR scandals the past couple years. While I still deeply appreciate Patreon, I think it's best if I set up a few alternatives. Eggs & baskets etc. I'll set up a Ko-Fi for one-time pledges, and I may consider Github Sponsors.
Either way, thank you for reading this, for helping me figure out how to move forward, and thank you so so so much for supporting me – gifting me the financial stability, and thus creative autonomy, to keep making weird and hopefully-helpful stuff.
Here's to 5 more years, and beyond! 🍺💕🍺
<3,
~ Nicky
Comments
Voyage Goya
Trans person here, just to say that seeing such a project already fills me with joy and gratitude. Also from drama, singing, tabletop RPG and LARP points of view this is pure gold. Good luck with this new project, can't wait to see its progression!
Dragon King Development
case, my voice is fucked through being silent for a couple years while working through the housing system. it would be really nice to have a toll i can speak to since im too anxious to just go around training my voice in public :D maybe i should work on the anxiety first :thinking_emoji: that aside, i would like to get ahold of oyu on discord or telegram, theres something ive wanted to collaborate with you on.
Liz Av
You should totally make a "review patreon tiers" a regularly scheduled thing. This should allow for a good balance between commitment and flexibility.
Zener
I am not trans or non-binary but that voice trainer that voice trainer sounds useful for me with practicing different voices
MetaSwan
As a non-binary dungeon master, I am all over this project!
Shey
I'm curious to see how it goes and so glad you picked the thing you are most excited about/the one that has most points! ^_^
Roseaboveit Showing Up
1) totally reasonable for the lowest tier to be 2-3 dollars, not 1. If folks can't afford that increase then they can consider waiting until they can or find another way to tip you. I say this as someone who has spent the majority of my life in poverty. When the difference is between 1 and 3 dollars per month and it is a stressor, I shouldnt have been contributing at all. 2) highly recommend having a high bar going forward for tiers that require individual effort from you. 3) aggregate awards such as vlogs and live streams are excellent because no matter how many people show up it is the same amount of predictable work for you. 4) lots of tiers sounds good. While there is a risk of having too many leading to analysis paralysis, if each one is sufficiently different in amount and rewards I think it is a great way to engage with all levels of fans.
Cassandra Xia
+1! And as a data point, even as a non-non-binary person I actively set out to lower my voice in middle school because I thought my natural voice was "high pitched and annoying" :(. Middle school...
Erin
empowering diverse communities will require many diverse solutions 🍺💕
Raphael Reitzig
FWIW, many non-queers could profit from a voice trainer. Sound more pleasing on air, more robust giving talks, avoid squeeks, etc pp. So I think what you're looking at here is an opportunity to build something for everybody that just happens to be of particular value to some queers.
Ki Gniark
I'm for the voice trainer to help singer and voice imitator too. It could improve my storytelling by the way.
The Roots of Progress
Hey, thanks for being so considerate and thoughtful, but as a supporter I just want to say: don't worry about what I want you to make. I'm a supporter so that you can keep making, and pursue the creative vision that is the most inspiring to you. Follow that, wherever it leads!
Daniel Delaney
Yes, PLEASE take my money and make things that help trans and non-binary folk (no Hofstadter, I’m not joking)! If they help anyone else that’s just extra!
Nicky Case
Ooh good point! Yeah I also realized it may be helpful for singers & voice actors, too. (Some of the research rabbit-holes I've been following have led me to singing/voice acting resources, coz those folks also want to learn how to control vocal qualities precisely)
Seanny123
Beyond trans and non-binary folk, it's also helpful for people trying to learn different voices for the purposes of acting and Dungeon Mastering. (:
Aeryn Light
I hope we get to help beta test! I'm looking forward to it.
LKMJ
Hi Nicky I'm also non-binary and I think your new project idea is AWESOME 💜🖤 Keep up the good work !
