Would you be willing to support a Dev who releases on a Tri-monthy/Bi-monthly schedule instead of Monthly?

[Joshua Tree]

I wouldn't even be able to release monthly, I tried and failed hard.
The few hours I have after my day job usually fall apart for creating the scenes in Daz, writing usually happens on the weekends. Rendering in between. If I'd release monthly, there wouldn't be much content.

Some tend to think once you got a patreon, you "work for them". How dare you have a rl and a day job j/k.

 

[joecoe]

Just a question. What are good options for a hobby developer who doesn't have adult games as main source of income, releases updates very irregularly, but is still happy if he gets a few dollars from sponsors?
Patreon per-creation campaign, Patreon monthly campaign with skipping payments or a completely different platform?

 

[Joshua Tree]

Just a question. What are good options for a hobby developer who doesn't have adult games as main source of income, releases updates very irregularly, but is still happy if he gets a few dollars from sponsors?
Patreon per-creation campaign, Patreon monthly campaign with skipping payments or a completely different platform?

Think there is very few that actually have this as their main source of income. Some of the top creators does good, but hardly the norm. I would just looked at the Patreon as a tip jar to start with. If people like your work and what you do they will support you regardless of frequency of releases. Keep push out updates monthly etc just to please the crowd, doesn't necessary make for good content, more prone to just be rushed content.

 

[Akamari]

Just a question. What are good options for a hobby developer who doesn't have adult games as main source of income, releases updates very irregularly, but is still happy if he gets a few dollars from sponsors?
Patreon per-creation campaign, Patreon monthly campaign with skipping payments or a completely different platform?

I'd say that depends on your commitment.

If it's just one of your hobbies that you would indulge in only when you feel like it, "per creation" seems fair as it doesn't create false expectations.

If it's something you want to commit much of your free time and resources until it's finished, then monthly option is the better way to go (while being as informative and transparent about the development as possible, of course).

 

[RanliLabz]

I really don't care how often a dev releases updates as long as it's not too slow (Summertime Saga is an example of a game that is skirting the limits of my tolerance right now, though I really like the game itself). If a game updates often, odds are I won't play every update anyway.

I release new updates monthly for Long Live the Princess, but I realize that I'm an outlier. If I wanted to I could probably get away with a new version every two months, but for me, I don't really see the point. My game is non-linear and designed in such a way as to be easy to expand in small chunks at a time without having to rely on artificial "episodes" like so many other games do. I designed this game for rapid releases. Not all devs think about that when they come up with their ideas, probably because of lack of experience. I've noticed that devs starting their second project often take a much more measured approach to their release schedules than the first time around.

So yeah, I would support a dev who didn't release every month, no problem. That doesn't bother me at all.

I'm a 'monthly' releaser too - although I tend to find that most updates take around 40 days, and if I need another couple of weeks to get it right I take them. I fill in the gaps with Patreon-only minigames (which usually take 1-2 weeks to make) to make sure that my patrons get an update every month.

However, I can only do that because I'm working full time on the game and planned monthlies from the start. I think that as long as devs who can't do that are upfront on their patreon overviews about how often to expect updates, players will be fine with it. But - big caveat - they will adjust the amount they pledge to reflect the longer waits and the work involved (I know I do!).

I really agree on Summertime. It's an amazing game, but considering that DarkCookie's bringing in well over $500k a year, I'd expect massively more updates and contents and stopped pledging a long time ago. If I was making that kinda cash, I'd have a studio of minions pumping out an update every week!

 

[CarbonBlue]

The way I look at it is it's part of my job to make it as easy as possible for someone to take the leap and donate their money to my project. I think transparency and consistency are probably the key. If a dev is reliably making updates every 8 weeks, then that makes it easier for the patron to decide how much to give per month. If the dev provides frequent project updates, then that also makes it easier to donate.

At least, I believe this is the case for new and upcoming devs. Once established and very successful, then it seems the rules are out the window and transparency and consistency don't matter.

 

[frap]

... My game is non-linear and designed in such a way as to be easy to expand in small chunks at a time without having to rely on artificial "episodes" like so many other games do. I designed this game for rapid releases.
...

(emphasis mine)

This is very much the case when comparing a linear, story-heavy VN/game to a more "open-world" kind of game. Both can tell a coherent story, but in the first case you can't release plot points D-F until points A-C are complete. In the second case, assuming you took this into consideration from the beginning, as it sounds like you did, you can release plot points in any kind of order, adding more back-story and lore here and there, and letting the player piece it all together as the go.

After all, even after the game is complete, the mechanics are such that the player isn't likely to follow a simple plot from A-Z in a linear fashion.

 

[Dependable_223]

To me it depends on the quality of the work. not the quantity. if the quality suffers due to monthly release then i rathr have 2 monthly or even 3 monthly wait period where the quality is good. then having to wait for rushed out releases. The only thing i cant stand is where a developer is clearly milking his patreon cough cough Developers like Gumdrops and Aorrta comes to minds.

 

[Domiek]

This seems like a good place to talk about non-financial support. It's an important topic that I tend to shy away from because no one wants to look like an annoying beggar. Some of those big names like Summertime Saga can afford a faster development cycle because they're making enough money to not only hire staff, but also not spend 40 hours a week at their day job.

Everyone's financial situation is different. The people who support me I'm truly appreciative and feel blessed. However, not everyone can afford to do so. What's the statistic, like 50% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck? That's why I'm happily involved in this pirate community.

However, there's ways you can support a dev without spending a single dollar.

• Leave reviews on this site and any other you come across
• Follow and like social media accounts such as twitter
• Recommend the game on other sites or to friends who you don't mind knowing you're a pervert

There's businesses who spend good money on advertisement. Unfortunately, advertisement avenues are heavily limited when it's adult content. If you like a game and want to support the dev, non-financial efforts really goes a long way. Something like 0.5% of players actually pledge. So rather than expecting more people to pledge, I'm more fond of the idea of simply getting more people to play

 

[Belle]

This seems like a good place to talk about non-financial support.

Really? Because it seems like a thread hijack to me. No offense, but while what you're saying is interesting in its own right, shouldn't it be in a thread of its own instead of in one that is only tangentially related at best?

 

[Avaron1974]

Really? Because it seems like a thread hijack to me. No offense, but while what you're saying is interesting in its own right, shouldn't it be in a thread of its own instead of in one that is only tangentially related at best?

Not really. Support is support whether it's financial or not.

 

[Domiek]

Really? Because it seems like a thread hijack to me. No offense, but while what you're saying is interesting in its own right, shouldn't it be in a thread of its own instead of in one that is only tangentially related at best?

Sure, I can see why you'd think that. However, I read all the comments and most of them discussed financial support amount depending on development cycle, i.e less for tri-monthly releases and more for monthly.

When a dev has enough support to be able to quit their day job, they have more time to make the game, leading to shorter development cycles.

Seems like a good place to discuss non-financial support that helps achieve the above goals and stays relevant to the overall topic.

 

[Nottravis]

*finds her name being bandied about and peeks in!*

I'd like to comment on that, if you'll let me. You say you can release a chapter every six weeks, BUT how long did you spend crafting everything, every little details, every characters personality and looks, before the first chapter even got released? The monthly support alone wouldn't reflect that. Which brings me to my point, after all this rambling.

I don't think you've given me any choice in the matter

*scrunches nose* About six months if I'm honest. There's an old thread kicking around somewhere which starts in June 2018, first release was Jan 2019. Dammit man, stop making sensible points!

You say you're wrestling with it, but your patrons have spoken: fewer releases, full chapters, when they're ready. The guilt monster rides you hard, I feel you, me too. Don't burn yourself out, keep making great content and we'll go on supporting

*noddities*

You have a job, your health and your own free time to worry about aswell.,

You are a talented girl, no doubt about it, i'm sure you could push out an update every 6 weeks.

1 quick question though Notty hun .... would you be happy with it?

It's rhetorical really, we both know you wouldn't be. If you wouldn't be happy pushing out 6 weekly updates would the fans that are telling you now to take your time be happy?

So in the end, would it be worth it?

Tell me if i'm off base but the girl i've got to know over the past year wouldn't exactly be jumping for joy over rushing out something she cares about.

*stares at her feet and mutters reluctantly "S'pose not..."*
*pouts*

If you think you are a bit lazy like that, putting the "pressure" of having to release monthly will allow you to never skip a day, at the point that you will always find the strength to do at least a minimum of content each day... At the end of the month that little each day will pile up in a decently sized update.

That's a rather good counterpoint of course. Not all parts of a game are fun to do and having some discipline about it does get you through those parts.

Also, in the weekly posting/updates, show us a picture of the new Render box/drawing tablet/Server that we helped fund and tell us how it is working out. Make us feel like we are part of "the team" with good communication and we will keep Patreon-ing!

That hadn't even crossed my mind...*takes note*

*shushes again*

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

no

Care to elaborate?

None of the devs who's games I play release monthly.

In fact one of the top devs I know tells other devs to never release monthly because quality suffers.

The few games i've tried that have monthly releases aren't exactly high quality.

When you have games like City of Broken Dreamers, Personal Trainer, Alison Fall of the Apple, Retrieving the Past, Becoming a Rockstar, Being a DIK, Heavy Five, Offcuts, Bad Memories, Vinland (don't let me down Huti, hunni), Sisterly Lust, Harem Hotel, Mythic Manor, Where the Heart is, Parental Love, Last Sovereign all releasing after taking a few months to make sure an update is up to par you will not compete with a monthly release schedule.

The only possible way you could compete with some of those is if you have multiple render farms going constantly for a month along with dedicated writers, coders and awesome project management.

Your average monthly release dev has none of those so you get a 10 minute update with grainy renders, Engrish script and relying on basic tropes to pull in certain players.

If a dev is trying as hard as they can and putting across decent quality i'll be willing to give them support.

Some of those in my list aren't the greatest but they work hard and put care into what they do and it shows.

If I see generic incest game number 387465 with all the tropes of sleep rape, shower spying, 2 sister, horny mother etc, the shit we've seen many, many, many times before and they shit out monthly updates following the same lack of giving a shit then no, I won't even entertain them enough to download for free. My time is valuable and I won't waste it on rushed garbage.

On the flip side of that you have some devs that can put out quality after a month. The only problem is they can't do anything else so they work, develop and sleep. That's their life. Sooner or later it burns them out and they abandon their game.

I've never seen a monthly release schedule with good quality hit the completion point.

Well, as a patron, I don't mind at all that the creators I currently support both don't release monthly, since I know that everytime they do, I'm in for a treat anyway. In fact, I haven't got one single game in my "great games" list that do release monthly*, and I wouldn't want the devs I respect to burn themselves to reach an arbitrary release date only to shit out something they wouldn't be proud of.

If you look at it with a bit of hindsight, once the game is done, what would you rather have? A streak of chapters/episodes/events poorly articulated with rushed out renders or a full well adjusted game with a coherent storyflow? All the devs here are mainly letting us play the alpha version of their game, and when you pledge on patron, you're not exactly buying the product, you're just using your money to say to a creator: "I like what you do, please keep going".

That being said, now that I'm a developer (sort of), I already feel kinda guilty for not releasing faster D:

Then, you have the case of devs who go mute for months, and maybe post a render or two once. Even if their game is great, the lack of communication makes it more difficult to support them.


I'd like to comment on that, if you'll let me. You say you can release a chapter every six weeks, BUT how long did you spend crafting everything, every little details, every characters personality and looks, before the first chapter even got released? The monthly support alone wouldn't reflect that. Which brings me to my point, after all this rambling.

So to answer your question, Wol, my support does depend on the dev themselves. If the dev is a great chap, I support, if the dev creates the best game in the world but I have no affinity with them as a person, I don't. Ultimately, the release cycle does not really come into consideration.

*edit. I'm lying, Belle (Long Live the Princess) usually does release monthly, but that's more like the exception to the rule.

Absolutely. The whole concept of being a "patron" isn't about getting a piece of work for every payment, it's about supporting an artist (writers and game devs are artists too) as they make their art.

You say you're wrestling with it, but your patrons have spoken: fewer releases, full chapters, when they're ready. The guilt monster rides you hard, I feel you, me too. Don't burn yourself out, keep making great content and we'll go on supporting

1: exactly that
2: Of course we'd rather have a well-written, beautiful, coherent game when it's finished rather than a hodge-podge of stuff shat out every month looking like a collection of bad tattoos vs a beautiful body suit

Spoiler: bad vs good

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3: Try to ignore the guilt monster
4: Too true - communication is important

You have a job, your health and your own free time to worry about aswell.,

You are a talented girl, no doubt about it, i'm sure you could push out an update every 6 weeks.

1 quick question though Notty hun .... would you be happy with it?

It's rhetorical really, we both know you wouldn't be. If you wouldn't be happy pushing out 6 weekly updates would the fans that are telling you now to take your time be happy?

So in the end, would it be worth it?

Tell me if i'm off base but the girl i've got to know over the past year wouldn't exactly be jumping for joy over rushing out something she cares about.

ALL OF THIS ^^^

This seems like a good place to talk about non-financial support. It's an important topic that I tend to shy away from because no one wants to look like an annoying beggar. Some of those big names like Summertime Saga can afford a faster development cycle because they're making enough money to not only hire staff, but also not spend 40 hours a week at their day job.

Everyone's financial situation is different. The people who support me I'm truly appreciative and feel blessed. However, not everyone can afford to do so. What's the statistic, like 50% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck? That's why I'm happily involved in this pirate community.

However, there's ways you can support a dev without spending a single dollar.

• Leave reviews on this site and any other you come across
• Follow and like social media accounts such as twitter
• Recommend the game on other sites or to friends who you don't mind knowing you're a pervert

There's businesses who spend good money on advertisement. Unfortunately, advertisement avenues are heavily limited when it's adult content. If you like a game and want to support the dev, non-financial efforts really goes a long way. Something like 0.5% of players actually pledge. So rather than expecting more people to pledge, I'm more fond of the idea of simply getting more people to play

I've been trying to help out with publicising certain devs work, I also support financially where I can; I'll only support a dev if I think they are worth it.

*watches this discussion with interest*

I think this could be one of the most important questions yet asked on this forum. Certainly it's an issue I'm wrestling with myself as, by my reckoning, I can release a chapter every six weeks. Anything less than that would be a part chapter only.

*shushes again*

*finds her name being bandied about and peeks in!*


I don't think you've given me any choice in the matter

*scrunches nose* About six months if I'm honest. There's an old thread kicking around somewhere which starts in June 2018, first release was Jan 2019. Dammit man, stop making sensible points!



*noddities*



*stares at her feet and mutters reluctantly "S'pose not..."*
*pouts*


That's a rather good counterpoint of course. Not all parts of a game are fun to do and having some discipline about it does get you through those parts.




That hadn't even crossed my mind...*takes note*

*shushes again*

I'll cover this more below, but your followers/fans/cultists/Notty's bitches (whatever you want to call them) have made it quite clear to you that we are more than happy to wait for a new release. I think the main reason for this is you! You are in constant contact with us and you are always asking questions. You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty or to worry about not providing stuff on a monthly basis.

Now, onto my thoughts on the matter.
I really wish that most people would see Patreon as a support tool. I'm very lucky to be able back many developers and artists on Patreon; I only do this for those creators that I personally feel deserve the support. There are a couple that deliver monthly or sooner updates, but these are usually the artists. The whole mentality that pledging on Patreon means you are buying something and that you are entitled to something in return needs to change. I pledge to support creators, I absolutely do not expect to get something back every single month; if I thought like this, then I would only pledge in the months where there was a release or not pledge at all; after all, I can get it for free here, right?

It's been said before but the key is communication, whether that is through Patreon, through social media, on the creator's own website or on here. There are a few developers that excel in this area and I'm going to name them here because I believe they should have more support and that they release fantastic content; not everything they release is going to be to everyone's taste, but that's your decision to make. I can only make an introduction.

Those developers are: Runey Domiek Nottravis recreation Sumodeine and Philly_Games
There are more that I support, but these are in my opinion, the top developers at this time!

Not everyone can pledge on Patreon, maybe they don't have spare money, maybe they live in a country that Patreon doesn't support. But, you can also support your favourite creator by just sharing the game, telling your friends about it or writing a review. But, most of all, get involved! Ask the dev a question; most of them don't bite; I'm not sure about Domiek something seems a bit off there but you'll find that they are just people, like you or me (a hell of a lot more talented than me, but you get my point!). Go out there and discover and have fun!

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

In this case if a dev posted frequent progress updates, along with a possible additional form of incentive, would you still be willing to support them on a month to month basis even if they were only releasing a game build every two or three months?
Edit: I probably should have clarified that in addition to releasing builds on a two or three month schedule, the releases themselves do have more content, since at this point paying at least 5$ for 10-20 minutes of content each month seems like kind of a ripoff to me.

Just a quick question... were you expecting such a detailed response from so many people?

 

[Wol]

Just a quick question... were you expecting such a detailed response from so many people?

Yes actually, this entire thread question was inspired by an earlier thread I was reading.

 

[Hadley]

At the end of the day quality is what matters not the release schedule. Look at Milfy City, the Dev hasn't released anything since 6 Month but people still support him.

 

[Dependable_223]

Actually it is less then 6 month since he took 3 month break too. so right now it is only 3 month thing

 

[Adabelitoo]

First than anything I will say that I'm not supporting anyone in Patreon because I don't thave the money to do it. I released a game a weeks ago and if I make money on Patreon with that game, I already know which developers I will support and how much I will pledge, but so far I'm not supporting anyone else. With that being said:

As a player: I wouldn't mind if the updates are weekly/bi-montly/montly/etc as long as I enjoy the final product. The problem here is that 95% of us here agree that montly releases and quality don't usually go together.

As a developer: I understand if people thinks "Yay! An update every week! More updates means more content!" But 90% of those players don't have any idea about what it takes to make a game, some of them may even think that a developer spends the same amount of time doing an update than the amount of time a player spends playing it.

 

[Buddawg]

Tbh, not really. I know its pretty much standard all around. But.. There is no way Im paying more than I do for AAA games, for a game that isnt done, and might never be. And the second you think youve paid enough, and stop payments, you loose out. Dont have a game, dont have access, dont get anything for having paid. Patreon is pretty much a hellpit for the customer. I understand how good it can be for a developer, but Im not one.

One time donation, sure.. I wouldnt mind. As long as it includes full access for the entirety of the development. Aka an actual game purchase.

Monthly.. forget it, not with what you get back. Monthly payments, im pretty much expecting excellent work, fully dedicated developer. Fantastic storyline, and good engine and grafics... I would expect WOW level of game (at its release) for monthly payments. That does include playtime/content and replayability.