December Plans and News

Another month has passed and I must say that from my perspective that went quick! 

I'll try to keep this short and give a quick high-level update on what's going on and elaborate on each topic later on. 

Anniversary Coming

In December this Patreon and Miska's Maps have been around for 4 years! Time has gone by fast! Thank you for supporting my work. I would not be around without you. 

December maps

In December I'm going to make at least 4 maps. The December Map Poll has ended and the results are in: 

1) Cyberpunk city block - 28 votes (got a little bump from 10 extra votes) 

2) Space opera style asteroid station with a hangar bay - 27 votes

3)  Cloning / cryogenic facility - 20 votes (5 extra votes)

4)  Crater colony camp - 14 votes

Focusing on Maps and More Maps

I've been thinking about the changes done to this Patreon in August 2019 and I have been happy with the changes and the direction this Patreon is going, but I would like to focus even more on making maps. I think it would be ideal if I could publish around 6 to 10 maps per month. Not perhaps all in color, but still. 

I have noticed that I enjoy much more making quick and simple maps that I can finish in an evening or two. 

In practice, this means that I'm going to simplify my workflow and cut down on unnecessary or time-consuming extra stuff. You can help me by taking part in this poll, or by sharing your thoughts on this in the comments. 

PDFs coming

By the end of the month I'm going to put together and release the following PDFs:

• A map collection including this year's map releases. (Hero tier and up)
• Mapvember 2019 collection (Adventurer tier and up)
• Inktober 2019 collection  (Adventurer tier and up) 

Merchandise

I've been talking about the merchandise and finally got to the bottom of it. I feel like there was some information withheld initially from the Patreon creators and after considering this, I decided to not get into this via Patreon. Mainly for the following reasons:

• Currently shipping only to US, Australia, and Canada.
• The prices would be really high for you. 
• I would have to pay for the merch sent and calculate their cost into the tiers. 

But, I'm considering setting up a webstore with some merch to buy for those who are interested. Details on this TBA. 

Streams

Streams are on a break until the 22nd of December until I can get some other stuff sorted out. After that, you can again join my mapping sessions twice a week on Twitch at twitch.tv/miskasmaps 

Targets for 2020

I started over-extending around a year ago and things got a bit too complicated to handle besides my family and day job. The past four or five months have been regrouping from this and getting things running smoothly again.  

For 2020 I plan to remain in this track and focus more on making sci-fi / modern battle maps and develop as a cartography streamer. I love to do fantasy maps too, but I'll have to see how they fit this picture. 

Kind of related to this...

Relaunch in January 2020?

I was invited to a six-week remote workshop by Patreon to learn more about being a Patreon creator and improving my offering on Patreon.

Based on what I've learned so far and my targets for 2020, I am considering a "soft" relaunch in January 2020. What this means, is that I would be re-thinking my tiers and simplify things - a lot. My reasoning is that the more simple the tiers are, the easier it is to manage the expectations and keep the maps flowing. 

Still, my priority is to make this easy for you.  In the best-case scenario, all changes would impact only new patrons.

But, I'd like to emphasize that I'm still considering and thinking about my options here. There is definitely some room for improvement. 

About Feedback

I just want to give a friendly reminder that if you cannot find your rewards or you are uncertain about something, please send me a message. I'm always happy to help and I've found out that some things that are obvious to me, might not be that to you.

Thanks! 

All the best, 

Miska

P.S. I cleaned up my page description and tier descriptions a bit. No changes were made at this point, I just tried to make texts more brief and punctual.