Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

[Zepheral]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Yeah, porn sites and porn stars have official twitter accounts. Heck, even professional escorts do.

EDIT: On another note, I guess tumblr has a fairly healthy porn-y circuit.

That , Instagram or Facebook. Maybe other forums like the legend of krystal.

 

[Cappy]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Legendofkrystal is alright if you're making a flash game, but if it isn't flash it likely won't get as many views. But if I hadn't made it clear with my previous post, when it comes to fetish games having a thread on two-three different places can get the publicity ball rolling, ESPECIALLY if you hold off on posting until your game has some considerable content. That generates a lot of traction, because normally newly posted stuff in development starts with practically nothing in it whatsoever, with huge plans for the future.

Pretty much every time a reasonably worked on game gets posted that has graphics and sexual content to speak of, that isn't miniscule, it seems to me like they get a lot of favourable attention and support. If you post it like every other tom dick and harry with no erotic content, and like three pages of writing with maybe one or two cgi images, it's pretty much just an annoyance to most of anybody who bothers checking it out.

 

[Paladox]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Sounds like I should wait until I have the 3rd chapter/act complete in FSA before I go around starting new threads in more forums. At least by then the storyline will have some conclusion to it, though it won't really be complete until I've finished the 4th act.

 

[Cappy]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

I'd say even if your game is a quarter of the way finished it would be better than average. Unfortunately a lot of people get big plans in their head and want to share it with the world, and then disappoint people by showing very barebone proof of concepts. If it's just an idea, anyone could come up with one, it's the prototype they're wanting to see. Essentially, a good hook is to have a bit of pay-off in your first released version along with a solid example of how the game works, so if it's a game that has all the good stuff at the end that's a wee bit difficult for actively viewed development imo.

 

[Paladox]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Yeah, the prototype threads really bother me. It always seems to me like they're basically asking other people to make some wild crazy game for them. Alternatively, they could basically be saying, "Hey, this was my idea first!" in case they want to be a big time rogue some day and claim someone else's game. Hopefully that wouldn't float in court.

I have a ton of game concepts, but I would feel like a complete ignoramus for posting any of them without any actual gameplay. If I did post any of them, it would be to throw them away in some "game ideas" thread or such, in case someone else wanted to make a game out of something I had abandoned.

I've discovered throughout the years that it's really a bad idea to start new projects before you finish the first one. When you do that, there's a BIG chance that you'll never go back to it. I guess it works for some people, but definitely not me. I've never finished anything before, and I'm determined to make sure I do so with FSA.

 

[Cappy]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

I'm glad that you've learned to take on that mindsight. Honestly speaking I'm not much of a creator myself, but I've watched the development blogs of a lot of game creators and listened to a lot of interviews and read a lot of various things here and there, both because I'm a degenerate who likes porn games and because I like the idea of the development process. I just want to say, that whenever I've seen developers take on that mind set without cutting corners they end up with things that they can be proud of. Even if not the first time, certainly once they've gotten more experience under their belt. Though maybe I'm a biased source.

If some day I learn to use a relatively simple engine I might make a text porn game someday, seeing as the standards are relatively low in some places with high demand. If I add some tasteful pictures for effect it could stand up to certain other contenders quite favourably in some niche sectors of the pornoverse. Especially now that it seems flash porn games are in a decline for being released. Maybe not though.

Either way I wish you best of luck with FSA, it seems to me like you've already had quite a bit of feedback from the size of the thread so clearly people are interested in it.

 

[Changer]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Yeah, the prototype threads really bother me. It always seems to me like they're basically asking other people to make some wild crazy game for them. Alternatively, they could basically be saying, "Hey, this was my idea first!" in case they want to be a big time rogue some day and claim someone else's game. Hopefully that wouldn't float in court.

I wouldn't be too quick to assume maliciousness in posting an idea early on to "call dibs". I'd less assume it was to be like a patent troll, and more to avoid a situation of working on a game "in secret" for a long time only to have something very similar come out or be announced first.

Though, depending on how niche your market is, that may not always be incredibly likely to happen.

 

[Cappy]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Honestly speaking if the exact same game concept is made by two different people they'll probably receive just as much attention if not more. People tend to settle into niches and rely on them eventually, so if the games are good they'll be received well. Assuming we're talking about porn games of course.

 

[Paladox]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

The concepts I have are either too unique or too much trouble for anyone else to make, so I doubt that I would ever have anything to worry about. Game devs in general are a fairly lazy lot.

Plus, even if the overall concept happened to be very similar the characters would be wildly different. I'm still skeptical of people starting such threads though. It reminds me of roleplay threads when they start talking about wild fantastical features that couldn't possibly make it into a game. I often think they just want to put their idea out there in the hope that someone else will make it. I think most people would rather make their own story though, rather than being guided by a taskmaster.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

If you're asking yourself "should I be posting my work on this site?" then there's only three questions you should be asking yourself before you post there;

1) Do people post on it?
2) Does the site allow adult work/posts?
3) Do I have my work at a presentable level that someone can go to these links I'm providing and be impressed by my game?

If yes to all, then post on the site. You could have the greatest game in the world and if people don't know about it, very few people will ever discover it, or play it.

In the example below, you're the guy in the black suit, the wallet is your game, and the guy you're slapping in the face is all the websites that fit those three criteria.

I realize that within the context of the show, this is used as a derogatory, negative example, but it really IS how you have to network if you want to get your stuff out there. Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, ULMF, Hongfire, many other forums, so on. Heck, even search out forums that aren't primarily hentai games, but they ALLOW adult topics. Some of these forums can even bring in higher amounts of attention than any of the aforementioned sites depending on the site!

 

[Pervy]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

The concepts I have are either too unique or too much trouble for anyone else to make, so I doubt that I would ever have anything to worry about. Game devs in general are a fairly lazy lot.

Plus, even if the overall concept happened to be very similar the characters would be wildly different. I'm still skeptical of people starting such threads though. It reminds me of roleplay threads when they start talking about wild fantastical features that couldn't possibly make it into a game. I often think they just want to put their idea out there in the hope that someone else will make it. I think most people would rather make their own story though, rather than being guided by a taskmaster.

I'm leaving my game unlocked, primarly for new authors to take a peek and perhaps get an idea of how I do some stuff, but if anyone thinks they can take my game idea and make it better than I, feel invited. .. I heartily doubt this.

*chuckles at Hentaiwriter* Heh, social networking is so much work.. and so social. brrr..

 

[nightshad]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Long as the sex is part of the story. Like from Game of Thrones, Loren the Amazon Princess, Dragon Age : Origins.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

*chuckles at Hentaiwriter* Heh, social networking is so much work.. and so social. brrr..

Yeah, one of the critical errors that a lot of indie groups do with marketing is that they DO successfully spread their stuff everywhere... and then they lose all personalization/humanity to what they're doing/making.

You gotta reply to people frequently and fast, and you've got to genuinely care about every single individual person and message to the best of your ability.

 

[Changer]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

Yeah, one of the critical errors that a lot of indie groups do with marketing is that they DO successfully spread their stuff everywhere... and then they lose all personalization/humanity to what they're doing/making.

You gotta reply to people frequently and fast, and you've got to genuinely care about every single individual person and message to the best of your ability.

It can be difficult to write unique things to say about the same thing. Especially if you also get the same comments. So you're replying on the same topic about the same thing you've replied to a bunch of times. I've probably spent more time than I should worrying about my phrasing and if I'd already said a specific sentence to someone else recently. XD

 

[Architect]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

I've worked on-and-off on indie adult video games (or "sex games" as we're calling them) for several years.

I never made money off them. Or rather, I never attempted to do so.

I think if you received money for doing it, you would be able to pay for original artwork and pay staff like programmers and writers to work on your stuff with you. This would raise the overall quality of your work, but there's a dangerous element that comes with it - that you make games for the sake of making money and not for the sake of making the game itself. If that makes sense.

You can see the main adult game market (from Japan) as an example of this. They get inundated with a whole lot of low-quality adult games that basically get churned out, one after the other, like a factory process, with no real gameplay value. Its really just a poor excuse for a CG set to pretend to be a video game. Every now and then there comes a gem from a dedicated developer, but that's rare.

When you work indie, you really can invest yourself into seeing your own personal vision come to fruition without outside influences. But, you'll end up doing it like I do, as a hobby, because it won't pay the bills and you have to devote countless hours to something that basically amounts to just passion and a desire to create a game that people will enjoy.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

I think if you received money for doing it, you would be able to pay for original artwork and pay staff like programmers and writers to work on your stuff with you. This would raise the overall quality of your work, but there's a dangerous element that comes with it - that you make games for the sake of making money and not for the sake of making the game itself. If that makes sense.

I disagree with this; there has long been this stigma, for whatever reason (primarily in the Western world) that money = absolute corruption/destruction of quality for whatever it gets involved with.

Many people believe that say, a band that gets a record contract suddenly "sucks" or has "sold out", or that an artist that doesn't starve for their work "must be in it for just the money" and therefore cannot do quality work.

I see it the other way around; those who are able to live comfortably and not in poor health because their work is paying for them to live comfortably, are much more likely to put out actual quality work, IF the person THEMSELVES is inclined to WANTING to put out quality work to begin with.

To clarify, I don't think money ITSELF corrupts and creates these "shovelware games", it's more that the people behind the games themselves, with or without money, have no real desire to put out quality work or do interesting concepts, and since there are far more people out there who don't really care about the quality of their work so long as they get paid for it, the stigma arises (due to a majority of people like this) that "money = drop in quality/interesting games".

There are definitely indie developers out there that make ridiculous $$$ and in turn, they use that $$$ to make quality, unique, interesting games; money, by a long shot IMO, doesn't affect or downgrade the quality of a game. It's the people behind the games that do that.

 

[chrisroxxx]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

The thing about money is this, once you get funded by others you kinda have to incorporate their wishes/believes/wants, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as 'hentaiwriter' pointed out in the previous post, it may even result in higher quality work, but there is also the danger that an artists who is getting funded mainly by his followers falls into a cycle of just pleasing his audience and in the process loses lots of his passion and creativity.

I think it's a pretty individual/personal thing, though! Are you able to cope with whatever your followers expect from you for the money they pay? Or don't you even wanna test your strength of character and thus abandon the thought of getting paid for whatever you create in the first place?

Another example of artists actively limiting their influx of 'customers', ima just take some picture artists from h-foundry as an example. Lots of them have lists of certain fetishes they absolutely won't do in their profile section. So it would be pretty rash to say, just in-it for the money, since if that was the case they won't even list things they won't do!

Another good example might be 'butcha-u' I feel he produced a lot of original work up to 2011 and from then on it was only fanservice and dull plotlines, luckily, lately I feel he produces lots of good work with interesting characters and storylines...

 

[Changer]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

My way of thinking is; your followers and patrons probably follow you because they like what you make already. While it's good to engage with them, and consider their feedback, you probably don't need to worry too much that their continued support is contingent on following every one of their suggestions to the letter. (In fact, once you get enough patrons it'd be rather impossible to follow every suggestion at the same time)

 

[HentaiWriter]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

The thing about money is this, once you get funded by others you kinda have to incorporate their wishes/believes/wants

Not at all, actually. If we were, say, being invested in by investors (like signing a contract with our investors where they own 51% of the game or something of that sort), then you'd be absolutely right.

However, Patreon isn't about investment and ROI, it's about support; it's more like say, PBS, where you give them some money to keep the television show on the air (in this case, to aid in completion of the project), and in return, you get benefits like a book or CD or clothing (in this case, a discount on the full game's price, your name in the credits/background, so forth).

There are many things that are CONSTANTLY requested of us (adding futa, adding yuri, adding bestiality) that we simply won't do for this game, either because Triangulate doesn't want it or because all three of us don't want it in this particular game. For other games we're working on, sure, yuri and futa might be fine, but that's again of our own choice. (Never bestiality though, haha.)

That said, there ARE things that are requested of us that we DO add, but that's because we also, as a team, genuinely feel they're good ideas and would improve the game without messing up what we want to do with the game; it's not because we feel forced to do these things or required to do them.

Being a Patron means that you've got the person making the game's attention, especially since you're likely getting to test the game before the public and thus have a unique perspective on how the game feels, and we take all feedback/critique seriously, but again, we won't change things with the game unless we, as a team, feel it needs to be changed; the main influence from feedback from Patrons is bringing issues to our attention we didn't previously consider or notice, and then yeah, so on, I'm repeating myself at this point.

 

[chrisroxxx]

Re: Is there money in sex games? Is YOUR money in sex games?

As I was writing way down in my post, I truly believe it's a kinda individual/personal/strength of character thing if funding or just working to get more followers is starting to overshadow what you originally intended to do.

And as I was hinting even further down it's the artitsts' choice if they wanna expose themselves to that kind of thing/pressure or not, so I can clearly understand people/artists that just decide to not take any money when it comes to their own little/big projects/works.