Speedrun Explained 50: Update 3 (& a few notes/thoughts on upcoming plans and Patreon structure)

Hey all, a couple updates on videos and upcoming Patreon things I've been kicking around in my head.

First off, the next video, Hollow Knight Any% (No Major Glitches) is coming along very very smoothly! I just finished writing the first draft of the script for it, clocking in just shy of 15,000 words. This is pretty typical for my videos in terms of script length, and I expect the final video to probably be somewhere around 45-50 minutes long. The writing process for it was maybe the smoothest writing process I've had in quite some time, and I'm super excited to move forward to recording and editing! Right now the script is in the hands of the runner for them to review, and hopefully I'm able to get the ball rolling on making the video itself no later than next week on Wednesday. That video for sure will be done for you all to view here on Patreon by the end of March (though I reason it should be done at least a week or two before then).

Now, on to other stuff. First is videos that are in production I need to mention. The Control video is still in production, and the runner is still currently recording clips of the changed route. They believe they should wrap up with recording sometime in the next week, and we'll then try to schedule a call ASAP after that's done so I can get the ball rolling on completing the script for it (which again sits at around 1/3 done). There's also the Super Mario Odyssey Any% run that was chosen in the most recent Patron's Choice. I have not reached out to a runner for that yet, but I plan to in the coming week or so. The last bit of housekeeping is that I still owe you guys a poll for a new SPEEDRUN EXPLAINED, where I'm the one who picks the runs in it (reward for hitting 375 Patrons). I'd say you should expect that very soon (maybe as soon as tomorrow).

Now onto the last bit of stuff to discuss, changes to the Patreon structure. I should say up front, this is all subject to change. I've talked about wanting to do this a lot in the past, and most recently on the most recent Q&A stream. I've been kicking around a lot of ideas for it, and right now, this is what I'm leaning towards. I am planning on changing the tiers that you're able to pick for membership. Currently there are two tiers ($1/$5), with the only real difference being that $5 has the reward of your name being included at the end of videos in the credits. I'd like to say in advance that if you are subscribed with one of these tiers, you should be able to keep that membership tier when the new tiers are implemented. I have to double check, but I'm pretty sure the way Patreon works is that you will keep your membership at its current price, and only if you cancel your membership and want to re-join, you'd have to pick one of the new tiers. Anyway, enough burying the lede, what I'm currently leaning towards is a $3/$6/$9 tier setup. What I'm thinking is that the $3 tier is exactly the same as the $5 tier currently. You'd get access to updates, videos early, polls, name at the end of the video, etc. So it's a slight price increase from the current lowest tier, but you get as much as the current high tier. So what do the $6 and $9 tiers provide? Well I'm thinking of beginning to do a couple new things for Patreon. First is I'm leaning towards removing the Q&A from goals and having it be just a monthly thing or something like that. If I did that, it would likely be something that's accessible to only people in the $6 tier and up. Additionally, I've been wanting to go through all my SPEEDRUN EXPLAINEDs (starting with what I consider to be the first one with my Fallout 4 video from early 2018) and watch them and take notes about things I like and don't like. More or less study my old videos for ideas/concepts that I had that might've gotten lost to time, and review/commentate them more or less. This has been a personal project I've been putting off for quite some time and figure that it would make for a good behind-the-scenes type thing for Patrons. This would probably be something that is gated behind either the $6 tier or $9 tier. I would probably then release the videos publicly on my 2matoanus channel a year after I make them available on Patreon, and release them on Patreon at a rate of about one per month. I'd likely also have the first one be available to everyone on Patreon just so everyone can check out if it's something they'd be interested in and like to up to the higher tier to get, and probably release publicly as well as a mini-advertisement for Patreon. Other than that, it'd be gated to the $6 or $9 tier (for a year). The last time I'm considering doing is kind of like a monthly production recap/wrap-up/talk solo-podcast type thing exclusive to either the $6 or $9 tier. I'd probably sit down and talk about everything going on with the videos, things that made a video easy or hard to make, talk about thoughts on videos that I recently released, talk about upcoming videos, maybe talk a little about speedruns in general if there's anything going on in general, just a small thing that I'd edit together myself and release monthly. I think that between making the videos, doing a Q&A, and recording both a solo-podcast and the commentary/review videos, I could balance that all and get it done every month. I just want to be transparent with changes that might be happening since you'd all possibly be affected, and it's your money and I think transparency is key. If you do have any feedback on these ideas, or suggestions, or just any notes in general, then I ask that you please leave a comment on this post! I'm always open to more ideas for what type of content you guys would like to see here on Patreon to make it more worth your while.

That's about all though! Sorry for the giant wall of text. Hope you're all doing well!