Credits and the benefits of being a patron
Added 2022-03-11 16:00:39 +0000 UTCA few people have been asking me about the advantages of being one of my patrons here apart from the obvious (and very welcome) demonstration of support.
One of the items listed in both the Faculty and Executive tier levels is 'Access to Credits for Patrons rewards'
I shall explain what this means...
---
The new website and in game credit system
The new game releases will be mostly free to play. However some of the scenes and features will require players to spend credits to unlock them.
You will be able to buy credits on the new website and/or earn them by being a patron here.
100 credits will cost around 10USD, and bonus scenes will typically cost anywhere between 10 and 200 credits to unlock and play.
This is one of the main reasons why the new website/platform will require players to create an account in order to save progress.
The system will record your achievements and allow you to save games and continue with different combinations of achievements.
Different combinations allow different choices as the story progresses.
In terms of bonus scenes, you will only have to pay once to unlock these. You can go back and play it as many times as you want to after you have unlocked it.
There is an encrypted system which permanently records credit payments as long as you are logged in to your own account.
I am still working out the exact levels to price bonus content so this will likely evolve over time.
As I say though, you will be able to play through the entire series without spending anything. This 'neutered' option will however limit just how much fun you can have...
---
Patreon support and 'Credits for Patrons'
Executive Tier patrons will be rewarded with 500 credits for each month they are a patron.
Faculty Tier patrons will get 100 credits each month.
I can see and work out each individual's rewards based on the Patreon software reports. They will be calculated after each successful payment cycle at the start of each month.
The good news is that I have several patrons who have already earned 1000 credits through their support over the past two months since launching my Patreon page.
There are also several who will reach their first three months of consecutive support at the start of April.
I can assure everyone that 1000 credits will be more than enough to 'unlock' all of the bonus content that takes place in the first four or five episodes at least.
There will also be other ways to spend credits if you find yourself with too many to spend.
This relates to 'digital commissions' about which I will reveal more once the new website is up and running properly.
You will be able to have the credits added to your player account on the website when it launches.
Initially this will be a manual process for me to apply credits but we will be hopefully adding in some automated integration once the site is fully up and running.
I'll be in touch with patrons as and when the time arises to claim credit rewards.
I will also be doing some monthly competitions and credit giveaways to patrons at all levels. So just by being a supporter you could land yourself with a big fat pile of credits.
Watch this space...
For anyone who has signed up, scraped some content and then cancelled or had a declined payment. Well I'm afraid that gets you no rewards other than a look at my great content and perhaps a nagging sense of guilt/regret/self-loathing.
:)
Any comments or questions are as always welcome.
dsp3000
Comments
Thanks for taking the time to repost Jim. Now I've read this, I do recognise most of what you had said before and I had posted up a response. I may have accidentally deleted it whilst half asleep earlier. Anyway, good suggestions. I particularly like the idea of a kind of sign up bonus. I'm always open to innovation and evolution so the system may be tweaked in the future.
dsp3000
2022-03-13 19:06:45 +0000 UTCI'm reposting what I wrote from memory (some things will obviously be phrased differently)... The credit system and gaming system sounds great so far since the credits don't expire and once credits are used to open certain features/scenes and/or bonus scenes they are permanently open as long as the person logs in with the same account, players don't need credits to play the game and can play a "neutered" version of the game, etc.). "1000 credits being more than enough to 'unlock' all of the bonus content that takes place in the first four or five episodes at least" is also great news. As a player and as a patron who just recently signed up after finding out about this Patreon page (although I've been a longtime fan of the dsp3000 games since playing them), my only concern is that the Faculty tier patrons need to wait 3 consecutive successful billings before they get their first credits (400 credits). From a creator perspective, I can understand why this was done (loyalty, etc.) and round numbers are easier to handle (400 credits every 3 months is easier than 133 credits every month or 266 credits every 2 months when credits will probably be used in increments of 5 credits so multiples of 5 or 10 are easier). For late joining Faculty tier patrons (such as myself), waiting slightly over 3 months for their first credits seems a bit long so my suggestion would be for at least the Faculty tier patrons, they get some initial credits for their first successful billing and then accrue the 400 credits based on the 3 successful consecutive monthly billings. This initial credit amount would be for the first successful billing only and if the Faculty tier patron downgrades or cancels and then rejoins as a Faculty tier patron, this person wouldn't get the initial credit amount again. I'm mentioning the Faculty tier because only the Faculty tier and the Executive tier have "Access to 'Credits for Patrons' rewards" and Faculty tier needs to wait 3 consecutive successful patronage months. Although this wouldn't affect me as I'm not one of the lower tier patrons and is just another suggestion, you could also give any initial patrons in the lower tiers upon the first successful patron monthly charge, a "small taste" of what credits can give them in terms of gameplay. Of course since this wasn't mentioned/promised for those lower tiers, I can see not doing this as it will affect revenue and it wasn't expected either. Anyways, I'm hoping that late joining Faculty tier patrons can get some initial credits upon their first successful billing and then accrue credits based on your schedule of 400 credits for 3 successful consecutive months of patronage instead of starting a successfully billed patronage month with 0 credits and having to wait 3 successful consecutive months of patronage for their first 400 credits. Looking forward to playing this.
Jim ACEP
2022-03-13 18:44:59 +0000 UTCI've sent you a message Jim. I haven't knowingly removed any posts so not sure what's happened here.
dsp3000
2022-03-13 15:56:07 +0000 UTCWeird... not sure why my post/suggestion was deleted/removed and not sure if I should retype it. I'll wait a few hours before retyping it unless I hear otherwise.
Jim ACEP
2022-03-13 08:11:08 +0000 UTC
