For people who are patrons...

baka

Engaged Member
Modder
Oct 13, 2016
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he's not a resident in the usa. thats the reason he can quit his dayjob to spend 100% working on commissions.
i wish I could. i need at least 3500$/month to cover my dayjob. its unreasonable that patreon could give me that amount.
 
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deluges

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2018
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he's not a resident in the usa. thats the reason he can quit his dayjob to spend 100% working on commissions.
i wish I could. i need at least 3500$/month to cover my dayjob. its unreasonable that patreon could give me that amount.
Just imagine if you created Summertime Saga, you could retire in October.
 

macadam

Chicken Bubble Butt
Game Developer
Aug 5, 2016
6,975
10,089
Rly?

Almost one year of doying nothing :)And still was have around 600/ month :D

Not all patreons reacting, fast enough. :)
cant avoid special case...
also, we all know that some have officially abandonned their game and else but still get money on patreon, because peopels doesnt care or.. i dont know. But that's happen a lots.

still, its better to be honest than just get profits from peoples who doesnt know or care about such thing.
That goes into what I was saying about not noticing a small amount, like a dollar, missing from you bank account, you kind of just forget about it and what you've just linked to is that result of that.
oh damn i will notice even a €uro for sure lol... i mean, i like to know where my money goes, soo if i see a €uro is missing in my bank, i like to know where it goes. kind of natural reflex inherited from my parents i guess XD
I'm specifically talking about a specific dev who used to respond to people on his game's thread, but peaced the fuck out because of criticism. Who also changed their game because of patron criticism, so I'm not seeing the LMAO in what I said. There are plenty of people who create content, who do not engage their audience, because they either don't want to deal with the criticism or can't handle. Just because you have thick skin that doesn't mean that everyone else is the same way and I can't believe I have to explain that to another human being.
guess my poor english work well... i cant explain better. just to say that, the best devs are honest peoples. And if something happen, they will explain and react with respect to patrons. not just ignore them or something.
seriously... how can you get audience or patrons or simply peoples enjoying your thing if you never talk with them ? communication is a top required skill. i understand that you dont have to answer all the critics and all, but contact with patrons or good peoples is mandatory to create a nice community around your project. peoples love to be in touch, or simply curiousity :D
 

macadam

Chicken Bubble Butt
Game Developer
Aug 5, 2016
6,975
10,089
he's not a resident in the usa. thats the reason he can quit his dayjob to spend 100% working on commissions.
i wish I could. i need at least 3500$/month to cover my dayjob. its unreasonable that patreon could give me that amount.
jesus thoses commision arent cheap :O

i mean.. damn
  • Bust up: 20$
  • Waist up: 30$
  • 3/4 to fullbody: 40$
  • Additional characters: +rate x0.75 each
  • NSFW/nudity variant: +10$
  • Explicit content: +50% of total rate
  • Background/environment: 0$ (transparent, solid, simple) - 50$ (based on complexity: low - high details)
you pay around 100$ for a simple full body char nude with naughty pose and no background...

i bet he can do that for a living... jesus fuck ! even an street artist who will paint your portrait in color in a 60x30 size will ask for less... and you go out with it in the hour or two.
 

DreamBig Games

Active Member
Donor
Game Developer
May 27, 2017
956
958
for "money" here's our artist


he is spending full time making commissions, so its his livelihood.

what our team need, "at least" is to be able to cover that, that means he can pause his commissions and spend 100%.
more concrete than that i dont know.

as for me and the writer. we have other full time jobs and im not sure patrons will ever cover that.
and right now we dont expect anything.

Impure is an asshole. a bastard that took patrons for granted and ruin the reputation. devs like that should just fuck off.

Man, this artist of yours is quite expensive... 60 $ for 1 Character in an adult/ NSFW setting? 100 $ for 1 sex image of 2 people? Add in the background and it goes to shit really fast...
If I was you, I would spend 1000 $ on a very good drawing course, else this will be a project that will take years or you will dump it because you can't get the funds to pay just the artist...

LE : Also, what is really annoying is the fact he charges extra for NSFW content...
You are asking me to do the dirty deed, so you need to pay extra!
Well, mister, Fuck you! I would never commission someone who charges extra just because it's adult-oriented work.
 
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DreamBig Games

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Game Developer
May 27, 2017
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Which is understandable, but considering the amount of devs (and modder) who have chimed in on this thread (which is greatly appreciated), none of you have really said what you hope to get out of every patron. Joraell at least said that they appreciate 1 dollar subs, but my entire point with this thread was wondering at what point do people feel their donations and financial obligations to a game are up. As a dev it should be pretty easy to respond with an amount that one would hope they would receive. Unless you're donating one or two dollars a month, it is fiscally ridiculous to support games throughout their development cycle. The games that I'm actually interested in are looking at 2-3 year dev cycles. That is.... a fuck ton of commitment especially when you consider that any dev can throw their hands up and say I'm done with this game. Look at Good Girl Gone Bad. Amazing game... for like half of its cycle, then Eva decided she wanted to move on from the game and on to other things and has been working on the game more to fulfill an obligation (which, isn't necessarily a bad thing) rather than to tell a great story. It's a bummer, but I think as a subscriber... man, you can't trust anyone. You can appreciate what you've been given and support when you can, but being expected to follow blindly for an extended period of time, just doesn't make that much sense to me.

As a Dev, I would consider fair if a patron pays as much as he/ she wants/ can afford ( 1-3/ month). If they pay around the game price that I have in mind once I launch on a different platform, then I will send them Keys for that platform. But this is just me, probably, as my whole marketing idea is based on publishing to Steam and Nutaku, Patreon ( actually it will be SubscribeStar) is just an intermediary step and a tip jar ( if you like the game, and want to give more than the market price ).
What I have done when I have closed down my patreon account and took the game to Steam, was to email all my patrons, those who pledged more than 4$ over the whole period they pledged a Steam Key for the game. 2 Patrons ( one of them has chipped in more than 30 $, and the other around 20 $ I have emailed them a couple of keys, that they could share to friends and stuff ).
As a patron ( I am pledging to a couple of games/ devs that are present on this forum), I usually pledge up to 5$ for 4-5 months ( I think this is fair as a game price +a nice tip ), but I never go over the 30$ mark on any project.
 

baka

Engaged Member
Modder
Oct 13, 2016
3,500
7,288
im not paying the artist.
when we get enough to cover what he get from commissions he will be able to draw for us full time.
usually he get around 200$/week and he draw every day.
do you really think that 800-1000$/month for a full time artist is too expensive?

sure, u could say theres others that are better and/or cheaper.
but i have found none in my +10 years in BCT team except Jelly.
artists want money and are not cheap. none want to help out without getting money.

 

Philly_Games

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Sep 9, 2017
1,085
7,689
I typically take a % of my earnings and spread it around to others. If the quality is good, the story original and the dev is a nice person and shows effort I will pledge them. Typically not much, normally just about 5 with a few rare instances where I do more especially if they help me in some manner such as stoper who taught me zBrush and ASLPro3D who gave me a real heart felt shoutout at a point where I was really on the rocks and my game was failing hard financially a long while back.
 

DreamBig Games

Active Member
Donor
Game Developer
May 27, 2017
956
958
do you really think that 800-1000$/month for a full time artist is too expensive?



No, I don't think that is a lot of money, but if he charges 100$ / image ( 2 people fucking, no background) then that is 10 images/ month...
All I am saying is that he charges way too much... maybe they all charge around that price, but as a game dev, I would never be able to make a game with that Artist- costs ...
 

baka

Engaged Member
Modder
Oct 13, 2016
3,500
7,288
that is also the reason i want a team that earns together.
right now of course we will first focus to give Jelly his part, but if we get more, it will eventually be evenly divided.
i dont like to pay "anyone", it should be that we all get 1/3 of the income.

yeah, I also think that the commissions are costly. nothing i would want to pay.
but he get commissions, and in deviantart its not uncommon the prices he asks.
and if i read the reason of the prices, is logical and i understand why.

as for me, i would charge 20$/hour to code something, if i would make commissions.
and thats its average what a coder asks.
 
Jul 7, 2019
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Me personally, if I find a game I like that's in development and I like the direction its heading, I have no problem subbing to the mid range tier that offers the latest version of the game to play and letting it ride until it's either abandoned or finished. Hell if I could ever find the perfect game I'm looking for I wouldn't hesitate subscribing to the highest tier and letting it ride!
 

Niteowl

Member
Game Developer
Apr 6, 2018
298
378
I only support a couple of devs (I don't play these games much so I only want to support my favorites...)
Pinktea Games and Runey, actually
I give them 20 a month, and will do so as long as they keep producing materials.....
I wouldn't be too bothered if they even missed some updates...shit happens.

To reply to the original post (some people got a little sidetracked here)
I don't see it as buying a game....I see it as supporting devs who produce games I like
so they can keep producing them. I have a job, I can afford that much.

It's not realistic, imo, to compare this situation to buying a game... popular mainstream games count on huge amounts of sales
This is a niche genre. You can't have the same volumes.....and yes, it's maybe just one guy instead of a team, but the market is so much tinier that I doubt they could do this full time without Patreon support.
So yeah, I prefer to support them regularly (but if in the future I move abroad using my credit card to do so might get harder....we'll see, I'll support them as long as I'm here in Canada.
 

I'm Not Thea Lundgren!

AKA: TotesNotThea
Donor
Jun 21, 2017
6,579
18,928
I have a set budget every month for backing devs; I use it every month. I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I don't really go out, so I use that money on Patreon, SubscribeStar, Buy Me a Coffee and Itch. I back several devs at various levels, I also look at all of my pledges and see what that dev has delivered in the previous month. I don't just mean content; a few of the devs I back don't release a new version every month; this is fine as long as they keep me updated and communicate how they are doing with a project. If there is no contact or updates in a month, they get dropped, and I'll find someone else to back. I know that I've paid hundreds of dollars to some devs over a long period, but to me, it's worth it; I'm backing an artist, not buying a product.

EDIT: I just wanted to add that unless I really want to back a dev, I'll steer clear of devs who start their tiers at $5, this just comes across as a money grab to me (this is just my opinion); I won't even consider backing a dev if they are new and start at $5.
 
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DaScoot

Member
Game Developer
Jul 8, 2017
238
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No, I don't think that is a lot of money, but if he charges 100$ / image ( 2 people fucking, no background) then that is 10 images/ month...
All I am saying is that he charges way too much... maybe they all charge around that price, but as a game dev, I would never be able to make a game with that Artist- costs ...
As someone who's gone through a lot of artists, prices can vary wildly based on local costs of living. I've had artists living in the third world who are cheaper, and artists in America and Europe who can be a lot more expensive.

I am, actually, losing money on my project due to the art costs. If I didn't have disposable income from my day job I'd have to scale back significantly.
 

RomanHume

Sommelier of Pussy & Purveyor of Porn
Game Developer
Jan 5, 2018
2,390
13,340
I'll keep it simple. I support until I stop liking the game or the dev stops producing.

Otherwise, I don't keep track of the pennies I've spent on a developer. Ok, so I've given so-and-so $250 over the last two years. That's $10 a month I would have just spent on bullshit anyway. At least this way I know the $10 is going towards the ongoing efforts of someone who is creating something I'm enjoying.

If I was only going to support until I hit some kind of maximum, then why support at all. I'll just wait and see if the game is ever finished (it often isn't), and buy the full copy when it's done.

Besides, the $5 or $10 I give a give a dev each month isn't really money I notice gone. So I don't lose sleep over it.

What did make me lose sleep was the day I realized $1,000 a month in rent is $12,000 a year and that at those prices I should just buy a fucking house. At least then a portion of that $1,000 goes into equity and I actually walk away owning something. But that's a different conversation altogether. :D
 

DaClown

Member
Sep 12, 2020
172
275
I'm generally in the 1$/indefinitely camp. I don't see it as buying a game so much as investing in development and the community. Getting the game is kinda secondary to that. I put my money where I want to see people thrive with their visions and develop their skills for the greater benefit of us all.
 

deluges

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2018
1,070
1,181
I'm generally in the 1$/indefinitely camp. I don't see it as buying a game so much as investing in development and the community. Getting the game is kinda secondary to that. I put my money where I want to see people thrive with their visions and develop their skills for the greater benefit of us all.
Not a bad strategy, but if I subscribe to someone it's almost never the bottom tier.
 

tanstaafl

Active Member
Oct 29, 2018
971
1,403
I don't look at it as buying a game. I look at it like I'm supporting someone whose work I appreciate and enjoy. When I find a game that I particularly enjoy and I'm not overbooked on other patreons at the moment I'll toss a subscription their way. I continue to support them until they are done with the game and don't start a new one or until I find that I no longer enjoy their work.
 
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deluges

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2018
1,070
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I don't look at it as buying a game. I look at it like I'm supporting someone whose work I appreciate and enjoy. When I find a game that I particularly enjoy and I'm not overbooked on other patreons at the moment I'll toss a subscription their way. I continue to support them until they are done with the game and don't start a new one or until I find that I no longer enjoy their work.
I've seen too many promising games get abandoned for one reason or another so it's hard to get behind a pay as we go kind of system. Too many variables.
 

Joshua Tree

Conversation Conqueror
Jul 10, 2017
6,158
6,556
I've seen too many promising games get abandoned for one reason or another so it's hard to get behind a pay as we go kind of system. Too many variables.
Yeah but if everyone did that, there would been far far less games out there for you to download for "free" as well though.