Donation driven development

[Kornel Kisielewicz]

As many of you know, I'm working on a full-time job currently, while also running lectures on the University being a PhD student. That leaves pretty little time for any hobbyist activities. Recently though I had a change of heart as for the way my life should look like. Mainly I understood, that I won't be able to pull off my PhD if I maintain a full-time job. I started to pursue alternative options. While I do have some things that I could make a living at while not doing it full time, this is probably not enough.

As many of you probably know Dwarf Fortress (a great "roguelike" indeed!) is totaly donation driven -- up to the point that Tarn ( the author ) uses donations as his only source of income. True, the difference here is the popularity of DF and it's sheer scale of immersiveness, yet I started to wonder if I could at least mimic such a model under a much smaller scale.  A fraction of compared income for, let's say, 2 days of ChaosForge roguelike dedicated full-time development.

However, I have no clue how to pull such a thing off, and I'm sure that I wouldn't be able to do it without the support (in terms of help, not money) of the community. Any suggestions, opinions (also against), or proposals for making it work are at the price of gold for me now.

The future of ChaosForge is in your hands now!

P.S. Also, I'd really want to use this occasion to thank again Zaimoni for being the most dedicated ChaosForge supporter -- you make me ashamed that I don't spend more time on the projects...

[Melon]

Dwarf Fortress hasn't been updated for nearly a year now [;

Have you though about becoming a team leader and ordering other people to write some parts of the codes/functions/script?

This way you manage the project from the top, while others write.

And as for donation driving, do you know the lifestyle of the Dwarf Fortress? Does he have a child/wife/debts/car or any other things? Surely, if you live by yourself, 3000 zlotych would be surely enough. That's 1000$? You would need 250 people paying you 4$ a month. Well, right now, I am unemployed, when I get a job I will surely donate DoomRL. But still you would need 249 more people. And only if we are counting you [;

P.S. It is just my... eeee, rant? That's all...

[Kornel Kisielewicz]

Dwarf Fortress hasn't been updated for nearly a year now [;

However, the dev speed is scary : http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html

Have you though about becoming a team leader and ordering other people to write some parts of the codes/functions/script?
This way you manage the project from the top, while others write.

Why not -- however find me people willing to work for free ;).

And as for donation driving, do you know the lifestyle of the Dwarf Fortress? Does he have a child/wife/debts/car or any other things? Surely, if you live by yourself, 3000 zlotych would be surely enough. That's 1000$? You would need 250 people paying you 4$ a month. Well, right now, I am unemployed, when I get a job I will surely donate DoomRL. But still you would need 249 more people. And only if we are counting you [;

I'd rather count it 50 people paying 10$ on average. Dwarf Fortress gets 1500$-5000$/mo range. I also have other sources of income (PhD stipend, and probably'd need a part-time job). 2-3 days of dedicated CF work for 500$/mo avg would save my ass here... and make everyone happy O.o.

[raekuul]

Have you though about becoming a team leader and ordering other people to write some parts of the codes/functions/script?
This way you manage the project from the top, while others write.

Why not -- however find me people willing to work for free ;).

What's DoomRL written in?

[Kornel Kisielewicz]

What's DoomRL written in?

FreePascal unfortunately. DoomRL II if ever written, would be written in C++.

[Visalos]

I'll throw some cash here pretty soon; i figure i owe you and biskup a few bucks each :P side note: Dwarf Fortress is epic, yes, but have you ever checked your system resources while the game is merely 'idling'? My Vista machine, box of rocks though it may be, can barely run the thing; CPU maxed out, 75k memory usage. I haven't tried it on this comp, but i expect similar atrociousness.

[ParaSait]

I'll throw some cash here pretty soon; i figure i owe you and biskup a few bucks each :P side note: Dwarf Fortress is epic, yes, but have you ever checked your system resources while the game is merely 'idling'? My Vista machine, box of rocks though it may be, can barely run the thing; CPU maxed out, 75k memory usage. I haven't tried it on this comp, but i expect similar atrociousness.

Well, I'm happy that I'm not the only one who has that. I thought it was some kind of error that only my computer had, which made DF a big useless resource user.
But it's still a nice game; Except maybe for the fact that I'm not really the realtime RTS type, I prefer the turn based tactical shooter actually (Hint hint, DoomRL ^^)

Oh and I'd really like to give you a donation, Kornel, but I'm afraid I'm not old and competent enough for that... Maybe in within 2 years or so? ;)

[Visalos]

Take 0.9.9 hostage, and only release it if you receive some inordinate sum of money.

[rekenne]

I'll throw some cash here pretty soon; i figure i owe you and biskup a few bucks each

I was all for donating to Biskup, until I discovered that he sorta ... fell off the face of the planet and never released the code for ADOM. He said, years ago, he'd release it when it was done.
...
Yeaaah.

Though, on this topic's, well, topic: I was thinking of donating again after the next release came out for real. As I'll probably have another dose of Financial Aid by that point. <_<

[Kornel Kisielewicz]

Dwarf Fortress is epic, yes, but have you ever checked your system resources while the game is merely 'idling'? My Vista machine, box of rocks though it may be, can barely run the thing; CPU maxed out, 75k memory usage. I haven't tried it on this comp, but i expect similar atrociousness.

Considering the amount of magic it does behind the scenes, I'm not surprised :>.

Take 0.9.9 hostage, and only release it if you receive some inordinate sum of money.

Surprisingly this is one of the most effective donation-driven development methodologies. I was however thinking of something less drastic, like targets per feature.

[Melon]

Have you though about becoming a team leader and ordering other people to write some parts of the codes/functions/script?
This way you manage the project from the top, while others write.

Why not -- however find me people willing to work for free ;).

If DoomRL will be in C or C++... or in VHDL I can write some of the stuff [;

Seriously, this would be very good, you coordinate the whole projects, every is trying to polish his/her part.

[Kornel Kisielewicz]

That's why the new framework is written in C++...

[raekuul]

C++ I can help with, I can navigate it well enough not to end up in Beijing by mistake.

[Styro]

I am a professional software developer and I wouldn't mind helping out with finishing up DoomRL. I haven't done Pascal since I used Delphi around 1997, but it really is a pretty straight-forward language. And really most languages are relatively similar. I have done C, C++, Delphi, Powerbuilder, VB, ASP, Java, and now I work in C#. Moving from one language to another or back to an old one is not that big of a deal.

Of course most of us have full-time jobs or school or both, but if a few people each dedicate some spare time that is better than one person having to do all the work. Especially with how many projects you have going.

[Melon]

Of course most of us have full-time jobs or school or both, but if a few people each dedicate some spare time that is better than one person having to do all the work. Especially with how many projects you have going.

And I sign what you have just written with my both hands.