Patreon

[jack1974]

So... I'm thinking about setting up a Patreon page. I know what you're thinking "this fool saw the news about that Patreon adult game making $40k/month and now wants to setup a page too"
No, it's not that. Also at least initially it wouldn't be to fund development of a hentai game.
The thing is simple:
First, feeding my pets costs me about $600-650/month (depends on currency conversion) and recently has become a bit tougher for indies. So if I could get a few extra money a month it wouldn't hurt And rarely I got people telling me to make a way to accept donation (yes, seems incredible but happened!).
Second, I get CONSTANTLY people asking for more erotic stuff. I don't want to do it on my own site or Steam, because I don't want people to publicly associate myself/my site with that. However, if I could post the "naughty stuff" in a separate site (the Patreon page obviously) things would be very different !
Third, I personally have nothing against it, rather the opposite, I consider tasteful erotica a work of art (see Milo Manara images for example).

I haven't committed myself on anything yet, but I was thinking to setup that page, so people who wanted to help can help (for a trivial sum). Then I could do what other people do and offer rewards (not necessarily all NSFW!) like wallpapers or extra/bonus/exclusive stuff (for example, the unused Nicole yuri CG that were already commissioned years ago...). Or do some sexy comics (maybe a way to continue telling Vera Blanc story could be with a comic?). Perhaps do a hentai version of one of my upcoming SMALLER games. Normal version on my site, and then the hot thing with a patch or exclusively on Patreon.

For now I definitely don't plan to use it to fun an exclusive hentai game, because making a game still takes a lot of time, so for now I don't want to do it

[Pace675]

Very interesting, and I have no issues using Patreon. And to add food for though (I know keeping Winter Wolf Label very respectable is extremely important to you), with that said. Using Patreon as a funds booster (under a different label like Black Wolf or whatever name you choose) while expanding your development areas ie more fanservice and ahem sexiness. Remember Patreon is a tool and how well it works depends on what you do with it.

First and foremost, have a set goal(s) in mind before launching it, also are there rewards for long term donations? And at what level, is line art included? The list goes on and depending on how many tiers your go for donations is what you should decide on offering at what levels. The most important of all does this include the intent of making new games with more um adult content. you have to be very precise here as not to mislead any of your potential donors.

[jack1974]

Yes of course I am planning it carefully, since the last thing I want is to mislead the potential donors (there's a reason if I haven't done any Kickstarter so far!).
I think will go with something like:
$5+ per month - see new artwork or music as I create the games (new background, sprites, etc) plus some "insider info". This basically for people who just mainly want to support me.
$10+ per month - like above but with uncensored artwork
$15+ per month - like above but with a monthly hentai wallpaper or something similar

then if I decide to go with funding for an hentai version for one of the upcoming games (of course will be possible only for some, depends on artists, etc) I'll think what to do, to be honest I'm not very expert on using Patreon ! I think it should be possible to modify the goals anytime, right?

In practice is more or less what other companies do (like Winged Cloud). Once again the goal is not to make a lot of money but to finally make some people happy and get some extra funding which in this moment could help

Also I'm not sure if I should do it under a different name or not...

[jack1974]

Another thing would be to finally have a place to put all the stuff, like images or previews, without the fear of expiring (like all the Loren 2 camp talk images for example). There won't be shortage of content even for the basic tier for sure, with all the various games in progress I have

[Pace675]

https://www.patreon.com/razzart
https://www.patreon.com/Geckosart
https://www.patreon.com/unwontedstudios

I some of the peeps I give to, Razz did a KS for her first game and now only use Patreon as a supplement (and reward for supporters same with Unwonton like free cd key a month at a certain reward teir)

I feel you about KS, I can understand the use of KS but after you launch a successful game and use KS to do all of your games that is where you will lose my support. To me KS is to help get you started, or to try something new and daring. But to pass off development costs to supporters makes for a zero responsibility company, not able to stay afloat on their own merits.

With Patreon to me, when I give it is say I support your work and I am encouraging you to do more, 'cause you got skills and deserve extra! (Lol sad thing is I tend to only support Yuri developer only, Otome and Yiao do well enough on there own and this smaller subset needs more love XD)

[jack1974]

Haha thanks for the links. I would do a bit of everything like I do with my games, so yuri/yaoi/straight/etc

[Franka]

I think it would be important to be transparent about what you're doing. When you talk about using a different name, that seems like misleading people. Of course you can use some sort of fancy extra title to make it clear that this is different from your regular fare, but I don't think it's right to deliberately obfuscate.

If you ever release a game with extra saucy content behind a paywall, you should also be prepared for the extreme backlash of anti-censorship fanatics. They're everywhere, and they're very, very loud (and often rude). Take the negative feedback you got for Loren and multiply by some tens of thousands I'd estimate.

Now, I know this would be a dream scenario, but you also need to consider that if you actually raise a fair monthly amount, you may face some pressure to also deliver something, so take care that you don't get in over your head.

Having said that, I would happily support quality erotica from Winter Wolves, whether games, images or comics. I would probably also support you for regular extras, after all I usually buy the bonus content for your games.

[jack1974]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah maybe I'll keep my name, since after all I released Loren, and there's optional nudity in that game already. So it's not like it's something I've never done before!

If you ever release a game with extra saucy content behind a paywall, you should also be prepared for the extreme backlash of anti-censorship fanatics. They're everywhere, and they're very, very loud (and often rude). Take the negative feedback you got for Loren and multiply by some tens of thousands I'd estimate.

The thing is, that I could probably get away with normal frontal nudity (with uncensoring patch) on Steam as well, but anything more explicit... nope. I wouldn't want to risk it. So Patreon could be the only way. It's not like I would hide some hot stuff already done behind a paywall, but more like I would ADD extra stuff to normal games, when possible (many artists don't do hentai images).
I guess if I gave away free keys for Steam it should probably be fine, so they get the "normal" game+extra stuff on Patreon, but not pay twice or something.

Now, I know this would be a dream scenario, but you also need to consider that if you actually raise a fair monthly amount, you may face some pressure to also deliver something, so take care that you don't get in over your head.

Yeah, though if I look at the Winged Cloud Patreon (which makes $10k/month!!! ) it's not like they do much things. In practice use that money to fund the development of their games, plus a monthly wallpaper. Maybe it's what I should do myself, and just add some extra stuff for patreon users like they do.

A few other indies I know just use it to fund their development as well, even without anything extra. Whatever I decide to do will be very upfront with it, since that's the important thing after all

[pahldus]

Also, one of the Patreons that I supported when I had the money, had a problem in that once you pledged you got access to everything at that level, even though they had not actually given any money as the pledges only go through once a month. Always make sure not to give access or material to anyone until the pledges have cleared. Otherwise people will pledge, get the access and then unpledge right before the pledge would clear. Sorry but people are jerks if they think they can get away with it.

[DarkWolf]

I never understood why you never used any of crowdfunding websites for your usual games as it seems like a very good thing for indie companies.

As for erotica I would never support such thing and can only say that I am sad that you decided to go down that way.