How to successfully get patreons and don*t land in development hell

[cockweasel]

What's the best way to gain as many supporters as possible for a project (Patreon, Subscribestar)?

A major problem for Western developers is that they are often developers, artists, and storytellers.

Japanese developers (RPG Maker!), on the other hand, are developers, artists, and storytellers all in one

And here, there are many cases where games have suffered significant quality losses or worse problems due to certain circumstances (lack of time -> money), or lack of money -> time. Everyone is probably familiar with the projects that crashed at a certain point up to versions 0.7.1, 1.2.4, and 2.3.

And one could argue that this is because this industry doesn't work on a made-to-order basis, and financial support is a problem here.

For example, a developer who obtains graphics directly from an artist, i.e., buys them, would likely be significantly faster because they are outsourcing the process.

Summertime Saga is a example where a game literally had not just a small indy team but a progessional enviroment, but that means someone payed everyone of the teamguys a good amount of cash to bind them on the project.
And other projects had that to.

Other example for the opposite Akkabur. Guy didnt actually outsource projects and made all on his own.

BTW: ART COSTS MONEY. NUMBER1 IF THERE IS NO AI-SLOP.

 

[Terri]

I agree 100%.
Most Western devs are really torn between roles - coding, art, story, marketing - and end up either burning out or seeing the game fall apart after the 0.7-1.2 stage. Japanese RPG Maker devs, on the other hand, often just shoulder the whole load themselves and somehow make it work.
The most important thing I’ve noticed about creators who actually see growth on Patreon or Substack isn't about achieving perfection, but simply about not disappearing. It’s about regular updates - even small ones - a Discord where people feel heard, and a decent demo that’s free to try out. Everything else is secondary.