Sponsor an official Demons Within character outfit initiative! (Patreon only)

Hey hey!

I spoke briefly about this idea last month, ran a poll with you all to see what you thought, and the response to it was very positive. So, today, we're gonna start running the first attempt at making this work!

I gave this a lot of thought, and I think I figured out a way to handle it in a hopefully fair way. Let's get right to it!

What is it?

This will be a monthly opportunity available only for Patreon supporters to sponsor an outfit for a Demons Within character. When I say outfit, I mean a non-canon outfit to be created officially by Blain over the in-game sprite of each character. Examples of these are the beach outfits we've made for a few characters:

Although these three examples are of our summer beach outfit polls, the outfits sponsored through this initiative can be of anything for any character that has an in-game sprite right now. Like, for example, "Captain Garret in a modern suit", "Gunther wearing a biker spiked leather jacket", or even silly or reference stuff like "Resnick dressed as the red power ranger". Anything you want, really! Well, anything within the rules that will follow soon after this.

These new outfits will, obviously, not be canon to the story as they can be anything and therefore very likely will never show in the main story of Demons Within, but I do have plans to incorporate them as fun rewards and unlockables as part of the upcoming side game I'm developing within Demons Within. The plan is for them to be unlocked in the Memorium to be seen by everyone eventually, and when they have been sponsored by someone, the name of the sponsor/creator will appear alongside it (unless they wish to remain anonymous).

As I mentioned, this is an opportunity for those who want the extra outfits and/or want to support the game more. It is completely optional and by no means mandatory in any way, so whoever is not interested can ignore it. We'll all still get to see some cool outfits and concepts, though!

How it works

After a great number of positive responses in the poll about people being interested in this, I gave some good thought about how to make this work in a way that is hopefully fair to everyone.

Blain will be working on these himself alongside all the stuff he usually does for Demons Within, and the artwork I need to be able to create each update. Because of that, Blain does not have infinite time to make as many of these as there is demand. We will be limiting the outfit "slots" to 1 to 3 per month, with a number that can vary depending on Blain's availability to create them. Due to that limitation, not everyone that might want to get one in a given month might be able to get them. We intend to keep doing them regularly, however, so the opportunity will always be there.

Because each outfit takes a lot of work for Blain to design and create, the outfits will cost just about the same as I usually pay Blain when he needs to create a new outfit for a character for the game. For those who have read the concept that started this idea, the main intent of this is to create a hopeful win-win-win situation. People get to see the characters in any outfits they really want to see them, Blain gets the paid work he needs as a full-time artist (and he likes to design outfits!), and Demons Within gets more cool extra stuff that everyone can have fun with, and goes beyond what my art budget can afford with the help of people.

The cost of an outfit for a character will be $130 USD per outfit.

In an effort to make it fair for everyone, here is how it's gonna work out.

We'll have a Discord channel that, at the beginning of each month when we set it up, will announce how many slots are available that month. Then, everyone who is interested in getting one that month can opt in to it. After a few days, a number of people will be drawn from everyone that have opted-in, and those people will get the chance to get an outfit that month.

We will then set up exclusive Discord channels with me, Blain, and each winner separately in them so that we can discuss what they'd like, talk, and share ongoing progress with them until the outfit is complete.

Once it is complete, I intend on sharing the new outfits here on Patreon so everyone can see and enjoy them. Once the side game is complete, they will be unlockable within the game in the future as well.

Rules

Everything needs some rules as well, right? The rules are written for the sake of everyone and to make sure we're on the same page about everything. Please make sure you read and understand them well for everyone's sake.

• Requesting outfits of other games or popular characters IS allowed. (E.g.: Resnick as Ash Ketchum from Pokémon). However, to avoid any copyright issues, we will make a few small changes to the outfits in order to keep them similar, but also different enough. We will do our best to keep to the spirit of both the requested character and of the character that the outfit is being put on. We'll all work together to reach a good combination and balance while we're designing the outfit.

  • In the Pokemon example above, for example, we might change the hat symbol to the Dawnbreak Order symbol, but keeping the same colors. Change a few details on the jacket, or add a Pokémon-themed straw-like something to Resnick's mouth for him to chew on.

  • Another thing to keep in mind is that for sprites, the feet are not visible! For some sprites they exist, but the game doesn't show them anyway. For some older sprites, they were not even drawn. Try not to get outfits that focus on legs/feet too much as they might not work out!

• Every Demons Within character that has an in-game sprite is valid for this. The only exceptions, however, are the minor characters with simpler sprites. Those are, right now: Jen, the librarian, Helen, Lance, and Barry from the tavern, and Dan and Jude (Gunther's "goons"). Everyone else is a valid option!

• It should go without saying that outfits that have controversial, racist, or any kind of offensive connotation to them are NOT allowed. Everything else you can imagine is valid! NSFW things are also allowed (like transparent clothing, lack of clothing in certain places, bulges, visible parts, etc).

• Keep in mind that the outfits are made over the current sprites, so there is no space for specific positions or angles/pieces that wouldn't be visible in the way the sprite is right now. MINOR changes to the sprite (like moving a hand slightly) might be considered, but since that is a lot of extra redrawing work for Blain, it's usually not included in this.

• In the spirit of letting everyone have a turn, we'll make a rule that if there are more participants than slots in any given opt-in, the winners from the previous month cannot win the new one. That is to hopefully give everyone more space and a chance to get an opportunity to get what they want as well.

• Just to have everything properly stated, getting an outfit does not give you ownership of the character or the outfit itself that Blain creates. We will, however, ask for a name, nickname, handle, or whatever you like to credit you for the idea and sponsorship of each outfit. Your name will be displayed in the Memorium in-game when these outfits become available to unlock and be seen by players, and in the game credits at the end as well. If you prefer to remain anonymous, that's fine too. Just let us know during the outfit creation process.

This is it! I'll refer to this post for rules and guidelines in the future.

I'd like to highlight that this is new ground and, while I'm doing my best to structure this in the way that I think will work best for everyone involved, there are things we might only see when we're making it happen. I say that to highlight that both the way it works and the rules might change in the future if something doesn't work. I'll edit this post as things change and highlight any bigger change in a new post to make sure everyone is aware of everything.

If you're interested in getting an outfit, we'll be opening the first attempt at this very soon! Make sure you are in the Demons Within Discord server and stay tuned for an announcement! No need to worry too much, though, as I tried to design the opting in exactly to avoid a first-come-first-serve kind of deal where whoever is in the most versatile timezone has an advantage of seeing things first and grabbing it. With this, hopefully, everyone will have equal opportunity!