Who am I?

My name is Josh Bycer and I've been studying Game Design and the Industry since 2007. I've been published several times on Gamasutra and have been building a reputation for providing quality, informative pieces. In late 2012 I took a step forward and opened Game-Wisdom: A site dedicated to critically examining game design and the industry.

Focusing on quality analysis of games and well-thought-out pieces about the industry. Throughout 2013, I've had a chance to talk to a number of developers such as Jon Schafer, Chris Hecker and more. We do this via our weekly podcast where we talk about design, current news in the industry and if we have a designer on the cast, their latest or upcoming title.

What makes our podcasts unique is the fact that we talk critically about game development and the industry with people making video games; something that no one else is doing right now.

From the beginning I wanted Game-Wisdom to be a source of quality writing and realizing how much they distract from the tone of the site, I made the site ad free. Since then I've been working daily to keep new content on the site and find new guests for the podcast.

I have expanded in recent months to doing live presentations relating to game design and the industry for libraries and community centers to help spread the word and talk to the wider audience about the industry. I'm also an author with the " Game Design Deep Dive" series and "20 Essential Games to Study".

YouTube:

Since late 2015, we have been growing with more video-based content on YouTube.
This includes streams of a variety of games, live interviews with developers and my popular vlog series: A Critical Thought. The Critical Thoughts are daily topics relating to all manner of game design, with many pitched by the fans. We have managed to hit over 2K subscribers and are continuing to grow. The next goal is to go for 10k subscribers.

What will pledges be going towards?

I am hoping that with Patreon, I can secure monthly funding to help keep the site going and allow me to focus full time on making Game-Wisdom the best that it can be. The current goal is to add back more detailed analysis to the channel in the form of Dissecting Designs and Game Design Lectures. Dissecting designs are complete looks and breakdowns of a game's design from beginning to end.

While the lectures are longer talks on a design topic with multiple examples done live, and then those are edited down as videos. The problem is that both take a long time to plan, edit, and prepare for, and something I can't just do on a whim anymore with trying to do other work. By hitting the goals each month, I can afford to take time to focus on them while having enough money to support myself and my household.

Discord Channel:

The newest feature for patrons is the Game-Wisdom private discord channel. It's where people interested in talking about game design and the industry are welcomed. Moving forward, anyone can join via this link: https://discord.gg/MFdkhMz. The basic membership just grants you access to the discord; you must donate to the patreon to get voting privileges. Anyone who donates at least $5 gets a higher title and access to patreon-exclusive channels. There will be a specific discord channel for voting for anyone who donates, but the $5 and up supporters will get access to the VIP-exclusive channels.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my Patreon page. If you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to visit Game-Wisdom.com and our YouTube channel.

Music Credits:

First Song -- Monochrome by Justin "AdieuWinterâ€ http://empyrean-s.bandcamp.com/

Second Song -- Mist by John "Pfrequencyâ€ https://soundcloud.com/pfrequency