Necessary Changes for the Patreon Page (Patreon)

Hey everyone!

Today I want to talk a different topic than usual, since I want to make a big change to the Patreon page, and that will have a big impact on the future of Lucky Paradox.

First, I want to clarify that none of these changes will affect the Patrons who have supported me so far, thanks to you the game has become what it is now. So, I feel it is my duty to be truthful with you.

I think that those of you who have been following the development of Lucky Paradox for sometime now, have noticed that the updates have become more and more ambitious, not only in extension, but also in amount of content and new features, also like everything, it has required a sacrifice.

I usually don't like to give too many details about my personal life, but during the last update I have felt limited in many areas.

The format of large updates that I have taken so far, has required many hours of testing, being Lucky Paradox a non-linear game, there are thousands of ways to break the flow of the game that are beyond my control (There are 7 story lines with more and more secondary content), not to mention all the new content that I want to add.

In my personal life this has translated into weeks of long working days, no days off, little sleep and a lot of mental fatigue. I know that the guilty one it’s me, as I tend to be too ambitious in the planning phase, and then I suffer the consequences of this. That is why I have never wanted to communicate this ugly part of development.

There are many areas I want to improve or features to add in the game, but I have been limited either by time or resources. Things like making an original soundtrack, getting exclusive assets or some 2d art, tend to be expensive.

An example of this is that I wanted to add in version 0.8, a detailed hand drawn map of Argleton, as the current map is just a prototype and I feel it's time to improve it. But it is one of the many things that has not been possible at this moment, as a good 2d artist for this can be quite expensive and doing it on my own would mean a lot of days (It's a lot of details to do and design in the town).

There are many cases of this that have occurred during development, but I will not deny that they have caused me some sadness not being able to carry them out.

Another important point is that there is an imbalance between Patreon tiers and rewards, and there are no options for people who want to contribute more than they should in the development of the game, since the few that there are limited.

After much meditation on the matter, I think it is necessary to make some changes, always with the intention of making everything better, since I’m always wanting to improve the experience and wishing for Lucky Paradox to become bigger and better, but I feel that I must leave my ambition a little aside and concentrate on more realistic goals.

I will go by points, to make this more orderly.

1. Changes in the Updates:

Only if it’s necessary, I want to split some updates in 2 parts, a Test update (which only serves to see the new features) and a story content update (which includes new story). This way, I can make sure that a system is functional before I start adding story content.

Soon I plan to release the new technical update, which includes the new Gallery, the Cheat Mode and some new interactions with Sarah (Fan Art Board).

Also, I think removing the letters at the end of the updates and splitting them with a third decimal place would be easier to understand, using nomenclatures along the lines of, 0.8.2 or 0.8.4 instead of 0.9A and 0.9B.

2. Restructuring of Patreon tiers:

None of these changes are going to affect you, who have been here up to this point. But it will affect those who come to Argleton in the future (if everything goes well of course).

As the format of updates is going to change, I must also make changes in the Patreon tiers in order to make it more balanced and fairer.

The "Tourist" tier will be a limited tier and renamed to "Neo Tourist" on July 31st, the maximum limit will be the current number of Tourists for that day. The limit will be lowered as more people decide to leave that tier, so that current Tourists will not lose their current benefits.

A new unlimited "Tourist" tier will be created, which will not have the benefit of early access, but will have access to the Patreon posts and the Discord tier.

A new tier "Friend" will be created, which will have the benefit of early access for one week. It is the same as the previous Tourist (now limited), but at a fairer price.

The "Citizen", "Candidate" and "Alter" tiers will remain unchanged.

The "Neo Alter" tier will be hidden and limited only for the current Neo Alter to keep that tier. I don't know yet whether to increase the limit of current "Alters” but having two identical tiers that do the same thing doesn't make sense. This was left this way because of the old changes, but I feel that now is the time to fix it.

The "Nova" tier will have two new benefits: Access to the Technical Alpha (no story content included) and it will have a Cheat version, which allows you to modify attributes at will, add/remove money or unlock the Gallery instantly.

Two new tiers will be added for which I want to contribute more to the development of the game, but as I can't think of ideas to benefit those generous people, for the moment it won't have new benefits other than a special role in the Discord server.

Finally, the Supernova tier will also be hidden and will be exclusive for the current Supernovas, they were the last ones to have that rank.

3. New Patreon Goals:

Finally, we only need to add new goals, something necessary whenever there is a long-term proyect.

Goal 1250 Patrons: I will be able to invest in a new high-end PC and leave my old machine aside, this will allow me to make more ambitious scenes and work faster.

Goal 1500 Patrons: With this I will be able to cover all the necessary expenses to create a soundtrack without going over budget, which will help in a unique way to the personality and atmosphere of Argleton.

Goal 2000 Patreons: It will be possible to commission art, starting with creating a new handrawn and detailed map of Argleton, as well as new areas and unique costumes.

I think this is enough for the moment, although reaching such high numbers still seems a very distant and almost impossible dream, anyway, you never know how far the road can take us.

I will be making these changes little by little during the rest of the month, but if you want to suggest something, you can do it and I will reconsider any of these proposals, I always leave open the possibility of criticism for my ideas :)

And well, that's all for now, I think these changes will be for the better.

Thank you very much for all your support!

And im here for the feedback