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What's Nicky Learning? (Jan 2020)

(reading time: 8 minutes)First off, thank y'all for the kind response to my What's Nicky Learnt This Decade? post! It means a lot to hear it resonated with you, and I didn't get cancelled on the internet over it. 💖Also, here's your monthly Wall of Thanks and Polygon Avatar rewards...

What's Nicky Learnt This Decade? (& more!)

Okay, I'm actually really nervous to share this.Here's a whole bunch of personal stories that I've never made public before – about being queer, going indie, and mental health:🌈 What Did I Learn This Decade? (2010-2019) 🌈💖 (35 min read. content note: some "heavy shit")...

Curse of the Chocolate-Covered Broccoli (+Updates!)

(reading time: 3 min)Thank y'all for the lovely response to the first-ever What's Nicky Learning? post! 💖 I'm pleased lots of you found it valuable, even specifically useful to your jobs.The full post is Patron-exclusive, but as promised, the Emotion in Learning section is now public,...

What's Nicky Learning? + Design Doodles (Nov 2019)

(total reading time: 18 minutes)Welcome to the first-ever, Patreon-exclusive WNL?+DD post!What's Nicky Learning: emotion in learning, the physics of sound, drawing from imagination, jugglingDesign Doodles: adventures with anxiety inside-out design, voice gender trainer 5000- - - - - - - - - - - ...

Patreon Changes, as voted by you!

(reading time: 3 min)But first, a video of my latest prototype of Voice Gender Trainer 5000, to prove I haven't been procrastinating.🎥 Spectrogram + Formants 🎥 (unlisted video) todo: actually explain what spectrograms & formants are.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

My next project + Vote on the future of my Patreon!

THE IMPORTANT BIT: Vote on the future of my Patreon via 👉THIS SURVEY 👈. Thank you thank you! 💖· · · · ·Thank you so much for all the replies to my previous post! If you recall, it was a mix of existential dread + 11 project ideas....I figured out my next project idea!As with all my maj...

Fearsonas + Patreon Rewards + What's Next?

First, thank you so SO much for the powerful response to Adventures With Anxiety! It means a lot to see that this story – inspired by my own life story – can help other folks' life stories, in some small way. 💖In fact, let me brag a bit, and show off the fanart folks have drawn of their o...

Adventures With Anxiety... is OUT!

After 7 long months, here it is here it is here it is!🐺 https://ncase.me/anxiety/ 🐺😱 browser, 30 min playtime 😱And if you are looking to tame your wolf, I also wrote a page with Mental Health Tips & Resources (+ a personal story of my mental health journey)💖Mental Health Tips feat. An...

Adventures With Anxiety Release Date: SEPTEMBER 17

This will be the last Progress Update before AwA... is... OUT! 🎉Since the past update, I playtested & polished up the game + added sound effects + made more art and animation. Here's some art from the credits:Beebee doing a rockstar dance:And here's what all the art & code & writing looks...

Progress Update: ALL ANIMATIONS ACCOMPLISHED

Alright! As of today:Acts I, II, and III are DONE.Act IV is ALMOST DONE. (art is done, just need to put spritesheets into the game)Here's a compilation of animations – modified to avoid spoilers! – from Acts III and IV:Also, here's a sneak listen at a musical track from Act III:🎵 Adve...

Progress Update: Lots & lots of animation

So how's my slightly-overscoped anxiety simulator doing? In the last 3 weeks, I did: Four in-person playtests! The first two were good, but the players felt one of the antagonists was unrealistic. After fixing the dialogue & clarifying that character's motivations, the next two playtests wen...

Progress Update: Playtestin' + Polishin' + Music

Good news: We're in the final lap!Not-as-good news: The final lap is pretty long.But still: Not bad!(can't see diagram above? click here)Rough estimate: Adventures with Anxiety is ~60% done, and on-track to release mid-August!Since my last update 3 weeks ago, I took all the rough art & dialo...

50% Done? + Thoughts on science & learning

(reading time: 3 minutes)We're 50% there!... probably.In the past two weeks, I finished the rough art for Acts II, III, and IV. I thought it'd just be placeholder stick figures, but I ended up drawing lots of "final-version" art.For example, here's some art from Act II! (Context:...

Progress + Process!

(reading time: 3 min)Two weeks ago, I launched the demo for Adventures with Anxiety... and I'm elated it resonated with so many folks! I hope it helps others with anxiety feel less alone – and, maybe, learn how to better live with scary emotions.And of course, it's all thanks to your suppo...

"Adventures with Anxiety!" New story-game demo

In this story-game, there is a human with anxiety disorder. You play *as* the anxiety disorder.😱ADVENTURES WITH ANXIETY (demo) 😱 🐺 browser, 7 min playtime 🐺Also, thank you all so much for your kind responses to my last post, where I admitted I was feeling stuck, project- and life-wise. Y...

An Interactive Guide to Quantum Computing? & more procrastination

I'm a bit ashamed about this, but I think it's important I be open and transparent with you: I feel stuck.Specifically, stuck on the Adventures with Anxiety story-game. In February, I made a lot of progress on it! But in March, I gave two talks, so I did zero work on AwA. (Which is fine – ...

My 5-min Micro-talk! “Human Brains Are Awesome, Human Brains Suck”

Here's the micro-talk I gave at the Game Developer Conference two weeks ago! This one's about games & the cognitive science of learning.📹 Human Brains Are Awesome, Human Brains Suck (5 min)I recorded my own version because, wow, my legs & voice were probably shaking the whole time I was o...

2 Talks & A Game: The 8-Week Plan

Hi all! Quick end-of-month update, to keep y'all in the loop about what's to come.The Tentative And Probably Too Hopeful 8-Week Plan:Mar 4-10: Preparing & giving a free talk at the NYU Games Center! If you'd like to see me blabber about cognitive science, learning, and games, here's ...

Sneak Peek + Short Stories + Music

After years of struggling with anxiety disorder – and slowly healing – I think I'm finally in a good space to make this next game. I'm excited/nervous! It's a "conversation-based fighting game" between a human and their anxiety.You play as the anxiety.(can't see GIF? try ...

The interactive science experiment: RESULTS

A few weeks ago, I launched a randomized controlled web-experiment. My question: does being asked to predict an answer, before being shown it, help you retain information better? N=1600+ responses later, here's my results!🔬 Ten World Stats (RESULTS) 🔬Spoiler: null result, I messed up the d...

An experiment... for SCIENCE!

For years, I've been making interactives to explain science. Today, I launched an interactive to do science!Specifically, I want to know if interactives actually are better than static content at helping people learn. Question: does being asked to guess/predict an answer, before being shown the ...

My Books 2018 + Reflecting on 4yrs on Patreon

Can I just say how amazing public libraries are? Just the fact they exist? Anyway, I read 67 books in 2018, and here's the three that changed me the most:📖 The Most Meaningful Books I Read In 2018 [8 min read]You know what else I'm super grateful exists? You! Awww stop blushing, you know ...

Habits I (Tried To) Make in 2018

In 2018, I resolved to form one new habit a month! A third of them failed. Still, here's what I learnt in the last year – maybe it'll help you in the new year?✏️ Habits I (Tried To) Make in 2018 [9 min read]Above, you'll read how I stumbled to create habits like meditation, spaced ...

Parable of the Hill Climber

Once upon a time, there was a hill climber.The hill climber wanted to climb the tallest hill. However, the land was foggy and they couldn't see far. So, they climbed in whatever nearby direction seemed uphill.They climbed & climbed, and finally reached a peak. “At last,” the hill climber sai...

New Explorable! + Nicky's Oct Reading List

Lesson learnt: don't release a new project on a Friday just before the weekend, coz people will miss it. Also, in case you missed it, my new explorable came out Friday!💭 HOW TO REMEMBER ANYTHING FOREVER-ISH 💭For you $2/$5/$10+ tier supporters, your Names/Polygons/Peeps are in the credits a...

★ NEW EXPLORABLE! How To Remember Anything Forever-ish

It's finally out! An interactive comic on the science of memory, spaced repetition, and shoeboxes.HOW TO REMEMBER ANYTHING FOREVER-ISH👉https://ncase.me/remember/ 👈(+ a tweet with short promo video, for your RT'ing pleasure)Thank you all again for sticking with me these past few months,...

Screenshot Saturday: Alllllmost Done!

So, good news: all the writing and art for my next explorable is done. I mean, I'll have to do some edits post-playtest, but right now I can say we're in the final lap. This thing's still on track to being done at the end of the month, with a week or so of "buffer time" just in c...

Screenshot Saturday: Comix! (+ Patreon Rewards)

Thank you all so much for your feedback on Chapter 1 of my upcoming explorable! (If you missed it, I shared it in this Patron-exclusive post.) I'm trying to get into a regular-ish habit of sharing progress & setbacks, so here goes: another Screenshot Saturday!This week, I finished all the intera...

Screenshot Saturday: The Leitner Box (+ Anxiety Wolf?)

It's Screenshot Saturday again! I want to make a habit of sharing my progress (& setbacks) with you peeps. This week, I made a simulation of my favorite spaced repetition system, The Leitner Box!It's like a board/card game you play against yourself. The prize: storing as much as you want int...

[Patron Exclusive!] Prototype of my next explorable

Hi all! Thanks again for your thoughtful responses to last week's behind-the-scenes post. I want to get better at sharing my process with y'all – and involve you in the process. Speaking of which, here's a patron-exclusive sneak peek at my next explorable!👉Spaced Repetition Thing, W...