Factorio Forums

I finally did it. I made a Patreon.

I'm not exactly sure what I should offer Patreons over other users, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Do it like most Patreons and lock everything behind the paywall.

$5 tier to download three mods of your choice
$10 tier unlocks pure modules + Silicon/Aluminium/Cobalt ores
$15 tier unlocks god modules + Titanium/Tungsten ores + Thorium Fuel for three new reactors!!11!
$20 tier to download ALL the current stable version of Bob's mods
$50 tier for season pass (All updates and beta testing free!@!1)

Light wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:35 am Do it like most Patreons and lock everything behind the paywall.

$5 tier to download three mods of your choice
$10 tier unlocks pure modules + Silicon/Aluminium/Cobalt ores
$15 tier unlocks god modules + Titanium/Tungsten ores + Thorium Fuel for three new reactors!!11!
$20 tier to download ALL the current stable version of Bob's mods
$50 tier for season pass (All updates and beta testing free!@!1)

... I don't want to lock my mods behind a pay wall.
I'd rather offer other incentives.

Do I then get $1 per month for reporting a bug or $100 a month for sending a patch too?

Locking mods behind monthly payments would be reason for me to remove them immediately,

mrvn wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:33 pm Locking mods behind monthly payments would be reason for me to remove them immediately,

Which is exactly why I don't want to do that.


At the moment, think of it more as a tip jar. but I will try to think of a reasonable reward for Patreons without taking away access to my mods from everyone else.

I've been waiting for this opportunity. I've gotten more enjoyment and playtime from your mods that I ever did the base game, and that's with 1216 hours invested, combined, according to Steam. You do a lot of work on this set of mods, and with the amount of enjoyment I get out of it I didn't feel right -not- paying you for the effort when I paid Wube for theirs. So thanks for the opportunity. You've got at least 1 patron.

If i was famous i would totally try to sell signed pictures of the finger i use to code, because i have many of them, and i could do a package for the whole hand, even the forearm, before my decency would limit me, but then you'd get pictures of my neighboor pets.

Or i would just send pictures of my base, signed like the no effort stuff for people that are already convinced and would have contributed anyway.

Now if i was rich I would totally pay to get a bunch of audio telling me stuff like "power is low" "biters attacking" "not enough coal" "train deadlock" , "train has arrived" " beware train is leaving " but with like bob's voice that i would play very loud on the map with speakers

Or have my name given to something like a research, or a station, or at least a small machine like the thing everyone else will see

That's probably better that i'm neither of those, but at least i can give bad ideas for free !

I could imagine that anyone would pay you some $ for testing their mods for bugs or multiplayer compatibility, ups optimisations or code improvement.

mmmPI wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:03 pm Or have my name given to something like a research, or a station, or at least a small machine like the thing everyone else will see

That's something that might be possible.
Modders can change the "Backer name" of entities that support having one. It could be possible that I create a list of Patreons, and then randomly assign one to a building every now and then.

bobingabout wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 4:00 pm

mmmPI wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:03 pm Or have my name given to something like a research, or a station, or at least a small machine like the thing everyone else will see

That's something that might be possible.
Modders can change the "Backer name" of entities that support having one. It could be possible that I create a list of Patreons, and then randomly assign one to a building every now and then.

The mmmPI bakery, the best pies in Factorio.

C'mon guys. Bob is one of the most popular Factorio modders and he's put in a ton of work. Surely there are more than two of us whom can spare even just a couple dollars per month to reward him for endeavoring a hobby we all enjoy the fruits of that he could be doing something else and earning a wage for?

Chibiabos wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:45 am C'mon guys. Bob is one of the most popular Factorio modders and he's put in a ton of work. Surely there are more than two of us whom can spare even just a couple dollars per month to reward him for endeavoring a hobby we all enjoy the fruits of that he could be doing something else and earning a wage for?

Totally. And he isn't locking the mods behind a paywall either. I only disagree with that suggestion.

Hey Bob!

First, I love your work - you've vastly extended the life of the game for me and my partner and gotten me excited about adding some small mods myself. Keep up the good work!

Second, don't worry too much about not having many patreons yet, the game has been out since 2012 and people pop back in to play now and again. I expect a lot of traffic when we get closer to 1.0 release

Third, there's a couple other modders of other games with Patreon you could pull ideas from. Some use it to preview upcoming changes that aren't solidified, and seek feedback or even debugging help. Others just add extra bits like custom discord commands or symbols/icons/identifiers to show off they are backers or to add similar 'badges' to the forums or whatever media/communication tools. Something to make people feel special or so others can see their support. Others use it purely as a "thanks for supporting me!" system like having patrons as an artisan in ye olden days. Pick what fits you best

Edit: Since factorio already has an effect on game mod manager, and these forums exist, the primary use of patreon as a communications platform is already handled here.

Just signed up as a Patreon, and happy to do it.

Your mods took Factorio to a whole new level. Love 'em.

Late to the party, but joined your Patreon. I could go on for pages about how much I enjoy your mods. I had gotten burned out on vanilla Factorio. You've accomplished the equivalent of developing Factorio 2 all on your own, and I'd gladly pay for that.

For years I've been amazed at how many content creators for games have done so simply for the fun of it, and then been so generous in sharing. The active community in OpenTTD is one example. Now with Patreon, I can finally say thanks in a meaningful way.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get Nuclear set up so I can get the PU-233 for the RTGs to put in the Satellites.

ostlandr wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:04 pm Late to the party, but joined your Patreon. I could go on for pages about how much I enjoy your mods. I had gotten burned out on vanilla Factorio. You've accomplished the equivalent of developing Factorio 2 all on your own, and I'd gladly pay for that.

You're welcome, and thank you.

ostlandr wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:04 pm For years I've been amazed at how many content creators for games have done so simply for the fun of it, and then been so generous in sharing. The active community in OpenTTD is one example. Now with Patreon, I can finally say thanks in a meaningful way.

I didn't really do a lot of coding, but I used to be a very active member of that community, doing a lot of testing, suggestions and feedback and the like. I basically moved on while they were in the middle of working on their own graphics set, so that you could play the game without requiring any files from the original game.

ostlandr wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:04 pm Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get Nuclear set up so I can get the PU-233 for the RTGs to put in the Satellites.

Have fun!