pipermakes
patreon
CG&T ownership change:
🕑 Added 2023-02-23 00:03:05 +0000 UTCSo a handful of folks have seen the news, regarding CG&T's digital side of things changing hands. To my understanding, this shouldn't really impact the way things are integrated into patreon or downloaded. But it does definitely give the platform as a whole some of the TLC web dev to shine things up a bit~
Overall I see this as either more of the status quo, or a net positive for things going forward with regards to file distribution/hosting. I also get to bother someone new about adding in a derivatives option for those sweet sweet kitbashes.
Currently, the changeover/implementation looks to be slated for July 1st, and I'm sure there'll be more info as we get closer to that swap. That's my take on things, but I'll add what NStephenH (CG&T) has said from the CG&T discord that I'll put at the end of this blurb.
Now Pipes I hear you asking, why don't you use MMF?
Well I'll tell you. MMF Is a bad company that does shitty things to good artists, and outside of selling out for the income I know it'd generate, I have no intention of using them. From fudging/padding campaign numbers, to legitimately just taking money/income out of artists accounts because they messed up on some of their own beta systems, to name a couple.
I will also, at the end of the day vastly prefer supporting a smaller business over the larger one, usually even if that's a detriment to me. MMF just really has a habit of making that choice really easy for me, personally.
Anyway here's the copy paste:
TL;DR: The online marketplace will be rebranded to TableTop Vault (TTV) under new ownership who will be working closely with The Maker's Cult.
I started CG&T a few years ago, working with The Maker's Cult to create an automated and secure system for artists to share files with their paid audiences. We then expanded from a fulfillment service to a digital storefront at the start of 2021. Over the past year, it's become clear to my wife and I that I can no longer keep up with the needs of the digital marketplace in addition to my day job and helping her with the retail store. It shows no signs of growing to the point where it can sustain itself and replace my day job. The digital marketplace does a few things better than its competitors, but has constantly demanded more time and attention from us than it generates for us in return. Our main feature of automated Patreon fulfillment has been working consistently, but any new features to enhance the user experience have not been developed. Furthermore, there is no contingency in place if I become unable to maintain the platform's infrastructure.
Because of these factors, we are transferring the platform to Amelia Lapin LLC, who will rebranding the service as TableTop Vault . They will take over all administrative duties and are looking for someone to take over developing new features. Garin from the Maker's Cult will be working closely with Amelia to ensure that the platform stays focused on the best experience possible for artists and their customers.
The new ownership has committed to the following. They 1. Will not put 3rd party ads on the site; 2. Will not sell user data to 3rd parties; and 3. Will not go public or sell to VC to ensure that the first two commitments are upheld.
Valhalla Hobby will be split off from the platform and run on its own infrastructure. The two sites will be based on the original codebase, and we've published a version (the version Valhalla will use) labeled as "openCG&T" on GitHub. The Patreon integration and anti piracy features of the platform will not be found in the open source version. All customer data will be transferred to the new platform, with Valhalla maintaining a stripped down copy of the shared database (containing user accounts but no digital downloads).
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
Comments
Cap'n Zoog
I do like your work and would pay the fee and crawl through broken glass to get them, but the CG&T download code offends the engineer in me.
Cap'n Zoog
CG&T download works but the javascript is very inefficient; it's one of the slowest download services out there. Anyone can try a download and see thebrowser is not responding as per usual for a file download, it's loading into browser memory and then writing out to disk all at once.
Dwayne Negron
% based is better for everyone, the client & and the print store. It helps to level set expectations and have everyone focused on the highest quality.
Dwayne Negron
I'm happy with whatever platform makes you happy Pipes. Been in the biz, seen how horrible it treats independent artist. So I understand and say You do you boo! We love the work/models and will keep supporting through thick and thin.
Patttar
it feels incredibly restrictive to me too, awesome work but its like a piece of art sitting in some rich persons house never for the rest of the world to appreciate
Poyper
Merchant tiers are honestly a horrible precedent to have been set from the beginning. Royalty based % contracts are what things should have been from the start. But it's just another thing to micro manage at the end of the day. I have the one print shop I do work with, and it's probably the only print shop I'll contract with. And then there's my stuff just not lending itself well to being setup for a store front like that. There's *a ton* of options for each kit, and that kind of modularity doesn't play well with static listings. Which would be another thing to manage. That said, I have no issues with people who don't have printers using friends or 3rd party printing services to get the kits printed if they can't. The problem is when a store is explicitly selling prints of my things does it become an issue. The TL:DR is that merchant tiers are bad, and setting up a contract/license with a reliable printing partner with my kits takes a lot of work, and is just something I don't really want to do/micromanage, on top of the things that I already do/micromanage. ~Pipes
Casey Savolskis
I'm sure you've addressed this before but seeing as I'm brand new still, I would love to hear why you don't allow for more physical sales? I know the ole patreon merchant license setup is less then desirable but is there no other way to get your product out there to people without printers and still retain a lot of the profits?
Julie
Oh for sure, thanks for the insight!
Poyper
Cults is mostly alright~ It does have a handful of less then desirable payout practices for artists, and if you run more dubiously close to 1:1 stuff, and a model of yours gets taken down, and you're in between that payout period (What can be up to two months in some cases), cults pockets all the sales on that model. Out of the two I'd argue that Cults is the less egregious of the two. It was that, 0 integration with patreon, and the lack of any anti piracy measures that had me personally stop using them. ~Pipes
Julie
I feel bad for not knowing about all the problems with MMF. I figured there was a reason some people avoid it. Do websites like Cults have similar issues? At the end of the day I just care about artists getting paid for their hard work.
Daniel Sniadoski
This is absolutely a net-positive. Speaking from experience, engineering *AND* admin of a website like that is two full-time jobs when done properly. That plus other jobs? Totally nuts. Good for them in letting go so they can have a little more life back!
