Will people play text-based games and pay for them?

[somethingLikeUser]

Hello, I've been thinking about creating my own game for a long time. But I always get stuck on the fact that I can't do the visuals, and I don't want to use AI. I don't have time for DAZ or an artist. I have decent programming skills and a well-developed world, so I decided to come here with this question.



In short, I want to create a text-based game similar to Degrees of Lewdity and Lilith's Throne, with a female protagonist. In the story, she finds herself in a medieval world (more on the type of world below), and you have COMPLETE FREEDOM OF ACTION. You can choose to become a prostitute and simply work on the streets. You can marry a peasant and have children, or you can try to fight for the throne and ascend to the throne someday (as the king's right hand, of course). That is, you have complete freedom of action and character customization, so do whatever you want.



There will also be a skill tree and a unique movement and interaction system (similar to Lilith's Throne).



But here I have doubts: will anyone be interested in this, will they buy subscriptions on Patreon, and will I be able to make a living from it? That's the main question. But of course, there are also intermediate ones



1. Do you prefer a medieval world with or without fantasy?

2. Do you like playing games like this? Do you have any ideas for improving the mechanics in general?

3. Which engine would you prefer to play on?

 

[Count Morado]

But here I have doubts: will anyone be interested in this, will they buy subscriptions on Patreon, and will I be able to make a living from it? That's the main question. But of course, there are also intermediate ones

your 3 questions are moot. Make what YOU want to make on the engine YOU want to use with the story and mechanics YOU want to see. This is a creation BY you, FOR you, and others will follow. Take advice, sure but take advice AFTER you have provided YOUR point of view, your product and design for YOU to play and others to try. Once you have done that , you should have a better idea of what advice is worth listening to.

There are tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of people who play adult games like the ones found here. If even only 1/10 of 1%, that's a potential audience of tens (or hundreds) of thousands. And it's more than 1/10th of 1%.

Make a living? The median adult game creator on patreon brings in about $100 USD per month even after years on that site. About 20% make $1000 or more per month after 4 years. So... Maybe... But not likely, unless you get lucky. If you're in it to make bank, even less likely. If you're in it because you're passionate about your creation... That's what is going to sustain you in its development while earning next to nothing and putting in hundreds and thousands of hours on it. See my post below:

UPDATED FOR 2024 DECEMBER
Data of the 8,685 adult game creators on Patreon used to create this analysis comes from:

You must be registered to see the links

Of the 8,685 creators, 6,650 have paid subscribers.
Of the 2,035 creators who do not have paid subscribers, 137 started in the past 365 days.
The 1,898 creators who do not have a paid subscriber and have had a Patreon creator account for longer than 365 are not included in this analysis.

This analysis is of the 6,787 creators who have paid subscribers or started in the previous 365 days.
Of those, 4,165 make their earning public (61.4%). Using their data, creators receive an average of $4.50 per paid subscriber each month (that's down 3-cents from last year).

Where monthly earnings are supplied, they are used. Where the earnings are not disclosed, the figure is determined by multiplying the number of paid memberships times the average monthly subscription as listed above (Monthly Earnings = # paid memberships X $4.50)

However, I am also including a figure that is half that. Again, if monthly earnings are supplied, they are used. However, based upon looking at various developers numbers prior to their decision to not disclose their earnings - it appears that the actual average is closer to $2-$3 per paid membership. This is comparable to paid memberships across the entire Patreon site.

$4.50 paid sub avg	$2.25 paid sub avg.
View attachment 4378154​	View attachment 4378156​
View attachment 4378163​	View attachment 4378158​
View attachment 5001420​

So, use this data with a grain of salt - this is for large data purposes - not to determine exact figures for any individual developer.

Spoiler: 2023 Post

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Spoiler: 2022 post

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So, yes, my original memory was slightly off on the upper end, but it still stands that "if you're doing this because you think this is going to be more lucrative than a traditional job in a brick-and-mortar business or a great way to earn extra money to supplement your current income or a rainmaker to get you to your first million" then a person is sadly mistaken.

If anyone is interested, attached is a CSV of the information I used (for 2022, 2023, and 2024).

 

[Icarus Media]

 

[somethingLikeUser]

View attachment 5352101

your 3 questions are moot. Make what YOU want to make on the engine YOU want to use with the story and mechanics YOU want to see. This is a creation BY you, FOR you, and others will follow. Take advice, sure but take advice AFTER you have provided YOUR point of view, your product and design for YOU to play and others to try. Once you have done that , you should have a better idea of what advice is worth listening to.

There are tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of people who play adult games like the ones found here. If even only 1/10 of 1%, that's a potential audience of tens (or hundreds) of thousands. And it's more than 1/10th of 1%.

Чем зарабатывать? Среднестатистический создатель игр для взрослых на Patreon зарабатывает около 100 долларов в месяц, даже после многих лет работы на этом сайте. Около 20% зарабатывают 1000 долларов и больше в месяц за 4 года. Так что... Возможно... Но вряд ли, если только вам не повезёт. Если вы занимаетесь этим ради денег, то это ещё менее вероятно. Если же вы увлечены своим творением... Именно это поможет вам в его разработке, при этом вы практически ничего не заработаете и потратите на него сотни и тысячи часов. См. мой пост ниже:
[/ЦИТИРОВАТЬ]

 

[somethingLikeUser]

your 3 questions are moot. Make what YOU want to make on the engine YOU want to use with the story and mechanics YOU want to see. This is a creation BY you, FOR you, and others will follow. Take advice, sure but take advice AFTER you have provided YOUR point of view, your product and design for YOU to play and others to try. Once you have done that , you should have a better idea of what advice is worth listening to.

There are tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of people who play adult games like the ones found here. If even only 1/10 of 1%, that's a potential audience of tens (or hundreds) of thousands. And it's more than 1/10th of 1%.

Make a living? The median adult game creator on patreon brings in about $100 USD per month even after years on that site. About 20% make $1000 or more per month after 4 years. So... Maybe... But not likely, unless you get lucky. If you're in it to make bank, even less likely. If you're in it because you're passionate about your creation... That's what is going to sustain you in its development while earning next to nothing and putting in hundreds and thousands of hours on it. See my post below:

Thank you for such a detailed review. I am really passionate about this and would love to do a project like this. But it all comes down to finances. I am currently in a situation where I need to earn money, and I have six months to do so. So I wanted to start earning money doing what I love, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do it in six months. But I really like it and would like to share my project with you, but I'm not sure I can.

 

[AIMzheimer]

Of course, there are text-based games that make good money and gain popularity, but they’re much rarer compared to those made with DAZ or similar tools. Maybe you could turn that into your advantage.
As for your other questions, I’m not really into text-based games, and I always prefer fantasy elements. A medieval game without fantasy would be pretty boring — I mean, what’s the point of the Middle Ages if there aren’t sexy elves or wizards?

 

[Count Morado]

Thank you for such a detailed review. I am really passionate about this and would love to do a project like this. But it all comes down to finances. I am currently in a situation where I need to earn money, and I have six months to do so. So I wanted to start earning money doing what I love, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do it in six months. But I really like it and would like to share my project with you, but I'm not sure I can.

You won't make a living within 6 months doing this. You likely won't earn more than a handful of dollars in that time. You'd make more spending less time begging on a corner.

Your best bet is to find a regular job and do this as a hobby / side job.

 

[Brosewood]

Can you make money making a text based game? Yes, but people expect so much more from you game wise. Just about every text-based game that's making the sort of money you wan to make are large. Making a game with complete freedom of action sounds good on paper, but from experience I can tell you that sort of thing becomes overwhelming fast.

If you want my advice, make a smaller game first. Don't worry about making money, worry about learning. As Count Morado said, your chances of making more than $100 USD per month are low. If you're looking for a game engine, Twine - Sugarcube is the way to go for text based games.

 

[69trasheap]

I chat with a lot of programmers who've worked on games that won SFW awards shows and accolades. They all agree that making video games is the least profitable way to use their skills.

If you're deadset on developing your game though, you can start a patreon or subscribestar to sell tutorials, frameworks, and assets. You can net a nice passive income from that if you network right.