Ren'Py How to get the ball rolling on your Renpy VN?

[SpecialXSauce]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a VN. It's going to be my first time making one so I'm wondering on how best to get it out there? I've already got a patreon, haven't launched yet, but how should i go about things like letting patrons download, and getting input? I'm not too worried about piracy, because It's why I joined this site in the first place. Anyone have some tips?

Thanks

 

[Papa Ernie]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a VN. It's going to be my first time making one so I'm wondering on how best to get it out there? I've already got a patreon, haven't launched yet, but how should i go about things like letting patrons download, and getting input? I'm not too worried about piracy, because It's why I joined this site in the first place. Anyone have some tips?

Thanks

1) Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

2) Use an established, free file host like the ones here: Approved File Hosts [Updated 2019-11-01] . Mega and Google Drive are popular.

3) Post your game on adult game community forums like F95zone. Here's a list of sites and resources: The Bloo Guide [2019-09-14]

4) Interact with and update your Patreon page at least once a week.

 

[namiv]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a VN. It's going to be my first time making one so I'm wondering on how best to get it out there? I've already got a patreon, haven't launched yet, but how should i go about things like letting patrons download, and getting input? I'm not too worried about piracy, because It's why I joined this site in the first place. Anyone have some tips?

Thanks

We are nearly in the same spot. What I'm about to do is to let people see my drawings (that's my strong asset).
once my game reaches the reasonable point (not to early) and its promising I will let players play it,
THEN i will consider patreon or anything similar to that

 

[Deleted member 609064]

We are nearly in the same spot. What I'm about to do is to let people see my drawings (that's my strong asset).
once my game reaches the reasonable point (not to early) and its promising I will let players play it,
THEN i will consider patreon or anything similar to that

I get annoyed when people won't start a Patreon. They are worried about asking for donations for support. Patreon, done right, is so much more than a payment system. It is an ecosystem of game players, donors and developers.

Patreon should be used by every game, at the minimum as a channel for communicating game news. Sure, one can use Twitter or YouTube, but thousands of gamers are already on Patreon, following, commenting on, and donating to the games and projects they like.

If you don't want to push money-making, that's fine. Make all of your posts free to everyone for now. It annoys me to no end when beginner Devs hide posts about development from non-donors before the game has taken off.

I hope to launch a game this year and when I do, I will use Patreon a lot. It's a fantastic way to deliver information to donors and non-donors alike. I would also like to raise some money to make my dream project but that's secondary to making my first game and learning as much as possible about launching and maintaining a successful game.

 

[CulayTL]

I get annoyed when people won't start a Patreon. They are worried about asking for donations for support. Patreon, done right, is so much more than a payment system. It is an ecosystem of game players, donors and developers.

Patreon should be used by every game, at the minimum as a channel for communicating game news. Sure, one can use Twitter or YouTube, but thousands of gamers are already on Patreon, following, commenting on, and donating to the games and projects they like.

If you don't want to push money-making, that's fine. Make all of your posts free to everyone for now. It annoys me to no end when beginner Devs hide posts about development from non-donors before the game has taken off.

I hope to launch a game this year and when I do, I will use Patreon a lot. It's a fantastic way to deliver information to donors and non-donors alike. I would also like to raise some money to make my dream project but that's secondary to making my first game and learning as much as possible about launching and maintaining a successful game.

Few months ago I was.. nope, i'm doing this for free, I'm a newbie, a hobyst but not an artist or a dev.. anyway.. meanwhile friends from here or other communities pushed to make one.. finally I started one.. not expecting to get rich overnight but never know.. It's a new page.. planning to release my first novel quite soon.

Hiding posts.. yeah might be a bad ideea if you overeacting at least..

As for the communication.. A real-time chat as Discord I think it would help much better than a Patreon page.. just sort your channels for announcements and chit chats and should be fine

 

[Deleted member 609064]

Few months ago I was.. nope, i'm doing this for free, I'm a newbie, a hobyst but not an artist or a dev.. anyway.. meanwhile friends from here or other communities pushed to make one.. finally I started one.. not expecting to get rich overnight but never know.. It's a new page.. planning to release my first novel quite soon.

Hiding posts.. yeah might be a bad ideea if you overeacting at least..

As for the communication.. A real-time chat as Discord I think it would help much better than a Patreon page.. just sort your channels for announcements and chit chats and should be fine

Discord isn't a community. Patreon is a community.

Patreon is Facebook.
Discord is Twitter.

Different tools. I know many Devs like Discord but there are lots of people who do not use Discord but are on Patreon.

 

[Paz]

Make all of your posts free to everyone for now. It annoys me to no end when beginner Devs hide posts about development from non-donors before the game has taken off.

Keep in mind that you have to make your posts patron-gated if they have even a modicum of NSFW content, so public is not an option here.

I respectfully disagree with the Discord view, it has far more potential in community-building than Patreon will ever have for many reasons:
- Patreon wasn't built with that in mind, and frankly it's UI keeps getting worse with every iteration.
- You can't beat real-time interaction with a crappy comment and message system.
- Most Discord creator channels have substantially more potential members. It's an added pool to draw interest from.
- I have yet to see any Patreon page rife with community activity apart from a few comments (usually from the same small portion of users).
- Some supporters might not want to join Discord indeed, but those are usually the same that silently pledge and enjoy the content. There is no net loss of interaction.

 

[Deleted member 609064]

Keep in mind that you have to make your posts patron-gated if they have even a modicum of NSFW content, so public is not an option here.

I am talking about using it for communication with people following the project. Not for disseminating NSFW content.

AFAIK, Discord chats are not search engine indexable, which is another disadvantage to putting all game communication on Discord over Patreon. Patreon gets indexed by Google.

If you want to promote your game, for money or for free, the idea is to reach people not to require people to jump through different hoops in order to follow your project.

There is no reason one can't do both. Doing Patreon doesn't mean one can't do Discord.

My point was that newbie Devs don't want to ask for money, and I think that is a narrow view of Patreon's utility. There is much more to be gained from using a system with an email notification system (us older folks have money and like games too) and many of us still use email a lot.

 

[Paz]

AFAIK, Discord chats are not search engine indexable, which is another disadvantage to putting all game communication on Discord over Patreon. Patreon gets indexed by Google.

It does, but it's of little value most of the time. Googling "3d game with big boobies" is unlikely to yield your Patreon page in the first page of results. One would need to search for "xcrash patreon" or "insert-your-game-name-here", at which point they kind of already know about you in many cases.

Apart from that I do agree that Patreon is a perfect solution for a landing page to get people to know you, or use it's mailing capabilities for a newsletter of sorts. But it does fall flat on engaging with that community on an interactive manner, and it's where Discord (or similar, or even this very forum) does a far better job.

 

[CulayTL]

Discord isn't a community. Patreon is a community.

Really? like 10 comments on a post, 8 are likes or whatever, 1 is feedback and the 10th it's a flat earther.
Most of the discord channels I am right now are a lot more active than their pages.. it's a huge difference..
You can interact a lot easier with the devs, other players/patrons/users, can debate xyz subject, work on walkthroughs, leave feedback or report bugs.
Even F95 it's a bigger and better community than Patreon.
From my POV Patreon it's just a place where you can see some products lf and pay for it if you want and that's all or just promote yourself if you are a creator.. but as a community sucks hard.. at least that's how I'm seeing it.
Real-time interaction it's way better than comments.

 

[Deleted member 609064]

Real-time interaction it's way better than comments.

Those of us in different timezones and with other things going on in our lives, don't have the ability to engage in real-time discussions at the drop of a hat or persistently.