Novus
patreon
About the Future
🕑 Added 2020-09-23 23:21:09 +0000 UTCAlright, folks...I've been dreading this post. But it needs doing. I'm going to be blunt and rip the band aid off quickly, but please read all the way through. The basic truth is this:
I can't maintain my current pace for more than another month.
Many/most of you probably know that, about 5 months ago, I lost a lot of my day-job work (Covid related, like many people). Instead of crying about that, I decided to take it as an opportunity to try and make my Patreon work full-time. I had enough savings to last about six months, so I invested pretty much all of my Patreon income into getting Haven's Port up and running, and gave it my best shot.
So far, the results have been kinda...mixed.
This Patreon page DID go from around $300 a month to around $450 a month....but that's less than half of what I need it to make in order to maintain fulltime development for good. Which, given that there is just over a month left for things to improve before my deadline hits and I have to go back to looking for a new real-world job, is not a great outlook. Having to go back to only doing this as a hobby would mean a significant slashing of development time, the most likely result of which would be cutting from two-game releases a month to just one (and either alternating months or pausing development of one game until the other finished). Obviously, I don't want to do that. Unfortunately, in the words of a certain space outlaw, I have a powerful eat.
Now, the reason I'm telling all of you this, is both so you are forewarned AND because there might be things you can do to help. No, I'm not asking for more money from any of you. As far as I'm concerned all of you are already amazing for supporting me. Thank you, seriously. But what you can do, is help me spread the word about my games over the next month and a half or so. I think my games are good (I hope), but the truth is that I'm a major introvert and I am terrible at handling the marketing stuff as a result. So, how can you help? There are several ways, some SUPER EASY, and some a bit more involved.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP
Essentially, it boils down to exposure. Upvotes, Likes, Shares, and Reviews can help a lot. This is the easiest way to help out, and I'll even break it down by how much effort each option is.
- The Easiest -
If you have a Reddit account, go give the release posts for Haven's Port an uptick! I always post on the Lewdgames, NSFWGaming, and Adult Gaming Reddits. This time, as an experiment, I also posted on Hentai Bondage and Helpless Hentai reddits. The easiest way to locate the places I've put release posts is to simply View My Reddit Profile's Posts. As I never post anything except release notices(even if I comment on other stuff), it's not exactly hard to find them :-).
- A Tiny Bit More Work -
I get a big chunk of my traffic from the TF Games website. Giving my games a Like there does require you to have an account, but even if you don't have one already, it's a quick and easy registration process. However, what would help more than just a Like, are reviews. This is what makes me label this as a tiny bit more work, as TF Games requires you to make 5 posts on their forums before you can review a game. That's honestly not exactly hard, since it's easy to simply introduce yourself in the relevant thread, then make a few posts in general discussions, or even make a comment in the discussion threads for my games. You can find my games in the database here: Chastity Quest - Haven's Port - The Dungeon of Lewdity, if you are willing to make the effort.
Also in this category is the same sort of thing for F95Zone. I get considerable traffic from there as well, and upvotes/reviews for Chastity Quest and Haven's Port should help.
- Definitely More Work -
This basically covers simply discussing the game in the various places you yourself may visit regularly anyway, but which I don't have threads. I can't spend the time needed to have release posts and updated threads everywhere. The places I maintain them currently are Reddit, TF Games, F95Zone, and Fenox's Forums (a recent addition). These are the ones I've curated as the most active and thus keep them updated, something that eats up several hours a month, at least. There are literally dozens of other adult games communities out there, however, and if you happen to be a member of one...making a post to discuss/mention the existence of any of my games is obviously helpful!
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I hate badgering even my supporters for help...but everyone that likes these games has a stake here. If I'm forced to go back to a full-time job, I will have to cut development time by at least half. And I may even be forced to temporarily pause development entirely, as I look for work and settle into new contracts. As such, I felt that in this case, the greater disservice to all of you would be to NOT let you know what was going on and how you could potentially help. Sorry if you feel I'm wasting your time with this... :-(
