Why don't devs upload or promote their content on F95?

[baneini]

If they limit their interaction with their fans and followers to their own sites, discord etc A place they can easier moderate themselves also understandable.

Yet the most successful dev/teams aren't the one you'll see here. To my knowledge there's only three that have an account, and they don't use it this much.

There is that varying popularity to consider.
Starting out unknown dev = prio #1 get users by advertising any way you can
Establishes average popularity dev = still advertise on f95, get manageable amount of messages, build your discord
Popular devs = reached critical mass for popularity so maintaining current users becomes priority. You spend most time talking with patrons on discord. Then occasionally make update posts on pirate sites because anything more would be waste.

People will still have other reasons to use forums besides money obviously.

 

[polywog]

There's more than one answer to this question :

• There's the devs who don't like the idea of piracy ;
• There's the devs who don't even know that this community exist ;
• There's the devs who don't care about the players if they don't pay ;
• There's the devs who were here, but are so bad that they don't want to hear it said again ;
• There's the devs who can't stand criticism, even when said gently and in a constructive way ;
• There's the devs who don't think that sharing their game here can help them ;
• There's the devs who don't have time for this ;
• There's the devs who rely on someone else for the English translation and, while they can ask for help for their Patreon's post, simply can't be here because of this.

And it's just the case that cross my mind right now.

Once upon a time there were these things called publishing companies. They wanted writers and developers to sell them ideas, so that THEY could make money off them. The writers and developers made a small amount compared to the publisher.

Some smart writers and developers came up with a brilliant idea "epublishing" look ma i can pirate my book on the internet, and make more money off it.

This pissed off the publishing companies. "How dare you go around us" They tried to take over the internet to prevent people from publishing their own stuff. They spent a fortune on ad campaigns demonizing "downloading" as something that was illegal. But in truth they were scared, knowing that as artists, writers, creators, etc. caught on to self-publishing it would be the death of them. Who buys newspapers when you can get the real news from the internet for free. Who watches tv commercials and advertising if they have the option to watch commercial free programs on the internet? They wanted desperately to prevent people from having the freedom to put their work on the internet.
Publishers told a pack of lies, claiming that piracy cost them billions of dollars. Complete bullshit. 90% of the people who download copyrighted things on the internet only did it because it was free. They never would have paid $19.99 for that DVD.
DVD sales didn't drop because people were getting it free on the internet. DVD buyers who would have bought the DVD in the first place kept buying DVDs. The publishing companies screwed themselves by trying to hold on to the past, the days when they monopolized the industry. They ruined their own product. People who legit purchase DVDs suffer with nag screens and warnings, and fucking advertisements, and are forced to watch shitty trailers before the movie they paid for, and the disc is encrypted so playback quality is affected. Bad enough when a 45GB movie is compressed to 4.7GB to fit on a DVD, and the publisher wastes 20% of the disc capacity on bullshit. Why the fuck would I pay a premium to buy the disc, when I can get a better quality copy from the internet, that isn't shit encrypted, overly compressed lower quality, nagging, threatening, and forcing ads on me. They drove customers away, with their own greed.

Sales suffered because people had choices now, and they were choosing to do other things for entertainment, instead of going to theaters that charge $9 for 20 cents worth of popcorn. Flash was so popular and easy to use that anyone could make a game, story, movie with it. They hated flash. The menu on DVDs (flash) a bit of irony there.
So now that the evil Flash won't be supported after 2021, things will go back to the old ways? Families will pile in the station wagon and go to the movie theaters every weekend like they did in the 50s... I think not. The old ways are history.

Pirates aren't your enemy, they are the ones who fought for your right to make games. Pirates allowed indie bands (who were told fuck you by publishers) to get their work out to millions. Indie films, Indie games, anything taboo... not gonna make it with a publisher. Getting your games out to the world gets you fans. Some of those fans pay you for what enjoyment they got out of your work. Some of those fans do more than that, they reward you for your contribution to society.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Once upon a time there were these things called publishing companies. They wanted writers and developers to sell them ideas, so that THEY could make money off them.

The only thing they buy is the right to publish a finished product (eventually helping you to finish it by giving you contacts/advice), and they generally bought it for a finite amount of time. You're talking about production companies. It's them than can buy ideas. But most of the time they prefer to produce, as their name say it, the said ideas, and so fund their developing process ; whatever it's writing, coding or filming.
By the way, publishing companies still exist and most of them are as poor as they were before Internet. Only 1% of them effectively make an indecent amount of money, and they are almost all also production companies, like Disney or Electronic Art by example. Even books publishing companies can also be producer, except that they don't by your idea, they pay you to write the book they want to publish ; it's what Pearson do for most of their books. For all the others, around 10% have enough capital to take risk, while the other 90% use their successful products to fund the publication of smaller creators. Some even tend to loose money, like many of the hundreds of university press, that all have the status of publishing companies, or equivalent in their country.

 

[polywog]

The only thing they buy is the right to publish a finished product (eventually helping you to finish it by giving you contacts/advice), and they generally bought it for a finite amount of time. You're talking about production companies. It's them than can buy ideas. But most of the time they prefer to produce, as their name say it, the said ideas, and so fund their developing process ; whatever it's writing, coding or filming.
By the way, publishing companies still exist and most of them are as poor as they were before Internet. Only 1% of them effectively make an indecent amount of money, and they are almost all also production companies, like Disney or Electronic Art by example. Even books publishing companies can also be producer, except that they don't by your idea, they pay you to write the book they want to publish ; it's what Pearson do for most of their books. For all the others, around 10% have enough capital to take risk, while the other 90% use their successful products to fund the publication of smaller creators. Some even tend to loose money, like many of the hundreds of university press, that all have the status of publishing companies, or equivalent in their country.

Sorry for confusing you in the segue, I started with story publishing, and went into a lot of other topics. Not gonna split hairs over titles, publisher, producer, screenwriter, director, distributor. As a writer I worked with many publishers to produce books. I suck at writing, but i'm also very good at it they tell me. Editors are not producers, they just rearrange the madness that springs from my imagination into something intelligible by lower life forms. I acknowledge the editor's contribution to making the story possible, thier dedication to the cause. Don't tell me that publishers only buy finished products. I've sold far more concepts than completed works. You have it kinda backwards. It's the movie production companies that buy the completed works from the publishers, not the other way around.

 

[StickmanVN]

I'm a new, part time hobbyist game maker. I don't ask for any type of payment and I'm not on Paetron. I do what I do becuase I love doing it. I want to share my work and what better place than F95zone. Simple

 

[speedapple]

Devs are in a bit of a bind here imo. It's a balance between making the game known and at the same time keep their patrons happy.

At the end of the day we are pirates of the....cyberspace. Many are also patrons...of the cyberspace.

I'm Smiling Dog and this is my favorite comment on F95.

 

[polywog]

Adobe Flash made it easy for anyone to make games, and a lot of people made very profitable websites, where people came to play those games.

The publishing companies didn't like people playing your games, they want you to BUY the games that they make.
They demonized Flash to make people scared of it. But they continue to make Flash games.

Today they have made it more difficult for independent developers, animators, and visual novelist. By stopping public support of Flash. If you make Flash games, you have to do it through the publisher. Through the app store, or google play store.

The most popular games on iPad are Flash (you just don't know it) but you aren't allowed to download free Flash games and play them. They force you to buy from the publishing company through the app store.

Android devices still give you the option to play free Flash games made by independent developers, but Google wants game developers to sell their games through the google play store, and they are trying to make it difficult for you to play games made by independent game developers. It's still Flash games on Google play for android, they just don't call them Flash.

 

[Joshua Tree]

Adobe Flash made it easy for anyone to make games, and a lot of people made very profitable websites, where people came to play those games.

The publishing companies didn't like people playing your games, they want you to BUY the games that they make.
They demonized Flash to make people scared of it. But they continue to make Flash games.

Today they have made it more difficult for independent developers, animators, and visual novelist. By stopping public support of Flash. If you make Flash games, you have to do it through the publisher. Through the app store, or google play store.

The most popular games on iPad are Flash (you just don't know it) but you aren't allowed to download free Flash games and play them. They force you to buy from the publishing company through the app store.

Android devices still give you the option to play free Flash games made by independent developers, but Google wants game developers to sell their games through the google play store, and they are trying to make it difficult for you to play games made by independent game developers. It's still Flash games on Google play for android, they just don't call them Flash.

Actually, Flash is getting discontinued by 2020, much due to security issues. Flash being replaced by html5, webgl etc. There is no hidden agenda to try screw people from use flash. A lot of these so called "free to play" social games. Use flash, just look at the likes of Plarium and their games. They created with the only purpose of milk you for every cent you got.

If I want to download some app to my android devices or what not I would feel safer it came screened from their apps store than just willy nilly install whatever I download from the net.

If you want to start some campaign for flash, you can always pen a nice letter to "Adobe Macromedia". Or join some of the groups out there that trying to get flash into public domain.

 

[polywog]

Actually, Flash is getting discontinued by 2020, much due to security issues. Flash being replaced by html5, webgl etc. There is no hidden agenda to try screw people from use flash. A lot of these so called "free to play" social games. Use flash, just look at the likes of Plarium and their games. They created with the only purpose of milk you for every cent you got.

If I want to download some app to my android devices or what not I would feel safer it came screened from their apps store than just willy nilly install whatever I download from the net.

If you want to start some campaign for flash, you can always pen a nice letter to "Adobe Macromedia". Or join some of the groups out there that trying to get flash into public domain.

THE most popular game on the app store TODAY is a Flash game. Flash will still be popular in 2030 it isn't going to die in 2020.
Adobe isn't discontinuing Flash, they just rebranded it. You can't install Flash on your iPhone because it's already on your iPhone, it's just not available for you to use, to play free games.

This isn't just about Flash. They are making it harder for independent game devs to get any game on mobile devices without going through them.

 

[Joshua Tree]

THE most popular game on the app store TODAY is a Flash game. Flash will still be popular in 2030 it isn't going to die in 2020.
Adobe isn't discontinuing Flash, they just rebranded it. You can't install Flash on your iPhone because it's already on your iPhone, it's just not available for you to use, to play free games.

This isn't just about Flash. They are making it harder for independent game devs to get any game on mobile devices without going through them.

Well, I do believe you manage to use google. I could post a lot of references her for you, but just google it..

I will start you off with a lead @

You must be registered to see the links

Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and several others have announces out there in regard of this. Facebook vowed to clear their platform of flash by 2020 as well. The resources is out there for you to read if you bother too. If you know much better than all these companies, well by all means...

 

[polywog]

yes yes that's what they want you sheep to believe. buy your games at the store
but that's not what this site is for.

The new Flash is better than ever, they even added 3D features to Flash.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Joshua Tree]

yes yes that's what they want you sheep to believe. buy your games at the store
but that's not what this site is for.

The new Flash is better than ever, they even added 3D features to Flash.

You must be registered to see the links

Lets ignore the fact; "Adobe Animate CC 2015 was released on February 8, 2016 " Adobe Animate is not something new.

If you want some other references @

You must be registered to see the links

Also name calling people for sheep is not really nice...

 

[WillTylor]

Ever since I discovered adult games, especially ren'py ones, I'd search all over the internet trying to find games I would enjoy. I found all kinds of gaming sites, they were ok and then I found F95, and I didn't have to go searching around the internet anymore. Every game I could want that was on the internet was right here, and even though when I first started I was just lurking and never commenting, I found the comments, criticism, praise, and ratings very helpful. Even though I could play games for free, when I found one I loved, I became a patron to support my favorite creators.

When I finally decided to make my own game, there was no question where I wanted it to debut. As soon as I finished setting up my Patreon account, I contacted the moderators and requested my own game. I've got to say it was pretty awesome to see the banner of my own game sitting right up there with some of the great games I've come to love. The moderators here, helped me get my Discord server set up, and have been giving me help and advice all along the way.

F95 has been a huge asset to me, to get my game out there and viewed hundreds of thousands of times. It's made it's way all over the internet. The community here at F95 has been mostly positive and encouraging, I've received really good constructive criticism that I think will really help me improve my game, and the occasional jerks (they've been very rare), I just don't let them bother me. I would encourage any developer to take advantage of the benefits of F95.

F95 and my own Discord server are now my favorite places on the internet to hang out.

 

[RomanHume]

Personally, as a dev, piracy is good for business. At least it's certainly been good for ours. An easy 80% of my patrons came from F95 or sites just like it.

We never post our patron rewards on the site. But we know it's going to happen and don't interfere or hinder that process. We recognized very early on in production that we always saw a spike in patronage in the 48 hour period following the posting of a pirated version.

We had one release that actually didn't, and it wasn't until it rolled over into "public" release status that we posted it ourselves. Within the next 24 hours we saw fifteen new patrons. It's not a coincidence. If people like your game, they will become patrons to help ensure you have the resources and motivation to continue making it. Pirate or not.

Pirate sites are the best advertising in this niche market because we lack more formal methods of marketing. Without sites like F95Zone we'd be dead in the water. But thanks to the community and staff here, we're growing.

We even had other devs reach out and want to cross market with us but retracted their offer when we stated we would not accept interference with the pirating community. It got so frequent we just decided to write our own

You must be registered to see the links

. We haven't provided them to a dev yet that wanted to accept these terms and as a result, we have done no cross marketing with anyone to date.

And if I can be so arrogant as to quote myself in a similar discussion we had previously on our own thread:

On a more personal note, I also don't want to be a fucking hypocrite. I've pirated games, still pirate games, and pretty much every dev here has pirated a game or two. So who the hell am I to segregate people into paying vs non-paying players. And I am personally a patron of several developers on my private account, and our group account Ianvs Software, redirects some of our monthly Patreon intake to other devs we want to see succeed.

Of course there will be plenty of devs who disagree with me. And I can only speak from my own experience. But from what I've seen personally with our game, is that even when a pirated version is available, if it's good, people will still provide you with a lot of support.

Salute mates!

 

[desmosome]

People who think F95 is just about Piracy don't fucking get it. Lots of people here love these type of Games and gladly support Games they believe in.
F95 is probably the best place to promote your Game. I really don't know many other Sites where you can promote your Adult-Game. People try /r/Lewdgames and LoversLab but LoversLab is more about Adult-Mods and on Reddit its a lot of random Spam.

Its the nature of old school forum format. Reddit will get some buzz if you are lucky, but more likely, it will get buried and meaningful discussion is hard to come by and hard to sort through. Game repositories like FAP Nation is just that. You might get comments but its youtube levels of discourse.

If you want discussion and constructive criticism, forums are the best.