2017 Resolutions + 2016 Favorite Books + More Shtuff

Happy (belated) New Year, everyone!

I always get reflective and way too introspective around this time of year. First off – thank you. In 2016, thanks to your support, I released three new Patreon-backed projects! They were:

1. Simulating The World In Emoji  
2. We Become What We Behold
3. To Build A Better Ballot 

And now, some honest reflection on these past projects. Three projects in a year seems like a lot, but I'm bummed I didn't do more – it was nine months between Simulating and WBWWB. Nine months. That's enough time to make a new human.

But hey, quality > quantity, and I'm still pretty proud of the work I managed to get done last year – all with your feedback and support! WBWWB was my most artistically ambitious game I've created, and it was both timely and timeless. Ballot was the most in-depth Explorable Explanation I've ever made, showing off what can be done with the new medium of Explorables! Simulating, in hindsight, had a messy execution, but I think its core ideas are still powerful and still worth expanding upon.

...Also I just realized all my projects' titles this year are exactly five words long. I swear that was not intentional.

So, what's next, in 2017? Well, I wrote a lil' bit about three guiding stars that I want to follow this next year. Think of it as my way-too-overbloated New Year's Resolutions:

A Constellation of Guiding Stars (~10 min read)

And if your New Year's Resolutions include "reading more books", well, have I got a list of recommendations for you! Here are the 18 most meaningful books – science, stories, and miscellaneous – that I read last year: 

The Most Meaningful Books I Read in 2016 (~20 min read)

Finally, to tease at some upcoming projects: here's a sneak peek at a new tool I'm working on (GIF: a feedback-loop simulation of bipolar disorder ) and here's a short comic I made for Better Angels, a group working to depolarize our politics.

I'm so excited to make a whole lot of cool and/or meaningful stuff for you peeps – no, with you peeps – in 2017! Truly, I couldn't ask for a more lovely group of fans and friends.

Here's to a brand new year. 🍻

<3,
~ Nicky Case

P.S: My Patreon just hit $1,000/month! Ahhh!! Thank you!!! ❤️