RC-1138 Boss

Message Maven
Apr 26, 2017
13,535
20,418
And when Paypal shutdown Subscribestar's account, they moved on without them
And look at the undermost amount of developers and their supporters there when compared to Patreon.
Subscribestar may work as a alternative way of support but it won't substitute patreon anytime soon.
 

MysteryCrabs

Well-Known Member
Dec 15, 2019
1,272
1,734
And look at the undermost amount of developers and their supporters there when compared to Patreon.
Subscribestar may work as a alternative way of support but it won't substitute patreon anytime soon.
Not as long as Patreon is an option and all they need are "third party patches". When people get used to something, habits are hard to break. It's why many companies focus marketing money to capture at big life moments, as those are the most likely periods to modify habits.

It's not an easy problem to solve, but it's not intractable. But it's not a great solution when you already have such a large established set of customers
 

Dragon59

Conversation Conqueror
Apr 24, 2020
6,706
10,974
Thats very bad advice to give.

I've seen other developers go the patch route, or even allowed a third party to do a patch. And Patreon have shut them down hard.

Folks, Belle has a good head on their shoulders, they already have something planned for this kind of situation, lets not throw out advice unless its asked for.
One thing we've seen is when a patch writer gets snitched on, they then get shut down by Patreon.
 
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Dragon59

Conversation Conqueror
Apr 24, 2020
6,706
10,974
I'll be switching my support of Belle over to SubscribeStar tomorrow, as my Patreon protest.
I will as well.

Gotcha, was already trying to be very careful and diplomatic ;)

Oh and just for shits and giggles, I'm gonna change my Patreon pledge to Subscribestar. Take that :p
Sounds like a number of us will be switching.
If Patreon is monitoring this thread, they will see that people are planning on transferring their support.
Thats all well and good to say now, but take a look at the numbers. Belle has built up about 1000 followers on Patreon, that's taken about 3 years to build up, especially considering that right now there are 28 followers on Subscribestar. Its going to take time to rebuild those numbers.

Besides which, Patreon isn't the problem, its the companies that handle the money for Patreon, who also handle the money for other sites like Patreon. So while Patreon might be cracking down now, it could easily be another site starts cracking down because of pressure from up above.
And are not particularly successful at it. The number of people subscribing to projects on SubscribeStar is minuscule compared to on Patreon. For LLtP, it's not even 3%.
I expect tomorrow we'll see a doubling or better in SubscribeStar patrons. It's one thing to build up SubscribeStar patronage from scratch, but transfers from Patreon to SubscribeStar will make a difference.
 
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RustyV

Conversation Conqueror
Game Developer
Dec 30, 2017
6,985
33,923
In general big tech has been becoming social engineering advocates using carve outs (AT-C Section 320) given by Congress years ago when they were first trying to get established, now it's time to remove these special exemptions for these giant manipulative corporations.
And break up their monopolies.
 

professorx10

Active Member
Game Developer
Jul 22, 2018
672
865
In general big tech has been becoming social engineering advocates using carve outs (AT-C Section 320) given by Congress years ago when they were first trying to get established, now it's time to remove these special exemptions for these giant manipulative corporations.
And break up their monopolies.
I'm afraid there is more to it than that. We consumers are partially to blame as well. We were the ones who solidified around just two major Operating system makers...which gave them the leverage to manipulate the content providers. I can remember when part of the development plan was to make sure that certain competitor's products wouldn't run on a certain OS.

Now we're faced with the same thing on the Web. You cannot escape FB, Paypal and Google without major effort (and time and $$) Plus, as Belle points out, alternative sources are starving for consumers to support them.

we're being eaten by the very monster we created by our wanting to have all our eggs in one basket and by taking all the "FREE" services offered us on the WEB.
 

Evangelion-01

Devoted Member
Apr 12, 2018
10,850
7,309
I'm afraid there is more to it than that. We consumers are partially to blame as well. We were the ones who solidified around just two major Operating system makers...which gave them the leverage to manipulate the content providers. I can remember when part of the development plan was to make sure that certain competitor's products wouldn't run on a certain OS.

Now we're faced with the same thing on the Web. You cannot escape FB, Paypal and Google without major effort (and time and $$) Plus, as Belle points out, alternative sources are starving for consumers to support them.

we're being eaten by the very monster we created by our wanting to have all our eggs in one basket and by taking all the "FREE" services offered us on the WEB.
While I agree with you about unchecked monopolies on the net, there are some easy ways to make THEIR lives harder aswell...
But back on Topic, since it seems to be clear that the Story has to be rewritten this makes me wonder how Belle will change Evelyns Big- and Dark Secret, the nature of them being actually meaningfull enough are soley based on her (blood) relationship to the Player. If she only grew up with him or raised him like son/little brother that can't really qualify enough to make her struggle against it so much
 

pothb

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2018
1,260
1,378
Now we're faced with the same thing on the Web. You cannot escape FB, Paypal and Google without major effort (and time and $$) Plus, as Belle points out, alternative sources are starving for consumers to support them.

we're being eaten by the very monster we created by our wanting to have all our eggs in one basket and by taking all the "FREE" services offered us on the WEB.
It's not just because we want to have all our eggs in one basket, sadly. There are a lot of regulations in place to make it that way. It's not easy to make a paypal, a bank, or anything that is capable processing money. An example of this is NewProject2, they're an alternative, and they've been hit by BS a number of times. SubscribeStar is similar, at any time, banks or paypal and the like can go to them and demand them exclude things or be cut off, and it's not easy to find another.

Aside from that, despite misgivings, these services do do things well at the time they came out, they might've gotten better or worse now, but they had some of the best services back then because it's competitors were too slow, and continued to drag their feet.
 
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DA22

Devoted Member
Jan 10, 2018
8,087
16,686
Well I have decided as well to cut my support of any games on Patreon as off November. was to late for this month, but the attack on this game made it clear to me that I can no longer bring supporting on patreon with their hypoctrite censorship rules in line with my own moral values that are against this kind of censorship. i hope I will be able to support all devs I did on subscribestar and else I am sorry I will have to let them down. :(
 

Belle

Developer of Supermodel & Long Live the Princess
Game Developer
Sep 25, 2017
3,198
10,644
Well I have decided as well to cut my support of any games on Patreon as off November. was to late for this month, but the attack on this game made it clear to me that I can no longer bring supporting on patreon with their hypoctrite censorship rules in line with my own moral values that are against this kind of censorship. i hope I will be able to support all devs I did on subscribestar and else I am sorry I will have to let them down. :(
You are more than welcome on my SubscribeStar page, at least. I have, as of right now, had 7 new subscribers there since yesterday, so it's clear that these developments are causing some ripples, however small.
 

DA22

Devoted Member
Jan 10, 2018
8,087
16,686
You are more than welcome on my SubscribeStar page, at least. I have, as of right now, had 7 new subscribers there since yesterday, so it's clear that these developments are causing some ripples, however small.
I will be there in November, since Patreon already invoiced for this month and if something that has been going on for a while turns out right this month, for a bit higher amount to help you out some with the extra work you have been forced to do without good reason and against their own TOS in my view. Yes against their own TOS, since Evelyne is only one character in your game among many and the main story line is about a very different topic as incest or sexual violence or whatever is against their TOS. Your game fully falls under the exceptions supplied in their own TOS, even if I understand and agree no dev will be able to take them to court over that unless an organisation like the ACLU gets interested and those are unlikely to come to the defence of porn devs.

Not even talking about the fact that I as a supporter also get shafted for supporting a game that confirms to their TOS, even if that storyline was not the reason to support the game. The game I supported as is, is being forced to change at extra work for dev in a way I have not asked for as a supporter nor has the majority of the other supporters. Now that has nothing to do with whether I trust belle to do a good job with the change, but it means she has to put in extra work and time in an old part of the game and games end will be delayed without any good reason and I will never see the game completed as it was originally intended after supporting the game well over a year. In a way I should have a right to be repaid the cut Patreon made on my support of the game, since they did not give me what they offered me in the end.
 
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Belle

Developer of Supermodel & Long Live the Princess
Game Developer
Sep 25, 2017
3,198
10,644
On the other hand, you get a "new" character to explore. The new version of Evelyn should hopefully feel fresh and interesting enough to make people replay her story to see what's new and changed. So it's not simply wasted work.
 

DA22

Devoted Member
Jan 10, 2018
8,087
16,686
On the other hand, you get a "new" character to explore. The new version of Evelyn should hopefully feel fresh and interesting enough to make people replay her story to see what's new and changed. So it's not simply wasted work.
Maybe not, but still it is not something I or anyone else who supported game asked for, it is still extra work and it will still mean I will never see the end of the game as you originally intended it that I supported and I will know that, for no reason as a very disputable interpretation of their own TOS. Now that will not mean you will not do a good job repairing the damage they did and the game as a whole will still hang together and be enjoyable (who knows maybe even more enjoyable :p), but that repair should have never been needed.
 

Evangelion-01

Devoted Member
Apr 12, 2018
10,850
7,309
On the other hand, you get a "new" character to explore. The new version of Evelyn should hopefully feel fresh and interesting enough to make people replay her story to see what's new and changed. So it's not simply wasted work.
well it would likely work as an additional motivation to use the New Game+ Feature once available... I think it's unlikely to many Players will restart their entire game just for that chance when a promissed feature like NG+ is more or less right around the corner.
But I still wish you the best of Luck or inspiration, you certainly haven't disapointed yet ;)
 

DA22

Devoted Member
Jan 10, 2018
8,087
16,686
well it would likely work as an additional motivation to use the New Game+ Feature once available... I think it's unlikely to many Players will restart their entire game just for that chance when a promissed feature like NG+ is more or less right around the corner.
But I still wish you the best of Luck or inspiration, you certainly haven't disapointed yet ;)
Well with the major changes to that character I suspect everyone will have to replay if want an ending with her or are currently on a path with an ending for her, unless you decided to let her disappear when you first found out about her feelings and made the wrong choice or right one depending on your feelings about that.
 
Nov 18, 2018
141
383
I liked Evelyn as she was. I'm sure I'll like Evelyn as she will be. I'm not hung up over incest. I don't demand it or decry it. If it's there, it's there. If it's not, it's not. Given that I like everything else (well, almost) about the game, I don't see why I shouldn't just wait for Belle to deliver. Given his track record, I'm sure it will be worth it.
 
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Belle

Developer of Supermodel & Long Live the Princess
Game Developer
Sep 25, 2017
3,198
10,644
The new Evelyn is progressing well. I haven't started writing her yet, but I've been mapping out her basic storyline and setting up every beat to match the existing beats. If I can pull this off correctly, I believe people will find her story to be both satisfying and delightfully naughty. This won't be a second-rate version of her. Both versions should be able to stand proudly on their own.
 
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