VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.10.1] [DrPinkCake]

[Lightaces]

He has 13k patreons, including high tier patreons in 100$ and 150$ tiers. If we assume an average of 10$ (and I'm sure the number is higher than that, but let's just go with it for the moment), he makes 130k a month. The tax was something in the 20-21% range (someone mentioned it but I don't remember who it was). So even then, he's left with 104k after taxes and that's without the Steam sales alone.

He comfortably makes a million a year, but refuses to pay 100$ or whatever the Prophets asked him for 2 songs. The guy just happens to be annoyingly obsessed with money. I don't understand his behavior as if he could go broke any moment.

Assuming your number is right (and I suspect it is at least in the ball park), Patreon takes 5% (5-12%, but we'll make another assumption here), and taxes in Sweden on that much income would be around 50% total (progressive taxation, with the top percentage being 59% on everything over, I believe, double the average salary in Sweden.), so something like $800,000 a year. Which is still just fine, but DPC does live in a country with an actual social safety net, so you know....and you also have to account for the cost of doing business - his PC's are not inexpensive, and the electricity on 8 3090's running 24/7 isn't inconsiderable.

But no, the post he made said nothing about the Friday Prophets asking him for money - he has paid for plenty of songs. They asked him to remove their songs because they don't approve of the nature of the game. It wasn't a money issue, it was a moral issue. You can agree with them or not, but they get to make up their own mind over how their copyright is exploited. If they feel this doesn't represent their views on the world, it doesn't matter what kind of money he has. Musicians, for the most part, do not prioritize money, else they wouldn't be musicians!!! (Ours is the only profession where you will spend $5,000 on gear, which you put in a $500 car, to drive 30 miles, to play a $50 gig. It ain't about the money.)

 

[allanl9020142]

Assuming your number is right (and I suspect it is at least in the ball park), Patreon takes 5% (5-12%, but we'll make another assumption here), and taxes in Sweden taxes on that much income would be around 50% total (progressive taxation, with the top percentage being 59% on everything over, I believe, double the average salary in Sweden.), so something like $800,000 a year. Which is still just fine, but DPC does live in a country with an actual social safety net, so you know....and you also have to account for the cost of doing business - his PC's are not inexpensive, and the electricity on 8 3090's running 24/7 isn't inconsiderable.

But no, the post he made said nothing about the Friday Prophets asking him for money - he has paid for plenty of songs. They asked him to remove their songs because they don't approve of the nature of the game. It wasn't a money issue, it was a moral issue. You can agree with them or not, but they get to make up their own mind over how their copyright is exploited. If they feel this doesn't represent their views on the world, it doesn't matter what kind of money he has. Musicians, for the most part, do not prioritize money, else they wouldn't be musicians!!! (Ours is the only profession where you will spend $5,000 on gear, which you put in a $500 car, to drive 30 miles, to play a $50 gig. It ain't about the money.)

Ah. Ok that makes more sense. I was pretty confused when he was talking about Patreon and then immediately went to "after-tax income". I think that may also be a another reason (probably not the only reason) why he'd choose to work alone. The cost of having employees would probably take another decent chunk of that if income tax alone is that high.
Also, I think the gripe about DPC not giving them the amount they wanted for the rights to play their songs was just based off an off-handed remark someone posted around the time of that initial post. That one of the possible reasons was that DPC just didn't feel like paying them the amount they were asking for. Just a rumor that kind of snowballed.

 

[shazba]

A real simple determination of DPC's earnings based on other popular AVNs that have disclosed theirs:

Spoiler: I'm hiding this from the mods because they will delete this for being off topic... don't tell them!

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So there's a good chance he's earning USD$30-80K a month (minus running and periodic expenses, Patreon's cut, etc.).

 

[Lightaces]

Ah. Ok that makes more sense. I was pretty confused when he was talking about Patreon and then immediately went to "after-tax income". I think that may also be a another reason (probably not the only reason) why he'd choose to work alone. The cost of having employees would probably take another decent chunk of that if income tax alone is that high.
Also, I think the gripe about DPC not giving them the amount they wanted for the rights to play their songs was just based off an off-handed remark someone posted around the time of that initial post. That one of the possible reasons was that DPC just didn't feel like paying them the amount they were asking for. Just a rumor that kind of snowballed.

I mean, his post on the subject is public, so, you know, no need to theorize. They didn't want to be associated with this kind of game. It's just that so many of us have been so indoctrinated by the post capitalist hellscape we live in that they can't imagine ANYTHING isn't about money. But musicians have shown, over and over and over, that money isn't why they do it! The few musicians who do end up making money don't mean the rest are in it for the money. (They're in it for the chicks!!! I mean, for the Art.)

 

[Hentai7891]

are there will be season3 continue? seem like been while....

 

[mightybored]

No, the game has been cancelled, it was announced that MC runs off and marries the girl with the hearing aid, and no one lives happily ever after.

 

[allanl9020142]

I mean, his post on the subject is public, so, you know, no need to theorize. They didn't want to be associated with this kind of game. It's just that so many of us have been so indoctrinated by the post capitalist hellscape we live in that they can't imagine ANYTHING isn't about money. But musicians have shown, over and over and over, that money isn't why they do it! The few musicians who do end up making money don't mean the rest are in it for the money. (They're in it for the chicks!!! I mean, for the Art.)

Lol but to be fair, 99% of the posts here are just people making wild theories since it's been a hot minute since the last episode.
I was just suggesting it was a baseless supposition some random guy made and then probably people who had some bone to pick with DPC decided to just run with it until it got to the point where other people are repeating it. As soon as the next episode comes out, no one's going to care lol.

Also just to make sure we're on the same page, it's not like I was taking part in it or believed it because:
1. Don't really care about some songs being taken off (they were some bops for sure but I'm ultimately indifferent)
2. At the end of the day, DPC can do whatever he wants with his game and money. As long as it's still fun to play, I'm still going to play it and actually buy it. and 3. There's always going to be minor gripes here and there about the guy but overall is one of the best AVN devs I've seen and he manages do it all by himself for better or for worse.
Was just more or less trying to examine how it might have got to that point.

 

[Ashley young]

Idk man, I like the quality of the game but having 8 month long update cycles is really pushing it.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Idk man, I like the quality of the game but having 8 month long update cycles is really pushing it.

Idk man, there are plenty of other games and nobody is putting a gun to your head to make you play it. Complaining about the long update cycles is really pushing it.

 

[allanl9020142]

Idk man, I like the quality of the game but having 8 month long update cycles is really pushing it.

True. Hope it's not something that becomes a regular thing but it's hard to tell right now because the Interlude and some other things kind of pushed things back. For a while it had been like at least 2 per year. Which is still slow but most other games usually have small updates every few months or go radio silent for months at a time and you just kind of half expect it to be abandoned at some point but when you do get an update, it's not all that much either.
I mean you gotta admit, at least the guy communicates on a weekly basis and you can expect a fully fleshed out installment each update.

 

[lordranhorny]

DIKs, i have a question,
is there any way to cheat in the game or use console commands to get the 2 points necessary from practicing Jill's song and be able to help her at the recital?
I would start from episode 6 but going through the mansion repair again? man, what a chore.

 

[Lostanddamned]

Assuming your number is right (and I suspect it is at least in the ball park), Patreon takes 5% (5-12%, but we'll make another assumption here), and taxes in Sweden on that much income would be around 50% total (progressive taxation, with the top percentage being 59% on everything over, I believe, double the average salary in Sweden.), so something like $800,000 a year. Which is still just fine, but DPC does live in a country with an actual social safety net, so you know....and you also have to account for the cost of doing business - his PC's are not inexpensive, and the electricity on 8 3090's running 24/7 isn't inconsiderable.

But no, the post he made said nothing about the Friday Prophets asking him for money - he has paid for plenty of songs. They asked him to remove their songs because they don't approve of the nature of the game. It wasn't a money issue, it was a moral issue. You can agree with them or not, but they get to make up their own mind over how their copyright is exploited. If they feel this doesn't represent their views on the world, it doesn't matter what kind of money he has. Musicians, for the most part, do not prioritize money, else they wouldn't be musicians!!! (Ours is the only profession where you will spend $5,000 on gear, which you put in a $500 car, to drive 30 miles, to play a $50 gig. It ain't about the money.)

Ah. Ok that makes more sense. I was pretty confused when he was talking about Patreon and then immediately went to "after-tax income". I think that may also be a another reason (probably not the only reason) why he'd choose to work alone. The cost of having employees would probably take another decent chunk of that if income tax alone is that high.
Also, I think the gripe about DPC not giving them the amount they wanted for the rights to play their songs was just based off an off-handed remark someone posted around the time of that initial post. That one of the possible reasons was that DPC just didn't feel like paying them the amount they were asking for. Just a rumor that kind of snowballed.

People seem to misunderstand my post, it seems to have snowballed into something else. It was strictly about income and what happened with the Prophets. The point was, DPC earns enough to live a really comfortable life, unless he has other habits going on which burns through a lot of his income.

I think the Prophets issue isn't that they don't want to be associated with BaDIK, but they realized they can make money out of it. DPC said he contacted about using the songs when he started developing the game, didn't he? They didn't mind because it's a niche sector of videogaming and they didn't mind it that much, but eventually saw that it became successful so they put their foot in their mouths. So either way, they probably asked for money and DPC basically said no, because the Prophets themselves went back on their words going from free to use to asking for money for their songs to be used. That's kind of a slimeball thing to do. But if they really asked for money so DPC can use the songs, especially the opening song that when you hear it you think of BaDIK and he refused, then that's on him.

 

[dalli_x]

Frankly, I've had enough of this feed envy.

I don't care what DPC earns monthly or yearly. Even if DPC made over $10,000,000.00 per month, he would still get €30.00 per month from me because I like the game and appreciate his work.

"Being a DIK" is DPC's intellectual and productive property, so it is also understandable that he resists piracy and plagiarism offenses. That's what every commercial enterprise in this world does.

Yes, I know that F95 is a piracy platform and most games on F95 are not commercially acquired. In the case of "Being a DIK", it is by far the best forum for exciting discussion, debate, stories and theory. I therefore assume that many members of this thread also support the DPC financially.

So let's not write about how much money the DPC makes, because that is absolutely irrelevant. Basically, we are all here because the game of DPC is fun, enjoyable, and inspires us to think creatively.

 

[mightybored]

I do like that some routes straight up have scenes (even outside of the girl-specific stuff) that the player may not otherwise see that still adds to the game.

Like how if you choose to hit up Sage instead of Jill, you get more interactions with and related to the other HOTs. If you're after Quinn, you see a couple of Jill's friends making out in public. You can straight up miss dialog scenes with the strippers or even Bella depending on choices too. Heck, I'd argue that a chunk of the game's enjoyment comes from the twitter-alike where you're commenting or liking people's posts and engaging with the characters that way, and that's almost entirely miss-able aside from one or two instances.

 

[lordranhorny]

DIKs, i have a question,
is there any way to cheat in the game or use console commands to get the 2 points necessary from practicing Jill's song and be able to help her at the recital?
I would start from episode 6 but going through the mansion repair again? man, what a chore.

Well, i've searched around the internet for at least 2 hours and i don't seem to find any easy fix for this.
Its either backtracking to episode 6 and replaying all those parties and choices that will at least take me half a day, dang.
Well, i was on a Sage/Quinn/Jade route, so i hope i won't fuck that up too.
Sorry Jill, next time will be.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

People seem to misunderstand my post, it seems to have snowballed into something else. It was strictly about income and what happened with the Prophets. The point was, DPC earns enough to live a really comfortable life, unless he has other habits going on which burns through a lot of his income.

I think the Prophets issue isn't that they don't want to be associated with BaDIK, but they realized they can make money out of it. DPC said he contacted about using the songs when he started developing the game, didn't he? They didn't mind because it's a niche sector of videogaming and they didn't mind it that much, but eventually saw that it became successful so they put their foot in their mouths. So either way, they probably asked for money and DPC basically said no, because the Prophets themselves went back on their words going from free to use to asking for money for their songs to be used. That's kind of a slimeball thing to do. But if they really asked for money so DPC can use the songs, especially the opening song that when you hear it you think of BaDIK and he refused, then that's on him.

The fact is that we do not know how much they asked for the use of their songs. DPC uses commercial songs and pays for them (some songs in the game are paid).
So the reason he didn't want to pay could be a bad deal. They could ask 50-100k for each song or a fixed percentage of sales, and this is not objective. In business, even if you're a billionaire, you won't overpay an extra cent if you think the price is too high.

 

[Pendrell]

Well, i've searched around the internet for at least 2 hours and i don't seem to find any easy fix for this.
Its either backtracking to episode 6 and replaying all those parties and choices that will at least take me half a day, dang.
Well, i was on a Sage/Quinn/Jade route, so i hope i won't fuck that up too.
Sorry Jill, next time will be.

As you no doubt discovered, you need to practise a minimum of two out of the three opportunities to be able to help Jill at the recital.

In terms of saving time on different playthroughs, turning off mini games helps a lot with this. You can also speed through huge chunks of the game quickly holding down cntrl, if you know what choices you’re going for. Freeroams can also be dealt with very quickly, again if you only do the minimum requirements necessary to get in and out.

Going from the beginning you could probably get a Jill save done within 20 minutes.

 

[Lostanddamned]

The fact is that we do not know how much they asked for the use of their songs. DPC uses commercial songs and pays for them (some songs in the game are paid).
So the reason he didn't want to pay could be a bad deal. They could ask 50-100k for each song or a fixed percentage of sales, and this is not objective. In business, even if you're a billionaire, you won't overpay an extra cent if you think the price is too high.

Nah I don't think they asked for 50-100k, especially considering the band has broken up now. Like WCW used to pay 100k a year to the Jimi Hendrix Estate to use Voodoo Child for Hulk Hogan and that was a good deal because Eric was smart about it. You know how much does it cost to use 30 seconds of Voodoo Child today? Something in the 5 million range.

 

[mpa71]

Well, hoping these updated numbers gonna be impressive because it will be 4 weeks Friday without an update on them.
For a Mid-End October release we are about 80% done today with that estimate.

 

[lordranhorny]

I just scanned through the renpy code on my Jill save and could't find anything. If you're on a DIK route now you may as well finish that then start a CHICK route for Maya/Josy, Bella and Jill anyway, can always skip minigames if you want to speedrun it.

Thanks for checking the code for me, i don't know how that stuff works.
Ill do as you say and start a new game with the mini games disabled, it will feel as a lesser experience but what can i do, its my fault.
Thanks again.