This is an incredibly weird thread.
The OP and all its subsequent reiterations appear to rest on a number of wildly inaccurate assumptions:
1.) That we all live in California:
We do not. In the UK $50k a year is a pretty decent wage, in Russia it's enough to attract the attentions of the local mafiosi, and in Thailand you can buy a tittie-joint and live the good-life. Even in many US states this would be enough to support a pleasant lifestyle.
None of these other places are teaming with desperate but talented coders, screenwriters and voice-actors, crowding around your house at night like a horde of starving zombies and waving resumes in their rotting claws.
2.) Patreon is an investment vehicle:
Patreon has nothing - repeat,
nothing - to do with capital investment. Patrons receive no stake in the project for their kind donations - but they do get to support a project they want to continue, join a community, receive bonuses, take part in polls, and gain a direct line to the developer. This is a good thing - it is pure. It means that there is no external pressure on the devs besides their own creativity and market popularity. No-one wishing to make money on Patreon should even consider it unless they have been a Patron themselves.
3.) Capital Investment improves creative projects:
What!?
No studio executive or investor has ever made any game, film, or tv show better. They ruin it - fuck it up beyond all recognition... kill it. Until recently the
only exception to this was Harvey Weinstein... but I probably don't need to tell you what happened there
. [Note: Producers can be extremely valuable in large creative projects - but the waged ones, not the ones with executive in front of their names.]
4.) That there's no such thing as diminishing returns:
If a solo dev can make 1 bushel of wheat, 2 can make 1.5 bushels of wheat, and 3 can make 1.75 bushels of wheat. By the time you get to 7, 2 bushels of wheat does not go far. This is because planning, communicating with one another, working at cross purposes, duplication of effort - or just screwing around and shooting the breeze - eats time. And it's exponential! Not all team members are equally capable, hard-working or trustworthy. Time zones can be a bitch: if all you need is 5 fill-in pictures to meet the deadline, waiting until your artist in Mumbai wakes up is going to be agony. Just consider how much
less productive Dark Cookie and ICSTOR have been since they expanded their teams.
Wheat, dude. It's all about that sweet, sweet, wheat
.
5.) That being an adult-game dev is a career:
It is not. To be a little French here... '
it is a passion!' No-one gets into this because they want to be a CEO, or a producer, or team-leader. They don't want to start as a grunt who makes the tea and occasionally gets to draw a tit in the hope they can climb up the greasy corporate ladder. Sure - you can make a living at it (I do!) - but most of us are auteurs, hobbyists, vain-glorious praise-whores, and folks who used up
all the porn in the world and had to start making their own.
6.) Solo projects are generally non-viable:
Crazed. Most of the best adult-game projects are solo, including many of the most profitable. I make decent money with mine, DrPinkCake and Redamz must be raking it in! Check out the most successful adult games
You must be registered to see the links
.
7.) That anyone who has not made a successful adult game knows how to make a successful adult game:
Sorry... but you don't.
8.) You are the only one who can make an unbearable wall of text no-one will ever read:
I just text-walled your ass!