j4yj4m

Forum Fanatic
Jun 19, 2017
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Please tell me what you think the dips in pic attached represent. View attachment 291201
Easy, people changing their pledge. I'm actually one of them, since I only pay 5 bucks when ever there's a vote going on and else either pay $1 or nothing. Patreon adds pledges during the month but doesn't subtract those who stopped their pledges right away. That means at the end of the month everybody who canceled or adjusted his/her pledge during the month will be thrown out and the numbers go down. There are 17.000 people and of course there's a certain fluctuation going on.
 
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zeppelin

Member
Aug 21, 2017
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Easy, people changing their pledge. I'm actually one of them, since I only pay 5 bucks when ever there's a vote going on and else either pay $1 or nothing. Patreon adds pledges during the month but doesn't subtract those who stopped their pledges right away. That means at the end of the month everybody who canceled or adjusted his/her pledge during the month will be thrown out and the numbers go down. There are 17.000 people and of course there's a certain fluctuation going on.
The same exact pattern exists for every patreon, not just those that have polls every month. DC had the same pattern before he ever introduced polls to begin with.
 

cavaemon

Active Member
May 29, 2018
891
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goddamn... if ppl want something do it yourself and shut it is all im saying. yelling at ppl to hurry it up when all you do is get things free is retarded. id help with the game but I don't know anything about programs or drawing the way they want so yeah. shut it and accept the free shit and if you feel like giving a $$ to speed things up go ahead... just tell them if your giving them a pay check jesus. god I wish I could nuke this thing...
 
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j4yj4m

Forum Fanatic
Jun 19, 2017
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The same exact pattern exists for every patreon, not just those that have polls every month. DC had the same pattern before he ever introduced polls to begin with.
Sure, did I ever deny that? I said that there's no incentive to pledge if you just want to play the game and you keep ignoring that, claiming that DC is going to make extra money by delaying the update. And you still haven't explained how, by the way.
 

zeppelin

Member
Aug 21, 2017
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Sure, did I ever deny that? I said that there's no incentive to pledge if you just want to play the game and you keep ignoring that, claiming that DC is going to make extra money by delaying the update. And you still haven't explained how, by the way.
No, you said that the dips represent people that change up pledges because of voting on polls, and I'm telling you that the trend existed before polls.

The trend exists for other games as well that also have only free releases. You're getting really tiresome and I think you're being thick on purpose just to frustrate me.
 

George Halstead

Active Member
Oct 1, 2017
624
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Wow, it is an awful thing on these forums that folks want to complain about how fast a Dev releases an update but then want to cry, moan, bitch etc when there are bugs etc. Folks need to relax, enjoy the games (that is what games are for) and move on. If you have pent up anger join a group or something and vent..
 

Ungawa

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2017
1,650
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Partly just chilling, fixing bugs, and feeling the hype around the release at the same time. I'm going to be completely honest, this part of developpment is my least favorite one, where you're just endlessly fixing bugs after bugs (even though I initially coded with care to try to have as few bugs as possible), and at the same time, the community is putting pressure on you cause "muh update, muh milking".

I just hope that yall will like jenny as much as you loved roxxy, cause there has been a great deal of care put into her, and her story feels brand new.
Just keep this and you'll be fine.
 

Qoruto

New Member
Jan 27, 2018
7
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See, the most important part of your post is when you said, "I think..." That tells us that everything g you said in the post is an opinion, and thus not based in fact. It's based upon what you would do in DC's position, which has no bearing on the actual situation.

No one but DC himself and the dev team truly know what goes on behind the scenes, what the update schedule should be and when the game will be finished. any and all speculation is therefore pointless.

But people will keep doing it, and and calling DC greedy and all, mostly because they themselves are impatient and greedy themselves.
No one is "impatient and greedy" just because they have different opinions. I respect your opinion, and I dont have to call you delusional and "internet white knight" to do so.
 

Ungawa

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2017
1,650
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No, you said that the dips represent people that change up pledges because of voting on polls, and I'm telling you that the trend existed before polls.

The trend exists for other games as well that also have only free releases. You're getting really tiresome and I think you're being thick on purpose just to frustrate me.
You asked what the dips represented, @j4yj4m gave a response. There's a cycle to Patreon where people stop supporting on the first. The point is that even if you don't donate, you still get to play the game. You might not have access to other features such as voting but you don't really need it when there's other ways to communicate.

From the outside looking in, you asked a question, you got an answer, you moved the goalposts. Even with the historical argument, the point was valid. People stop pledges when they no longer feel the value is worth it. Whether that's for polls or not is their individual self interest. Not the point being made.
 

dirgetka

Member
Aug 17, 2017
284
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For the record, here's what actual declining Patreon numbers look like (from Nov to March):

291254

Note that the cyclical monthly drop is still there, as it is with every Patreon regardless of release model
 

Jonboy80

Active Member
Dec 8, 2017
826
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And another example of what an actual decline of patrons looks like. This one doesn't have recovering numbers like the previous one. Still has that regular monthly dip that bounces back up but never recovers.

 

Jamiek

Newbie
Jun 13, 2017
22
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40
I just don't understand how people can keep defending this kind of stuff. DarkCookie is making $50K a month which is $600K a year. Minus what Patreon takes of course. That is a whole lot of money to only be able to put out one update every six months. To only be able to move 1% of the relative work in two weeks. One of the goals on his patreon was when he reached $30K he was going to look for other people. This is not an indie dev any more. You can't say that on $600K a year budget on a Renpy game. With the amount of money that has gone into the project, there should be updates on a monthly basis. And even that is generous, really should be every 2 weeks. It is all back to context, there are devs here that get things done much faster with little to no support.
 

Badjourasmix

Devoted Member
Sep 22, 2017
8,015
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So as i understand the game will not even come out on monday?
I think it will probably come out next weekend. I'll have to wait at least a year to get an update that I actually care about anyway, so I'm not very concerned about this one.
 

Badjourasmix

Devoted Member
Sep 22, 2017
8,015
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896
I just don't understand how people can keep defending this kind of stuff. DarkCookie is making $50K a month which is $600K a year. Minus what Patreon takes of course. That is a whole lot of money to only be able to put out one update every six months. To only be able to move 1% of the relative work in two weeks. One of the goals on his patreon was when he reached $30K he was going to look for other people. This is not an indie dev any more. You can't say that on $600K a year budget on a Renpy game. With the amount of money that has gone into the project, there should be updates on a monthly basis. And even that is generous, really should be every 2 weeks. It is all back to context, there are devs here that get things done much faster with little to no support.
Even if he got another artist he wouldn't be able to release an update every month. As long as he is the only one doing all the art, the updates will take 5-6 months.
 
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zeppelin

Member
Aug 21, 2017
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You asked what the dips represented, @j4yj4m gave a response. There's a cycle to Patreon where people stop supporting on the first. The point is that even if you don't donate, you still get to play the game. You might not have access to other features such as voting but you don't really need it when there's other ways to communicate.

From the outside looking in, you asked a question, you got an answer, you moved the goalposts. Even with the historical argument, the point was valid. People stop pledges when they no longer feel the value is worth it. Whether that's for polls or not is their individual self interest. Not the point being made.
I never said that patrons get the game earlier, nor is that at all relevant. That was my entire point.

Just cause everyone gets the update at the same time doesn't mean waiting until after the 1st to release the update is somehow illogical.
 
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Jonboy80

Active Member
Dec 8, 2017
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I just don't understand how people can keep defending this kind of stuff. DarkCookie is making $50K a month which is $600K a year. Minus what Patreon takes of course. That is a whole lot of money to only be able to put out one update every six months. To only be able to move 1% of the relative work in two weeks. One of the goals on his patreon was when he reached $30K he was going to look for other people. This is not an indie dev any more. You can't say that on $600K a year budget on a Renpy game. With the amount of money that has gone into the project, there should be updates on a monthly basis. And even that is generous, really should be every 2 weeks. It is all back to context, there are devs here that get things done much faster with little to no support.
I don't understand why you think the level of income should have an effect on the speed of development. And he is an indie dev. A team of four or five does not make you some bigshot development company. Ever notice how indie titles tends to be more fun and original? Ever wonder why? It's because they can work at their own pace to make things how they want without having to appease to the stockholders.

As to other devs here getting things done more quickly - Most of those devs are using stock or reused DAZ3D models and backgrounds. It's not that difficult to pose a premade model and slap them into a premade room. I've seen the same furniture/room/etc in almost every 3D Ren'py title. Several games have the same charcters with, maybe, a different hairstyle and some different clothes. Dark Cookie draws everything. Characters, backgrounds, inventory icons, etc. You're comparing apples to oranges. It's like me comparing the quarter mile results of a Porsche 911 and an El Camino.

Add on to that that most games that try to be different than the standard Ren'py 3D title are slow to update. SweGabe and Opala Origins hasn't had a public update in two years, for example. Many have been on hold for ages or outright abandoned. Doing your own work takes far longer than, basically, copy/pasting premade assets into a scene and then writing up some text (whose quality varies greatly) to go with it.
 
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