What is the best patreon strategy?

[ablackcatman]

I see lots of games and different strategies. Obviously some of them are more efficient, others are less.

A common strategy is to release the public version of the game a few weeks after releasing it to patrons only.

What about limiting public versions to demo versions and patreons have full versions?

What other strategies there could be?

 

[Droid Productions]

Make a good game with something unique that your players are not getting elsewhere. Porn, and porn games, are plentiful. What makes *your* game stand out? Patreons are, in the end, donating for something a lot of them can get for free elsewhere. What prompts them to do so?

You can tinker with conversion ratios by playing around with where the paywalls are, but that's tactics, not strategy.

 

[DuniX]

What about limiting public versions to demo versions and patreons have full versions?

You might want to remember on what site you are on.
And you can really piss off people by being insistent on monetization AND not having much content to show for it.
If you really want to put a price tag on it you better have a good product, it might not be "finished" but it better be good value.

 

[cold_arctus]

Create a game with loli or very young looking teen girls + bi-weekly updates of renders in average or lower quality (no postwork with photoshop) packaged in the same boring harem setting, and voila your big selling game is done (instant $$$). No need for a Patreon strategy anymore.

 

[lawfullame]

I think the only strategy is to create a game that will attract people willing to support you, although they can pirate your game and play it for free.
When we look at Dark Silver and his game Glamor as an example, it is the developer who makes a great effort to protect his game from piracy.
His game is financially quite financially successful because he is a famous developer, but there are developers who are much more successful and they don't care about piracy at all.

 

[Joshua Tree]

Make a good game and people will come and back you as a creator. If you just slap together something based on popular fetishes and the drive to monetize it and get rich you set yourself up for failure.

As with piracy else, limiting full releases to Patreons doesn't do diddly. It is just a matter of time before it will be spread. Start include some form of blocks and copy protections in your game and you end up start wage war on users on sites such as this rather than have your game promoted and chance of pick up supporters.

 

[Asia Argento]

Make a good game and BE HONEST about your pricing intentions/in general. Fucking christ's sake, man. Just tell the truth. No BS.

Bad Patreons (No names said, but maybe you know who it is from the details...):
1. You have hentai stardew valley with a unique pixelated art style. You waste time/energy expanding a dungeon thats honestly a waste of space and too large as it is.
2. For awhile, I enjoyed the small community and seemingly honest dev... until they gated a fan service DLC behind a high dollar patron wall. I asked if I could just buy it outright, "I am a completionist and thats not right", I was denied.
3. I joined your advertised Discord and we have a chat about how DXD motivated the game, how 2 characters were motivated from the Toujou sisters and I got the feeling you were another "love of the game" kinda person. I donated money only shortly after for them to change their tiers and box content out to my major disappointment. It wasnt warned. Just happened and given I enjoy the game, the humor, etc... I dont want it to be 1 and 2... but that really knocked luster away...
4 (No one in particular just observation): You take people's money and dont put in work. Updates are longer than 3 months. Excuses are piling up. Just... stop. Be honest.

Just... don't be either 3 above.

IMO, the 2 I am showing as Patrons are exactly how devs should be. Also, MoriAPC is a damn good one too...

 

[woody554]

people donate because they want to, not because they have to. any paywall scheme to stop them getting it free will instantly fail AND backfire as hate.

the way to get the big crowds is to create a loyal fan community, not a group of exploited clients. the more you get exposure, the more you find people who are perfectly WILLING to donate unreasonable amounts of cash.

and it is unreasonable. none of these games would be worth $10 on steam even finished, people are not donating because they think your POS WIP has a value equal to the sum they're giving you. they donate because they like the project and WANT to be there to support it. if you can create a mod scene and people making fan art, that's when you know you've done things right.

cater for the community, facilitate them taking part in things. make your shit as accessible as possible. the more it gets 'pirated' the more you gain new donors. a ton of these games ONLY succeed because sites like this, where people are basically working for free to market your game to a big audience. free advertizing, that's how you should look at it. nobody can pay you if they've never heard of your game.

 

[watdapakisdis]

Do the Gumdrop strategy.

 

[Eclivious]

I can only vouch for what makes me want to donate to Patreon so in my opinion the best strategy would be to release an actually good game with either regular updates or less regular but very substantial updates and also be willing to diversify your game from the normal stuff, for example I'm pretty sure most people are tired of seeing all the characters that look the same, experiment a little and create some unique looking people.

 

[Succubus Hunter]

I would suggest actively engaging with fans and offering some level of "Crowd control" for your supporters. For example your supporters could decide customize an npc or name a room in the game (Ie, the Chris Houlihan secret room in ALttP.

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Just whatever you do, do not fall behind on your update schedule. It is better to be up front about a long wait than to continually delay new content.

 

[anne O'nymous]

As with piracy else, limiting full releases to Patreons doesn't do diddly. It is just a matter of time before it will be spread.

But anticipated update releases works. The patrons who don't know about place like here feel advantaged, those who know also knew from the start that this advantage is really limited, and those who aren't patrons still have the game in few times later.
So, everyone is happy.

Start include some form of blocks and copy protections in your game and you end up start wage war on users on sites such as this rather than have your game promoted and chance of pick up supporters.

Don't remember the name of the game, but an author tried this kind of move. His patrons had the full game, while the free version was deprived of everything before the actual update. Less than one week was enough for him to say on the game thread that he'll go back to a full version in the next update.

It don't affected his patrons, but he understood that such bad press is never ever a good idea. Especially since, generally, authors who try such move do it because they want/need more patrons.
The free version isn't just there for those who don't want to pay, it's also there for those who don't know the game yet, or aren't sure if they want to pay or not. Put something limited, or keep just the demo version without improving it, and you'll not have much more support.

 

[khumak]

The approach that I've seen some devs take that I think works the best is to put some extra goodies behind the patreon only paywall but not the game itself. You WANT people to play your game. Some of the people who like it will pay you for it. If they can't play it, why would they subscribe? They don't know if they'll like it yet.

So things like Patreon only polls that actually affect what you decide to work on for the game, teaser renders for scenes you're working on that aren't done yet, sometimes renders for scenes you decided to scrap, etc. One of my favorite examples that I've seen is to give your top patrons the option to vote on/suggest a scene for a custom render that doesn't have to fit in with the game (and likely will never be a part of it). Sort of like the holiday renders you sometimes see that probably don't make it into the game.

 

[TheHighSpire]

I think most of the important stuff has already been said. Just don't be greedy.
One thing that has not been said, though, is: Learn how to communicate your vision. Your current game might not want to make anybody donate. People donate because they believe in the potential of your game. So, having a road map and communicating ideas/being receptive to feedback are all important. And yeah, not all feedback is nice to hear, but try and be receptive and don't become defensive because of it.

 

[rk-47]

Dont waste peoples time and money, and read what the community want for future updates
there are 2 outcomes:
people will pay monthly for patreon then they increase the level as time passes and updates roll out
or they stop paying with lacklustre updates and delays

 

[_tewi]

at the end of the day you either have a game that people wanna give you money for or you don't... there's no 'strategy' that will ever get me to hand out money to a meh game

 

[JuiceShooters]

at the end of the day you either have a game that people wanna give you money for or you don't... there's no 'strategy' that will ever get me to hand out money to a meh game

This. Even if you give the higher tier patrons a lot extra, what won't make them actually want to support you if the game is bland.