Hey Folks, Next month, we are going to trial a contribution bounty system! We want to help support and encourage community contribution in the game, both for code savvy folks, and for anyone who'd like a say on the future of the game. We'd also like the make development a little more democratic. Starting next month, the top 3 contributor-applicable issues on github will be tagged with monetary bounties, paid upon integration of an applicable pull request. The wait should give some time for votes to accumulate, and ensure a set list of bounties. Issues will be ranked by the number of +1 reactions they have received from the community. The bounties will be scaled according to popularity, with the #1 issue receiving a $50 bounty, the #2 issue receiving a $30 bounty, and the #3 issue receiving a $20 bounty, for a total of $100 over the month. Amounts are in USD. We're starting out small, as we're not sure of the reception this will get. We are open to increasing the number and size of the bounties over time, and will look at crowdfunding options, should it prove popular. We hope that this will encourage contribution on other (non-bounty) issues in the meantime, and help get people involved with the repository and the game's development. For Anyone:

• Get on github if you haven't already! No programming experience required, interacting with the issues section is much like an online forum.
• Be sure to star the kag-base repo to help increase our visibility within the wider open-source ecosystem.
• Anyone can vote on issues - react with "+1" (the thumbs up) on issues you'd like to see fixed.

• Anyone can pitch.
• Pitch proposals under the issues section on the repository.
• Start your issue title with "Feature Pitch: ", so folks know that it's a pitch.
• Be as descriptive as possible
  • If you're not going to be the one implementing it, you don't want someone to be working off a vague spec.
  • If you're planning on implementing it, you want people to be clear what they're voting on.
• Keep scope limited for this round - it's got to be able to be completed in a month by contributors who are often hobbyists, and the payments aren't huge.
• Spread the word to players you think would like to see your feature implemented to secure votes!

• Be sure to read the guidelines!
• Consider pitching something you'd be confident to work on.
• Join the discord and drop into the #development channel for support.
• Wait until the bounties are posted - consider working on other issues in the meantime!
• Post your intent to pursue a bounty on any of the bounty issues
• Multiple bounties can be claimed, but please only work on one at a time.
• Complete the required work to fulfill the bounty
• Submit a Pull Request suitable for integration
• Work with the developers to resolve any concerns prior to integration
• Get paid!

• One pitch per person per month.
• "Contributor-applicable" means "able to be addressed directly through the kag-base repository". This basically means "no engine changes".
• Votes aren't restricted to feature pitches. Contributor-applicable bugs are also suitable, and votes will be counted and bounties paid if there are popular bugs. Bug issues are not restricted to the one pitch per month restriction.
• Bounties will be paid through PayPal, so contributors looking to claim a bounty should ensure they have a suitable account to ensure prompt payment.
• Bounties will only be paid for suitable contributions. We do merge optimistically, but the work must be in line with community expectations and suitable for .
• Be careful if multiple people are interested; the bounty will only be paid out once, to the first suitable pull request (ordered by submission time if multiple suitable submissions are made)
• Probably don't pursue a bounty on something a past contributor has pitched without consulting them; that's bad form.
• We reserve the right to "veto" features that we feel are against the spirit or design of the game, but are going to take as open a mind as possible. We want to build a collaborative environment, not a competitive one. We want the community to be able to self-direct as much as possible.
• We'll formalise this somehow in the repository going forward, and likely revise the contribution guidelines should this prove popular.