When should you open a Patreon as a VN developer?

[brazilian_hamilton]

Lets say you are starting off a 3d render based visual novel. 3d assets can be very expensive so you can't afford months of production and gameplay to finish the entire game. That's why most of the developers in the genre rely on patreon funding.

But at which point is it best to open a patreon? Do you think it's best to wait until you have a chapter done to display that content or is it better to make it at an earlier stage of the process, like when you have the theme and characters done, as well as a handful of sample renders to display them?

What are your experiences and advices on starting off crowdfunding?

 

[Agent HK47]

I will start off by repeating what I always tend to preach on this site: If you decide to make a game, make sure you do because you have an actual desire to create a game - not just because you want an easy payday. Face the reality that you might be pumping hundreds; if not thousands of dollars into a game (at least if you do it like me and buy your assets the legal way) and may never see a penny earned from it. If you can face this reality and accept it, then by all means - go ahead with your game.

As for when to open a patreon, I don't think there is a "true" answer to that. I would say that you should at the very least have a playable demo ready, but many people open patreons as early as the concept phase. Still, most people seem more comfortable supporting a project, when they have something tangible in front of them.

 

[Mimir's Lab]

Idk, open a Patreon whenever you want, I don't think there is any negatives to it unless you try to use it as a kickstarting tool (won't make game unless I have 100 supporters). Some people are willing to pledge to a concept while others want something tangible. Besides, I don't see any of the guys who want something tangible ever complain that a game had a Patreon way before it's first release. I will say that if you create a page and get patrons early, you kinda lock yourself into a commitment and you now have an obligation to follow through and make your game, whereas if no money was involved, you can abandon your project with no strings attached.

 

[hgameartman]

I have no idea, but apparently the answer for me is "10+ months after publishing v0.1.0"
Oh, uh, I guess it also doesn't matter cause I'm not a VN developer too lol.

My mind flip-flops between "I'll make a little bit and can buy some music and pay better the guest artist and perhaps a few tileset packs for furniture and props!" to "The community will skin me alive and feed my corpse to pigs for daring to ask for money to support development"