Patron Input - Adult Content - An alluring pitfall or a smutty delight? (Patreon)
Content
To all of the new Patrons, since my last post, very welcome! <3
From time to time, we have polls where you get to shape the game's direction as we advance. I'm happy to announce that this is one of those times.
Most of you know by now that these posts tend to ramble a bit as I share my raw, unfiltered thoughts with you, so here I go!
Adult Content. I've always planned to include adult content to Infinite Stars and have nude sprites for all of our characters, but now that adding the content is around the corner, I have some second thoughts.
Before diving into the issues, some things to address are that, like the romance elements we added, adult content will be entirely optional. I've envisioned the game to have a setting where players can choose if they want to see any adult content or not. This will be toggled to OFF by default, with any sexual scenes fading to black. I'd like to write these scenes in such a way that skipping them scenes won't make the story any less engaging but rather give players an optional opportunity to connect with the NPC characters. It's also not meant to be titillating just for the sake of it.
Adding the adult content to the game opens up our market to a whole new crowd of people, which is exciting. It potentially means more funding, which means faster development as I can commission more assets. It also has the potential to shift Infinite Stars into the "nett positive" domain, meaning instead of being a hobby I spend money on because I love doing it, it could become a hobby (or a job?) I love doing that pays me for the tremendous amount of time and love I pour into it. And lastly, I've written some Infinite Stars smut scenes that I haven't shared with anyone yet. While I'm SUPER self-conscious about them and anxious that it might not be any good, I did enjoy writing them. Implementing this will also allow all of you who are keen to start writing your own Infinite Stars scripts and stories to make use of these nsfw assets.
Adding sexual content will limit my marketing options for Infinite Stars, as most mainstream advertising avenues do not allow showcasing adult content. It will also alienate a small percentage of our players who aren't adults yet. Another concern is that it could have an impact on my professional career. While I don't share my identity freely, I also don't go to extensive lengths to hide it. Someone thorough with enough time will easily be able to connect the project with my professional persona. (Please don't go dox me!)
On the other hand, not adding the adult content means it will be business as usual, with the only real impact being we have art assets that we invested in that will now become obsolete. (And I'll feel a little silly for writing those smut scenes I mentioned earlier.)
I've been toying with the idea that adult content only be available to patrons. That way, it acts as a soft "age verification" check while adding additional value to all of you amazing people who support this project. A second solution would be adding the adult content as a DLC. This will allow me to market the game as usual and even bring in some additional income from DLC sales. (If I do go this route, the DLC will probably be free to Patrons.)
I feel Infinite Stars has been doing great as it is, and it's on a healthy trajectory with the month-to-month community growth. At the same time, I'm not content with it just being great. It's a passion project that I've been pouring my heart and soul into, and I want it to be the best it can possibly be...
So, over to you! Your feedback from the last Patron Input post was invaluable in helping me decide on a way forward, and I look forward to seeing the opinions, thoughts, and discussions!