July 1st
🕑 Added 2022-07-02 15:21:00 +0000 UTCGreetings everyone! Fundraising for the first milestone hit $537.89 out of 23 contributors. That number may rise slightly, as there were a couple of payment declines. Those might get approved in the next couple of days.
This leaves us with $2,462.11 more to go in 10 months. I've talked with a few potential donors who plan on contributing toward the end of the year and around tax refund season next year. Assuming these donations come into fruition and we at least maintain current donation levels, we'll hit the milestone a month or two before the deadline. If those donations don't come through, I give us a smaller chance of growing the current donor pool enough to hit the goal. So total odds are around 50/50 right now.
I was also recently asked, what happens if we miss the milestone goal by the deadline? The current plan is to end the Feature Bounty System. I would cover whatever remains of the milestone goal. I will also cancel the three self-funded bounties that amount to $2700 worth of work. So everyone who contributed will vote on $5700-worth of bounties using whatever voting points they have. All the contributors will have exclusive access to the FBS update for a few years before I eventually let everyone else get it.
There is an alternative, though. As we approach deadline, if we still don't have the funds, I will let you all vote if we should continue past the deadline. This vote won't cost you voting points, but the vote will be weighted by how many donations you made. Ultimately, the FBS is for the community, so really it's up for you guys to decide. I am a free agent unless I have to get a real job.
Comments
Eric Jones
I assumed everyone read the rules and regulations of the FBS. What happens in case of a failure is mentioned in Section 2, second paragraph: https://www.ventdev.com/fbs/fbs_manual.html Quote: The community has 12 months to raise funds to reach a Milestone Goal. If the community can not raise enough funds after 12 months, Visual Entertainment and Technologies will fund the lesser of $5,000 or until the Milestone Goal is met. The community and Visual Entertainment and Technologies will then vote on that Milestone. After voting and approval, we will shut the Feature Bounty System down. Not mentioned in the rules, I will throw in the monetary values of the stuff I was going to implement for free, but there would be no point in implementing should the FBS fail. So no matter what, at this stage contributors have at least $5000 worth of things they'll be able to vote for. If this milestone fails, they'll have the $3000 + the three things I funded. If we meet the milestone goal, you'll have this milestone + the next milestone.
Andrew
It might be worth noting on the "Goals" part of the main Patreon page that if the milestone isn't reached, the supporters will still get some content based on their contribution. I was wondering what would happen in that case too when I contributed, since like you say it looks about 50:50, but in the end decided to contribute anyway since my initial contribution amount was in the range that I would've been okay with it going towards Aero Mogul or just being a "thanks for all the fun in Gear City" if the goal wasn't met. But I could see that being a factor in whether people decide to contribute, especially until/unless it becomes clear the milestone will be reached.
