Tips for beginner dev (Marketing)

[Eranwel]

Hi I'm an aspiring adult game dev and I want to become a big name in the industry. Porn games are my passion and I'm currently working on my first game. I want to release a 0.1/proof of concept version of the game this May. The game is inspired by games such as Zankuro's Hentai Labyrinth and Darkest Dungeon. Very simple gameplay with focus on decision making.

I'm looking for answers to these questions:

• Best methods to convince people into supporting me? (Patreon pledging, spreading the word, etc)
• How much placeholders and WIP gameplay is acceptable to not waste people's time? (I know that the closer a game is to being finished, the better, but I want to release something already. I care about first impressions, so I want to hit that sweet spot)
• What and how can I offer to my patrons?
• Any other tips that you think would be useful?

 

[MissFortune]

Best methods to convince people into supporting me? (Patreon pledging, spreading the word, etc)

You don't want to convince players to support you. Think of those situations where you try to tell your friend to check out a new band, but they don't. So, you insist. They push back harder. It's the same thing with VNs/games. You don't want to force it down players throats. Promote on reddit with art/renders/etc, put your links in your signature, be friendly. But ultimately, your audience will come to you, and often times will be the ones who spread the word. Create a community.

How much placeholders and WIP gameplay is acceptable to not waste people's time? (I know that the closer a game is to being finished, the better, but I want to release something already. I care about first impressions, so I want to hit that sweet spot)

As few as possible. I know it's tough to sit there and work on your game for months on end with little to no feedback. It's probably the hardest part of making a game when you first start. You want people to see it. You have two real options here, really. Put what you have out now, but be explicit that it's a demo/proof of concept. As much as you possibly can. People in game threads tend to not read very in-depth (not all obviously, but a lot from my experience), so try to make it obvious.

First impressions are everything. Your 0.1 will be the line in the sand for a lot of players. You either catch them or you don't. The more content you have, the higher chance you'll likely have to grab them. An easy to do this would be to go over to the Recruitment section and see if you can find some blind beta/play testers that will only know the plot going in. Ask them where they felt it was lacking, where they enjoyed it, and go from there.

What and how can I offer to my patrons?

Many Patreons never ask for the tier rewards. Largely because a lot of them are their to support the artist, and some of the tiers are just benefits (e.g. early access.). What you offer is going to largely depend on your style of game and gameplay, what you're able to do, and whether or not you can deliver on the said promises.

Any other tips that you think would be useful?

Don't go in expecting to be DPC or Freshwomen numbers, or anything like that overnight. Some get lucky, but most never see over a $100 in monthly income. You've gotta bring something to the table and be consistent about it. Thicken your skin while you're at it, the porn game space can be toxic. More than most other spaces. Especially in game threads here (Go figure pirates who never had any intention of supporting you are often the most vocal about something they don't like.). But at the end of the day, it's those supporting whose opinions matter.

 

[Eranwel]

You don't want to convince players to support you. Think of those situations where you try to tell your friend to check out a new band, but they don't. So, you insist. They push back harder. It's the same thing with VNs/games. You don't want to force it down players throats. Promote on reddit with art/renders/etc, put your links in your signature, be friendly. But ultimately, your audience will come to you, and often times will be the ones who spread the word. Create a community.



As few as possible. I know it's tough to sit there and work on your game for months on end with little to no feedback. It's probably the hardest part of making a game when you first start. You want people to see it. You have two real options here, really. Put what you have out now, but be explicit that it's a demo/proof of concept. As much as you possibly can. People in game threads tend to not read very in-depth (not all obviously, but a lot from my experience), so try to make it obvious.

First impressions are everything. Your 0.1 will be the line in the sand for a lot of players. You either catch them or you don't. The more content you have, the higher chance you'll likely have to grab them. An easy to do this would be to go over to the Recruitment section and see if you can find some blind beta/play testers that will only know the plot going in. Ask them where they felt it was lacking, where they enjoyed it, and go from there.



Many Patreons never ask for the tier rewards. Largely because a lot of them are their to support the artist, and some of the tiers are just benefits (e.g. early access.). What you offer is going to largely depend on your style of game and gameplay, what you're able to do, and whether or not you can deliver on the said promises.



Don't go in expecting to be DPC or Freshwomen numbers, or anything like that overnight. Some get lucky, but most never see over a $100 in monthly income. You've gotta bring something to the table and be consistent about it. Thicken your skin while you're at it, the porn game space can be toxic. More than most other spaces. Especially in game threads here (Go figure pirates who never had any intention of supporting you are often the most vocal about something they don't like.). But at the end of the day, it's those supporting whose opinions matter.

Thank you so much Missfortune, that was very informative! I've seen you replying to other threads, so I can tell you reallly care about helping out others in this field. I respect that a lot!
About the methods I mentioned earlier, I meant stuff like "clicks required for getting to your patreon page from a link in your game should be as minimum as possible", etc., so I apologize for not being clear about it.
Also yeah, I'm aware that people can be pretty toxic, but like you said, toxic people are more vocal about what they don't like and I kinda prefer that over people being silent to not hurt my feelings.
Again, thanks for the help <3

 

[jamdan]

You can read the articles on this website too. It's a blog by a VN marketing specialist.

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[aereton]

Best methods to convince people into supporting me? (Patreon pledging, spreading the word, etc)

Focus on just interacting with the few people who will play your release builds. A vigorous community is half the battle. Everything else looks like shilling (which it is) and people, especially if you roam around these parts arguably don't like it.

How much placeholders and WIP gameplay is acceptable to not waste people's time? (I know that the closer a game is to being finished, the better, but I want to release something already. I care about first impressions, so I want to hit that sweet spot)

Depends entirely on what you're building. I'd say 30min to 45min playtime is a good target to let people see what you're building. As for placeholder content, that really depends on case by case. If someone builds the 'next big open world sex RPG' and all I'm seeing is dev textures, dummy models and mixamo animations, I'll declare that DoA right then and there lol.
Don't be afraid to use placeholders though, just have a healthy mix.

Any other tips that you think would be useful?

You say you 'want to become a big name in the industry'. Maybe that was tongue in cheek but I'd really temper my expectations. There's just not much money in it. And fame? Ok it's a bit vain but you do you, however I'd doubt anyone would ever become a household name by making smut games lol.

I'd forget about the idea to make money from it, like totally. If you just enjoy making games and someone throws a dollar at you here and there that's great but 99% sure you won't live off of it.

 

[Eranwel]

Thank you jamdan and aereton!

You say you 'want to become a big name in the industry'. Maybe that was tongue in cheek but I'd really temper my expectations.

Oh I'm serious. I know this sounds naive, but I'm well aware of the untapped potential of porn game industry, I know I can bring something of value to people and I have a genuine passion for this. I will start small and my first game will probably not gonna be a huge success, but no one succeeded in life thinking they can't do it.
I know you said all that to warn me and I appreciate that, but this is my response:

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[DuniX]

Step 1. Make a good game that has a decent amount of content.
Step 2. There is no Step 2.

 

[Kudzubean]

Step 1. Make a good game that has a decent amount of content.
Step 2. There is no Step 2.

Easier said than done, but you ain't wrong.

 

[Eezergoode]

Indeed, best way to gain supporters is consistent, quality content, on a reasonable schedule. Most first timers won't get squat for support on their first game, at least until they have shown they are in it for the long haul, sad to say. But once you prove you can put out a good, complete, game, they will start coming in. IIRC PhillyGames said he got more support in about a month after the first update of City of Broken Dreamers than he had for the duration of Depraved Awakening. It's a sad cycle, many more devs might actually stick with it if they had more support, but due to the vast number of failed/abandoned games, most people won't support a dev until they have proven themselves. Which is why I want to make sure my game is at least a third of the way completed, and fully written, before it ever sees the light of day.

 

[sanyya]

...but due to the vast number of failed/abandoned games, most people won't support a dev until they have proven themselves. Which is why I want to make sure my game is at least a third of the way completed, and fully written, before it ever sees the light of day.

i would second this. same reason i have decided(right at the start) to not even post anything at all until my first "proof of concept" game is done/fully playable but needs polish.
in retrospect, at least for me, this was also the correct decision.
i started about a year ago, with 0 knowledge of anything whatsoever, and told myself i'll be done in 8 months.

almost 13 months later, that "small" little unreal project that will maybe have 30-45 minutes of playtime and some branches will still take like 6months+ to release, because learning things like a.i or animation from scratch is more difficult than i imagined, i got seriously sick in the meantime and didn't work much on it for quite some time as a result... etc. etc. etc.

something will always slow you down. last thing you want is to post the barebones framework, get a few subscribers, have 3 updates and then join the legion of [abandoned] because you didn't have enough stuff actually done to keep anyone's interest.

 

[Eezergoode]

something will always slow you down.

No joke, my friend. When I first started hashing this venture together, I was working a 40 hour week. Then BOOM I started working a lot of overtime, giving me less and less time to work on it. Then other ideas for other stories started clogging up the neural pathways, and I had to get them out of the way to go back to the original story. Then I changed career paths which SHOULD have opened up more hours for me to work on my little side project, but that didn't pan out. I got a promotion, which I took because they threw a good chunk of money at me and I was not exactly financially stable at the time. I signed on for a 50 hour work week, but am frequently working 70 hours, a few weeks even more, but the money is too good to turn it down. I'm also a homeowner now, and have been spending the last two years trying to fix a lot of old broken-down crap around the house.... It's always something.

 

[Eranwel]

Your project sounds awesome. Here’s what I’ve learned from my own game dev journey:

Getting Support: Engage with potential players on forums and social media. Share regular updates to build interest. Transparency and passion can really help on platforms like Patreon.

Placeholders and WIP: It’s fine to use them if they’re clearly marked. Make sure your proof of concept shows off the core gameplay to hook people. Early feedback can be super valuable.

Offering to Patrons: Consider exclusive content, early access, or behind-the-scenes updates. It helps patrons feel involved and appreciated.

Thank you bro <3 Some stuff happened and decided how to go about things.

First of all, I put the project on hold and I started working on a new concept, a top down horror game.
I also moved from Patreon to Subscribestar and decided to do bunch of prototypes/proofs of concept mostly, so I don't get burned out on one big project.
Right now I want to focus on very simple designs, so I don't get overwhelmed and can easily jump from one idea to another. I would even call them "low effort" games, but despite the name, they would still be a product of passion. Think of them like sketches or chibi drawings.

 

[Eezergoode]

Depending on your subject matter, you could easily do both Subscribestar and Patreon. Many people, for various reasons, still will not sub through SubscribeStar, so keeping he Patreon option helps, at least if your game won't get taken down...

 

[InnocentLurker]

• How much placeholders and WIP gameplay is acceptable to not waste people's time? (I know that the closer a game is to being finished, the better, but I want to release something already. I care about first impressions, so I want to hit that sweet spot)

"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

The way to treat a v0.1 is that it's an argument for why the player should continue following you after finishing it, like a demo. Meaning you want to show them the best of what you're capable of, and you do not want to reduce that if you value first impressions.

In my opinion, if you can reduce it without harming the game as a whole, it doesn't really need to be there. If it's too important to remove then it should not be reduced. And anything that doesn't fit neatly in either category isn't thought out well enough.

 

[TurhaanKoitatte]

Maybe one of the first things you have to decide for yourself is your audience. Which big side you want to represent. If you choose the non-NTR side, then you are tied to that side. In the middle of the game you can't bring the NTR side into the NON-NTR game or the side you chose at the beginning will get angry and you will lose your audience. In the worst case scenario, you're only making the game for yourself when the audience is no longer interested. Also, the supporters who have already come in will possibly leave and you will literally lose money. The later in the game you make that mistake, the more drastic the impact on your cash flow.

 

[wittyminx]

• How much placeholders and WIP gameplay is acceptable to not waste people's time? (I know that the closer a game is to being finished, the better, but I want to release something already. I care about first impressions, so I want to hit that sweet spot)

Others have already given great comments. Still, just from my own recent experience... Just as an experiment, with my current project I started sharing stuff on Discord very early. Like, already at concept stage, before even I wrote any code, I uploaded the concept doc. Then I kept uploading any updated versions of the doc as I was thinking over the design. I'm not sure if anyone read it but there were no player comments to it. Then someone asked if I could start uploading builds - since it was impossible to figure out what the game will be based on a concept doc alone. So I started uploading builds. With full stub gfx, ugly looks. For 5 months.
Still there were almost no comments. I wasn't sure if anyone looked at the game at all, so I ran a poll asking what are the blockers when testing the game builds. Most said that the stub gfx are just too ugly.
So, I guess, "testing on cubes" doesn't work for porn. One has to start sharing only once the gfx of final quality are there.

 

[aereton]

So, I guess, "testing on cubes" doesn't work for porn.

Yup. Just had this discussion with other devs although in a different context. Doesn't matter how much of a genius author you think you are, at the end of the day it's still porn and used to masturbate to by the majority.

If the average person wants to read a masterfully crafted story, they pick up Tolkien.
If the average person wants to play a good game, they pick up Legend of Zelda.

Generally, players of your game can overlook WIP visuals here and there, but it shouldn't be ONLY primitives and single-colour materials.
They still want something sexy.

 

[HuntingElfMOON]

Good knowledge. I really like your suggestions. Good luck Dev