Interesting, if money's a problem then I'm not sure why the dev gives full game and animation access at the $1 tier. Most patreon devs make game access $5 or $10, pretty sure Shine would make 5x as much if they just changed the reward tiers and then released a significant update.
This is more of a legal issue, concerning my country, than trying to sell a game that features characters I don't own the copyright to. In fact, the posts would be open if not for Patreon's rules. Because if I sell the game, I could run into a very large fine here (around 4 thousand dollars), and my lawyer and I decided to do what I am doing now.
New update and he needs people to become a Patreon.
Or links can be taken from my Twitter or furrafinity ;s
Increasing cost could easily backfire since there's so little traction on this project in the first place.
My recommendation is as follows:
(1) Lower the barrier of entry for newcomers by creating a gallery feature that is easily unlocked. So much of the adult content is behind tedious tasks which is fine for those already invested in the content but less so for those who are just trying it out the first time.
(2) Increase expectation and hype by creating storylines and relationships that people actually are looking forward to developing. Right now many of the characters are one and dones and it kills any interest. Instead create characters like a chief's son needs "tutoring," a bar lizard stalking Krystal after her dance as she's walking back to camp, an older lizard infatuated by Krystal since he's constantly getting chewed out by his wife, etc.
(3) Learn your customers and audience. There's patreon members already providing funding. Create polls on what content they want next. This not only builds interest and hype but it also feeds the existing audience content they already like and has a higher likelihood of finding similar types of paying customers by catering to those groups.
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll try to answer step by step:
1) Yes, this is the right idea, but again, as I answered above, my decision is more connected with a legal issue.
2) After discussing this with several developers on Discord, I've come to the conclusion that one of my main problems is that I'm offering too much content at once, as any sex scene has more animations and poses than many adult games in total. Unfortunately, this has been a long-standing flaw of mine, and I hate to cut the content. But I might have to start doing that soon to reduce the game's size.
The same applies to characters - in one update I create a large storyline, often with a definite ending, and in order to develop a character further, progress is needed in the game's plot, while I introduce additional quests, and in fact, I did not do anything extra - I created a very good combat system practically from scratch (compared to Act 2, and this is entirely my development), and this will be necessary in the near future to advance the plot. After all, I'm making a game, not a collection of porn videos. For porn videos, I have very popular porn pages (but unfortunately I am not developing them now, and there are reasons for that), with over 50 million video views overall. Yes, I have my share of popularity, but not in game development.
And yes, thanks for the ideas, I was thinking about introducing some of these characters in the future, but now I also have thoughts about updating the characters and using higher-quality avatars, but most often this will concern the males.
3) I did just that, taking into account all the requests and suggestions I was often told while playing Act 2. Unfortunately, I can't please everyone. I actually get the impression that many people simply haven't played Act 3, even though it's technically much stronger than Act 2 (though Act 2 has its fans; I was even offered a very good deal of money to continue it, abandoning Act 3, because they liked the space theme, but still, most people liked the updated Krystal model and I started making Act 3).
I don't dispute that those who donate to me already support the project, and I'm grateful for that. Still, having around 180 patrons (with count Boosty), 140 of whom give me $1, 35 of whom give me $3, and only the rest give me a level up, and it's still not bad, but alas – I've talked about my expenses many times, and if it weren't for my friends who give me a platform and help with many other things (though I still have to buy expensive equipment) – I would have been working at a very small profit long ago, and considering the time spent… It doesn't seem interesting at all. But I'm not one to abandon my fans, otherwise the project would have been abandoned long ago, and I've been working on it for six years already (the first four years, I did video projects and much more, but for the last two years, I've been working on Act 3, its new combat system, even though the game already has quite a bit of content).. However, this also reflects the project's popularity; I think 180 patrons already indicate that some people actually like the project.
With the entry threshold, the first thing players need to complete to progress in the adult content is the tavern. There's nothing complicated there, and the player doesn't need to understand the combat system. If the player enjoys what the tavern offers and wants more adult content (the tavern has three long scenes and dances), the rest will have to be achieved through a slightly more difficult path. Fair enough.
Overall, though, I'm inclined to believe my project would have been much more popular if I hadn't started working on it after the massive failure of the LOK team, and some of the haters of this team attacked me too (although they had zero moral right to do so, since I have nothing to do with their disappointment). But I understand the root of their disappointment, and I don’t feel strongly negative towards them for what they did, I was focused more on the positive and thought that the best was yet to come for my project, but still, 6 years is a rather long and tiring period, and given the difficulties in the global situation, this does not add optimism to my thoughts.
However, as I said on my Patreon page - I'll try to finish the game project no matter what, so even if the worst comes to the worst—it just won't look quite as good as it could have if most people truly believed in my work. But we have what we have.