TropecitaGames you might want to consider shortening the time between tier releases and (public releases also), its good for bugs, you get more feedback, you you might also triggers more donation from people that don't want to commit but want to contribute. Most popular games from what I see hours after the release they are already here.
(haven patrons access your newest code might also be an advantage to making it better, allowing mods etc.)
I myself don't program games, and am not much of a writer, I don't know much about python and renpy. ( just the occasional Mod/Cheat )
But I do develop software on a daily basis. So I have a bias opinion about sharing code (results) as soon and as open as possible.
Hi,
masterdc1976. Thanks for your advice.
I'm new to developing games and still have a lot to learn, but I don't like to look at what other developers are doing at any level (be it marketing or gameplay level). I'm not omniscient and it's quite possible that I'm wrong.
I think exclusivity for 15 days (or more) for Patrons is almost a standard in subscription games, and I think it's a good idea, since it promotes a subscribed player base and another floating player base that, as you say, doesn't want to commit but wants to collaborate. If the difference between Tiers does not give exclusivity for a while, there are not many more incentives I can offer.
My figures are public on all platforms where I market My Dorm, so I don't mind giving them on the forum:
* Every month there are 40-50,000 downloads, adding up the platforms I can control, since 0.4.1 (growing every month). It's much more than what I expected.
* There are 141 players who are subscribed monthly adding Patreon and SubscribeStar + 20-30 monthly donations on itch
* A floating base of 20-30 players who subscribe on Patreon for a few minutes with the Tier that has access to the latest update, downloads it, and then unsubscribes. These are the players you indicate who don't want to commit but want to contribute (or who are eager to play the last update). With that single payment, once Patreon has changed the subscription mode, they have access to all the updates to which their Tier has access for 30 days (the subscribers don't pay for natural months anymore with the new policy, instead they pay for access from Xth this month to Xth next month), so it is a one-time payment but it gives rights that extend over time.
It may not seem like much, but for a game that hasn't even been out for 6 months since the first release, I'm more than satisfied.
Luckily I have a good team of beta testers who catch
almost all bugs before release (only two bugs have been found in the last 5 updates once released), although more reports and feedback are always welcome. Now I just need to have an equally good proofreading team
My Dorm is not a game that is going to be too mod friendly, except for adding a gallery (which I plan to do in the future) and putting a cheat mode to change relationships/decisions (which I also plan to do), I don't see much that mods can do to improve the user experience. If I find a mod, such as
RiamMar's, that improves the game, I have no problem integrating it into the game, always with the creator's permission. As I say, I'm new to this and maybe I'm being naive.
I have coded for years in the past, and I agree with you that sharing code improves it, but as I was telling you above, I have to balance the Patrons' benefits with what I would like to do to improve that code.
