VN Ren'Py Completed The Higher Society [Part 1 - v0.25] [xxerikxx]

[xxerikxx]

I tried to create a steam site, but I was overwhelmed by the complexity of Steamworks and just gave up.

 

[SonsOfLiberty]

I tried to create a steam site, but I was overwhelmed by the complexity of Steamworks and just gave up.

Maybe check the dev forum here on F95, I'm sure some would be willing to help you get it setup and started.

 

[Tyr Unchained]

I have big expenses and there's no way that I can create a illustrated version without Patreon. They have also taken the money I had on my account, something that puts me in a difficult situation short turn. I think we will manage to create a 0.1 version for part 2, but I don't know what will happen after that.

Hi xxerikxx, I've been following you and your gem of a game for quite a while (you even replied to me back in the text-only THS when you were planning to release the first Ilustrated version) and I'll be brutally honest - you're a really awesome writer, I really enjoy your story but your PR skills suck. Locking your Discord to 15$ Patrons is a truly baffling decision (how do you foster a community or capture new fans/convert existing fans into Subscribers when they have to either visit a Pirate forum or fork out 15 bucks for a chance to even chat about your game) as is the lack of cross-promotion with other Devs.
AVNs are currently an oversaturated market where every bit of promotion helps you stay afloat and get a share of the very limited fan support available. Yet you seem content to just coast on your writing skills and decent visuals. Both are fine and I'd even say that the writing is much higher than the average but what was sufficient and unique a few years ago nowadays has to content with titans like Desert Stalker, BaDIK, City of Broken Dreamers, Cosy Cafe and other games which not only have excelent high-quality writing without spelling mistakes but also great visuals and very dedicated communities. You don't have a real community if it's locked behind 15$. What about other social media? Facebook? BlueSky? Instagram? Tik Tok? Fan merch? Pretty sure THS has none of those

I love Higher Society both in the text and Ilustrated versions but I very much fear it won't be around much longer if your only current plan is "release a decent Season 2 0.1 version and hope enough people click on it on F95 and get invested from 1 good-looking release to replace my Patreon"

Sorry if it sounds harsh man - but I'm only writing it because I'm a big fan that has seen plenty of good games go down in flames (and plenty of shitty games/games with incredibly shitty Devs) stay afloat and even grow despite having no right to do so because their Devs know how to market their game. A good example is Scarlet Law - a game that I hate with a passion, has a Primadona Dev ready to call customers "snowflakes" then cry that everybody on F95 is mean to him (and downvoting his game) for releasing a sub-mediocre harem game with beta-protagonist. Yet the game still manages to survive like a cockroach because the Dev does a ton of promotion on every social media possible.
Please don't let Patreon nuking your game be the end of it and treat it as a motivation to get really good with PR. It's really not that hard and with your writing skills you'll do fine <3

 

[xxerikxx]

You're right, I'm terrible at PR, social media, programming, proofreading, art design, animations and other technical stuff. All I'm decent at is creating a story, for everything else I need to hire people to help me. Since I'm not rich and have a very limited income from this game there are not many services that I can afford to pay for. It's pointless to compare this game to games developed by professional gaming studios or professional developers. I do not have the skills, the time or interest in becoming a professional game developer or become good at PR and social media. I try to find time to write my story and for several years I did that without any ambition of turning it into a visual novel.

For many years I put my text-based stories out here on F95 because I hoped someone would enjoy them. Even if the feedback was mostly negative, I continued to do that because a handful of people seemed to enjoy the stories. Eventually the number of followers started to grow, and they wanted me to turn my stories into real visual novels. I tried to explain that I didn't have the skills to do that but, in the end, they talked me into creating a Patreon site so they could pay for the development. I agreed to do that and that's why we in the last 3 years have created a visual novel version of my Higher Society story. However, now that my Patreon site has been removed I have a ton of bills and a very limited income. I use my personal savings to create a pilot for The Higher Society and hopefully I will get enough followers to continue the game.

With limited skills, social media is very time consuming, and I would probably not manage to reach the target audience anyway. I should probably hire someone to do PR for me, but I can't risk any more expenses at this point. Now we're creating a pilot for THS part 2. If that leads to enough followers, then I will continue with the game. If not, then I will go back to just writing text-based stories.

 

[Tyr Unchained]

Ok. Thanks for letting us know. It's a shame (especially my advice about making your Discord public and maybe aproaching a few other smaller/medium Devs for cross-promotion would be easy, fast and 100% free) but I understand your position as a hobby Dev. I sincerely wish you the best of luck with THS part 2 pilot, it'd be great if it goes well.

One thing I have to correct you on though - half of the games I mentioned are not made by professional studios. Cosy Cafe is an exquisitely well-written (and very British) harem game made by literally 1 person (CosyDev) and Desert Stalker despite it's succes is made primarily by Zeton with Paz + cynical only helping on a part time basis (bugfixing and some visuals) so it's definitely possible to create big + popular games with vibrant passionate communities without big studios. Outside the AVN genre - my favorite studio Weather Factory (responsible for Cultist Simulator + Book of Hours) is literally Alexis Kennedy and his wife working from their home.
That said - don't take this as an attempt to change your mind. If THS is a hobby project you have every right to keep it as such and I'll be happy to continu ereading/playing it in whichever form it takes

 

[GerdiB]

With a public discord server you could use the mee6 plugin to add an alternative subscription mode besides SubscribeStar:

You must be registered to see the links

Lock certain channels behind different ranks and you practically have something like Patreon and SubescribeStar directly on discord.
I know a dev that added it as an alternative payment platform after SubscribeStar changed their policy on what is allowed and what not.

 

[xxerikxx]

With a public discord server you could use the mee6 plugin to add an alternative subscription mode besides SubscribeStar:

You must be registered to see the links

I've created two plans, but it looks like they will all get access to the same server. How can I split them, so I can give different perks?

 

[QuiteQuiet]

View attachment 4956561
I've created two plans, but it looks like they will all get access to the same server. How can I split them, so I can give different perks?

You use the same server, just make roles on your discord specific to subscribers and give them viewing rights for channels meant only for them. A place they can discuss development updates, teaser images, etc, without it leaking into the public channels.

 

[Tyr Unchained]

Exactly what the others said - create different channels, create different Tier roles based on Subscriptions. Give those roles pretty/cool colors. Create an announecement channel where only you can post and regularly give your community updates and ocasional snipets/teasers. If your storytelling style allows it - make polls, let pople get invested by voting on naratively meaningless but fun things. Make Subscriber-only polls. Honestly - in many ways it's easier to copy the structure when you see another well-run AVN server. Here is Masters of Raana Discord. I don't own it or mod for it but I'm a member and it's imho a model example of an AVN Discord that creates a positive lively community. See how others do it and get inspired. It's honestly not that hard when you get over the "I'm too old to learn new things" mindset

You must be registered to see the links

 

[xxerikxx]

Okay, let's try this as an option for thos who doesn't like Subscribstar

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Buletti]

Okay, let's try this as an option for thos who doesn't like Subscribstar

You must be registered to see the links

View attachment 4958022

Descriptions might be a little unclear. To me it looks like with the lower tier youo only get THS 1. The higher tier gives access to THS 2. But as part 1 is not in development anymore it does not make sense to let people vote in tier 1.

 

[xxerikxx]

 

[GerdiB]

Since Part 1 (of the illustrated version) is already out and available here and on other sites for free, I think it's a bad idea to only mention it on the higher tier.
Part 1 should be available for all subscribers. And some things that are mentioned on the lower tier are missing on the higher one like the badge.
And voting power has slightly different descriptions on both tiers which is confusing since I can't see any differences in the actual perk itself.
Maybe it's better to use "All perks from the lower tier" and then mentioning the exclusive perks you get from VIP access.

And if you add some open channels for everyone and share the invitation link, you could also use Discord to advertise the game.
Post some teasers, share public versions (if still available) etc.
Then you have a central site for all fans and subscribers. And if someone want's to recommend THS to someone else, he can simply share the link to the Discord server.
But keep questionable content out from any public channel. And look for someone that you trust who can help moderating the server.

 

[xxerikxx]

 

[Audi4Rings]

donating through Discord is clever. I'll have to look into that. I had this game in my Update (2.5) folder but I see the Completed tag. It's been a while, is the game done officially?

 

[Buletti]

donating through Discord is clever. I'll have to look into that. I had this game in my Update (2.5) folder but I see the Completed tag. It's been a while, is the game done officially?

Dev parted ways with his old Artist. To allow for a better transition to new art, the story so far was named THS 1.