You can find more Starcaster Chronicles on the Starcaster Patreon for the latest pages and participation in voting on key story decisions!
The Starcaster Chronicles will also be coming as an added benefit to the main Ctrl+Alt+Del Patreon later this year at a low level read-only tier (a couple of issues behind like the website has been releasing them).
So is starcaster becoming patreon exclusive?
If that’s the case, then sadly, with everyone paywalling themselves, we’ll have to start picking and choosing who to support. We’re not infinite wallets over here. :/
Blame Google, Meta, et al. The online advertising industry has been eaten up by the various ad brokers, to the point that the advertising spent on the internet is simply not making it in any great volume to the creators who rely on that income. While Google and Meta, and the few remaining large scale ad brokers, are strip mining your personal data to force advertisers to pay more, they are simultaneously stiffing the creators and end services that display those advertisements.
While I announced the possible changes I’m looking at in 2025 here, (https://cad-comic.com/changes-on-the-horizon/), I’ve not made any final decisions yet. We are currently running ads with a new agency, and it takes 30 days for everything to get fully up and running. So right now I am waiting to evaluate how that looks so that I can decide the best path forward. However, regardless of that outcome, it is likely that Starcaster’s delivery method will change. Starcaster’s creation has been directly funded by patrons for years now, and it is essentially self-sufficient. They are always 2 issues ahead, and the… Read more »
This works for me, thanks!
I am one of those who tunes out entirely lol… Then again I also miss the og comic about dudes running a game store and their lives. Takes all kinds I suppose.
As a long-time reader and content consumer I’m not sure what the answer is. I’m at the point in my life where I’ve already bought more content than is reasonable to consume within a lifetime. On top of that, even if you narrow down to a single platform like YouTube, there’s more content being uploaded every day than there’s time to watch in a lifetime. Once you’re at that point, how does one decide rationally what more to buy? When content is “free”, the decision to continue to follow a story is easier. As someone with ADHD, the executive functioning… Read more »
In addition to the options Tim mentions, there is also the option of “Volumes” where you can buy the volumes if the Patreon option is not tenable.
Unless I missed something and Starcaster Chronicles will no longer be offered with any volume sets. If that is the case and I missed something Tim said about it, then ignore that statement.
No I’ll still do the collections periodically.
Not sure in a previous post Tim said the patrons are way ahead in the story so when it gets posted on the main site its more of a rerun situation for them as they are 6 months or so ahead. This is likely him building the next buffer of free comics to release in a few months when Patrons have another lead.
I would also prefer a clarification on this. I really like reading Tim’s ongoing stories, but my monthly disposable is pretty limited
I hope you’re able to find a way to paywall the main site behind Patreon. I don’t mind paying (and already am on Patreon) but I come here to read because I prefer it. Patreon is not a good reading experience. At the very least, maybe something like webtoons would work.
I think you meant “a way to NOT paywall…”
No, they seem to be saying they want the main site behind the Patreon paywall, because they’re paying for the Patreon but prefer reading on the main site.
I suspect they are referring to adding an authenticate with patron button or similar to the site, so that they can browse the patreon exclusive content here as opposed to on patreon.
Something like that could get me to sign up for Patreon, I once tried it for another webcomic, REALLY didn’t like their UI and left.
Being able to download the PDFs with comic every once in a while would be great too (if Tim is going to go the route of making one, next to Patreon), as then it wouldn’t feel like I’m losing access to a past content, if I ever stop being a Patron for any reason.
I usually use the app to check on Patreon, but I figured most people just read the comic in the email they get from Patreon when I post.
Oh. Yeah, that could work, if you had everything in one place (by that I mean, adding Starcaster to your regular Patreon, minus the voting).
yeah, there was one comic artist I was interested to read content and maybe buy books once reading, but she locked entire comic behind paywall and I said fuckthis, not worth reading and thus not worth even a penny to pay
Hi Tim, if Starcaster is becoming a Patreon only comic, I would love if we could get an option where we could buy your comics on a per issue basis too. Would that be a possibility? Maybe on Gumroad or another platform that supports ebooks?
Yes, that will be an option I’m looking into.
Please tell me Starcaster is NOT going to Patreon to read it because the site is terrible and it does not suit reading web comics.
I come here to the website because I like it here.
I come here whenever the RSS tells me there’s stuff here.
Unfortunately if it goes pay-only, it will be farewell for me. I am only 14 and my parents are very paranoid when it comes to card usage online, having been skimmed more than once by reputable sites that have been compromised. They also will not let me get a debit card and as I am a minor, getting a new card requires parental consent. Unless you can offer something like Google Pay, I will be locked out of supporting you… and having potentially 6 week gaps where there is no comic while patreon supporters get to enjoy continued comics does… Read more »
I think you’re misunderstanding something, nobody said anything about a six-week gap anywhere. I would never just not post anything for weeks.
Gosh darm. I wasn’t at all into the comic strip but the last few pages got me hooked real bad.
Ok, I understand the whole advertising motivation, but full page modal popups?
Yes, it is something we are trying to see if it makes any sort of a difference.
I know.( I turned off adblock for this page some time ago). My comment was meant as a feedback, not a complaint. (Ok, wording could’ve been less… snarky…)
Another thing that would be interesting to discuss with the ad providers and/or web design people: Would it be possible to define the size of the delivered ad beforehand, so that the content isn’t jumping around as the ads asynchronously load in?
I got my first reports back, and asked them to turn off the interstitial. It is making money, but not enough to justify the annoyance it adds to browsing the site.
As far as I see it, the size of the ad spot is defined (set to the largest dimension of ad the space can hold) and then various ads are called within that space. I don’t see a lot of element shuffling.
You’re right, sorry. It was that way some time before, I think, and I didn’t really get that it stopped…
I really wish more creators were like you…