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I think a very apt comparison would be with Lazy Forger, rather than a few hundred patron patreon. The LF guy is doing quite well for himself off that project, and it's 100% digital.

Lazy forger has made $100k over ~2 years from their campaigns, at most I would guess maybe another $100k from non-campaign sales.

Wouldn't really say that's anything to write home about. The dropfleet commander kickstarter campaign alone raised ~$800k American in the span of 30 days.

There is a clear difference in the scale of operations between the two.

800k, of which I would be aghast to discover more than 20% was profit, and KS is just aggregating a year(s) of sales into one FOMO window. So yeah, I'd say that's pretty comparable still.

100k a year for someone doing CAD on their personal computer sounds pretty successful to me, DFC didn't have 200k left for Hawk's wage after tooling 4 hard plastic factions and shipping them to backers. Also don't discount the personal engagement factor with these projects, where customers can have a direct hotline to the designer through Discord and such.

 Overread wrote:
Patreon though is a fickle market - you've a vastly smaller market to start with buying digital files and they can "burn out" on buying stuff because the price and volume exceeds what most will print.

This is a very very true statement, there's only so much time and resin, only so much one can print. What is often the case with subscriptions for files is you indeed save money but end up with so many damn files you can barely organize them. There's also terrible incentives, instead of getting fewer new kits/designs but better forethought and organization and designs, you often just get MORE MORE NORE as opposed to less but better or more consistent design. Often it just turns into basically paying for early access to stl sets that will be sold ala cart in a few months anyway.

I also think it's not healthy for one designer to put stuff out every month, like what used to make buying an album from a band nice was that it represented months and years of writing and recording work. If a band or recording artist setup their work like patreon subscriptions like, I don't think it'd lead to better music, just more of it.

 Crablezworth wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Patreon though is a fickle market - you've a vastly smaller market to start with buying digital files and they can "burn out" on buying stuff because the price and volume exceeds what most will print.

This is a very very true statement, there's only so much time and resin, only so much one can print. What is often the case with subscriptions for files is you indeed save money but end up with so many damn files you can barely organize them. There's also terrible incentives, instead of getting fewer new kits/designs but better forethought and organization and designs, you often just get MORE MORE NORE as opposed to less but better or more consistent design. Often it just turns into basically paying for early access to stl sets that will be sold ala cart in a few months anyway.

I also think it's not healthy for one designer to put stuff out every month, like what used to make buying an album from a band nice was that it represented months and years of writing and recording work. If a band or recording artist setup their work like patreon subscriptions like, I don't think it'd lead to better music, just more of it.

Agreed, however many patreons can't shift out of that system easily. Going to KS or other campaign systems can work but its a much greater risk and its so very very easy to just hit at a bad spot or not nail the marketing and suddenly you go from 100K to 10K. It can even happen because the economy tanks or another KS is running at the same time that has better marketing etc...

You get a rare few and honestly Lazy Forger is in a very curious spot because he's serving a super niche market and yet has made it work, though honestly I'm a little surprised - esp as a good many of his models are not actually made for good 3D printing. There's a lot of support scarring/support complexities because he doesn't break models into enough parts etc... going on. Yet he's made it work and work really well within a niche and with non-GW designs as well which is very rare. I've seen many more campaigns of outstanding models fail or flounder.


I do also agree, and some of hte larger creators have started to cut back on the monthly volume of models delivered slowly. ITs hard because more models does attract more customers ,but it can also lower standards and makes it harder to test and create awesome kits. STL is a very new and very strange market.

 Overread wrote:
a good many of his models are not actually made for good 3D printing. There's a lot of support scarring/support complexities because he doesn't break models into enough parts etc... going on.

There's a noticeable improvement in the quality of his pre-supported models between the earliest and the most recent. A while ago he went back and redid a few old sets, but they're not as good as his most recent releases still.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
189 paid members probably averaging around $12 q month isn't what I'd quite call "a modest living"

It's a middle class wage where I live, which may be why patreon artists are moving here

are you factoring business expenses?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
are you factoring business expenses?

Owning a chair and a PC?

Aa a 3d designer on the side - lol I wish owning a chair and a pc was all there was to it. There's software licenses, taxes, web hosting fees (unless you exclusively use green site, and purple site), payment processing fees, etc.

Plus there's the cost of my time. I make over $50/hr at my day job - I make less than minimum wage on my 3d designs.

That's a CEO wage around here.

50$ an hour is about lower middle class here,
poverty in california

Poverty in NJ too

Has anyone spotted custom foam for DFC Resistance? I've got Feldherr for my Scourge but they don't have Resistance ones currently.

TTCombat wrote:We endure. We experience. WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.
-
-
-
With Salute 2024 taking place this Saturday, we hope to see as many Commander Universe fans as possible at the event for some exciting updates.

The DFC Civilian Ships & Princess Liner Scenarios have been updated.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Event exclusives are up, including new Anomaly Infantry!

The guns look too much like their ships. I keep seeing buff aliens that want to show me their newest model they made.

I guess they're some kind of intrusive nanomachine controlled aliens, what with the Borg headpieces. Kind of disappointingly rubber-suit alien compared to the Shaltari and Scourge.

Edit: In thumbnails the antennae head piece thing looks like two tails of a bandana, so I keep imagining them speaking like West coast 90s thugs

TTC wrote:"We now have our measure of you. You are indeed sufficient. Your
response though, thus far, has been disappointing. We see you are
distracted by squabbles with fellow, less interesting flesh sentients,
so this communique should redress matters.
We are your extinction, at our leisure. During this epoch, we
will enjoy your suffering, your endings, and, most especially, the fight
we think you will give us.
We endure. We experience. And we are coming for you."

Borg orcs. Borcs?

I suspect the Anomaly communique is addressed to the Shaltari.

I love these new ships. I’m not entirely sold on the Anomaly guys, but would definitely like to know more.

The yellow garbage scow and the silver courier(?) are both awesome. Meh on the bubble one, it reminds me too much of the Jetson's car.

I was thinking of the spaceship where 7 of 9 fought The Rock, but the Jetsons car is even better. It also has strong 80’s Sci Fi puzzle illustration energy, and I love it.


L

Uff the anomaly text is a bit ... Cringe.
I like the civilian ships

UCM light plastic sprue on display at Salute, as well as what looks like the Anomaly cruiser sprue.



https://i.imgur.com/jcg6MGq.jpeg

Yeah, news from Salute is there's a proper V2 for DFC coming this year - "Much more streamlined, possibly out by September", plus "lovely new plastic destroyers, cutters, monitors and more".


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Holy crap! This is awesome news.

The Salute stand was surprisingly excellent! Love the new ships.

On FB, someone shared the background for the new faction as Dave explained it to him:

From what dave said no. Those flesh jobs they have are basically 3d printed organic drones. Their internal structure consists of a heart, lungs and not a lot else. They're built with a one operation lifespan, get sludged and made into more troops of whatever shape and size is operationally required. They're basically piloted by machine intelligence on a remote basis (take off the headgear and they'll stand there doing nothing). They don't feel pain, fear or anything else

Those guns are also nasty, they dissolve a hole in the target with no trauma or wider energy discharge and turn what's been removed into a sort of smoke which they can then reabsorb.

beast_gts wrote:
Yeah, news from Salute is there's a proper V2 for DFC coming this year

The last time TTCombat 'streamlined' a game, we got DZC v2.

R.I.P. Dropfleet Commander.

The designer's that brought you last update's Scourge burnthrough lasers, PHR broadsides, and the Hematite's new album of greatest hits!

Got to say having seen the Behemoth models in person - those things are freaking massive. WAY bigger than I thought from photos.

 Overread wrote:
Got to say having seen the Behemoth models in person - those things are freaking massive. WAY bigger than I thought from photos.

How do they compare to DFC Dreadnaughts? Would you say they are worth their price tags for someone who liked the design?