Version 1.43 & Monetization Plans

Version 1.43 is out now. This was another emergency patch to fix a handful of bugs, and as a neat side-bonus, a few tweaks and additions have been included. I apologize to those of you running the Windows exe and Android versions, I'm sure this has been an annoying day or two with the updates.

Patch notes for 1.43 can be found at the bottom of this post, but first, I want to chat about the future of MMO Simulator, specifically the future of monetization. This is pretty lengthy, and I'll provide a tl;dr underneath if you want to skip straight to that.

The game has seen a pretty sharp increase in players over the past 2 weeks. From what I can gather, this is due to comments that have been made in /r/incremental_games. So, welcome to anybody who is new! I hope you enjoy your stay! A number of these people have asked me what my plans are regarding monetization of MMO Simulator. Monetization is not something that I considered when I first started, and to be entirely honest, a lot of monetization methods used by games like this rub me the wrong way. I don't like ads, I don't like pay-to-win, and I don't like cash-based time gates.

It goes without saying, though, that MMO Simulator costs me money. The dev time is not a factor for me, I like making the game, and I love the little community that's formed around it. But updates like Pet Sprites,  and the Town Window cost money.

All of this being said, a number of massively generous players have donated some of their hard earned money to the development of the game, either through the ko-fi link found in-game, or Itch's built-in donation system. These donators made the previously mentioned updates possible, and I'm so grateful for that. I've tried my best to contact these people (if they are in the Discord for the game) and thank them personally, but to anybody that I missed: thankyou. It means so much that you think this project is worth investing in. My aim with this project is not to make money, and so far all of the donated money has gone back into the game, and this will continue to be true for the foreseeable future.

This leads us to the issue. I would love to be able to say thankyou to these players through the game, somehow. It is super important to me that non-donating players don't feel like they're being left in the cold at all, though. Everyone should be able to enjoy every aspect of the game without spending a cent, and that is how the game will always be. This is a promise. So that rules out any kind of gameplay-related exclusives. There will be no paid-only pets, gear, or features. Ever.

I have come up with a handful of cosmetic and "boost" donation rewards. I am also hosting a poll in the MMO Simulator Discord where players can vote on which of these they are comfortable with. If players don't want a reward to be added, I will not add it.

Additionally, if these features are added, anybody who has previously donated will be eligible for these rewards.

tl;dr: I want to reward players who donate, since these donations keep the updates flowing. In the discord you can vote on which of these rewards you would feel comfortable with being in the game.

Patch Notes start here

Minor Feature Update:

• Made the town window prettier with new art!
• Added a "buy max" button to store

Tweaks:

• The charm "convert all" button now converts charms over time. It's quite fast, and is only implemented for performance reasons
• Added an "under construction" signs to game elements that are being worked on

Bug Fixes:

• Random Events are once again random
• hopefully fixed a bug causing the update checker to erroneously think there is an update
• Krampus now works with the Convert all button
• Fixed a bug with the convert all button in the charm menu
• Digger Charms are now referred to appropriately
• The info buttons for gathering and dungeons now work again