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After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

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Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#411

Post by Ygg2 »

kzvezdarov wrote: post #389
Ygg2 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it isn't. Public health is just difficult to fund. Especially on a shrinking population.

Yes it is. I live in Ontario. The provincial (conservative) government literally froze the wages of nurses and other public sector workers in 2019 (see Bill 124), creating a massive exodus of nurses and a severe staff shortage. The provincial government doesn't have money to pay nurses, but it has enough money to build a useless highway (see Highway 413) that just so happens to go through land owned by the Premier's…

> Yes it is. I live in Ontario. The provincial (conservative) government

Sure, just be a socialistic/communist government and be able to finance the pension system while depending on US money (because there isn't any good alternative), once you go too much into debt and deal with IMF, and be sure not to defund important services (like medicine) when they ask you causing bank runs and bankrupcy. Easy, no?

Oh, and make sure there is no corruption that would cause funds to be mismanaged.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#412

Post by glonq »

brundolf wrote: post #182
dabeeeenster wrote: post #76

So this happened to a guy that worked for me. Loved video games, super talented front end dev. Made a horror game in Unity at evenings and weekends with his best friend. Launched it on Steam. Very low sales. But he learnt a huge amount about marketing and game design based on player feedback. Designed a second game, put all the marketing learnings into it, 48 hours after launch the biggest streamer on twitch was stre…

The flipside is that it's a lottery. Steam is overflowing with new indie games every day, and many very good ones die in obscurity. You really have to get lucky and go viral But yeah, the entry fee for that lottery is at a historic low, which is still great (especially for hobby devs who don't care about the rest!)

Every time I see a new-ish game released for free on the epic games store or indiegala, I think "bummer, I guess it's still mac and cheese in mom's basement for these guys.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#413

Post by deanCommie »

DonHopkins wrote: post #318
deanCommie wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying that feminism might be corrupted by grifters who do not actually seek equality between the genders would be controversial, but acceptable. Saying that homosexual pride was important at the start, but now in most places gay people have the identical rights to straight people, and therefore gay pride is no more meaningful than straight pride would be controversial, but acceptable. Missing either context by sayin…

Quoted post unavailable.

You're arguing with the wrong person - you should reply to OP.

I completely agree with you. Notch is indefensible.

My argument was that there MIGHT be an acceptable way to have a conversation about what grifters are doing to feminism (without abandoning the whole concept)

Or there MIGHT be an acceptable way to have a conversation about whether gay pride should evolve as society evolves.

But not by saying you're against feminism, or by saying you're against gay pride without qualifications.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#414

Post by Firmwarrior »

DonHopkins wrote: post #322
Firmwarrior wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, man.. I got muscled out of The Left for wearing masks too early in the pandemic, but I don't feel like it's controversial to say that Pizzagate and QAnon are "weird"

Quoted post unavailable.

I'd still call myself a leftist. But like pretty much all rational people who've done any introspection at all: I'm now an alt right maniac because I'm willing to talk to people I disagree with and try to think things through from their perspective.

I masked up early since people wear masks in hospitals and people mask up in Asia when they're sick. That made me "anti-science"

I think free speech is actually important even if scumbags lie to people. I think that the government shouldn't have the ability to arbitrarily decide what is and isn't true from one day to the next, and they DEFINITELY shouldn't have this much soft power to shut down unwanted narratives through backchannels.

What's really funny about all this is that I can talk to my actual hard-right friends about this stuff, and they don't rage on me for being pro-trans or any other views they disagree about. We can talk about it, find the root of our disagreement, and then live in peace. The only Leftists I can get to that point with are others like myself who've been muscled out and branded dangerous alt-right lunatics.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#415

Post by stcroixx »

fuzzzerd wrote: post #205
todfox wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After four years working on my retro game nearly full time, and several launches, I still don't understand marketing enough to understand what to do differently. A lot of the advice out there is something like: "create a community" or "go join several communities" or "get to know other indie devs on Twitter". To me, this simply feels fake. I don't really participate in any online communities. I spend enough time in f…

I don't have the answer, but have been seeking it for a long time myself. Heard the same advise you got, make a community, join communities, post on twitter/reddit. As you said it just feels like fake advise. As best I can tell, success in those efdorts is equal parts luck, wit, and having something unique yet relatable.

It is 'fake' in a way - you don't truly want to make/join these communities or post about this on twitter/reddit. If these communities really interested you, you'd already be a part of them. There are communities where the people have known each other for years and you're going to step into their forum, make your one post, annoy them, and move on. I personally wouldn't want to be that guy, but this is just what marketing is.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#416

Post by kcartlidge »

rexreed wrote: post #356
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lottery implies its entirely luck based. When in reality, you have a great deal of control. Marketing IS something you can control. Sure, some streamer randomly picking up your game is beyond your control. But you can certainly create conditions that would make it easier for your game to be picked up by a streamer (build relationships with journos, streamers; get paid marketing, etc.) Calling it a lottery is a disser…

Here's what I learned in life that's applicable to many areas, this being one: Not sucking isn't enough. Even being "Great" isn't enough. And even being "amazing" just isn't good enough to be successful. You need people to notice and care and help you and carry you to success. Mediocrity with a lot of public and positive reinforcement beats quiet greatness. Truly great things die every day from lack of attention and…

> Mediocrity with a lot of public and positive reinforcement beats quiet greatness.

Great point.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#417

Post by bornfreddy »

ryandrake wrote: post #281
sgerenser wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would someone with millions not at least have an ACA plan? Even the worst ACA plan has an out-of-pocket max of around $10K individual and $20K family.

Personally, I don't trust "words from an insurance company." My health insurance company has more money and lawyers than I do. If I get cancer or something and they want to drain my life savings, they probably have some words on page 561 of my insurance policy allowing them to do it. What am I going to do about it, hire an attorney with my $0 balance and sue them?

Can you pay some "insurance of insurance", where someone guarantees they will win your fight, otherwise they lose a big chunk of their money as collateral?

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#418

Post by Ericson2314 »

felipemnoa wrote: post #90
Ericson2314 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notch took orders of magnitude less time for orders of magnitude more money. I think they're safe. Put on your https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moishe_Postone hat and the time portion is especially key here.

I do not get your Moishe Postone reference either. What does it mean?

His most famous book, Time, Labor and Social Domination, is not the clearest writing to say the least, but really dumb basic idea is that the downside of work during capitalism are less "boss mean" than the rat race / treadmill of more hours, more deadlines etc.

Whatever you say about the Dwarf Fortress creators, one thing that is clear is that they hopped way the fuck off that treadmill. Money gave Notch a "rush" (pun very much intended!) but the Adam's brothers were clearly in no rush.

I think that means this success will not get to their heads. He who was never running won't trip.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#419

Post by chaostheory »

armchairhacker wrote: post #59
haunter wrote: post #57

I love that they straight up said the game won't get any big discounts in the near (~2 years) future >Q: When is the game going on sale? >Not soon! And not for very much discount! Bay 12 and Kitfox are going to keep working on this for ~30 years, so it doesn’t make sense to follow normal Steam discounting. For example, we might discount 10% in a couple of months, but we also might not! We certainly won’t be discounti…

Same as Factorio, which also never goes on sale. When I know a game discounts 50+% it just makes me put off buying it.

You can get a discount on humble bundle if you’re a subscriber

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#420

Post by [deleted] »

INTPenis wrote: post #383
kodah wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there evidence of this or is it just a feeling?

Oh man, how many times have I considered saving all the evidence? I guess I need to start doing that. Because the evidence just passes me by in the form of news articles, new laws being proposed, new budgets undercutting public health care and promoting the private sector. I have stories for days. But as you say, I need to start saving the sources because I'm not really into politics. I'm a nerd, I live in a nerdy bu…

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