Update & Patreon Milestone Goals for 2023 (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

tl;dr: I have updated my patreon earning goals, details below. I'm making a lot less money these days and that sucks, and I need to turn it around to keep doing what I'm doing, but I'm optimistic and proud of my work this year.

Money is hard

This year for me has been kinda wild, and I'm working on a bit of a summary/update video as we speak. Patreon and my income has unfortunately, for many reasons, not been super hot.

I still earn a reasonably sustainable amount that can pay my bills, but my income has dropped substantially. Pair that drop with historic increases to energy costs in the UK and a more general, wide reaching cost of living crisis, and the fact I've invested quite a bit this year, most notably in paying editors to help with videos in these last couple of months, buying new microphone equipment and so on.

This results in a situation that leaves me... concerned, although not in immediate danger or panic. I have always lived fairly frugally and while on an income many seem to consider to be awfully low or even approaching the poverty line, I have somehow flourished. I saved a lot of money, spent generally little (probably less than I should have actually) and as a result have a safety net that means a year with a bit more out than in is not the end of the world for me.

But it does mean I need to grow. Hiring Vossel to do editing work has been life changing and such an essential step in taking my content further and doing any of the things I want to do, including complex projects like the Turn Based Battle project in any reasonable time frame. I have been trying to do too much myself for too long which is a big part of my stagnated growth. The problem is that right now, I can only afford Vossel's help for so long. Those savings I have made are paying for his work and my hope is that investment will see all of my work get better and grow, and hopefully my income grow with it in order to support it.

With all this in mind as I have talked about in the past, I've updated my Patreon milestone goals:

$2000 - Sustaining my work!

Continuously expanding my coverage of GameMaker and game development topics and tutorials, including remaking old guides for new versions and audiences is a lot of work that takes a full-time commitment. To support me as just one person doing that in the year of our lord 2022, I currently think it will take about this much per month at least.

Sadly, we are not quite at this goal anymore. We once came close to $2500! But that was a long time ago. So getting back to at least this point is my first my goal.

$2500 - Paying an Editor!

By being able to pay and work with a video editor I can create my regular content at a much faster pace. This lets me devote more time to research and scripting for more in-depth and advanced tutorials and a wider variety of content. At this goal I can sustainably pay an editor to help with every second or third video I create.

$3000 - Paying an Editor full time!

This is my dream right now. Hitting this goal would mean I could sustainably pay Vossel to work on a lot more of my content, increasing the quantity and quality of my work dramatically. Where I go from there is anyone's guess, but this is where I want to go first.

The future of my work:

Speaking of growing, I also want to do new kinds of work. My growth currently tracks very closely to just... global interest in GameMaker over time. I am the GameMaker person. I love GameMaker and it while it remains my tool of choice and central expertise, I want to branch out. I want to do more than just this eventually because otherwise I am forever tied to it and I'm limited by it. So while I know you're all here for my GameMaker stuff and that stuff is not going away, eventually I want to get to the point where it's not the only thing I make. I want to try other engines out, learn more about programming and game development, cover more tools and approaches to game development and expand my role as someone who helps  people get into this amazing hobby, community, passion and career. 

That's been my role since I started. I get people *into* GameMaker. I get them through the gates and from there they discover the discords, the community, the libraries by Juju, the extensions by YellowAfterLife, the game jams, the lot. But there are more ways than GameMaker, and I know I can do more than just this. But right now, maybe I can't. I need to grow! And for now that growth comes from my roots, which is from GameMaker, and the stuff that brought you all here. I'm not planning on abandoning GM or GM content, but I thought I should communicate my desire to do more, in the future. Let me know what you think about that.

Thanks everyone, as always, for your invaluable support.

-S