Bro, this isn’t about greed. I earned over $200 this month, but just hiring a writer cost $400… and that’s not even counting the programmer’s fees. I’ve been working full-time on this project for over half a year. My personal expenses aside, the cost for the script and programming alone is already several thousand dollars, while the total income from the game so far is just a few hundred. Without implementing some paid measures, it’s very hard for me to continue producing the game. And honestly, the free content doesn’t affect understanding the story at all.
I’m not complaining about being poor—I’m just a creator asking for reasonable support. Those who are willing to pay help me continue making the game and improving it. If no one chooses to support, that’s okay too—I’ll understand and find other work to sustain myself. If you like the game but don’t want to pay, that’s fine as well—you can wait for a pirated version (I know that’s hard to avoid), and leaving comments saying the game is good still gives me motivation to keep going.
I hope you can understand.
Okay, you're honest, so I will be too.
Creating a porn game shouldn't be your main source of income, at least not initially. If the game becomes popular, maybe then it will be your job, like Dark Cookie and other big developers.
But a game won't become popular if you start with paywalls and Patreon codes. Summer Saga, 4Elements Trainer, and other super popular and money-making games are COMPLETELY free. And thanks to that, they've grown into a large community that supports the creators. You can't create such a community if you start with initiatives like Patreon codes.
You say it's expensive to hire a story writer. Well, don't do that. Write the dialogue yourself. It might be tedious, but that's how it is at the beginning. Dark Cookie also wrote everything himself until the game took off. And the dialogues were horrible, but this is a porn game, and dialogue isn't a priority.
In other words, you're starting from the wrong end. Just like those developers who have an idea, launch a Kickstarter, raise a few million, and then think about how to start making a game, only to suddenly realize they can't, and the Kickstarter turns out to be a scam. For a Kickstarter to be effective, you have to make 80% of the game and then ask for support once you actually have something.
Porn games are a bit different. You can also release the game after a lot of work is done and ask for support, but many developers take a different path, making a game in their spare time out of passion. And they slowly develop it. If they work hard and the game looks good, a community will slowly form, and maybe the creator will be able to work on it full-time.
You, my friend, started off super seriously right away. The problem is that you don't have a community, but you already need a lot of support, so you think you have to resort to anti-community, capitalist tactics aimed at whales who have more money than they need so they can spend it on nonsense like porn games. The problem is that I doubt many whales will show up in your game this early in its development journey.
I've been following the development of porn games for years, since the very beginning of this phenomenon. And believe me, you can earn a lot, but it takes perseverance and building a community, which can be even more important than the game itself at the beginning. People have to like you, and paywalls won't win you friends. They'll make a few people pay, but the rest will get angry and follow another project. So even if you notice a slight increase in rewards at the beginning, you'll ultimately lose out.
There are several types of situations with porn games:
1. A completely free game, a passionate developer, frequent good updates. The community grows quickly, they like the game and the developer, and supporters appear. Lots of money, a cool job. Happy ending.
2. Scams. Games that are prepared as demos encouraging donations and then abandoned. But some idiots pay, and the scammer developer makes a few hundred dollars.
3. As in 1, but lacking passion and drive, the game is abandoned because there's neither a community nor updates. So, no money either.
4 Projects like yours. Where there's a paywall, there are a few payers, and the developer gets paid, but the game never grows and either dies when the developer realizes it's not enough and goes nowhere. Or the developer makes the game for several years for little money because they have no other choice. Nobody is happy. (As a bonus, some people seeing this type of game may think it is a scam, type 2. So they will not want to support it even more.)
Why is that? Because you need to know one important thing. People don't like paying for porn. Wait a minute... So where do these huge porn game Patreons come from? Oh, right. Let's go see what games they are. Yes... They're free. People don't want to pay for porn, but they like to support their favorite creators.
I understand you want to make money. Everyone needs money. But I think you started off on the wrong foot. You have the motivation, the skills, your game looks great. The beginning was really good. And then suddenly there's this situation, a paywall, and everything can go to hell.
Believe me, I've played ALL the naturo games from this and other sites. I've seen many projects that started well and then died. I wish you success. So I'm trying to give you some good advice. Remove the paywall. Cut costs, make the game in your free time, take it easy, and start by yourself. If you get supporters, consider hiring help. Build a community, earn people's goodwill. You could be the next big developer. This could be a game on par with 4Elements Trainer. I see quality, it just needs patience and dedication.
Believe me, I wouldn't write such a long post if I didn't wish you well. Because I like Naruto and I want there to be a great game set in this universe. You want positive reviews, right? You want people to say, "Wow, great game, I can't wait for the next update." You don't want people to say, "Paywalled, scam, all the scenes from the new update are blocked behind a paywall, don't support this developer."
Think about it, my friend. You have the skills and motivation, this could be your career. But don't start out like EA Games, Nintendo, or Ubisoft. Start out like Valve or Larian Studio. People will like you, they will support you.
But if you need to make money now because you really need the money, and you've decided that either people will pay or I'll abandon the project. Then in my opinion, abandon it immediately because it won't work.
Edit:
Oh, I almost forgot. There's actually another solution. Something in between option 1 and option 4: a timewall instead of a paywall. The game is completely free with all scenes, outfits, etc. But Patrons get updates faster, or they're one update above the currently available free version. Or the scenes from the Patreon version are only temporarily locked, and in the next update they become free—base scenes, while some new scenes become temporarily locked and available only to supporters. This is fair, and may be a good compromise for you.