Patreon Reward Ideas

[Deantwo]

I figured it would be a good idea to collect the ideas for Patreon rewards and tiers here on the forum rather than all over the place.

A lot of people are unhappy about the idea of "paywalled patch notes", but rather than complaining about it, lets come up with alternatives.
Please keep this this friendly and constructive, we want to brainstorm and discuss new ideas.

What do you think would be good Patreon rewards and tiers?

[Deantwo]

The first idea that made the rounds in the community was some form of integration with the forum, a little badge or title for users that are supporters.
Same could in theory be done for the game, but I don't know how that could be shown.
(We have been thinking about it for the Discord server too, but it is community managed and I don't know if there would be an issue with that.)

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A lot of the the patch notes are generally basic, and assuming we get get them or even a simplify version of them public, then the more in-depth bug hunting stories could be patron-only.

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An idea that I think would be interesting, would be the chance to get a story mission added to the game.
I don't know how streamlined Haxus's process is for adding new story missions, but I would love the chance create a story/tutorial mission for Hazeron.

My concern with that is how that would work as a monthly reward tier.

[se5a]

Yeah putting a ToadyOne style patch/bugfinding story behind a paywall would be good.

[Celarious]

Fully agree with a badge for users who subscribe to a certain tier

[Norway174]

Please do not monetize the changelogs. 

Changelogs are an essential part of updates. Which affects EVERYONE playing. Not just those who can afford to be on Patreon.

Bring back Changelogs here. And if you insists of posting something to Patreon. Maybe you could post a week in review something, where you can talk about what's your plan for next week. And the future ideas of Hazeron?

Or, better yet, as other people mentioned. Maybe a forum badge.

Could even do like an in-game badge. Like the agent badge, but have one for Patreons.

[Deantwo]

What about actual in-game affecting rewards?
Like if one of the middle tiers (around $20 or so) gave you relaxed decay rules on one account? Maybe just have to login once every 90 days, instead of every 30 days?

Relaxed decay rules isn't really a pay-to-win thing. Right?

[QuakeIV]

I mean, it kindof is...

Maybe they could get colored space suits/armor or something.

[Gabeux]

Honestly, I don't think many rewards are necessary. Just like in games like DF, people donate based on how they feel about it - rather than for the rewards - and it works wonders.
Locking ChangeLogs behind any paywalls is weird and is bound to cause more problems than to feel cool in any capacity.
My suggestion would be to post changelogs (summaries of changes of updates) publicly like before - e.g. "4 new buttons added in X screen" - and reserve any longer-winded Developer Logs and Blog-like posts and discussions to the Patreon. Even as a Patreon, I wouldn't read every high-detail post every time, but it's very likely I'd look into changelog/summaries often.

I do write DevLogs and ChangeLogs myself and those are boring and time-consuming, but once you have a detailed DevLog..it's mostly copy-and-paste the bullet points for a summary.
If people still complain about that, then that's just the internet. But no games lock update changelogs, hence complaints will always occur at every update and less people are likely to become Patreon.

In other words, this:

Yeah putting a ToadyOne style patch/bugfinding story behind a paywall would be good.

When it comes to in-game rewards, I guess it all comes down heavily on what direction Haxus want to take monetization, because that's what it becomes when any advantages are given in-game.
As a Patreon I don't really care for that. Could be cool to have a differently colored name or icon somewhere, or some cosmetic item that you can wear or put on display.
Those are cool things to look at as a "Founder" and helps you feel "at home" with a project, but is not necessary. Just neat.

[Deantwo]

Yeah I agree, a lot of rewards likely aren't really that important. Clear open communication is more important than having a reward tier.

There has been heated discussions on Discord about why we don't just copy-paste the patron-only posts in the Discord chat. And if no one is doing it yet, I am sure it is only a question of time before people just start posting the patron-only posts somewhere else and sharing links to it.
Hell I suggested that people just started posting them on the forum, since then Haxus would at least be aware that it is a valid complaint, rather than just bypass it and not let Haxus know that it is bad.

Unlocking a cosmetic item for a linked account would be cool. Like a special hat or something but that is likely easier once Gen4 is more done. (Off-topic: A special outfit for Agents would probably also be a good idea.)

The currently best and easiest patron reward is likely just some exclusive behind the scenes development blogs or detailed bug hunting stories. After that is the polls, doing one each month to see what issues people think are high priority or asking how a particular feature should be implemented could be interesting.

[Celarious]

The currently best and easiest patron reward is likely just some exclusive behind the scenes development blogs or detailed bug hunting stories. After that is the polls, doing one each month to see what issues people think are high priority or asking how a particular feature should be implemented could be interesting.

In my opinion dev blogs and polls are the best way to do rewards, while giving non-patrons access to critical information. A lot of the people who are currently patrons don't even expect anything in return, so even this would just be a bonus