Room Elephants, Servers, and Backstory.

So, I've been wanting to address this for quite some time:

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the economy worldwide is in a slump. Inflation is up everywhere, supply chain issues are driving prices up further, and the legendary wages being offered during the height of "The Great Resignation"  have evaporated with the arrival of summer.

Consequently, we have been getting a lot of messages from patrons, letting us know that due to current conditions, they have had to lower their monthly contribution, or discontinue their support. These patrons are always asking whether their rewards or premiums might be cut off.

I am mentioning this, because we wanted to remind and assure our patrons:  OUR REWARD AND PREMIUM TIERS ARE BASED UPON TOTAL CONTRIBUTED OVERALL - NOT HOW MUCH CONTRIBUTED PER MONTH.

IN OTHER WORDS:  

If you have contributed $2 total to the project:  You will continue to get notifications and links of new alphas.  This does not change, if you cancel your support after you have given two dollars - I have often said this, and it is true:

We still send notifications of Alpha releases to people who contributed two dollars, four years ago.

If you have contributed $25 total to the project:  You will continue to get notifications and links of new alphas - in addition, you will get the postcard set, early public beta access, and the full game upon completion.  This will remain the case, even if you lower your tier of support, or cacel your support, entirely.  All that we ask is that you DO NOT delete your patreon account- because that is how we stay in touch!

If you have contributed $50 total to the project:  You will continue to get notifications and links of new alphas - in addition, you will get the postcard set, the art print, early public beta access, and the full game upon completion.  This will (of course) remain the case, should you need to lower your level of support, or temporarily pause your support.  As before: please don't delete your Patreon account, so we can stay in touch!

If you have contributed $100 total to the project:  You will continue to get notifications and links of new alphas - in addition, you will get the postcard set, early public beta access, and the full game upon completion.  You will also have the opportunity to choose where your name (or a name of your choice) will appear in Peace Island's story!  As in the previous examples: your are guaranteed these premiums, even if you cancel your support, after reaching that $100 tier.

I'm pretty sure that once they read this, the other folks who work on Peace Island will be kinda confused as to why I wrote a post that might actually result in LESS support.  

There are a few reasons:

Firstly, as long-time supporters of Peace Island know:  Laura and I started this project while we were working TOUGH jobs - I was a line cook, and she was a care worker at a home for the elderly.  Just a few years ago, I was hauling bags of cans to the redemption center, to make sure we could pay the bills.

She and I KNOW from personal experience how hard it is to earn a dollar, sometimes.  As a result, we remain loyal to those who helped us out - even those who only had two dollars to give.

Secondly, I believe this policy will actually result in MORE support in the long run.  I know there are a goodly number of folks out there who might be thinking:

"Gee, I'd like to support this project, but I dunno if I can sustain X dollars per month for very long!"

I know this, because I hear from folks like that every week.  When I explain that they can just drop in, make whatever contribution that suits their budget, and STILL get premium access LONG after the fact - even if they cancel their support...

It tends to be good for us, and the project!

Oh- and speaking of premiums...  Our printer died this past week, and most premium shipments have been halted, as a result.  We should be getting a new one delivered within the next few days!

We have been able to get our server back up (partially.)

We have the project running properly on one machine, and we're planning to have it back up and working on all computers by this time tomorrow.  Getting Perforce (our Version Control solution) working properly has been one of the most challenging things I have encountered, in the entire four years of PI development.

One gets the impression that the coding behind Perforce was originally written on an Albanian-made punch-card computer sometime back in the late 1970's to regulate grain distribution.  After the fall of the iron curtain, all of the cards were bound with rusty barbed wire and stuffed into one of Enver Hoxha's bunkers in Tirana, until they were sold as counterfeit fiberglass insulation to a concern in California during the Dot Com boom of the 90's.

Thankfully, work has not stopped, while we've been dealing with that...

Work continues on that market, along with other interiors.  

Tangential to this, some patrons asked for their names to be featured on products or posters in the grocery store.  We've started taking care of that, when the time presents itself...

...and since we didn't need a server to write, we took this opportunity to flesh out the game's lore a bit...

You might remember a recent update where I spoke about how we consider the stories of the erstwhile humans of Peace Island to be every bit as important to the  game's lore, as the stories of the cats.  I also mentioned that this extended to the NPCs that you can expect to encounter, as you explore.

For example, We know little about the origins of this species - this strange race that left nothing but their own dessicated bones upon their forgotten homeworld.  

Certain documents and images remain of their flight.

After an errant comet cut their journey short, only fragments and memory remain.  

Upon arrival, they had to rely on mechanical means to get around, made out of whatever they had on hand.  

Eventually, certain - adjustments had to be made to their physiology, once they knew help was not on the way.

You might encounter their distant descendants on Peace Island...

See ya'll next week - thanks as always for your confidence, support, and patience!