How to reach more Player?

[The Dark Moonshine]

We have developed this porn adventure: Mesmerized - an Intoxicated Story and we are happy with the feedback from people.

We currently have 28 Patreons and we were wondering how we could reach more people.

We don't do it for money of course, but having more income would mean more quality: pay someone for the music, some animation, more frequent releases...

Please, don't answer: make better games, make better graphics, etc... without changing the game, how can we maximize its release?

As Developer, what you do? As Player, what do you like that we don't do?

We currently release a new version with about 250 images/dialogs every month with no delay.

2 times a week we post unreleased erotic/porn drawings and rendering not related to the game.

We have a page on F95, on FapNation, Itch.Io and upon release we make a post on Reddit (

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

)

What else?

Thanks!

 

[Meaning Less]

New devs need to build trust, there have been way too many devs abandoning their projects midway and never finishing anything.
Continue working on your game and with time you should build a fanbase, the longer you go and the more games you complete the more people are willing to start supporting your games.

It takes a long time to build trust, but only a few seconds to lose it.

 

[Droid Productions]

Have you tried asking your existing patreons where they found you? Why they support you?

It's worth looking at games that serve a similar audience, see if you can do a mutual patreon shout-out; if you have a game that caters to a similar niche (Urban Fantasy and Romance, in the case of Love of Magic, or comic 2D animated games in the case of Paradise Lust, for me), there's a good chance your followers might like their game, and their followers might like yours.

Engage with users on Discord, F95, itch, etc... try to turn a player into a fan.

Keep working on your game; each public release is the opportunity to let someone new find your game and learn to love it.

If you can, put together a WebGL build so you can distribute it on websites that only do web games (like NewGrounds).

Don't lose hope, and keep the faith... over time that will be rewarded.

 

[The Dark Moonshine]

New devs need to build trust, there have been way too many devs abandoning their projects midway and never finishing anything.
Continue working on your game and with time you should build a fanbase, the longer you go and the more games you complete the more people are willing to start supporting your games.

It takes a long time to build trust, but only a few seconds to lose it.

Thanks for your comment!
I agree, I started alone with another game that is currently almost in hold (I'm still working on it but very slowly).
The problem was that I was alone with the first game and I learned that I can't handle everything.
Now we are a team and everything is different: for example the images are ready well in advance when we start working on them.
This ensures that we pretty much have releases ready for 2 years. I hope this fairness and punctuality shines through to our patreons (but not only to them, also to those who play with us without spending).

 

[The Dark Moonshine]

Have you tried asking your existing patreons where they found you? Why they support you?

It's worth looking at games that serve a similar audience, see if you can do a mutual patreon shout-out; if you have a game that caters to a similar niche (Urban Fantasy and Romance, in the case of Love of Magic, or comic 2D animated games in the case of Paradise Lust, for me), there's a good chance your followers might like their game, and their followers might like yours.

Engage with users on Discord, F95, itch, etc... try to turn a player into a fan.

Keep working on your game; each public release is the opportunity to let someone new find your game and learn to love it.

If you can, put together a WebGL build so you can distribute it on websites that only do web games (like NewGrounds).

Don't lose hope, and keep the faith... over time that will be rewarded.

Thank you for your beautiful words!
We'll ask our Patreons what drew them to it and I'll look into how to create a WebGL version!

I also search for a mutual patreon shout-out here! (if anyone is interested contact me already).

Thanks again for the tips!

 

[Meaning Less]

I hope this fairness and punctuality shines through to our patreons (but not only to them, also to those who play with us without spending).

I'm sure it will, your game also has a big focus on drunk girls which makes it unique in a good way. Drunk girls also need some love.

It usually takes time to build a fanbase but I bet your game has the potential to grow a lot once more people start noticing it, at least as long as you guys keep delivering it and showing efficiency for the current and any future projects. Don't slack at the start line if you want to impress supporters, that way people will know you are also taking the project seriously.

 

[yrnu]

I think there already exists a fan base which would appreciate the art and creativity behind mesmerized but that 4 star rating is a problem. I guess being an active participant in the top rated games and creating mesmerized style cartoon reimagination portrayed as fan art will definitely increase your popularity i.e. Summertime Saga , Being a Dik , The office , Project Myriam , the last barbarian , acting lessons, etc . It would expose your fans to their art and vice versa.
The traditional 3D renders and computer generated 2D pictures gets repetitive , redundant and menacing even if they have different stories. The cast characters feel the same and despite fitting a huge different range of fetishism.
Mesmerized isn't alcohol oriented and just focuses on very specific parameters which is also the reason for uniqueness. Hypnosis/impulse inhibited themed games can be a full series of different games with unrelated stories and your type of story telling can be popularized but it would be restricted to a significantly lower number of patrons compared to mainstream 3D games.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Please, don't answer: make better games, make better graphics, etc... without changing the game, how can we maximize its release?

You ask about reaching more players, but when you talk you focus on getting more support ; those are two different subjects. Reaching more players is done through advertising, talking about the game everywhere you can. But reaching more support can only be done through time and the answers you don't want to receive.

People don't spare a part of their money just like that, especially actually. They do it because there's something in the game that makes them want to do it. And obviously this is the quality of the game ; pleasant visual, interesting story, good writing, and so on. But, as quality games have demonstrated, this is never enough anyway and you also need a small touch of voodoo.

With your 28 patrons, you're already on the top half of the

You must be registered to see the links

. More precisely you're one of the 2121 that have more than 27 patrons. For a less than 6 months old account, it's not this bad.
Of course, having more support is possible, but not without efforts and changes, except if you're ready to wait the time it need for them to naturally come to you.

We currently release a new version with about 250 images/dialogs every month with no delay.

The amount of new images mean nothing, it's the time needed to play the update that matter.
As for the "no delay", as strangely as it can seem, I tend to dislike authors that stay put to their schedule. Making a game is not something that can be precisely planed in advance. There's dialogs that will need two days to be wrote correctly, while others come right naturally.

2 times a week we post unreleased erotic/porn drawings and rendering not related to the game.

Irrelevant. In majority, people will not spare few bucks for this. It's the thanks you give them for their support, not the reason why they'll support you.

What else?

Everything you don't want to ear as answer, but that are the only way to achieve what you want.

Oh, yeah, there's another thing that don't fall on the "don't answer this" category... Don't start a thread asking how to have more support, even if you name it "reach more players". Whatever how you'll present it, it will always make you looks greedy, and people who agree to support a dev do not like greedy authors.
There's this thing, common to almost all of them. One day they ask how to have more support, few months later they complain because they still don't have more support, and later in the year they abandon their game because they feel like it don't have the support it deserve.
As Avaron1974 said recently, "It takes a long time to build up a player base. It could take 2 or 3 games before people start supporting a dev". And with this thread, you just increased this time, because now many people will wait to see if you're effectively part of the greedy ones that will abandon their game before the end of the year.

 

[Droid Productions]

As for the "no delay", as strangely as it can seem, I tend to dislike authors that stay put to their schedule. Making a game is not something that can be precisely planed in advance. There's dialogs that will need two days to be wrote correctly, while others come right naturally.

And sometimes the story grabs you by the scruff of the neck, and won't let go.

I was *supposed* to be working on Act X+ right now, a relatively innocuous chunk of content fill with more poker stuff, more gems and some Elsewhere stories. But I made the mistake of rendering the end of the book, to show it to the musician that allowed me to use her music.

After that, the next 3 weeks more or less disappeared. I mean, I... think I remember them. But they're hazy and blurred, and I spent an unhealthy amount of time pushing to finish the story. I don't think I've ever had something I work ON (as opposed to someone I work FOR, or people I work WITH) just hijack me like that, and push forward.

I'm happy with the result. We'll see if my players are, but... it was a story that needed to be told. And the story made me tell it.

 

[anne O'nymous]

And sometimes the story grabs you by the scruff of the neck, and won't let go.

And when it happen, you don't stop because "well, it's time to release the update".

it was a story that needed to be told. And the story made me tell it.

Exactly. I say it often, as author it's your story, but you are at its service. Sometimes nothing come because the story just want to rest, and sometimes it's the opposite, the story drank a full pack of RedBull and it's you who don't sleep for a week.

 

[Droid Productions]

And when it happen, you don't stop because "well, it's time to release the update".




Exactly. I say it often, as author it's your story, but you are at its service. Sometimes nothing come because the story just want to rest, and sometimes it's the opposite, the story drank a full pack of RedBull and it's you who don't sleep for a week.

Yeah. Anyway... it's done. I'll do a public release (and push it to Steam's beta branch, instead of Development) soon. Book 2 of Love of Magic's not *quite* done, but I'm almost done with story content, and the main story (i.e. anything triggering off days) is complete.

 

[The Dark Moonshine]

You ask about reaching more players, but when you talk you focus on getting more support ; those are two different subjects. Reaching more players is done through advertising, talking about the game everywhere you can. But reaching more support can only be done through time and the answers you don't want to receive.

People don't spare a part of their money just like that, especially actually. They do it because there's something in the game that makes them want to do it. And obviously this is the quality of the game ; pleasant visual, interesting story, good writing, and so on. But, as quality games have demonstrated, this is never enough anyway and you also need a small touch of voodoo.

With your 28 patrons, you're already on the top half of the

You must be registered to see the links

. More precisely you're one of the 2121 that have more than 27 patrons. For a less than 6 months old account, it's not this bad.
Of course, having more support is possible, but not without efforts and changes, except if you're ready to wait the time it need for them to naturally come to you.




The amount of new images mean nothing, it's the time needed to play the update that matter.
As for the "no delay", as strangely as it can seem, I tend to dislike authors that stay put to their schedule. Making a game is not something that can be precisely planed in advance. There's dialogs that will need two days to be wrote correctly, while others come right naturally.




Irrelevant. In majority, people will not spare few bucks for this. It's the thanks you give them for their support, not the reason why they'll support you.




Everything you don't want to ear as answer, but that are the only way to achieve what you want.

Oh, yeah, there's another thing that don't fall on the "don't answer this" category... Don't start a thread asking how to have more support, even if you name it "reach more players". Whatever how you'll present it, it will always make you looks greedy, and people who agree to support a dev do not like greedy authors.
There's this thing, common to almost all of them. One day they ask how to have more support, few months later they complain because they still don't have more support, and later in the year they abandon their game because they feel like it don't have the support it deserve.
As Avaron1974 said recently, "It takes a long time to build up a player base. It could take 2 or 3 games before people start supporting a dev". And with this thread, you just increased this time, because now many people will wait to see if you're effectively part of the greedy ones that will abandon their game before the end of the year.

Thanks for your words, I have understood your points.
I may not agree with some of your "accusations", but you don't know me, so it's okay what you say and also how you say it. it's important to be blunt for me.

 

[The Dark Moonshine]

And sometimes the story grabs you by the scruff of the neck, and won't let go.

I was *supposed* to be working on Act X+ right now, a relatively innocuous chunk of content fill with more poker stuff, more gems and some Elsewhere stories. But I made the mistake of rendering the end of the book, to show it to the musician that allowed me to use her music.

After that, the next 3 weeks more or less disappeared. I mean, I... think I remember them. But they're hazy and blurred, and I spent an unhealthy amount of time pushing to finish the story. I don't think I've ever had something I work ON (as opposed to someone I work FOR, or people I work WITH) just hijack me like that, and push forward.

I'm happy with the result. We'll see if my players are, but... it was a story that needed to be told. And the story made me tell it.

I understand, in my real life I was also a cartoonist of comic strips and sometimes the story has taken me to unexplored and unexpected places and they've been the best stories.
But i have discovered that I need constraints, otherwise, the story is never good enough, ready enough, or engaging enough. At that point, I prefer to split it in half as I did in the last release, but that's easy for us being a linear story.

 

[HerbertIronsides]

Hit as many platforms as you can. Have a discord, twitter, subcribstar and try to post often about your game and whats up incoming and include your paid supporters in polls and ideas. Going to be completely honest though the most likely reason you dont have too many supporters is because your game hits a very competitive genre being incest and the art is fairly odd. While the artstyle is unique which is good it does look kinda weird which is going to push people away. If the art is a must then maybe try and hit some other fetishes in your game to attract different people that is usually a good way to branch out to more people. Just make sure if its a more niche fetish that it is skippable content for your other fans. Hope all that helps

 

[Deleted member 440241]

Please, don't answer: make better games, make better graphics, etc...

You don't want this answer, but better art/graphics is first and foremost the best way to get more people's attention. When I'm looking at a new game I check three things. Fetish tags, synopsis, and screenshots. The screenshots immediately ruined any interest I may have had in your game. Second thing to work on is your synopsis. Yours is already decent so it's a lower priority to adjust despite being a bigger factor in whether I'd play your game. Why does the MC want to turn Mrs. Loveday into a drunken party girl? From the sound of it he fell in love with the prim and proper MILF next door. The age difference and the fact she's married brings some level of corruption to the story, but I don't see why he'd want to make her go full slut from what we're given in the synopsis. It also makes no mention of the various other girls shown in the screenshots and banner. What takes the MC from "I love my neighbor" to "I'll get my mom and sister drunk so I can bone them"? Third, Quantum Loop shows you aren't reliable. It looks like a low effort Meet N Fuck knockoff that you spent 4-5 months on before giving up. Finishing games is the best way to build confidence in potential patrons.

If you're determined to get more patrons on Mesmerized, pause development while your team splits work on updating all the renders and finishing Quantum Loop. You'll lose what patrons you have now but get plenty more when Mesmerized starts getting new content. That's a lot of work without bringing in any money though so it's not the path I think you should take. Instead I'd recommend you learn how to improve renders while working on Mesmerized and put that experience to use in your next game. It won't get more patrons immediately, but it will improve interest in the next game while also having a completed project to your name.