Reinbach patreon

A Heavy Day, and Looking Ahead

🕑 Added 2023-04-04 00:44:41 +0000 UTC

Comments

Deus

One more storefront option to consider that I haven't seen mentioned is affect3d.com. They sell adult comics, 3D animation, and games, so that might be a good fit.

Rascal

I wonder whether there are other cases of rejected submissions that were able to get some sort of appeal. I admit I haven't researched this. It just seems so very brutal for Steam to reject without offering some means to re-submit. I wonder if it's because the related comic would still feature the high-school if any game fans went searching?

Patrick Furlong

That would track. Still sucks though, the production value and story of yours is so much better than the others I’ve seen.

Reinbach

Thanks! And yeah we'll figure something out! :)

Reinbach

Much appreciated! :)

Reinbach

For sure, we'll check them out! :)

Reinbach

Not in our case, they quite explicitly told us to bugger off and not come back.

Reinbach

Well word is some of the reviewers weren't wild about how Steam backtracked on its "no porn" policy a couple years back, and we may have been lucky enough to get one such reviewer. Just an idea though, I've got nothing to back that up.

Reinbach

For sure! You might be on to something there. :)

Reinbach

I hope so, and thanks!

Reinbach

Thanks! :)

Reinbach

Thank you!

Reinbach

Maybe? Hard to say? It took us months just to apply this one time. Seems they thought of that, and made the submission process as big a pain in the ass as possible to combat it.

Reinbach

Thank you!

Reinbach

Yeah it seems we could have put a few fake mustaches over a few things. But still, if that were the case, you'd think they'd let us have the option to change some names and try again.

Reinbach

I don't know about raising Steam hell. If they say our game is too perverse, I can't do a lot to argue. It's a porn game, it was SUPPOSED to be perverse.

Reinbach

Might be worth a go, I personally have been using Gumroad for years and haven't had any trouble, but I may just be one of the lucky ones.

Reinbach

For sure, itch does seem to be the next one worth exploring.

Reinbach

Either way, Steam's purposely vague TOS leaves them the option to ban whatever they feel like for any reason, (USUALLY they don't give a fuck what ends up on their platform until Twitter backlash ensues) so our hands are fairly tied on this one.

Reinbach

Good to hear! And you're right, I guess Steam isn't really known for a ton of adult stuff.

Reinbach

Well you may be on to something there. Kal and I are brainstorming on what else we can do with the assets from the game.

Reinbach

For sure! Considering the very first person who was shown our game who wasn't looking for it was so repelled that they swung a ban hammer, that may be a sign that it was never meant for a mainstream audience anyway.

Reinbach

Not yet, but we're exploring all options atm.

Reinbach

Thanks for the heads up! :)

Reinbach

For sure, we're going to explore our options here.

Reinbach

Thank you!

Reinbach

Thank you!

Reinbach

I'm sure Gabe is too busy rolling up and smoking hundred dollah bills to care about us little perverts lol. XD

Reinbach

Hopefully not. We're working on other ways to sell it. :)

ScuzzBucket

What else gets on Steam? I don’t play VNs so I don’t know what they allow.

Graci

That sucks really hard, specially the perma ban without a real explanation. Try Itch.io, maybe GOG or humble bundle. Also do not give up! I'm pretty sure you´ll find a way forward

Doorknob22

That sucks, but also highly expected. For Steam *any* school settings is huge red flag. I've been supporting you with dollars for years, today I also offer a virtual hug as well.

Kyman201

I'm gonna echo all the other people here noting that yeah, that sucks hardcore and you should take some time you need after this. Also going to echo how this rejection is fucking WEIRD, given the kind of filth and far shadier stuff that goes on Steam. Itch.io isn't nearly as big as Steam but it's a platform that I think will accept the game, so that's an alternative at least.

Rascal

There’s no appeal process at all?

Patrick Furlong

That sucks. I'm quite curious as to what their logic is. I've gotten other Spicy Caliente games from steam. One in particular is obviously set in a high school though the dialog clumsily refers to it as "college" and there are even incest overtones though the game dodges this by allowing the player to define the "relationships" between the characters living in the same house. There are even relations between the student and teacher characters at the "college". Perhaps "demonic" possession bothered someone there... does steam have a Christian streak no one has noticed? (I'm mostly joking, but who knows)

ScuzzBucket

Is there an appeals process or a way to request more information? As for me, seeing more pages, pinups and commissions would be nice, but I’m not sure how lucrative those are compared to games. I was to understand the game had been a big help for your Patreon numbers. Maybe, uhhh… smaller games? Like one offs to keep it going and maintain a Patreon base?

HungryOuroboros

Don't give up! The game's quality speaks for itself, and there are other reputable platforms. If you put it out there, people will definitely buy it :)

eF..cz

Keep up the good work and don't look left or right. As for looking for the store, as MrDisturbed mentioned above, GOG could be a good choice.

Wiern

I am sorry to hear this, hope you will not get too discouraged. Beacause honestly, while this sucks, I absolutely love your game, and consider it to be one of the best western ones ever, and I think it would be an absolute shame if you decided that this is it and did not want to make any other ones. In all cases, we stay to support, your content is great man!

keithbungle

This is a wildly irresponsible suggestion, but what if you completely re-title the game as College Super Adventure or whatever, wait about six months, and have someone else submit it as a new game? It's not ideal and may not work, but Steam is such a huge faceless entity that you never know.

Lukas West

I am so sorry to hear, Rein. I would be crushed too and I hope you and Kal are alright. I know this hurts but think of it like small roadblock I know you will push through and be back on track in no time!

Andrew Edelstein

This must be why so many visual novels have the MC stuffing their books in a hallway locker at their "college", which is run by a "principal", and has "professors" who can give "detention".

MrDisturbed

GOG have started selling Adult games and if you get on there and raise enough hell you might get steam to give you a second look

25shadow25

I know some artists stopped putting their works on gumroad because of fraudulent payments.

alex baker

Have you tried putting the game on gumroad

Darryl Williams

In the deceptive case, add a high resolution image or two and call it something new, TRWDeluxe. You know, three months later or whatever. Otherwise, putting my hat in for itch.io. It's the only other of the alternatives mentioned I've actually downloaded anything from.

Squid Hills

I was in the Discord server when Kal came in and dropped this bomb on us. The whole thing sucks mega. Have you considered reaching out to other H-game creators who have their games up on Steam? I wonder if your experience was similar to any of theirs or if yours is unique. That whole "you may not re-submit this even if you make changes and get rid of the things we don't like" sounds very odd to me. Do indie creators only get one shot at getting in, or did you get a reviewer who has some kind of hate-on for H-games?

Vernacular Ham

Have you considered store fronts like itch.io? I also feel like moving towards games and “selling” them via Patreon and smaller stores like itch could still be very successful as I think you have an audience here and adding games will only grow that audience. Also I just don’t know how many gamers really go to steam for “adult” content. It’s the goto for games, but adult content there tends to be a gross trash fire of low quality garbage. It’s certainly not something I use to discover quality games like TRW.

Lord of Nightmares

Ouch. From what I know of the Steam process it mostly sounds like you got the 1 reviewer who had it out against you if they aren't allowing any sort of alterations., As you say there are plenty of other far more sketchy games already on Steam. There are other platforms to look at, but your biggest push is probably going to have to be through a private website, discords, patreon and other stuff. As for future games... while I was not in exactly this situation I was part of a company that produced a game all the way up to release state when the distributor pulled the rug out from under us. At that point all you can really do is ask yourself should you let that one instance dictate your future or do you still want to make games? Take on what this has taught you (That distributors are pricks) and try to avoid those pitfalls the next time around, just because they rejected this game doesn't mean they will the next. If your art-style wasn't so distinctive I would encourage you to rebuild the game, make the alterations to the high school references, rebrand the company and then resubmit it, in about 6 months. You might get it through with a different reviewer or by trying to sneak upload a tame early access build that you can then reshape over time.

Snizzlefit

As much as that really sucks you might honestly be better off. Steam is such a dumpster fire of indie games being spewed out all the time yours would just get buried under the flood. Other, more specialized sites like the ones people are suggesting will definitely give you a better short of standing out and way less fear of being arbitrarily rejected. And it also frees you up to explore elements that might not be allowed on Steam but are on other websites. Most places that sell porn games and whatnot are way more lenient and open minded anyways so you won't have to compromise any possible visions. Or at the very least it'll be way less likely! Which is always a good thing in my book!

Vylon Delta

Have you tried submitting the game to Fakku or New Grounds?

Malcolm Tent

Maybe a zoom function for the mobile port? I'm sure people would love to be able to enjoy the art up close in any case, since a mobile screen would be smaller. Still I'd definitely download a mobile version, I think the game would do really well on the app store.

kaldonis

There's not an official mobile version, I know some people have made their own mobile ports. However, I can make a mobile app version, but as far as I can tell from the documentation, the accurate of where you need to click could be affected and we've got some very small places to click with a mouse let alone fingers.

Strategist G Bu Shi

If Steam won't take you, then might recommended trying, FAKKU, Kagura Games, or JAST USA. They all have store fronts of their own specialized in to selling adult them games.

ElysianReign

Honeslty itch.io might be solution as well as fakku like someone stated above to just have the game itself available I know it won't get the exposure like steam would but there are still options available

Daniel Schwartz

Absolute horseshit. I'm so sorry that you have to deal with these fools.

Malcolm Tent

I don't think I've checked but is there a mobile version? Have you guys considered taking it direct to the app store? Might need to add in some ads (billboards in the street or posters of something in the background), but you could go in that direction and then just do your marketing personally.

Tristram Wulfschlaeger

While I have no constructive suggestions, I can still say; chin up, you will find a path forward.

PhantomZone

Damn, all the potential money they could've made, gone

kaldonis

thanks for the suggestion, not heard of that one.

kaldonis

I'm looking into alternative sights tomorrow, Itch.io was one of them. There may be more I just need to get my head around what's happened.

kaldonis

I'm looking into alternative sights tomorrow, Itch.io was one of them.

Licorice Lain

What a fucking knife to the gut. Some mods really do think they be some hot shit.

kaldonis

I wish we could, the email stated the app is banned, and cannot be resubmitted even if we make adjustments. It would be simple for me to find all the references and change them too.

kaldonis

I wish we could, the email stated the app is banned, and cannot be resubmitted even if we make adjustments.

NKL

Fucking hell, all the time and effort, straight to the bin...

kaldonis

Afraid so, the email stated that even if we made adjustments, the app is banned and cannot be resubmitted. I wish they would tell us more than they did, it's just crazy, I can't even ask why in detail since they closed the ticket down.

GeminiDragon

Maybe Fakku?

Roto

Yeah, the High School bit is very annoying as there are multiple NSFW games (some I even own) that take place in a high school with the names filed off. Have you considered a Steam version with the HS renamed to community college?

Pedro Ruiz

I know it's a bullshit cop out, but college setting?

Adler No

Getting banned because of a high school setting is such hypocritical bullshit when there’s other games with way worse stuff in them on Steam already.

Kamenjojo

Put it on itch.io? I mean there is no storefront with the reach of steam, but at least get a a distribution channel open. sucks that this happened.

Jon

Bullshit all around. All the porn games im still being suggested on Steam, all of which hilariously low quality and this gets perma rejected.

Merjia

God damn. So sorry to hear that man. It’s absolutely hypocritical too as you said given the content of visual novel games on that platform. AND how young the anime girls who appear in said games look. 🤦‍♀️

Charles Wallace

How about itch.io? They have mature games

VNOverlord

That’s very obtuse of steam. Almost ridiculous. I hope you get through this bump in the road without much hassle . I personally enjoy all your work and wish to see more.

Jon

Technically speaking Steam can ban anything they want for any reason forever. The only measures against it is to raise enough hell on Twitter and they might reconsider.