About the Patron version, $10 tier rewards, and other things. (Patreon)

Before getting to the meat of this post, let's talk devlogs: previously, I asked if I should continue making them. The results were mixed, but generally no one seemed to care a whole lot if I stopped making them. Instead of completely stopping, I'm going to write them less frequently. Instead of two per month, I'll write one when I feel I have something interesting to say. I will edit the tier rewards to reflect this soon.

And speaking of tier rewards, what I want is some feedback on the patreon rewards. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the $3 rewards, though I'm interested in whether anyone has any suggestions for additional benefits they'd like to see, in the patron edition of the game or otherwise. I think the patron edition is okay, but I also want to know what features might be of use to you that aren't in it. Obviously, there are limits to what I can reasonably add, but that's for me to figure out, so don't worry about it, just tell me what you'd like to see. 

And about the $10 tier, while I expect it to be a pretty small club, I feel like there's almost no real incentive for it compared to the $3 tier. Yes, they get occasional polls to help direct the game, and a spot in the game's credits, but I want to do more. I don't want to create a third edition of the game, and I don't want to tier release dates even more, as I believe both of those have serious logistical challenges that make, for example, hotfixes more difficult. In other words, they could have ramifications on the game's quality.

But there are other things I could do. I've grouped my ideas into a few general categories.

Category 1: Personal Access

I can give $10 patrons better access to me. Maybe a monthly text chat on the discord where I can talk about what I'm doing, solicit feedback, and answer questions. Or maybe just more $10-only posts where I can communicate with this group in the comments.

Category 2: Unique Game Content

I have mixed feelings about this. For one, it would force me to prioritize the modding systems to make it possible. For two, it would force me to segment content, which I don't really want to do. For three, it would probably only work for $10 patrons who play on Windows, as the content would be delivered as official mods.

Locking content is just something I'm generally resistant to. It's more for logistical than anything, but it also has other problems. I don't really want to go down this path.

Category 3: Unique Non-Game Content

I have no real ideas about what sort of content I could produce that would be interesting and fun for $10 patrons without cutting into dev time. I don't think any patron (or player) would want me to spend time I could be using to develop the game on rewards for patrons, so it would have to be something I could generate fairly quickly and easily, or otherwise fairly infrequently. But for it to feel like an actual reward instead of some slap-dash garbage that's just filling a quota, it's got to at least have a fairly high level of quality.

Some creators give out renders either in higher quality or as wallpapers, or even just totally unique assets not used in the game. I am incredibly bad and hard to please when it comes to my renders. Not only am I never happy with them, but I am constantly tweaking things. I don't have access to particularly powerful hardware either. So renders just for the game and the monthly promotional render take me a much longer time than you probably think.

I'm not sure any adult game creators do this, but I've also seen creators give out things like drafts, outlines, notes, or other by-products of the creative process. I can assure you that none of you want my notes or drafts. There is no by-product of my creative process that I would even consider interesting, let alone a "reward."

That said, if you can think of something you'd like to see or have suggestions based on other patreon campaigns you've been in, or if one of these ideas seems cool to you despite my protestations, let me know!

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Anyway, that's it for the $10 reward ideas I have. I'm interested in what you all think. I'm open to suggestions for $3 and $10 rewards, and any ideas for patron edition features you may have. I'm of course always interested in suggestions for the game in general as well, but you can make those elsewhere, it's probably best to keep this one on topic.

Please let me know what you think!