Don’t worry, I haven’t lost the source, and I haven’t stopped working on it. However, real life has reared it’s ugly head. A recent eye screening revealed that I have cataracts developing in both eyes; up until that point I just thought I’d scratched my glasses. The consultant basically said I need surgery, and I’ve now had the appointment through for the first one - the 4th March - less than two weeks away. Just the thought of it makes me feel sick - apparently they do this under a local? Thankfully health care is (more or less) free where I live.
Recovery is said to be 4 to 6 weeks, then I can only assume they will want to do the other one, so this could be ongoing for 3 months or so. The problem for me is that working in a dusty environment is out of the question while I’m healing, and that pretty much puts paid to any work, which is a problem. As I’m self employed, I don’t get paid sick leave.
I don’t know how this is going to impact development work; it may be I just feel too bad to do anything, or I could be resting up with the laptop open working away at the game because I can’t do much else.
I’m seriously considering going down the Patreon route to bring in some much needed cash, and I’d really appreciate some feedback on what to offer and also on how to do it from others who have gone there. One thing I don’t want to do is to put the game behind a paywall.
Here are some of the ideas I’ve been considering:
Tip Jar: Like the exisitng Ko-Fi thing, but a monthly tip.
Early Access: The typical Patreons see a new release a month before it’s available publicly.
Sponsorship listing: A list of backers available in game.
Dev notes: More of what I do here, but more frequent updates so you’d know what was going into the next release.
Prebuilt Player Character: Have your chosen character pre-built into the game from a character description (or artwork maybe?) at least within the limits of the character model. I’d have to add some code and basically build two releases though. I’d also have to limit how many of these I took on.
Walkthough: Access to a walk through by quest, my internal maps, and other hints and tips.
Javadoc: Access to the current build documentation for those who want to mess around with the debugger/cheats. My suspicion is this could lead to more trouble than it’s worth.
Species Commission: Add a new starting species to the game. I could probably only do one per month, and there would have to be some limitations.
Minor Cameos: When I need to add a new NPC, you could have the option of specifying the character. I’d still need to be in control of the selection though. You’d have the option of providing dialogue though I’d have a final say. You’d have to give permission for that character to be included in the game (also bearing in mind that some players will want to have sex with them).
Discord: I know a few games where the creators have their own discord, but I don’t know what value it would have other than posting dev-notes as I work. I’d like to keep questions about the game here really.
Streaming: I’ve no idea how to do this, and TBH I can imagine watching someone else code could be as entertaining as watching paint dry, but maybe I’m wrong?
Votes/Polls: Similar to the polls I do here from time to time, but carrying more weight?
Dev support: My assistance to help you build your game on top of the Yaffaif’s engine. You’d get a copy of the source, my how-to notes, and my time. You’d need to be a competent coder (XML/Java). This would definitely have to be a premium option.
Thoughts? Is Patreon the right thing? Should I look at some other similar sites? What would you be interested in donating for?
- Tip jar
- Sponsorship listing
- Early access
- Dev notes
- Pre-build characters
- Walkthrough
- Javadoc
- Species commission
- Minor cameos
- Discord
- Streaming
- Votes/polls
- Dev support
- Other (describe in a reply - or if you like someone else’s “other” give it a like)
0 voters
If anyone has (non-gore) tales of successful cataract surgery I’d like to hear, but maybe better by DM?
