Pricing

[Doctor Depravity]

I'm currently working on my first game. It's going to be a 3D visual novel and it's going to be on Patreon with a monthly pledge model. What I wanted to know was, what is a good price for most people? I understand the appeal of paying less, or heck getting the game for free from here for example. But what is the general consensus? Is 5 dollars a month low enough? Is 10 reasonable or too much?

Cuz I've looked at some games, and on one hand you've got games like Dreams of Desire where it's 10 a month minimum for access, and then you've got games like Summertime Saga where it's only a dollar a month.

If you're wondering what the quality of the game will be, I'm aiming for something like Dreams of Desire, but it won't be like like that from the start because I'm making all the models and doing the texturing and animation myself, not using DAZ.

 

[lodadsaq]

5-10 is aceptable. any more and you potentielly should add more rewards or if your game is trully amazing then i guess you could but you probably best doing that from the start

 

[Doctor Depravity]

5-10 is aceptable. any more and you potentielly should add more rewards or if your game is trully amazing then i guess you could but you probably best doing that from the start

I was thinking about creating higher tiers later on, when I have the ability to provide special stuff that would warrant the higher prices.

 

[depechedNode]

If you're sure or very confident about your game then 10 looks logical (But I prefer 5), but you still need some luck or some kind of controversy to get people's attention. Patrons and fans will react very positively to goodwill of the dev, looking greedy will scare lots of possible patrons for a new dev. So never change the minimum necessity for acquiring the game. Adding higher tiers with good bonuses definitely bring much more money (best example is ICSTOR).

Also releasing the game for free after one-two weeks is also a good indicator for possible patrons.

Summertime Saga's model will not work for most new devs IMO, at least for a time. But if you go that way and if you have a very good game, it can cause a chain effect with huge amount of patrons.

Good luck with your game.

 

[Doctor Depravity]

If you're sure or very confident about your game then 10 looks logical (But I prefer 5), but you still need some luck or some kind of controversy to get people's attention. Patrons and fans will react very positively to goodwill of the dev, looking greedy will scare lots of possible patrons for a new dev. So never change the minimum necessity for acquiring the game. Adding higher tiers with good bonuses definitely bring much more money (best example is ICSTOR).

Also releasing the game for free after one-two weeks is also a good indicator for possible patrons.

Summertime Saga's model will not work for most new devs IMO, at least for a time. But if you go that way and if you have a very good game, it can cause a chain effect with huge amount of patrons.

Good luck with your game.

Yeah I would never increase. I'm thinking 5 will be a good choice, and thanks so much

 

[DarthSeduction]

I'm of two minds on this. Having launched my first team project, we decided to go with 4 tiers, $1, $5, $10, and $20. I personally think it's too much to ask for the latter, however, in spite of the fact that the only thing they get above the $10 tier is a special render for them each month, we have more $20 patrons than $10.

What's great about our tiers though is it allows you as the consumer, to decide what you think it's worth to you to support this. If you think it's worth a dollar, fine, we are more than happy with that dollar. If you think it's worth 5, awesome, thank you so much for your support, and so on and so forth. So that, I guess is my suggestion. I'm of the belief that these games probably shouldn't be worth so much, but, if the consumer is willing to put that much into it, then who am I to complain. I do suggest, that the 10 and higher tiers be given the opportunity to join a discord server with you. It's a small gesture that doesn't cost you anything and allows you to interact with them. Such interaction creates dedicated fans. Faerin, of Man of the House, has such a discord and I would attribute the bulk of his success to his accessibility, since it's definitely not story and gameplay.

 

[Doctor Depravity]

I'm of two minds on this. Having launched my first team project, we decided to go with 4 tiers, $1, $5, $10, and $20. I personally think it's too much to ask for the latter, however, in spite of the fact that the only thing they get above the $10 tier is a special render for them each month, we have more $20 patrons than $10.

What's great about our tiers though is it allows you as the consumer, to decide what you think it's worth to you to support this. If you think it's worth a dollar, fine, we are more than happy with that dollar. If you think it's worth 5, awesome, thank you so much for your support, and so on and so forth. So that, I guess is my suggestion. I'm of the belief that these games probably shouldn't be worth so much, but, if the consumer is willing to put that much into it, then who am I to complain. I do suggest, that the 10 and higher tiers be given the opportunity to join a discord server with you. It's a small gesture that doesn't cost you anything and allows you to interact with them. Such interaction creates dedicated fans. Faerin, of Man of the House, has such a discord and I would attribute the bulk of his success to his accessibility, since it's definitely not story and gameplay.

I don't know much about that aspect of this whole thing. What exactly do you do with the discord server? I only know that it's a place for gamers to talk to each other. How often do you go on the special server to talk? How long of a session do you go online for?

 

[DarthSeduction]

I'm always online. Our discord is pretty quiet so far, because we only have like 4 patrons on that tier, but for instance, I'm always on the F95 discord. And since I'm always online, if I'm tagged I'll usually respond. That might change as we pick up speed, but it's really not hard to be around to answer questions and interact with players

 

[Amanda Carter]

Being a long time patreon supporter, i say 1-5-10-20$ tiers are acceptable. I generally go with 10$ for the games i love but there are some ppl who will pay more for special tiers. 10$ to get the latest version seems fine to me for a new game. Don't forget, the market is saturated right noe.

Also, one of the most important things for a new developer is to be active at messages. Post your ideas, organize votes, share a few new renders every week, show people you are serious.

 

[Doctor Depravity]

Being a long time patreon supporter, i say 1-5-10-20$ tiers are acceptable. I generally go with 10$ for the games i love but there are some ppl who will pay more for special tiers. 10$ to get the latest version seems fine to me for a new game. Don't forget, the market is saturated right noe.

Also, one of the most important things for a new developer is to be active at messages. Post your ideas, organize votes, share a few new renders every week, show people you are serious.

Thanks man, you gave me some good ideas