As an ambitious fan project spearheaded by just a small core team, many Summertime Saga devotees wonder – can the passionate community get involved directly in development? Are there opportunities for fans to lend their skills and talents to help expand this steamy game even faster?
In this piece, we’ll take a realistic look at how Summitme Saga’s creators accept help from supporters, what roles they look to fill, and how eager fans may be to contribute their abilities.
Understanding the Current Team Structure
First, it’s important to understand the structure of the current Summertime Saga development crew:
- Solo creator DarkCookie handles programming, production, writing, and community management.
- A few contracted helpers work on art, modeling, animation, testing, and music.
- Unpaid volunteer Lewd Dude codes quality of life improvements.
- Trusted collaborator MeshedVR assists with some VR scenes.
So it’s a compact team, with DarkCookie handling most major development and creative direction. He contracts short-term help as needed, plus works with a couple of core collaborators.
Visit also, Completed All the Content Within a Summertime Saga
Low Likelihood of Joining Directly
Given the small specialized team and DarkCookie’s hands-on approach, the chances of a fan directly joining as a full-time programmer, artist, animator, or writer are very low. These core roles are filled.
However, there are still ways supporters can provide meaningful help! The key is understanding where the team actually needs assistance.
Providing Feedback and Suggestions
One of the most valuable ways to help is by providing your feedback to shape Summertime Saga’s future evolution:
- Submit constructive feedback through surveys, Patreon, Discord, social media, etc.
- Offer new storylines and content ideas for consideration.
- Give your thoughts on early test builds and changes.
- Point out any bugs or issues you encounter.
- Suggest quality of life improvements.
Your feedback helps guide development priorities and expansion.
Contributing Fan Content
Another great way to help is by creating fan content like art, story ideas, mods, memes, videos, hype content, etc:
- Draw fan art or create 3D models of characters.
- Write mini fan fiction expansions of storylines.
- Develop helpful tools, mods, and cheats using the code.
- Edit meme videos hyping updates or milestones.
- Contribute comprehensive guides, tutorials, and documentation.
Fan creativity like this bolsters the community and provides inspiration.
Playtesting New Builds
Those on higher Patreon tiers get access to early developer builds to playtest. Thoroughly trying new additions and reporting issues is hugely valuable.
Early testing improves quality and identifies problems before public release.
Promoting and Sharing the Game
Even just spreading the word about Summertime Saga helps grow the community and attract new fans. Ways to help promote include:
- Leaving positive reviews on stores and ratings on portals.
- Upvoting the game on aggregators and forums.
- Sharing news and updates on social media.
- Telling friends who might be interested.
- Displaying your fandom publicly with merch/decoration.
More fans means more support for future development.
Trusted Roles Over Time
For extremely reliable long-time fans, more formal contributor roles may open up assisting DarkCookie handling communities, porting to new platforms, administration, etc. But this is rare.
In summary, while directly joining the team is unlikely, there are plenty of meaningful ways Summertime Saga devotees can positively impact development through feedback, content creation, testing, and promotion.
Even if you aren’t actively coding features or modeling characters, your involvement fuels the game’s growth. Passionate communities directly enable ambitious fan projects at this scale.
So get engaged sharing your thoughts, testing early builds, creating content, and spreading awareness. Your contributions help DarkCookie’s vision thrive!
Frequently Asked Questions
How large is the current Summertime Saga development team?
Fairly small – mainly solo creator DarkCookie plus a few contracted helpers and collaborators.
What are my chances of directly joining as a programmer/artist/animator?
Very low currently as those key roles are filled. Open paid positions would be posted.
What are some great ways fans can help with development?
Providing feedback and suggestions, contributing fan content, playtesting early builds, promotion, etc.
Could I gain a formal contributor role eventually?
Potentially trusted fans could help with communities, porting, and admin. But it is rare.
How else can I meaningfully support the game as a fan?
Financial support on Patreon enables the expansion of the production team and resources.
Does my feedback really make an impact?
Absolutely – DarkCookie heavily factors community suggestions and test feedback into steering Summertime Saga’s evolution.
Even if you can’t officially join the team, there are tons of impactful ways Summertime Saga fans can positively contribute to development. Chip in how you can!