More older experimental builds -- Patreon?

Hi, all,

I’ve just set up a discussion on Reddit at https://old.reddit.com/r/cataclysmdda/comments/9n890x/more_experimental_build_history_patreon/ about possibly setting up a Patreon for more storage to allow reverting to more older experimental builds.

In particular, the idea would require just a few people pledging small (<= $1) amounts to get one or two months’ worth of build history, scaling up if more people are interested.

I wanted to set up a discussion here, too, not just on Reddit, as this is more the central hub of Cataclysm – but do read the Reddit thread if you’re wondering how this all came about.

The two major questions I need answers to are these (copied from Reddit):

  1. How much value would you find in having a long history of build artifacts (i.e., experimental builds that you can download and run immediately)? And what would you consider the minimum amount of history (in terms of number of builds or days/weeks/months of history) for this to be useful to you?
  2. Would you pledge a small amount of money (think $0.5 - $1) monthly to achieve that history? More? What is a reasonable amount for you? And would you want to get something else in return for that sum?

Regarding the second question, I can’t promise anything on behalf of the CDDA project itself: I can’t get your name in a credits file or MOTD, can’t offer Cataclysm T-shirts or other personalized items, etc… If you think I’ve been doing a good job maintaining the build system so far, I can promise to keep doing so – alternately, if you think I’ve been doing a bad job, tell me why and I’ll try to improve. But for the most part, I’m asking so we can have a discussion.


I’ll be watching for replies both here and on Reddit, so hit me with your best feedback – I do want to know what everyone thinks, even if the overwhelming sentiment is that there’s nothing to fix and we should let it go.

  1. That’s tricky. I’m sure there are some people who would want specific builds before something major got changed, but personally I prefer the more recent builds, since they are generally “better”.
  2. I do think 1$ is perfectly reasonable, maybe even a little more ( like 2-3$ ). As for the “in return”, obviously nothing physical is gonna cost that little, but maybe, adding things that add a little more flavor to the game, like personalized Survivor Notes? Small items in general ( some toys )? I’m not really sure how much input into the game code you have Narc. But even if that’s not possible, 1$ is such a small amount that generally it’s a sign of goodwill, “I wanna support this thing” kinda deal. Kinda like if you give money to a homeless person, you don’t really expect anything in return, maybe except a thank you.

Anyway, that’s for my input. Keep doing what you’re doing Narc.

Yup, same here, but I also obviously can compile my own (with my favorite changes) so I had to ask.

That’s probably reasonable, contingent on how @kevin.granade feels about a little extra clutter. Notes, especially, are very lightweight and unlikely to disturb in any way.

Thanks for your input!

Survivor notes are already open to contribution and subject to review. I dont see changing either of those.

I guess you’re basically paying for someone to do the PR for you?

That’s what I got, too, but it sounds like a reasonable reward for a small contribution.

Just to keep the discussions in sync, on Reddit the consensus I’ve seen so far is leaning towards:

  • having the community pick (through unspecified means) the best build for each week, with the goal being that
  • the build picked for the week would then get archived for the long term (maybe in http://dev.narc.ro/cataclysm/jenkins-promoted – currently a bit of a wasteland).

I’m honestly much more pleased by this solution; I don’t need or want to be handling money any more than Kevin does, and the part of this that I need to do is something I already can do.

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