Planning discussion: two-door publishing schedule for Patreon and Urban Alien Adventures

[ibloud]

This thread proposes a maintainable publishing model for Loptr Lab’s two outward-facing support lanes and links that model to the planning issues already saved in this repository.

Summary

Loptr Lab currently uses two distinct communication lanes:

• Patreon = technical/workshop lane
• Urban Alien Adventures = narrative/world-facing lane

These are not separate projects. They are separate publishing lanes for the same project, with different purposes and cadences.

The goal is to keep both lanes sustainable, distinct, and useful to supporters and contributors.

Why this is being recalculated

The earlier schedule draft was directionally useful, but too rigid to function as an execution plan.

A better model should:

• support a sustainable weekly cadence for technical updates
• avoid forcing narrative content onto a weekly schedule
• prevent duplication across lanes
• preserve visibility into maintenance and documentation work
• define fallback content for low-progress weeks

Core principle:

consistency without filler

Proposed publishing model

Patreon

Cadence: 1 post per week

Allowed post types:

• dev log
• maintenance log
• documentation/onboarding note
• roadmap/status check-in

Purpose:

• technical continuity
• project transparency
• contributor-facing progress
• visible maintenance work

Urban Alien Adventures

Cadence: 2 posts per month

Allowed post types:

• launch/world post
• lore fragment
• prototype artifact
• symbolic reveal
• merch-adjacent reveal, if milestone-ready

Purpose:

• narrative/world-facing output
• slower authored releases
• non-duplicative support content

Proposed structure

Phase 1: first 4 weeks

Patreon

• Week 1: launch/orientation post
• Week 2: technical update
• Week 3: documentation or contributor update
• Week 4: maintenance or roadmap update

Urban Alien Adventures

• Post 1: launch/world-orientation post
• Post 2: first lore/artifact post

Phase 2: weeks 5–12

Patreon rotation

Continue weekly using:

• dev log
• maintenance log
• docs/onboarding update
• roadmap/status check-in

Urban Alien Adventures rotation

Continue twice monthly using:

• lore fragment
• world post
• prototype artifact
• symbolic reveal
• merch-adjacent post only if actually ready

Cross-platform rule

Default rule:

• each lane may acknowledge the other
• core content should remain native to its own platform
• reuse should be limited to milestone summaries, retrospective posts, or intentional recap material

The goal is coherence without duplication.

Fallback rule

Patreon should not depend on major breakthroughs every week.

Acceptable Patreon fallback content:

• maintenance notes
• blockers updates
• roadmap notes
• triage summaries
• documentation deltas

Urban Alien Adventures should not force filler just to satisfy cadence. If a narrative/artifact post is not ready, it should wait.

Contributor relevance

This matters to contributors because it clarifies:

• how public project updates are expected to function
• how maintenance and documentation work are treated as visible progress
• why some communication is intentionally technical and some intentionally narrative-facing
• how community channels may be structured around the two-door model

Discord implication

If Discord remains one shared server with role-gated access, it should have a pinned explainer covering:

• one project, two doors
• Patreon = technical/workshop lane
• Urban Alien Adventures = narrative/world-facing lane
• how roles and channel visibility map to those lanes

Related issues

• #16 — establish two-door publishing schedule for Patreon and Urban Alien Adventures
• #17 — draft first 4-week Patreon publishing plan
• #18 — draft first 4-week Urban Alien Adventures publishing plan
• #19 — define cross-platform posting and linking policy for the two-door model
• #20 — draft Discord explainer for the two-door publishing model
• #21 — define fallback cadence rules for low-progress weeks

Requested feedback

Feedback is especially useful on:

1. whether the Patreon cadence is sustainable without producing low-value reporting
2. whether the Urban Alien Adventures cadence is sufficiently distinct from the technical lane
3. whether the cross-posting rule is too strict or too loose
4. whether the fallback-content categories are adequate for real project conditions
5. whether the 4-week concrete plan + 8-week rolling guidance split is the right level of structure

Next steps

• finalize the 4-week Patreon plan in #17
• finalize the 4-week Urban Alien Adventures plan in #18
• document cross-platform rules in #19
• draft the Discord explainer in #20
• define fallback cadence rules in #21