The place to post your thoughts on funding Autonaut development.
Now this may not be something entirely up your guys alley but what if you were to stream playing your game and any others you saw fit? Donations could go to wherever you needed them to and as well you can explain how your game works, get people that may not know about it to play it, and at the same time you may find bugs in the game or come up with ideas while streaming or not. Again streaming isn't for everyone but it could be something.
I think this game has great potential. I would like to recommend that you submit it to Good Shepherd. They have the skills and resources to bring it to market. I am an investor in Gambitious/Good Shepherd and have seen what they can do. I feel they might just be the answer you are looking for. I and other investors would be happy to invest in Autonauts through Good Shepherd.
Good luck,
RAAndre
Personally, I'd be willing to spend $14.99 on this game in it's current state, I have no idea what you guys have planned, but I like how it is shaping up. You should absolutely look for a funding source and close off the free version, or even use what you have now as the free version as a sort of "Proof of Concept" (probably not the right words I want) to potential backers for a Crowdfunding campaign. Autonauts strikes the same itch(Pun intended) that Factorio does for me. Regardless of what you decide, I'll happily back it, as long as the weekly updates continue, even if it isn't a physical game update, just letting us know what is going on behind the scenes.
Good day to you, fellow Autonauts. We put together an outline for our crowdfunding proposal and thought, "You know what? We should share this with the existing community before we do anything else with it." So here it is.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VJEeZJ1ZfAgzTtecUx0bhSLnLGep9qXJKlNR-E80...
Comments are enabled in the presentation so you can leave in context any thoughts you might have.
In case it isn't obvious, this would usually be done in a webpage rather than a Google Presentation and those boxes with crosses in them are placeholders for images (and that one with a 'PLAY' triangle in it is for a short promotional video; we have a rough test that we might share very soon).
It's a great presentation and GREAT ideas ahead. I'll want to pay 20$ for the game on steam. Also if i donate right now and it's released on steam later is it like possible to get it on steam? by the way. i wish the best for the game. it's already awesome and it's going to a GREAT direction. Weekly updates and just you replying in the community makes everything better :). Thanks for making such a great game
EDIT: Oh and it would be absolutely awesome if you could add "Pepe" to one of the folk names. even though it's not a desert Lol :)
Great presentation. I could get behind this at the £30 level. I really like the vision that's laid out, somewhat like SimCity or Dwarf Fortress (minus combat) as far as the in-game goal of achieving multi-dimensional happiness for the folk, together with a fully capable programming system for realizing it through the bots.
The audience of the youtubers mostly decide whether or not they play.
Take mattshea (his genres of gaming are kinda sporadic though) and blitz (partially limited by income) for example
If you got someone famous (like pewdiepie or jacksepticeye, highly unlikely if they ask for sponsership and i'm betting that this happens to them often) Autonauts would experience more of a sugar rush in popularity (fast rise fast fall) but their play styles will either make or break the game.
Someone like Ssundee (a little more open-minded to games that don't include minecraft as opposed to captainsparklez; however he has taken a break from youtube) could work for a gradual incline in popularity however as I said before, if their viewers get bored of it, they'll stop too.
On the other hand if you partner-up with a well-known gaming company they would have better resources for promotion but I'm not sure whether that would go against your ethics and autonauts a game where players need deeper immersion than just an ad. You will also need players who can grasp where the game can go rather than what it is.
Some drawbacks include it lacking the near-infinite possibilities in games like Minecraft and backstory+ incentives the Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb (achievements, variety, ect) . While yes they have had more years and money for development (and the support of youtubers) people won't play Autonauts if they don't feel anything for it. You need to make them experience a sense of wonder and curiosity of what they could do in or with the game, some more substance during or after we finish automation (what if bots could educate the folks? What if they started an uprising, maybe like the dangers of artificial intelligence and thats why they've travelled to this planet rather than just helping random civilisations, that never starve and probably haven't moved since they'be been "created", along their way which would help justify why they need to start from scratch and the need research technologies. just a sense of realism).
Thats for the latest version anyway and yes you're probably a small team but think about it, what if you could automate script-writing?
Hey maybe you can something like coinhive I know it's meant for web pages but maybe you can modify it someway to adapt it to work with autonauts EDIT you can make it so that before getting Autonauts files the user is recuired to solve some number of hashes so you get money from those hashes. And I know I explained that weirdly but think about it
What a lovely find – I've been looking for something "like" this for ages. I'm pleased that it isn't bogged down with a "story" or "achievement objectives" or hindered with "beat the clock/monster" ... although I can see how some players [like Pebble] need incentives to play. I just like sandbox play. IF anything, part of the puzzle/challenge is figuring out how it works – one only needs to know that if something's not working it's NOT a bug but one's method needs adjusting. I'd be happy to contribute documentation/graphics/testing-feedback/dollars/promotion - if you're still forging ahead with development.