Stellaris Mods - PRE-RELEASE PANIC! Also The Future Of Patreon (Patreon)

THIS POST WAS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT YESTERDAY! >.<

I'm so bad at this! And in other news, water is wet and the Easter Bunny does not- ah, actually, let's not go down that rabbit hole! We're only a few days from the release of Federations and there is STILL SO MUCH TO DO to prepare our mods ahead of time, so today's Monthly Mod Report is going to be short, sweet and to the point. As much as I love to ramble out of control for like 20 pages, I still have 20 pages of scripts to write, test and debug. Because I like fun!

But but but self-deprecating aside, I do genuinely want to get this post out there as well. It's very important  to me and a little different than usual, because the focus is going to be not our mods this time, but us, Team Nessassity, and you, our patrons and users!

WITHOUTFURTHERADO!

Patreon Rework

For sanity reasons, it won't go into effect until after we're done with all the mod updates surrounding Federation's launch, but I'm hoping to institute the following changes within the next month or two.

Before I outline the plan I have in mind, I'd like to make clear my reasoning. For a very long time, I have been low-key regretting setting up the tier system and promising all the rewards, most of which I have yet to deliver. The truth is, back when I came up with it, I was inspired by other creators' Patreons, mostly artists and indie game devs. At the time, I simply assumed that it would be easy to tie incentives to ongoing development - it worked for them so surely it would come to us naturally, too?

While I was adamant on never monetising access to actual mod files, the idea of giving the most dedicated patrons the occasional sneak-peek into behind-the-scenes happenings, early drafts of projects we were thinking of and such, that felt like a fair and, more importantly, fun way to reward higher tier of patrons.

Well... fast-forward to now and you may have noticed how few of those posts I have actually issued. And the reason for that is very simple: usually there isn't that much to talk about. And when there is, in 90% of cases, the content in question is already in an advanced enough state that we might as well announce it to the general public. As the result, after the official reveal of Omega, we never quite ended up with enough accumulated unannounced content to justify writing dedicated posts about, let alone on a regular basis that would justify paying extra if someone subscribed specifically with that incentive in mind.

Another tight corner that I have run myself into has been the promise of interaction and engagement. That idea was sorta wrapped up with the assumption that very few people, if any at all ever, would go for the higher tiers, and as such I could afford to maintain a high level of direct contact without it detracting from my productivity.
Welp... Turns out I grossly underestimated our supporters <3 And while it makes me incredibly happy how many amazing people went above and beyond to support our efforts, my constant inability to deliver what I had originally intended eventually turned into a source of anxiety. And... I have a very counterproductive response to anxiety - avoidance. At my absolute worst, there were entire months I stayed off Patreon, afraid to face what I believed would be disillusioned patrons. And... I probably don't have to point out the obvious self-fulfilling prophecy scenario that facilitated >.<

Once again to your credit, most of you have shown incredible patience and understanding and I've felt very silly every time I realised that those of you go for the higher tiers rarely seem to actually care about the listed incentives. But well... I still tend to get into my own head and blow things out of proportion. I can't stop feeling bad for failing you, even if you don't always see it as a failure.

And thirdly, related to the above, there is also the matter of implementing in-game tributes to top-tier patrons. That one has been especially problematic to deliver on because opportunities to do so in an organic and non-obnoxious manner have been few and far between within the scope of content that we usually focus on, that being scripted mechanics and art assets. Originally, I was planning on putting all of those tributes throughout the rich story content we were planning for Omega, but, well, the scope of Omega has changed (many times) since then and the narrative stuff's priority decreased as mechanical concerns became more prominent.

We are finally, after what feels like forever, delving into narrative content, so perhaps there is still a way I can deliver this reward to existing top-tier patrons but I don't think offering it going forward is going to work out in the long term. Even if we may have more opportunities for the time being, it might loops back to this state sometime down the line.

With all these burdens off my chest, and I hope explained as deeply and transparently as I can, you can probably identify the root of all said problems - the tier system.

Given the way we develop our mods and interact with our users, tying incentives to a recurring payment model creates the expectation - both within patrons and ourselves - that we should have something to offer on a regular basis as well. And failing that feels terrible, even though it is simply not how our development and communication processes work out.

The Changes

As such, starting as soon as the expansion release madness dies down, my Patreon rework will abolish tiered incentives. Going forward, we may still offer special thank-yous in various forms to ALL patrons, but on an irregular basis that better aligns with our irregular development cycles.

The option to support us with however much you want will remain, but it is my hope that anyone who chooses to do so will be motivated by a genuine desire to support Team Nessassity and not by exclusive incentives.

That said, after the changes come into effect, I am going to individually contact all legacy top-tier (SENPAI WANTS TO BE TOGETHER... FOREVER!+) Patrons and work out some way to deliver the previously promised rewards or otherwise offer them alternative compensation.

New Mission Statement

Ultimately, I am hoping that the new model is going to promote a healthier relationship between us and our patrons, even if it means greatly reducing the value of patronage.
We will remain committed to not locking our mods behind paywalls and to keeping everyone up to date on all the things we're creating, hopeful that you are as excited about it as we are! <3

I do not ever again want to dread logging in and feeling like I have failed to live up to arbitrary self-imposed expectations. Instead, I want this to be a platform where Team Nessassity's community can feel at home and have an open and honest dialogue with me.
I want nobody to feel trapped by their pledges or excluded on account of not pledging 'enough'. I believe that anyone who chooses to support our work should have no other reason for doing so than simply the desire to facilitate making more of it. And even those who don't pledge should never feel bad about it. Often, simple words of encouragement, inspiring ideas and constructive criticism are valuable in their own right!

After all, let's never forget that Team Nessassity is just a bunch of artsy nerds who have found an outlet for their creativity in filling a space strategy game with cute aliens and shiny ships. Sometimes all we need to keep us going is knowing that somewhere out there, in the vast infinity of the universe, someone likes what we made and wants us to make more of it ◠‿◠✿