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Author Topic: The funds! The funds are holding us back!  (Read 23548 times)

ZeroGravitas

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The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« on: March 01, 2010, 12:56:46 pm »

Maybe people would donate more often if you would release something more often. I can't help but think you've cost yourself thousands by deciding to make this upcoming release be so mega-inclusive. I've been playing 40d for years now and I find myself less and less inclined to open it up. There's nothing to do anymore, and I'm not going to pay to read dev logs, as amusing as they are.

It's fine to release on your own schedule but I think it's silly to put up monthly reports complaining about the cash flow when we haven't had any new content in forever.
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Bloogonis

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2010, 01:02:57 pm »

is this Troll? I mean 40d hasnt been around for years, and it gets updated regularly. and the new version is just around the corner. Im not sure I see a legitimate reason for your belly aching.

im sure he has lost a few people due to the long wait. but that comes with the teritory of indipendant game development. But he makes up for it with a loyal band of zealots.
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ZeroGravitas

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2010, 01:10:46 pm »

is this Troll? I mean 40d hasnt been around for years, and it gets updated regularly.

it was officially released in september 2008 - so we're looking 1.5 years now. as for its "regular updates", you're mostly talking about opengl fixes and stuff. not content.

Quote
and the new version is just around the corner.

how "just around the corner"?

Quote
Im not sure I see a legitimate reason for your belly aching.

"the funds are holding us back"? Yeah, and the lack of any content updates are holding my funds back.

Quote
im sure he has lost a few people due to the long wait. but that comes with the teritory of indipendant game development. But he makes up for it with a loyal band of zealots.

He hasn't lost me. It's just that I'm not feeling like I should give up the money they're asking for when there's no new content to keep me playing.
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QuakeIV

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2010, 01:37:56 pm »

Look at it this way:

Toady is probably in a financial shithole. I know i would have a hard time survivng off of 1400 a month, he may need to get a job if donations dont go up.

Yeah, that would hold him back, dude.

Also, its reasonable to be disgruntled at the lack of content updates, and a drop in donations can be expected, but if you withold your money (not saying you have yet), at some point, the update will take absurdly longer then previously expected.

So; If he cant survive off his donations, he has to get a job to pay the bills, and buy food. This will take up A LOT of his time. Therefore the update will be slowed exponentially.

We KNOW the update is coming soon, but if people dont donate, its guna be alot worse.
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Misterstone

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2010, 01:42:15 pm »

It's pretty obvious from the fact that he is planning smaller releases in the future, and previous comments that Toady has made, that he understands people are less likely to donate if they don't have some new content.  Right or wrong, I think Toady (and most people on the forums) consider it tactful to not frame donations as some kind of quid pro quo transaction, even if that is the mindset of many donors.

And since the current release is in the final testing stages, there is no longer any way to speed up the release schedule by leaving some features out, thus whining about the delayed release changes nothing.

So your post sounds like... pointless bellyaching.
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cerapa

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2010, 01:43:30 pm »

If you make him really desperate you could also force him to release the current really buggy version.

But Im fairly certain that doing that would be a pointless thing because you couldnt really do much without losing all your progress and that would naturally make you not play Dwarf Fortress and not donate to him.

Good sir, it appears you are attempting to create a snowball effect that would destroy Dwarf Fortress.
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Pathos

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2010, 01:56:20 pm »

If you make him really desperate you could also force him to release the current really buggy version.

To be honest, I suspect most people ( most vets, at least ) would be quite happy to play the currently buggy version. Hell, ECSTATIC to play it. It sounds hilarious.
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Heliman

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2010, 01:57:38 pm »

Good sir, it appears you are attempting to create a snowball effect that would destroy Dwarf Fortress.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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QuakeIV

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2010, 02:12:45 pm »

Good sir, it appears you are attempting to create a snowball effect that would destroy Dwarf Fortress.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lmao  ;D
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Orkel

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2010, 02:16:34 pm »

A lot of people would be disappointed with the bug-ridden version if it was released now. Toady is doing the right thing and plans to release atleast a somewhat bug-free version so everyone can enjoy it and get what they expected the new version to be.
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Exponent

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2010, 02:21:39 pm »

I'm guessing Zach is going to regret writing what he did.  Not necessarily because he didn't mean what he said, but because he didn't accurately predict how people would react.

But really, people need to not interpret this quite so negatively.  I'm sure it was written with well justified and innocent intentions.  But I've noticed that for some reason, when interpretations are inaccurate, they tend to be overly negative more often than they are overly positive.  Humans must in general just be naturally distrustful and cynical or something.  And utterly afraid of being naive and gullible.  Or maybe it's just a uncontrollable attraction to drama, I don' know.  Either way, I don't consider to often be very productive.
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Scarpa

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2010, 02:40:26 pm »

Seems to me ThreeToe generally reports on the donation status, and Toady reports on the programming. (I know, I'm being Capt. Obvious)

My point is that what ThreeToe said was absolutely true, donations were wayyy down in February and if it continues there probably will be negative effects on the project as a whole. I didn't get the sense he was saying "this release will be delayed if you don't donate", rather it was more along the lines of "Toady will stop being able to pay for his meager* life if you don't donate."

I also think the timing of his particular statement was ill considered given the long wait and frustration among a not-so-small segment of the user base.

* I mean meager in the sense that Toady seems to live quite simply and on a rather small amount of money considering his skills and the quality and quantity of work he produces.
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Soulbourne

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2010, 03:08:48 pm »

I'm rather curious if he lives all that well with under 40k a year...Some people would have trouble getting by on that, though some could quite handily. 

Course, when DF makes a full release, it may look nice on a job application most likely.
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Lalandrathon

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2010, 03:16:58 pm »

A couple of questions for the original poster:

Do you have any experience raising donations for nonprofits or anything that would actually, say, be relevant to the topic at hand?

And

How much have you donated in thanks for getting the 40d version, which you have played to death?
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Idiom

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #14 on: March 01, 2010, 03:19:30 pm »

Quote
I think it's silly to put up monthly reports complaining about the cash flow when we haven't had any new content in forever.
The man has practically dedicated his life to this and lives off the generosity of his fans. It's not like the cash flow is just his pocket change.
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