BBBen AIF
patreon
Release strategy for Lord Goblin
🕑 Added 2022-09-28 23:50:37 +0000 UTCI imagine some of you are curious about how we're releasing this game.
It's different to my other Patreon
If you're familiar with me then you probably know I've got another lewd game Patreon campaign over at www.patreon.com/bbben where I'm currently developing Pervert Action: Timelapse, and where I've previously released several other finished games.
Over there I make games by myself. Apart from voice acting and occasional small contributions, it's a one-man-band. Developing that way is very different to working with a team, and my games there are very different in a number of ways to Lord Goblin. (Although there's some similarities, too, of course.) Because of that, the release strategy will be different here.
We may change the tier levels later on
I kept prices low at the start for many reasons, but the plan is for this game to become very big with a lot of content. The game costs quite a bit of money and labour to develop and the team deserves to be paid for their efforts, I'm sure you agree, and there's been inflation since a $5 tier first became the "standard" for a 2D game.
I don't quite know what this will look like yet, mind you. If I do shuffle up the tiers I'll let people already on a tier keep their old rewards, and when I do that I might be able to make a new, lower, "tip jar" tier, too.
Steam
We are planning to release the game on Steam, most likely in early access, once we feel there's enough content in it to avoid players buying it and then giving it a thumbs down because "Waaaaagh! No content!"
Steam releases will be at a higher, one-time price level and will likely include content later than our Patreon releases.
Right now we don't plan to distribute Steam codes on Patreon. Backers here on Patreon will get a current build of the game without any kind of DRM or platform associated with it.
There will likely be some releases on other platforms - first up Itch.io, but after that I can't say right now. Steam is still the focus of our "store front" releases, while Patreon is the focus of our crowdfunding campaign.
I'll be talking more about what the actual game will include next month, but if you have any thoughts or questions about any of this, let me know in the comments below!
Comments
BBBen AIF
They might be small enough to escape notice. Steam's just a big store front.
Frank Kuschmann
Fortunately Itch.io is still freely accessible to us Germans, as I have already bought something for adults there. Let's see how much longer. But I don't think they will let themself blackmail by our authorities, like Steam.
BBBen AIF
Sadly, yes, I know Steam won't sell NSFW games in Germany. I even know German developers who can't access their own games on Steam. Hopefully eventually that will change, but in the meantime we also have Patreon, and I'll be making it available on Itch.io (although I don't know if that works for Germany either).
Frank Kuschmann
So I just get the games for adults that I want to play, from other providers, as long as that is still possible. I mean, our authorities will certainly not let up until they have blackmailed all these free providers, as they did with Steam. In this case, I have to reorient myself again. I do not allow myself to be treated as a child by our authorities. No way!
Frank Kuschmann
Although you may know this fact already I will tell you this regardless. If you release the game uncensored on Steam, you will definitely not get any buyers from Germany. The only way for players from Germany to access erotic games at Steam is if they are censored in such a way that they are youth-free. However, you would then have to offer a P18+ patch outside of Steam, as unfortunately only very few game developers do so far. The only ones I know are Kagura Games, Winged Cloud and recently Shiravune. But these three also have their own websites, where they provide the Steam DLC's for free download. This is also the reason that I hardly buy any games at Steam anymore. I hate any censorship like the plague because I had to live in a dictatorship for 30 years, where all kinds of censorship prevailed.
