Ren'Py Space Journey X [v1.30.15e] [y.v.]

[EmperorGus]

Giving my 5 cents to the discussion:

• usually you go for mass market with low prices and niche markets with premium
• imho that "normal" approach isn't particularly valid when there are 'expected/accepted/established' price brackets / tiers
• even if we assume there is an "unserved" niche with low competition, the entry barriers are almost zero, so as soon as this becomes evident competition evens out
• From the Princes vs. SJX comparison, I can assume that the little less mainstreamy Princess game had limited appeal due to its Goblin mc choice
• some part of the latter's lower appeal might also have been attributed to design flaws as my first game (suboptimal user guidance, no proper galleries, low rez, few anis,...) so its a bit hard to say
• I do almost no marketing for the game except engaging on F95 and itch, so there might be some potential there as well (if we take the "10-20% earnings share shoud go into marketing" rule of thumb in this domain)

I set myself the goal to be in the top 100 (adult) games on patreon (just to have a goal) and am still a way off; around 300ish on earnings metric (guess, since graphtreon clashed with patreons new user reportin I can't really track until graphtreon updates stats). That is merely for self motivation though.

Long story short: With SJX I tried to find something which I wanted to play myself and which has a certain mass appeal and which poses a challenge to what I have to do/learn/finish...
(And I wanted a MC who can say 'Make it so!')

So from that POV all suggestions are welcome and provide an interesting perspective.



P.S. And all my loot crates in the game are free

I kinda hate to admit this, but...
A good indicator that you're in for an 'uphill fight' is the fact that I'm paying attention to your game.
Because, I tend to be more drawn to stuff with actual game play. But if you look at the top page of 'most viewed', it's significantly tilted to VNs or sandboxed VNs (with some very light management).

Interestingly... the first 2 on the list that I'd say have actual gameplay are Karryn's (F Protag) and Androgyny (Trap/Futa protag). So... I'm wondering how important is the MC in projects that draw the more gameplay oriented crowd?
(Note: I never tried Avatar... Loli = 'Oh hell no!")

So... (and I really hate saying this)... if your wallet is your primary concern, ditch the 'game with some porn' model and go straight to 'quick fap porn VN'.

If the personal challenge of making a decent game is your first concern.... well... It's a niche market (regardless of the MC options)

PS.
It might be a little helpful if the tags that gamers (like me?) look for were added to this thread.
Management, Strategy, and Turn Based Combat all apply here. Wouldn't hurt to petition a mod to add them.

 

[MarsUltor]

I'm seeing alot of %s and 'most peoples'...
What are your sources, please?

As for "$$$ support for the game"...
Yes, 'male protag / vanilla' is the largest portion of the market.
But it also means that's where the most competition is. Making it considerably harder to get noticed.
Yes, the reward is higher (if you get noticed), it's also the highest risk (because it's that much harder to get noticed).
Put another way: Low chance of a big payday, high chance of little pay.

But if you're fishing in a smaller pond, like female protag...
Less potential for high income (because it's a smaller market). But, because there's also less competition, it's easier to get noticed and grab a moderate income.

And, since I just chastised you for making stuff up, let me point to something that at least resembles a source:
Currently 15654 games on this site.
The average views of the top 5 (skipping AWaM, since it's F Protag) is 41m
Filter for Female Protag: 4901 on this site, roughly 31%
The average views of the top 5 (skipping BaD, because F Protag is just in the interlude) is 27.1m or roughly 66%
So... with a F Protag game, you've got about 69% less competition, for only a 33% loss of potential views.
It all comes down to the risk v reward the dev is comfortable with.

FWIW, 62.7% of cited statistics are made up on the spot . . .

 

[Arheme]

I'm waiting patiently.

 

[yv0751]

I'm waiting patiently.

13:00 GMT today (still am caught up in the 1.1 BETA packaging...)

 

[yv0751]

Heads Up:

V1.00b Public just went live.



Main New Features

• Main Quest: The Xenos Library (Voron Space)
• New Voron Cannon, Launcher, Torpedoes, ... for your ship
• Player Base on Tenaris (Multiverse Warehouse, Trophy Room, ...)
• NSFW: Kythera the Librarian
• NSFW: Sex with T'Ris
• NSFW: Seraphine
• NSFW: Khelara
• NSFW: Nimhe Pony Walk
• Spanking Minigame: T'Ris, Nimhe, Khelara
• Ship Deck 3 with Mess Room and Replicator
• Many GUI & QoL changes
• Bot Balancing
• New Precursor Levels
• New Enemies: Voron Zealots
• Swarm Mining Spot (unique items)
• ...

Enjoy (and do be too hard on the spanking game, that's first version, will be expanded and streamlined in V1.10+)

 

[Arheme]

Thank you very much for the update. Love you.

 

[RewindWorld]

So... I'm wondering how important is the MC in projects that draw the more gameplay oriented crowd?

Very important, to me at least. I stopped playing some games because of mc and never bothered trying others.

 

[qwertyuiop990!]

Are saves ever likely to carry over to new version?
I stopped playing around 0.7 as I hate saves not working .

 

[hentai90]

how to get second AI core for mining?
without i can not fly...
needs a second core

 

[Weeb Supreme]

Is there a way to cheat favour points?
I didn't mind getting them before cause they racked up as I played
But since saves don't carry they reset and I lost like 90FP

 

[latrop16]

The thread is still missing the "animated" tag.

 

[yv0751]

The thread is still missing the "animated" tag.

Thanks for the hint, updated

 

[MissingNo20]

Missing tags? I'm sure it was hinted that the found bot had an "influence" on the crew.

 

[Avada95]

Thank you

 

[Wanquer]

Dev, regarding your comments on earnings:

IMO what is a big drawback to your game being (financially) successful is the save game incompatibility.

I suspect a lot of players/payers are in the same dilemma as I am:
- On the one hand I enjoyed playing the version up to now enough that I'd happily consider financially supporting the game.
- On the other hand I really, really dislike having to "restart" from a certain point with every update, playing with stuff i did not earn/build myself. it takes away a great deal of player satisfaction. This is what makes me NOT want to pay until it is finished and I can play the whole game my way without losing/restarting progress.

So there's the dilemma. Pay now for an unsatisfactory experience, or wait to pay for a finished product but run the risk of the product never finishing because not enough people want to pay for the way the updates are implemented now... it's a gamble...

If there was an option to fund while getting a 100% refund in case the game is not completed, I'd happily dump cash on it, but for now it simply is too much of a crapshoot.
I fully understand you are limited by technical imitations, but these limitations are imo severely limiting the earning potential.

 

[Saber1995]

tbh idk why but this game reminds me of orange trainer

 

[THORUS]

ok lets see. i have a writen exam, that needs to be done by sunday. Hopefully nothing happens that makes me focus on somthing ells then my studies...

 

[EmperorGus]

Dev, regarding your comments on earnings:

IMO what is a big drawback to your game being (financially) successful is the save game incompatibility.

I suspect a lot of players/payers are in the same dilemma as I am:
- On the one hand I enjoyed playing the version up to now enough that I'd happily consider financially supporting the game.
- On the other hand I really, really dislike having to "restart" from a certain point with every update, playing with stuff i did not earn/build myself. it takes away a great deal of player satisfaction. This is what makes me NOT want to pay until it is finished and I can play the whole game my way without losing/restarting progress.

So there's the dilemma. Pay now for an unsatisfactory experience, or wait to pay for a finished product but run the risk of the product never finishing because not enough people want to pay for the way the updates are implemented now... it's a gamble...

If there was an option to fund while getting a 100% refund in case the game is not completed, I'd happily dump cash on it, but for now it simply is too much of a crapshoot.
I fully understand you are limited by technical imitations, but these limitations are imo severely limiting the earning potential.

Save compatibility is a *BIG* ask in this sort of project.
It's not some VN with just a handful of variables.

IMO, YV has done a stellar job with the 'multi-verse pod' (which only has stuff you put in it from your previous save) and the wide selection of restart points, the last of which is usually close to end of content of the previous version.

 

[Cirdon]

So from that POV all suggestions are welcome and provide an interesting perspective.

One minor suggestion...

Change the OP and any other reference to the current release to 0.10 rather than 1.00 unless this is actually your "this game is complete" release before the first new person shows up asking why it doesn't show as complete.

 

[DBongus]

Giving my 5 cents to the discussion:

• usually you go for mass market with low prices and niche markets with premium
• imho that "normal" approach isn't particularly valid when there are 'expected/accepted/established' price brackets / tiers
• even if we assume there is an "unserved" niche with low competition, the entry barriers are almost zero, so as soon as this becomes evident competition evens out
• From the Princes vs. SJX comparison, I can assume that the little less mainstreamy Princess game had limited appeal due to its Goblin mc choice
• some part of the latter's lower appeal might also have been attributed to design flaws as my first game (suboptimal user guidance, no proper galleries, low rez, few anis,...) so its a bit hard to say
• I do almost no marketing for the game except engaging on F95 and itch, so there might be some potential there as well (if we take the "10-20% earnings share shoud go into marketing" rule of thumb in this domain)

I set myself the goal to be in the top 100 (adult) games on patreon (just to have a goal) and am still a way off; around 300ish on earnings metric (guess, since graphtreon clashed with patreons new user reportin I can't really track until graphtreon updates stats). That is merely for self motivation though.

Long story short: With SJX I tried to find something which I wanted to play myself and which has a certain mass appeal and which poses a challenge to what I have to do/learn/finish...
(And I wanted a MC who can say 'Make it so!')

So from that POV all suggestions are welcome and provide an interesting perspective.



P.S. And all my loot crates in the game are free

For the record I'll say that I quite enjoy both of your games, If I had one pet peeve (at least with The Princess and the Tower) was not the Goblin MC but rather how most of the vanilla sex was thrown by the end of the game while the BDSM content was used to "escalate" into it, although I enjoy certain types of BDSM stuff now and then I don't go out of my way to consume it so I may not be the target audience for it in the first place.
My point is that I was enjoying the progression with the princess early on but a chunk in the middle took me out of it but then it picked up by the end again.

When it comes to SJX I get the feeling that you are refining your style and the pacing feels much better, regardless of what you decide to take from the feedback I hope you continue adding those weird/borderline BDSM scenes, they may not be my cup of tea but weirdly enough I think they are an important part of your games, just need to have that contrast with the regular plain ol' vanilla scenes to make sense for the characters/story (imo) and so far SJX seems to be going that way which I like