VN Ren'Py Completed Misfits [Part 1-3 + Seamless] [Slow Burn Games]

[DuckDairyDip]

Like I said, marketing can happen with the FREE PUBLIC release. You don't need to steal the early release. This site would thrive if it used the FREE PUBLIC release. It could then honestly claim to be supporting devs.
You might think that piracy doesn't affect Patrons- they would support anyway- but the statistics I've been keeping suggest otherwise. I lose at least 25% of my patronage to piracy. That's not insignificant to a small developer.
When I first started developing I posted my game on another 'pirate' site and the moderators respected my request not to post the early release- they seemed to want to work with me. Funnily enough, people DID get to know my work existed even when it wasn't on this site.
As for 'antagonizing' patrons, have you considered the effect of antagonizing devs?

I know you are trying to paint pirates as the 'good guys' but do you really believe what you are saying?

Can you provide the total number of Patreons plus total money you got per month in correlation to how quickly a release leaked? In a April 2023 Patreon post you made reporting this that someone posted here, you talked about how many Patrons joined when the release that month didn't leak quickly. But the number of Patrons is not public and it is hard to gauge exactly how that correlates to the public number of amount of money per month. You talked about getting 17% more Patrons than usual and estimating 25% more support. How exactly did you get those numbers and can you provide data to back it up? Considering your stance on this issue and the drama surrounding it, I just want to make sure you aren't stating this to maybe entice people to not leak or pirate the game plus I am curious about the actual data to give a general idea about dev support.

 

[slowburngames]

What a great essay, you described why I HATE dream sequences in porn games, because it cheapens the "bass drop" of when they'll actually do get action. So much of male sexual desire seems to come from this switch flip of "I have never seen a sexual experience with that girl ---> WOW she's doing it!".



Also lol@ dev getting undies in a bundle, this isn't 1995 where a person/team spends thousands of hours slaving over making some esoteric wargame/fantasy game with no market exposure, just hoping that some customers buy a few copies down at their local computer games store so they can recoup costs. The entire market ecosystem has changed.

Look I get it, you spent time and money and creativity making a product, and no matter what you do, people are stealing that product. Reality is you've two choices - you can either go hard in the other direction; full DRM/always online/cryptog protections, or embrace it and operate within that theatre, accepting a large %of people playing your game and not paying for it as a cost of doing business in this current day market.

Good point about the "bass drop"; I agree with you. A lot of things in my games are experiments and I think this was a fail for the reason you explain.

On your second point, I can't agree. I make a FREE PUBLIC release at the end of the month so I accept that a large number of people will never pay and I am happy with that. This is about subverting the Patreon support model by stealing everything from that site and posting it here. That's like saying we want your game free, and we'll piss on your business too, and you've got to like it.
There is a third option; I can give up developing and do something where people play nice.

 

[chemjakant]

Early Release v18.0
View attachment 2672551
As usual, I would be grateful for any error/bug reports and general feedback (good and bad).
v18.0
- content for chapter 18
- 307 new renders
- 9 new anims
Check the op the original link I posted was killed by the dev so I passed the new link on to Baasb who has updated the op

I am against this, on the day of release seriously. Couldn't fucking wait a week.

 

[cinosweiv]

I think waiting a week is more reasonable than a month for public release, most would happily wait a week for the public release and I don't think that would cheapen my Patreon support at all. I support others that do this, like Project Myriam, because I don't want to wait the week for the public release. But when some douche racket leaks it on release day, most will wait till the public release to download and jump on the leaker for their bad form. I support that.

 

[aa14]

I love this game so much. More realistic women and situations than the average game. Getting caught up with older women and grannies while you have a far more attractive woman as a possibility is a huge turn on for me.

 

[Iscariote]

I would love to see you promote your game without any of these sites. Who would care about public release, if they did not know the game exists in the first place?

Would you pay for all the marketing, pay per click ads for random sites etc?

All the games I supported I supported because I wanted to see the game thrive. Most patrons do it like that. If that wasnt the case, the number of your patrons would be 0, because it gets leaked anyway.

EDIT: Also, you are not doing yourself any favors shitting on pirates. Chances are most of your patrons visit these sites and pirate most games they play. You only antagonize the patrons you have and make them more likely to leak/leave. You are just playing yourself.

I fully disagree with you. It is true that those sites allow us to discover new developpers, but why TF couldn't you wait for the public version? This developper is one of a very few that releases his work regularly, and he also offers a public version freely. All he asks is that people wait the public version to publish it, so that supporters can be rewarded with an early release. Now guess what, the developper had enough and will stop making games after this one will be finished.
Major win, big brain time for the leaker.

 

[Strong1]

Slowburn crying on here makes me want to pirate his game. Developers are so greedy! Typical VN development milks patrons for years for what is usually a mediocre game at best. Just be thankful you have a product people want to steal and get over your greed!

 

[Morrigan12345]

For me it's just not nice, you need to be in respect for each other, the game is cool, the developer is adequate, you could wait a week and wait.

 

[soldadohackero]

I fully disagree with you. It is true that those sites allow us to discover new developpers, but why TF couldn't you wait for the public version? This developper is one of a very few that releases his work regularly, and he also offers a public version freely. All he asks is that people wait the public version to publish it, so that supporters can be rewarded with an early release. Now guess what, the developper had enough and will stop making games after this one will be finished.
Major win, big brain time for the leaker.

Subscribers pay to show their support for the good work of the developer in most cases, not to get "early access" to the game! Still they can have other rewards like having decisions that will affect the game.
If you have a good game it is normal that other people do not want to wait a whole month to play it, it is logical that they are looking forward to a leak! Perhaps the best solution would be to reduce that waiting time to one week for example.

And what kind of threats are those to "stop developing games"

Now guess what, the only one harmed if he stops making games would be the developer himself for stopping doing what he likes!
Hundreds of new games and new developers will continue to exist, we are in the technology century!! Threats are not the solution

 

[slowburngames]

Can you provide the total number of Patreons plus total money you got per month in correlation to how quickly a release leaked? In a April 2023 Patreon post you made reporting this that someone posted here, you talked about how many Patrons joined when the release that month didn't leak quickly. But the number of Patrons is not public and it is hard to gauge exactly how that correlates to the public number of amount of money per month. You talked about getting 17% more Patrons than usual and estimating 25% more support. How exactly did you get those numbers and can you provide data to back it up? Considering your stance on this issue and the drama surrounding it, I just want to make sure you aren't stating this to maybe entice people to not leak or pirate the game plus I am curious about the actual data to give a general idea about dev support.

I'll give a snippet. At the end of every month (pay day) 20-30% Patrons leave and then may rejoin to get the new release. I suspect this group is the most susceptible to pirated alternatives. Three months ago, the game leaked after three hours- in the first week only 4% joined/rejoined. By the end of the month it was 10%. Two months ago, the game didn't leak for 12 days. In those 12 days 17% had joined/rejoined. By the end of the month it was 33%. Last month the game leaked immediately- 2% joined/rejoined in the first two weeks. Looks like a correlation to me.
On top of that is the month on month growth- if the number of Patrons should be going up anyway due to new joiners, then the number of Patrons not rejoining (potentially because of the leak) is even worse.

Did you really think piracy doesn' t affect takeup?

 

[Iscariote]

Subscribers pay to show their support for the good work of the developer in most cases, not to get "early access" to the game! Still they can have other rewards like having decisions that will affect the game.
If you have a good game it is normal that other people do not want to wait a whole month to play it, it is logical that they are looking forward to a leak! Perhaps the best solution would be to reduce that waiting time to one week for example.

And what kind of threats are those to "stop developing games"

Now guess what, the only one harmed if he stops making games would be the developer himself for stopping doing what he likes!
Hundreds of new games and new developers will continue to exist, we are in the technology century!! Threats are not the solution

Well I guess you'll be happy, you won't have to wait a month anymore. Big win

 

[slowburngames]

Slowburn crying on here makes me want to pirate his game. Developers are so greedy! Typical VN development milks patrons for years for what is usually a mediocre game at best. Just be thankful you have a product people want to steal and get over your greed!

I work 70 hours per week and after fees and taxes, earn less than the minimum wage in my country. So yeah, I'm such a greedy evil person. And the guy who stole my work is an angel.

 

[slowburngames]

Subscribers pay to show their support for the good work of the developer in most cases, not to get "early access" to the game! Still they can have other rewards like having decisions that will affect the game.
If you have a good game it is normal that other people do not want to wait a whole month to play it, it is logical that they are looking forward to a leak! Perhaps the best solution would be to reduce that waiting time to one week for example.

And what kind of threats are those to "stop developing games"

Now guess what, the only one harmed if he stops making games would be the developer himself for stopping doing what he likes!
Hundreds of new games and new developers will continue to exist, we are in the technology century!! Threats are not the solution

I think you are right about subscribers IN MOST CASES. The trouble is my statistics show 20-30% of subscribers only subscribe when the new release is out suggesting ther ARE interested in the early access. It suggests that leaks can cost me 30% of my patronage. And since it's in the fisrt few days, it's the most valuable (high tier) patronage. That is a big chunk- imagine if someone took 30% of your wages every month just so they could be a "hero".
Why do you interpret my intentions as a "threat"? I'm just telling you I'm pissed, my business model doesn't work thanks to thieves, and I won't be doing it any more (I will finish this game as a courtesy to my Patrons). At least you know why.

 

[slowburngames]

I think waiting a week is more reasonable than a month for public release, most would happily wait a week for the public release and I don't think that would cheapen my Patreon support at all. I support others that do this, like Project Myriam, because I don't want to wait the week for the public release. But when some douche racket leaks it on release day, most will wait till the public release to download and jump on the leaker for their bad form. I support that.

Do you think that would make a difference?
If I changed my release model so that it became public after a week, would people on this site stop leaking it?
Well, ViperGTts151 ?

 

[egom]

Have you tried changing your business model up a bit? Maybe try something like the following and post it both here and on patron.
Just an example, but set release dates and see if it helps:

High tier June 3rd
Mid tier June 5th
Low tier June 7th
Free release June 10

If you are having issues, it wouldn't hurt to at least try it and see if it helps. I am just using phony dates, but this might be encourage patrons not to leak, plus freeloaders to wait a little less. Hoping no one leaks for 3 or 4 weeks is probably optimal for you, but not realistic during hard times for all.

 

[soldadohackero]

Do you think that would make a difference?
If I changed my release model so that it became public after a week, would people on this site stop leaking it?
Well, ViperGTts151 ?

It is not in my power that someone can filter it anyway. But I do think that it would be much better this way and most of the people in this forum would wait a few days with much more pleasure than having to wait almost a whole month.

 

[Sōsuke Aizen]

Can MC fuck his Mom in this version?

 

[DuckDairyDip]

I'll give a snippet. At the end of every month (pay day) 20-30% Patrons leave and then may rejoin to get the new release. I suspect this group is the most susceptible to pirated alternatives. Three months ago, the game leaked after three hours- in the first week only 4% joined/rejoined. By the end of the month it was 10%. Two months ago, the game didn't leak for 12 days. In those 12 days 17% had joined/rejoined. By the end of the month it was 33%. Last month the game leaked immediately- 2% joined/rejoined in the first two weeks. Looks like a correlation to me.
On top of that is the month on month growth- if the number of Patrons should be going up anyway due to new joiners, then the number of Patrons not rejoining (potentially because of the leak) is even worse.

Did you really think piracy doesn' t affect takeup?

Saying piracy doesn't affect it at all would be a foolish take. Piracy in itself isn't a 1:1 ratio of loss sales because some people will pirate regardless. Quick leaks like what happaned with v18.0 today I am sure do affect it due to ease of access to people who might have been willing to pay, granted I am sure some will still pay regardless. My focus is on the 17% and 25% figures mentioned plus actual proof to back it up to give solid evidence. I was hoping to get more in-depth info or graphs and such and it is hard to actually determine correlation from just a handful of events, but I will take your word at least that there is a good chunk of people who may not rejoin or join. Also, I do agree with others about changing it to not be public until 7-10 days instead of several weeks. Most other games I see people don't bother leaking since the sentiment is, "The game is coming in just a few days anyway." Nearly a whole month afterwards makes people impatient for better or worse. And I even see more vitriol towards people who do leak when the public release is only like a week after the early release.

 

[slowburngames]

Have you tried changing your business model up a bit? Maybe try something like the following and post it both here and on patron.
Just an example, but set release dates and see if it helps:

High tier June 3rd
Mid tier June 5th
Low tier June 7th
Free release June 10

If you are having issues, it wouldn't hurt to at least try it and see if it helps. I am just using phony dates, but this might be encourage patrons not to leak, plus freeloaders to wait a little less. Hoping no one leaks for 3 or 4 weeks is probably optimal for you, but not realistic during hard times for all.

I am willing to cooperate to solve the issue. But until the offenders (the leakers) comment then it's academic.

 

[Turret]

Do you think that would make a difference?
If I changed my release model so that it became public after a week, would people on this site stop leaking it?
Well, ViperGTts151 ?

While there is never a 100% surety, I can speak about what I see in various F95 threads. If your game is well-received there will always be some leaks, but the dynamic changes much if a public release comes after a month or a week.
Most times the people and fans will not bother to leak since the free release is just about a week away. Even if it is leaked, a majority will download it not quickly, but over the coming days as they have time and often keep a self-imposed shut out time. If the public release is a month away, you can be rest assured many will be tempted by a leaked release.
And there some other things playing a role. In the case of well-liked or (as in your case) needing the money dearly developers releasing the public about a week after patreon release, leakers are often treated with disdain and vitriol for not honouring the unwritten rules. (Exceptions proofing the norm)

I am the writer of the Misfits loyal Clara walkthrough, so it is quite obvious that I am interested in your game. I boycott Patreon, who I loath with a passion, so I cannot support you currently. I am a hobby writer myself and I cannot abide how Patreon treats and nudges the people bringing in the money for them