Money Talks, Passion Walks: How Crowdfunding is Hindering Adult Game Development

[Keloğlan]

IMPORTANT: Oh dude, let me tell you about crowdfunding and the adult game industry. As an experienced player and 3d/2d artist, I've seen it all, and let me tell you, crowdfunding is not the way to go if we want to improve this industry. Here's why:

1. Game developers start to think like paid workers - Listen, I get it, money talks. But when you're relying on crowdfunding to make your game, it's easy to fall into a trap of just doing the bare minimum. After all, why put in extra effort when the money is already flowing in? It's like getting paid for a job you haven't even started yet. We need developers who are passionate about their craft and willing to put in the hard work, not just those looking to make a quick buck.

2. Game developers are scared to create another project. Look, I get it. Making a game is hard work, like a said, I'm also 3d/2d artist. And when you put your heart and soul into a project, you want to make sure it's going to be worth your time. But with crowdfunding, there's no guarantee that your next project is going to be as popular as your last one. So, what do developers do? They just keep churning out the same old stuff over and over again. It's like a never-ending cycle of pixelated titties. This is also the main reason why devs not finish their games and extend like tv shows.

3. Game developers go into milking mode. Let's face it - the adult game industry is not a huge market. Sure, there's money to be made, but it's not like developers are rolling in dough. So, when they do strike it big with a successful crowdfunding campaign, they go into milking mode. They start to squeeze as much money as possible out of their fans. It's like they forget that the reason people supported them in the first place was because they made a good game, not because they wanted to throw money at them for every little fucking teaser renders.


I also want to add a few things, while keeping it nice and easy. First and foremost, I still suggest people to support their favourite developers, because crowdfunding is not pure evil. Nearly nobody using it right, especially most adult game developers like Onlyfans creator, just have a few ass renders and going to create page in Patreon. But still, this is also important.

My advice for who want to be adult game dev and try to come up with monetization plan, I will suggest to "sell" your game. You don't need to create 20 hours masterpiece, especially if it's your first game. You can start with 3-4 hours game, sell your game, create another game, sell it...

This way, it will be a lot better for both game developers and players. Game developers will be way more eager to create things faster, players will have "full" game without waiting years and playing same scenes again and again in every fuckin' update.

 

[DrTowel]

IMPORTANT: Oh dude, let me tell you about crowdfunding and the adult game industry. As an experienced player and 3d/2d artist, I've seen it all, and let me tell you, crowdfunding is not the way to go if we want to improve this industry. Here's why:

1. Game developers start to think like paid workers - Listen, I get it, money talks. But when you're relying on crowdfunding to make your game, it's easy to fall into a trap of just doing the bare minimum. After all, why put in extra effort when the money is already flowing in? It's like getting paid for a job you haven't even started yet. We need developers who are passionate about their craft and willing to put in the hard work, not just those looking to make a quick buck.

2. Game developers are scared to create another project. Look, I get it. Making a game is hard work, like a said, I'm also 3d/2d artist. And when you put your heart and soul into a project, you want to make sure it's going to be worth your time. But with crowdfunding, there's no guarantee that your next project is going to be as popular as your last one. So, what do developers do? They just keep churning out the same old stuff over and over again. It's like a never-ending cycle of pixelated titties. This is also the main reason why devs not finish their games and extend like tv shows.

3. Game developers go into milking mode. Let's face it - the adult game industry is not a huge market. Sure, there's money to be made, but it's not like developers are rolling in dough. So, when they do strike it big with a successful crowdfunding campaign, they go into milking mode. They start to squeeze as much money as possible out of their fans. It's like they forget that the reason people supported them in the first place was because they made a good game, not because they wanted to throw money at them for every little fucking teaser renders.


I also want to add a few things, while keeping it nice and easy. First and foremost, I still suggest people to support their favourite developers, because crowdfunding is not pure evil. Nearly nobody using it right, especially most adult game developers like Onlyfans creator, just have a few ass renders and going to create page in Patreon. But still, this is also important.

My advice for who want to be adult game dev and try to come up with monetization plan, I will suggest to "sell" your game. You don't need to create 20 hours masterpiece, especially if it's your first game. You can start with 3-4 hours game, sell your game, create another game, sell it...

This way, it will be a lot better for both game developers and players. Game developers will be way more eager to create things faster, players will have "full" game without waiting years and playing same scenes again and again in every fuckin' update.

Actually felt that, especially when a game developed based on patreon-incomes they gets abandoned 90%of the time.

 

[ChadChan3D]

You're right on the money.

When you produce art for survival, you'll make the art that pays your rent.

This shackles you to your lead projects and to the whims of the people who give you bread.

A point you didn't make is that it also limits your free speech: Never again will you be able to write a story about a kid fucking his mom so long as Patreon prohibits it.

You can "get around it" with "landladies," but at a compromise to your storytelling.

And do you want to make art of Lolis, Beasts, Rape or Guro? Fanbox and Patreon both will ban you outright.

Art that cannot be monetized might as well be taken out back with a bullet.


So what is the solution to these problems?

I do not know. How much do you value free expression over putting a roof over your son's head?

It's a choice each artist must make. And whatever we choose, there is a price to pay.

I have pondered this deeply for myself and I believe in a radical solution: Everything I make will be free.

Every comic, story, and VN I produce I will share freely on my website to anyone who wants to read it.

No constraints, no censorship, no creative limits. And no income.

I believe that I work to support my art, not the other way around. But I respect those who believe it to be the opposite.

My advice for who want to be adult game dev and try to come up with monetization plan, I will suggest to "sell" your game. You don't need to create 20 hours masterpiece, especially if it's your first game. You can start with 3-4 hours game, sell your game, create another game, sell it...

This way, it will be a lot better for both game developers and players. Game developers will be way more eager to create things faster, players will have "full" game without waiting years and playing same scenes again and again in every fuckin' update.

The issues you set forth are not solved by selling your game to the free market.

Every platform has its limits on obscenity, and when you create erotic art those limits become arbitrary (ex no incest but yes "landladies", no beasts but yes "vampires and ghosts").

How do you get published and paid when you create art outside of the confines of payment processors and online distributors?

You don't because it's impossible. Economic feasibility is a gatekeeper of art.

It's censorship by the almighty dollar. Hence my conclusion to make expression free and forego the system altogether.

With that said, I run a Patreon where my highest-tier is capped at $5. I offer no content on it besides the opportunity to help an artist directly. It is a hope, foolish as all hope is, that the sheer volume of people who believe in my ideals will free me financially to devote myself full-time to erotica.

But in the reality such a thing never happens, I will devote all spare time to the same pursuit.

 

[Gabaw]

All good points, but I can't find myself agreeing fully. The dough is how the bread is made, regardless of how well it's baked.

A huge studio can do something like pre-order sales on a nearly finished game and gauge buyer enthusiasm, predicting total sales for their stock investors. They get a boost up front and then the lion's share at release. If the game flops after 5 years in development, that's ok - They have Cookie Clicker Legends raking it in to make up for the losses. Try again next time. Maybe downsize or shut down the studio. There's always another department, another game in development, another corporate bailout, another preferential loan. Of note, even large developers fall into the rut of Madden/Fifa over and over again.

An individual creator, as you well know, has no such luxury. They need to support themselves with other income and in their spare time develop a game. That's tough. It's nice to know that your extra work is bringing in a proportional amount of cash to help pay the regular bills, and if it does really well, you can gauge how much of your time to devote to it (up to and including all).

You mentioned passion and hard work, which is always important, and I agree. I would add discipline as a critical component of that hard work. When the passion ebbs, discipline carries you through. But discipline is also tough and most people don't have it, not in the amount necessary for difficult tasks. You also mentioned shrinking the scope of a project, and that I do agree with as well. It's a good way to heed your suggestion to develop something small but creative, complete it, and then develop the next thing using what you learned.

I look at devs like

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

(who recently completed his first game, congratulations), and

You must be registered to see the links

. There's more for sure, but those are just examples. Oko completed 2 games (and one great demo) with relatively small scope, they were incredible, and then he moved on to the next chapter in his life, all the best to him. The Gobbosoft team had to abandon Monolighter because there was not enough financial interest in the game, although it is certainly a passion project and a fantastic one at that - They had more mouths to feed and couldn't take the hit. Dushniy likely has more coming down the pipe and I'm eager to see what's coming, but it was a taxing process and it may be a while. Mori's game is the definition of passion, provided completely free of charge from the beginning and she nearly completed it, but the burnout was too great and I can't blame her - All the best to her as well. (Nov 2023 update: Mori's back and as good as ever, check out APC!)

You must be registered to see the links

(Four Elements Trainer) and the

You must be registered to see the links

team (TiTs, CoC1/2) are some of the very few devs out there that have managed long, extended development cycles with consistent results and patronage. Of the two, pretty much only Fenoxo and co. managed to develop their games full time without any major pauses where nothing was there to show for it. Mity's pauses were long, but his game is large in scope for a single dev and it's complete now to just about everyone's satisfaction. For both of these devs, their creative work pays the bills, of that I'm almost certain at least.

At the end of the day, art is a want, not a need. You gotta sleep easy, eat well, and drink clean. If you can't do any of those things, art is the last thing on your mind. That being said, I live in a relatively free (for now) first-world country, I work a blue collar manual job, I fix some of my own shit, and I do some art here and there for myself if I feel like it. Success at the push of a button is a dream for many, and those who can get it want to hold on to it. I feel for those in poorer countries that don't have the same opportunities. Pixel titties may just be their ticket out of the waste rubber burn pits. Anyway, just my 2 copper/zinc plates on the issue. I agree with you for the most part, but I also see why things are the way they are at the moment.

 

[Asia Argento]

All good points, but I can't find myself agreeing fully. The dough is how the bread is made, regardless of how well it's baked.

A huge studio can do something like pre-order sales on a nearly finished game and gauge buyer enthusiasm, predicting total sales for their stock investors. They get a boost up front and then the lion's share at release. If the game flops after 5 years in development, that's ok - They have Cookie Clicker Legends raking it in to make up for the losses. Try again next time. Maybe downsize or shut down the studio. There's always another department, another game in development, another corporate bailout, another preferential loan. Of note, even large developers fall into the rut of Madden/Fifa over and over again.

An individual creator, as you well know, has no such luxury. They need to support themselves with other income and in their spare time develop a game. That's tough. It's nice to know that your extra work is bringing in a proportional amount of cash to help pay the regular bills, and if it does really well, you can gauge how much of your time to devote to it (up to and including all).

You mentioned passion and hard work, which is always important, and I agree. I would add discipline as a critical component of that hard work. When the passion ebbs, discipline carries you through. But discipline is also tough and most people don't have it, not in the amount necessary for difficult tasks. You also mentioned shrinking the scope of a project, and that I do agree with as well. It's a good way to heed your suggestion to develop something small but creative, complete it, and then develop the next thing using what you learned.

I look at devs like

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

(who recently completed his first game, congratulations), and

You must be registered to see the links

. There's more for sure, but those are just examples. Oko completed 2 games (and one great demo) with relatively small scope, they were incredible, and then he moved on to the next chapter in his life, all the best to him. The Gobbosoft team had to abandon Monolighter because there was not enough financial interest in the game, although it is certainly a passion project and a fantastic one at that - They had more mouths to feed and couldn't take the hit. Dushniy likely has more coming down the pipe and I'm eager to see what's coming, but it was a taxing process and it may be a while. Mori's game is the definition of passion, provided completely free of charge from the beginning and she nearly completed it, but the burnout was too great and I can't blame her - All the best to her as well.

You must be registered to see the links

(Four Elements Trainer) and the

You must be registered to see the links

team (TiTs, CoC1/2) are some of the very few devs out there that have managed long, extended development cycles with consistent results and patronage. Of the two, pretty much only Fenoxo and co. managed to develop their games full time without any major pauses where nothing was there to show for it. Mity's pauses were long, but his game is large in scope for a single dev and it's complete now to just about everyone's satisfaction. For both of these devs, their creative work pays the bills, of that I'm almost certain at least.

At the end of the day, art is a want, not a need. You gotta sleep easy, eat well, and drink clean. If you can't do any of those things, art is the last thing on your mind. That being said, I live in a relatively free (for now) first-world country, I work a blue collar manual job, I fix some of my own shit, and I do some art here and there for myself if I feel like it. Success at the push of a button is a dream for many, and those who can get it want to hold on to it. I feel for those in poorer countries that don't have the same opportunities. Pixel titties may just be their ticket out of the waste rubber burn pits. Anyway, just my 2 copper/zinc plates on the issue. I agree with you for the most part, but I also see why things are the way they are at the moment.

As a new dev of my own game that made 8 dollars this week, with zero money to apply to my project: This.

Not OP and his concern trolling.

Thank you for your understanding and have a wonderful day.

 

[Keloğlan]

As a new dev of my own game that made 8 dollars this week, with zero money to apply to my project: This.

Not OP and his concern trolling.

Thank you for your understanding and have a wonderful day.

You can find the real reason why you are making 8 bucks per week if you look at your "game".
Calling everything troll what you don't like is not make them troll.

 

[anne O'nymous]

It's like getting paid for a job you haven't even started yet.

It's not like it, it's precisely it.
Crowdfunding is raising all the funds needed for your project before you starts it, and starting it only if you've raise what you see as being the minimal amount needed to cover the costs.

Perhaps that, before writing a wall of text explaining how bad crowdfunding is for the adult gaming scene, you should have spent few minutes confirming that it's effectively crowdfunding you want to talk about, and not in fact patronage.
For someone who claim to be experienced and to have seen it all, it's not really serious.

We need developers who are passionate about their craft and willing to put in the hard work, not just those looking to make a quick buck.

Well, since more than 80% of the adult game creators earn less than US$ 1,000/month, and for ~50% of them it's at most US$ 200/month, someone who want to make quick buck don't stay long on the market. So, you don't have to worry, we already have passionate creators. It's just that creation need times, and since you are a creator yourself, you should know it.

It's like they forget that the reason people supported them in the first place was because they made a good game, not because they wanted to throw money at them for every little fucking teaser renders.

Ah, finally, here come the mandatory, "I'll tell you what you've to do with your money" part.

Creators can't milk if there isn't people who continue to pledge. When you look at

You must be registered to see the links

, what to say ? Like all other creators he loose supports at the start of the month, and like all other creators, he gain back support during the month. Like he's clearly milking he only get back 80% of what he lost, but it's still hundreds persons who willingly decide to continue to pledge, or to starts to pledge.
Could it be that you are missing something, and could it be that it's the reason why those persons pledge ?

Unlike crowdfunding, where people expect to see something being done with their money, patronage is a counterpart free exchange. People give you few bucks because, to their eyes, you deserve them in regard of what you did in the past and what you'll perhaps, or not, do in the future. And they'll continue to pledge as long as they'll continue to think that you deserve it.
Is it a problem, probably partly for the few creators that really earn a lot, but just partly. The thing is that creating a game is not comparable to the creation of 2D/3D illustration. Not in the amount of works needed, but because of the mandatory constancy.
An illustrator can draw elves for few times then, when he face a lack of inspiration with elves, starts to his "dwarf period". Near to no one will care about this. And when he's stuck face to an illustration, he can put it aside and works on another one, the time to found back some inspiration for this one. But a game creator can't do this. When he face a low inspiration time, he can't change the story of his game, he have to deal with it. When he's stuck face to a scene, he can't put it aside and come back to it one year later ; he have to finish it for the release it have to be.

This way, it will be a lot better for both game developers and players. Game developers will be way more eager to create things faster, players will have "full" game without waiting years and playing same scenes again and again in every fuckin' update.

Once again, creating a game isn't the same than creating an illustration. Even a simplist 3-5 hours game will need at least 2-3 months of works to be done. Months during which you'll have no feedback from the public, and will have to maintain your motivation while not knowing if you're doing it good or not. What mean that, in the end, creators would create nothing.
As for the second point, I'm almost sure that it's not the fault of patronage if you only play games that don't have a save system.

 

[anne O'nymous]

You can find the real reason why you are making 8 bucks per week if you look at your "game".
Calling everything troll what you don't like is not make them troll.

View attachment 2495272

Did your parents know that you are on a site where you don't have the right to be before at least ten more years ?

 

[MissFortune]

If you're going to preach something as gospel, that your advice should be listened to, then at least post evidence that the logic you're presenting works. Because the only thing you're showing right now is that you're a John Doe with a bait-y post and an avatar from a Turkish kid's show. You have two posts and no game/vn/etc. to your name. How is anyone who can't practice what they preach to be taken seriously? Put a game out with your idea of 'the right way' and then come back. We'll see what tune you're singing then.

But until then, you're just taking the acts of a few developers and applying them to all with one giant blanket, and entirely discrediting those who put a ton of work in their projects but rarely ever see anything above a $100. Are they not passionate because it's not popular? Are developers who are making money not passionate about their work because their raking it in? See how broken that logic is on a fundamental level?

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

2 is a fair point and I've come to the same conclusion, though I'm sure there are ways of gauging patron interest in a new project before committing to it. 3 requires a bunch gullible/permissive patrons. 1 has the caveat that less output = fewer patrons. A dev that puts out a decent amount of content regularly is going to have more patrons on average than a "When It's Done™" type dev.

 

[DuniX]

To me developers using something like Patreon is not the problem.

It is the standard of this industry from which it is based on and it wouldn't have existed without it.
It's just something we have to accept as the way things are.

The real problem is that of Professionalism, once you are presented with a substantial amount of money you have a Responsibility for that money, they are your stakeholders.
You can't just do whatever with the excuse that you are an amateur or a hobby, you need to get your act together.
Some developers have that Professionalism which I have much respect for them even if I might not like their games.
Some are Professionals even if they haven't made that much money because they treat their projects as Professionals with the expectation that that Quality will pay off in the future.

Have a Plan, have a Roadmap with proper Milestones and Deadlines you need to reach.
And sometimes you need to make some painful decisions, sometimes you need to Cut things and Rework things even if that is painful for the developer and the supporters, that's what being a Professional means. You can't continue to do things haphazardly.
Do you really need the hundreds of renders each update? In what number of years is your project going to be complete? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?

I will suggest to "sell" your game. You don't need to create 20 hours masterpiece, especially if it's your first game. You can start with 3-4 hours game, sell your game, create another game, sell it...

A point you didn't make is that it also limits your free speech: Never again will you be able to write a story about a kid fucking his mom so long as Patreon prohibits it.

The problem with that is where you sell can be just as restrictive. Steam has its own issues with Sexual Content.
And for things based on Honey Select or Koikatsu you don't even have a choice since that won't fly on a store like Steam.
The "Legal Gray Area" on Patreon that enables those games are just a convenient fantasy that everyone plays ball with.

Is it a problem, probably partly for the few creators that really earn a lot, but just partly. The thing is that creating a game is not comparable to the creation of 2D/3D illustration. Not in the amount of works needed, but because of the mandatory constancy.
An illustrator can draw elves for few times then, when he face a lack of inspiration with elves, starts to his "dwarf period". Near to no one will care about this. And when he's stuck face to an illustration, he can put it aside and works on another one, the time to found back some inspiration for this one. But a game creator can't do this. When he face a low inspiration time, he can't change the story of his game, he have to deal with it. When he's stuck face to a scene, he can't put it aside and come back to it one year later ; he have to finish it for the release it have to be.

Compared to the Japanese Games you see on DLsite they really are talentless hacks.
And they actually draw their fucking art they need instead of cheat.

A reasonably scoped project is not an impossibility. Daz and Illusion should make things easier not harder.

 

[Asia Argento]

You can find the real reason why you are making 8 bucks per week if you look at your "game".
Calling everything troll what you don't like is not make them troll.

I just released it and am already seeing positives with zero budget to make this. lol I am unknown name and am learning doing what you are saying OPENLY rather than as an anon. Your comment seems envious and you are indeed concern trolling tbh, so have a good day.

If you're going to preach something as gospel, that your advice should be listened to, then at least post evidence that the logic you're presenting works. Because the only thing you're showing right now is that you're a John Doe with a bait-y post and an avatar from a Turkish kid's show. You have two posts and no game/vn/etc. to your name. How is anyone who can't practice what they preach to be taken seriously? Put a game out with your idea of 'the right way' and then come back. We'll see what tune you're singing then.

But until then, you're just taking the acts of a few developers and applying them to all with one giant blanket, and entirely discrediting those who put a ton of work in their projects but rarely ever see anything above a $100. Are they not passionate because it's not popular? Are developers who are making money not passionate about their work because their raking it in? See how broken that logic is on a fundamental level?

Spit them facts, MissFortune.

 

[ayy]

Perhaps that, before writing a wall of text explaining how bad crowdfunding is for the adult gaming scene, you should have spent few minutes confirming that it's effectively crowdfunding you want to talk about, and not in fact patronage.

I think this distinction is very important to draw, thank you for making this point. As frustrated as I get with devs "milking patrons" for their content, Patreon's entire model revolves around patrons sponsoring creators period. Creators are making games, but the purpose of their page isn't to raise funds for the games specifically, but moreso for themselves. This wasn't something that clicked for me until I saw your point.

As frustrating as it can be, I feel like any system revolving around forcing creators to be accountable to their patrons would hurt the bottom line of sites like Patreon, which I presume take a cut from the income rolling in. I've always wondered if implementing an accountability system (like patron funds being gated to the month dev puts out a release) would improve output, but at the end of the day the system operates on capitalism rules so people will throw their money where they want to, and Patreon would hurt their own business by doing so.

 

[Cosy Creator]

I've always wondered if implementing an accountability system (like patron funds being gated to the month dev puts out a release) would improve output

This would just further incentivise frequent micro updates over larger more content rich updates, the actual amount of output wouldn't change, just the size of the packages that it's split into. This is already a thing to some extent with the way F95zone and Itch promote games with each update, meaning small frequently updated games spend more of their time being pushed by the platforms. So I don't know if this would neccessarily be a bad thing, but I doubt it would achieve anything positive either.

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

not just those looking to make a quick buck.

We don't need those at all, is what you mean here i'm guessing lol. And it's true.

==========================

Basically instead of trying to hit gold, developers should aim to create a positive reputation around their name.
By keeping promises, giving people what they want, completing quality games, etc.
Once your name is well-known and is surrounded by a positive reputation, that is when the money will flow like wine.

It's like becoming one of those famous brand-names like Sony or nVidia or Intel, people will know right away that this name will not disappoint them and thus will not be afraid to support it.

On the other hand, if you keep throwing dirt at your own name by employing shifty and shady practices like milking, game abandoning, etc then nobody will trust you for even a second. Forget about support in this case.

Trust is hard to win, but it will be worth it.

 

[ayy]

This would just further incentivise frequent micro updates over larger more content rich updates, the actual amount of output wouldn't change, just the size of the packages that it's split into. This is already a thing to some extent with the way F95zone and Itch promote games with each update, meaning small frequently updated games spend more of their time being pushed by the platforms. So I don't know if this would neccessarily be a bad thing, but I doubt it would achieve anything positive either.

Yeah theres absolutely an incentive to trickle feed content at that point, which would defeat the purpose of the system. Which is why I don't think solely an update should suffice for the release of funds. Just casually brainstorming, but maybe a quorum system where patrons at and beyond a specific tier could vote to release funds would be more feasible, but even that has its own points of failure. Not to mention disincentivizing creators from using a platform like that.

 

[morphnet]

IMPORTANT: Oh dude, let me tell you about crowdfunding and the adult game industry. As an experienced player and 3d/2d artist, I've seen it all, and let me tell you, crowdfunding is not the way to go if we want to improve this industry. Here's why:

Well, no, you haven't seen it all. Starting off a thread that, off the bat calls your experience into question with an obviously flawed statement is really not the way to go.

1. Game developers start to think like paid workers - Listen, I get it, money talks. But when you're relying on crowdfunding to make your game, it's easy to fall into a trap of just doing the bare minimum. After all, why put in extra effort when the money is already flowing in? It's like getting paid for a job you haven't even started yet. We need developers who are passionate about their craft and willing to put in the hard work, not just those looking to make a quick buck.

As others have pointed out here, your lack of age is clearly shining through here. "Falling into the trap of doing just the bare minimum" is found in almost every job out there and for wide range of reasons, from having a terrible boss to being passed over for promotion too many times or unfairly. Yet many people who have money flowing in before their business starts work just as hard if not harder to repay those that believed in them. It all boils down to the person in question.

A person who is "passionate about their craft" will work hard with or without money coming in, having money come in just makes it easier to follow that passion. If someone starts to slack off after money comes in or quits if no money comes in, then they were not really passionate about their craft to start with. Again it all boils down to the person in question.

2. Game developers are scared to create another project. Look, I get it. Making a game is hard work, like a said, I'm also 3d/2d artist. And when you put your heart and soul into a project, you want to make sure it's going to be worth your time. But with crowdfunding, there's no guarantee that your next project is going to be as popular as your last one. So, what do developers do? They just keep churning out the same old stuff over and over again. It's like a never-ending cycle of pixelated titties. This is also the main reason why devs not finish their games and extend like tv shows.

First I suggest you stop making sweeping statements, "some" game developers, "a few" game developers, even "many" game developers (although you have not posted any proof of amounts here).

You are suggesting that all creators feel the same way and measure the success of their projects using a monetary value. IF you really had "seen it all" you would know their are some creators out there that measure their success using positive feedback, some that measure if from seeing others make clones or fan art and still others from seeing small dedicated communities spring up from their projects. These and many more things are used by some creators to "measure the worth" of their time.

"there's no guarantee that your next project is going to be as popular as your last one." well there is no guarantee that the first project will be popular, there is also no guarantee that the second project won't be really popular because you learned a lot from making your first "unpopular" project. I highly doubt that fear is what is stopping the "passionate" developers from finishing off their project and starting a new one and I highly doubt that fear suddenly changes their personality and make them go from a passionate developer into a developer that wants to get as much money out of people as possible.

You views on people seems to be very narrow and lacking in experience. Also that is not in any way how tv shows work.

3. Game developers go into milking mode. Let's face it - the adult game industry is not a huge market. Sure, there's money to be made, but it's not like developers are rolling in dough. So, when they do strike it big with a successful crowdfunding campaign, they go into milking mode. They start to squeeze as much money as possible out of their fans. It's like they forget that the reason people supported them in the first place was because they made a good game, not because they wanted to throw money at them for every little fucking teaser renders.

As AON said you need to be able to make the distinction between crowdfunding and patronage and you are clearly mixing and matching here.

"It's like they forget that the reason people supported them in the first place was because they made a good game" That is not the reason people are supporting them. They have NOT made a good game yet, they have made a good start, a nice intro, a promising demo, a good first few chapters.... The whole point of being a patreon is in the HOPES that they WILL make a good game.

My advice for who want to be adult game dev and try to come up with monetization plan, I will suggest to "sell" your game. You don't need to create 20 hours masterpiece, especially if it's your first game. You can start with 3-4 hours game, sell your game, create another game, sell it...

That is very poor advice, your "just sell a complete game" theory lacks any understanding of how sales work. Ignoring the MANY other downsides (as they would take waaay to long to list here) and just focusing on advertising alone, the restrictions on getting the word out on a "finishing game" are very limiting and more so to a first time dev. Where other game genres have the ability to advertise almost anywhere including indie developers, the indie porn game dev with no money has very little support. Using patreon not only secures financing but also works as an advertising platform as it's free to start, allows the dev time to build a reputation throughout their updates and gives the game they are working on more exposure.

Even on sites like this pateon devs get advertising when members here listed the patreons they are supporting under their usernames. No matter how you look at it advertising is a huge part of sales and by telling new, inexperienced porn game devs to sell only "finished games" you are in effect hurting their chances of success.

If you are going to give advice about development and sales maybe you should brush up on those subjects and not give advice that come more from a maybe?? selfish desire to not wait for updates?? which seems to be the very misguided real purpose of this thread.

This way, it will be a lot better for both game developers and players. Game developers will be way more eager to create things faster, players will have "full" game without waiting years and playing same scenes again and again in every fuckin' update.

No it would not be better for either as both would loose out due to many players never having heard of a "finished game" that now sits on page 312 on steam and devs not making sales because once again their game is sitting on page 312 on steam.
As for developers being "more eager" to create things faster... eager has never, does not and I don't think will ever have an effect on how fast pc's render images... On the other hand, having enough money to upgrade your pc will have a big effect on how fast images render.

"players will have "full" game without waiting years and playing same scenes again and again in every fuckin' update." Players have been waiting years for games for what feels like forever, bannerlord was announced in 2012 and only released last year, still no new elder scrolls etc. etc. this is not a good reason to give bad advice.

As for not playing the same scenes, some game devs are adding "jump to" latest update features to their games others are releasing them in separate chapters and if all else fails almost all of them have a save function...and yes I know you're going to say some updates break save games but luckily for you there are a lot of people asking for saves in threads and all you need to do is download a save posted.

From your OP it is clear there are holes in your "seen it all" understanding of business, game development and sales and it really does seem like the real purpose of this thread is your frustration at having to wait for game updates. If it really is a problem for you try the "seeking" and "req" tags, you can find a lot of new games to pass the time that way rather than giving out bad advice.

 

[Deleted member 440241]

The problem with passion projects is that they're dreams. Devs go into a field they know nothing about with big ideas they can't possibly match. Then, just as they're starting to get somewhere with their creation, they learn that creating something is hard work. It comes with material costs they never anticipated, requires massive time investments, and has long tedious hours of making small changes to fix the mistakes rookies often make. Novel mechanics need research and coding to build and writer's block can strike at any moment. What started as a fun hobby has become the same tiring labor as their regular day job.

Before patreon and crowdfunding sites devs would simply walk away from projects once they became too much work. Nobody wants to replace their free time with a second job that doesn't even pay. Patronizing at least provides an incentive to continue working because most people don't want to disappoint fans that loved their work enough to pay for it. Tempering passion with a slightly more mercenary mentality is more likely to lead to completed projects, not less. With the added bonus of letting some people live off their passion projects instead of doing some soul crushing menial job to pay for it.

 

[Winterfire]

Threads like these make me wonder if history is still taught in school

 

[anne O'nymous]

Threads like these make me wonder if history is still taught in school

I'm not sure that it's the problem.

I mean, you can dedicate as much time as you want to teach a monkey how to build a shelter, if he don't care, he'll never learn.