Who are you?

My name is Mike Stout and I've been a professional Video Game Designer for more than 13 years.

Oh yeah, what games did you work on?

With Insomniac Games:

• Ratchet and Clank 1, 2, and 3 (Playstation 2)
• Ratchet: Deadlocked (Playstation 3)
• Resistance: Fall of Man Multiplayer (Playstation 3)
• Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus (Playstation 3)
• Ratchet and Clank (Playstation 4)

With Activision:

• Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
• Skylanders: Giants
• Skylanders: Swap Force
• Skylanders: Trap Team

Why are you doing this Patreon thing?

One of my passions is teaching people about Game Design. I like to introduce it to people who've never heard what it's like, I like to teach junior designers, I like to help my peers, and I like to help those aspiring designers out there.

Over the years, I've done this both as my job and in my spare time. At Activision, my primary job was to fly around the country and help companies with their game designs. Post-Activision I've been mainly doing contract work on games, and while that's a lot of fun, I really miss doing education, funny as it sounds.

It occurred to me that maybe I had my priories backwards. Maybe I could do the education thing full time, and make games in my spare time.

This "Patreon thing" is my attempt at doing that.

Ok, what are you gonna make?

At a bare minimum, I'm going to write one blog a week. I'm also going to fulfill all the patron perks each month, which include live chats, Q&A sessions, and more.

The more Milestone Goals (see the column on the left) that we meet, the less I'm going to have to look for contract work to cover my expenses (rent, debt, bills, equipment, etc) and the more I'll be able to make.

I'd like to make ALL THE THINGS.

I want to do articles, blogs, streams, videos, podcasts, chats, live training sessions, and more. It's just a question of how much we can get going. 

And everything I do, I want to release to everyone for FREE. I don't want anyone to have to pay to get access to the information we create with this Patreon.

If you'd like to see the materials that have been created so far, they're here: http://www.chaoticstupid.com 

Wait, so if it's free... why am I paying?

Think of it as a recurring tip. It's like throwing a dollar in the hat for someone playing music you like when you pass him every month. It helps him keep playing that music for you.

Only in this case it's game design educational stuff instead of music. Also I'm the guy playing the glockenspiel in this story. 

All of the content will be available free for everyone, and if you become a patron, you'll be making that possible.

Additionally, there are a number of perks for donating different amounts of money. See the "pledge" section below this FAQ.

Do you have any examples of educational stuff you've done before?

I've written many on my blog at www.ongamedesign.net, but here are a few of my favorites:

• Why Do Games Cost So Much To Make
• Designing First-Person Shooter Multiplayer Maps
• A Rough Breakdown of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion's Critical Path

I've also been a repeat contributor at the Video Game Industry site www.gamasutra.com:

• Boss Battle Design and Structure
• Learning From the Masters: Level Design in The Legend of Zelda
• Evaluating Game Mechanics for Depth

Here is a podcast series I do with my good friend and colleague, Tony Garcia in our spare time (note, contains some naughty language):

• The Useless Podcast

Finally, here is a speech I gave at the Game Developer's Conference a few years ago on game design on Skylanders (note, contains some f-bombs):

• My 2012 GDC Speech on Skylanders

I've been looking at some of your other stuff, and you sort of have a potty-mouth. Are you going to have a potty-mouth on this stuff too?

I'm going to attempt to keep all materials I make PG13 (T for Teen in game-speak), including reigning in the profanity. If there are any exceptions, I'll make sure to mention my naughty verbiage at the beginning before you read/view/ingest the material, so you don't accidentally get any naughtiness you don't want.

A few rewards and milestones involve group activities. What if I don't want to participate in those?

If you'd like to donate and not participate, you'll still be able to view the results as either transcripts (for text chats) or videos (for video events like streams) after the events are concluded. No worries about hurting my feelings -- I can use the time to go make more things. =)

If one of these group events comes up and it turns out nobody wants to participate, I'll produce some kind of surprise and release it, instead. It could be a drawing, blog post, song, article, podcast, or anything really (hence, "surprise").

And if something doesn't work out, we can always change things around, create new tiers, new goals, etc. I'm new at this, so I'm sure it'll take some iteration to get everything right.