Milestone: MVP-B

In the last update post, we talked about and celebrated the first release of DEG Mods, mentioning how you can log into the website and start publishing game mods, and for gamers around the world to download and enjoy them.

We've managed to reach that far because of backers' financial support, along with taking out personal funds to continue fueling that phase of development.

From then, til now, we've been hard at work to reach and pass the second milestone with continued personal funds (I'll get to this specific point further down this update post). With that said, let's talk about it.

Milestone passed: DEG Mods MVP-B

I'm happy to announce that we've passed this phase of development. Everything that we've mentioned in the previous post, aside from one (the NSFW preference toggle in the settings page), along with more additions and changes, has been developed and implemented into the site.

The cost to develop this phase was around $3,450, which is above the previous estimate of $2,700 but still lower than the initial estimate of $4,000.

Here's the update log:

New:

•   Reporting and blocking system (report mods for x y z, and we'd look into it to potentially hide it from view).
•   Moderated/Unmoderated filter in the /mods page (Moderated = what the user and the site admin have blocked. Unmoderated = Removes the user's blocklist).
•   Image gallery view in mod posts.
•   The landing page now properly shows featured mods in the slider, games, featured mods, and latest mods, and each section's buttons lead to their appropriate pages. 
•   User profile boxes: check who posted the mod you're viewing, copy their npub, trigger a QR pop-up to scan their address, and tip/zap them directly).
•   React positively or negatively to mod posts.
•   Added a basic commenting on mod posts (post a comment, react, and tip/zap comments).
•   Added a bottom collapsible navigation.
•   Search for mods, games, and users.
•   The games page is now functional (clicking on a game redirects you to a filtered search for mods under that game).
•   You can now edit your profile.
•   Manage your relays (Relays are servers where most of your actions, saves, or published content go to).
•   Mod cards now include information about which game does a mod belong to (this was also added to the landing page's slides).
•   Mod cards now show an estimated number of received reactions, comments, and zaps.
•   A tip/zap split system has been added on mod posts, with default values that can be changed by the user to anything, to send a tip/zap with an amount that would be split between the mod creator and the site.
•   Under the 'Authentication Details' of a download button with a mod post, there's a now row at the top that shows the download button's submitted URL.

Changes:

•   Switched the body text editor in Submit Mod to a much better one.
•   Right-clicking on a mod post now gives the link options (ex: open in a new tab).
•   The URL for a mod has changed from /mods-inner/ to /mod/.

Fixes:

•   URL for a mod post now is static and won't change when a post has been edited.
•   Latest/older filter should now order based on the publish date, not the edit date.
•   Field data now resets when going from editing a mod post to submitting a mod.
•   The hyperlink issue of not opening correctly, if you don't add http at the start, has been addressed.
•   Fixed various tipping/zapping issues.
•   Profile box still appears even if the user doesn't have profile metadata, with temporary information (profile, name, bio, etc)
•   You should now see your published mod data in their fields when editing one (sometimes they wouldn't appear).
•   Hidden mods now also apply to the latest mods section on the landing page.

It's worth mentioning that we've been updating the site constantly from when we released the first version publicly til now. It wasn't just one big update that happened today.

Personal funds?

In the previous update, I said "MVP-B won't start until I've acquired the funds for this phase", meaning that I was waiting for more community funds to come in, or to get an investment, to continue development.

So, how are we here? Did I receive more community funds? Did I manage to find an investor and get an investment? The answer is the following:

After decently considering everything that has been done so far, along with people's reaction to the project, and how I'm still pissed at the modding scene being a censorship sh-. ehm. Because of all of this, I decided that I didn't want to stop the momentum that this project had going for it, so I started spending my personal funds to continue its development.

With that decision taken, here's what coming up next.

Road to 1.0

Reaching this milestone and passing it means two things. One, we've pretty much reached what I had designed in the beginning. Two, the start of a new funding campaign on a traditional platform, so that those who want to financially aid the project, through traditional means and currency, can.

I'll get to that second part in more detail further down below, but for now, let's see what will be developed next for the site.

Upcoming additions:

•   User profile pages that show all three kinds of posts (mod posts, blog posts, and short posts (think Twitter).
•   Long-form posts and posting.
•   Feed to see posts from those you follow.
•   Short-form posts and posting.
•   Notification page.
•   Advanced commenting system (reply and going through a reply tree).
•   Preview of a user's latest posts (up to 5) under the profile box.

Being looked into:

•   Web of Trust system to reduce spam and scams.
•   Blossom Server integration (most likely third-party and an option to switch to a user-hosted one) for direct file upload as a paid option.
•   Subscription packages to provide extra benefits and help with the development, maintenance, and growth of DEG Mods.

These are the core features/systems that we're aiming to develop and deliver.

After 1.0

When we pass this milestone, it doesn't mean that's the end. We still have a lot of features and systems, and quality of life improvements, that we'd want to develop and implement, as well as continue receiving feedback from mod creators and mod enjoyers and apply them. Sharing what we've updated in each 1.x release.

If you're wondering how many new updates are coming, well, let's just say we're already looking past 2.0.

So rest assured. We're aiming to be the best game mods site, to beat almost every metric out there when compared to all other game mod sites. We have to aim for this and get most game mod creators and mod enjoyers to use DEG Mods, this includes those who don't care about the censorship issue, because if we don't, we won't be able to properly fix the game mods scene, and unshackle its potential.

Another reason why we want to be the best is so that we wouldn't disappoint those who are supporting us financially, but especially those who put effort into recommending the site. If a DEG Mods fan/user recommends the site to someone, we we'd want a positive response to them like "Thank you for recommending me this site". We don't want those who believe in the project to lose face because we didn't aim to claim the top.

Traditional funding campaign

As we mentioned above, we're planning to run a traditional funding campaign for this project, on more widely known sites, that use traditional payment systems, to help secure more funds for it, as well as an opportunity to increase the awareness of the project.

While we would have loved to keep things as they are now with this current funding campaign page on here, which would still continue to be up, we cannot force people to use it. It's new, using new tech, so it's understandable where the reluctance comes from.

We'd most like to launch the second campaign on Kickstarter as we get closer to reaching the 1.0 milestone, to secure funds for continued development past that point. However, considering the nature of the project, there's a good chance that there'd be mass reporting to get the campaign shut down. At which point, we'll relaunch the campaign on another site like IndieGoGo, and if that gets taken down then we'd hop on SubscribeStar, and so on.

Marketing

I've upped the effort of promoting the project on social media, specifically Twitter/X, and it's yielding great results so far (I'm assuming many of you from there are reading this right now. Hi! I hope we had and forth, or just forth on my end). I'll continue doing this, along with increasing similar-ish efforts in other platforms and/or communities, more so as we get closer to 1.0.

There are also marketing benefits of having the project up on those traditional funding sites, even more so if they get taken down for unjust reasons, which would create buzz around it (understandably so).

There are more marketing tactics I want to execute, but those will be done closer to 1.0 as well, and I will share what will be done when the time is right.

Questions

We've received many questions about the DEG Mods and how things work, as well as noticing interesting discussions between people of differing viewpoints and desires, where we've answered a lot of them pretty well, but this also helped us realize a few things that should be done for the projects, from applying a few design changes, adding new features, and figuring out better ways to improve current systems.

Also, aside from generally updating the About/FAQ page, one thing for sure that needs to be done is to start writing and publishing educational content, guides, and best practices, which were already planned, but they should come sooner rather than later.

Final Thoughts

I'm happy that more people are starting to notice DEG Mods, and as a result, a few mods were published and started appearing on the site, as we go back and forth fixing issues they report, and taking in feedback to improve the site. It motivates me to continue doing my best for the project.

Thanks to those who continue to support the project, financially or by spreading the word about it, and to those who started using it by publishing mods, reacting, commenting, and providing us with feedback, critique/criticisms, concerns, thoughts, ideas, and so on. Everything helps, and I'm thankful.

The next development update post will be published, most likely, on DEG Mods itself, as the system for it would have been developed and implemented.

Until then, enjoy DEG Mods and its continued improvements, and let's continue liberating game mods!