Post by RyenSaotome in Pay what you want.

Viewing post in Pay what you want.

It's interesting that I'm at the point where people ask me to add optional payment methods to a free game. :D
My biggest problem with it was that "$0 or more" sounds as if it will scare off some people that don't want to select $0 even if it is available and thus lowering the player base. I also need to check the payment and tax systems of itch.io first to know if I can even use it.

Btw, it's possible to make a pledge on patreon and cancel it immediately, so it doesn't need to be a continuous payment. ;)

I'm always happy to hear people enjoy the game so much. <3

Maxime Martyr6 years ago (1 edit)

This is the point of Itch's "pay what you want" system exactly. People pay if and what they want and can, as you rightly said, this is an optional payment feature, it doesn't force anything on anyone, the game is still available free as long as you allow anyone to freely enjoy it and leave to them the choice to reward you if they want/can. ;-)

Hey, my friend, did you actually download a game available free from Itch? Because I often do and I can tell you that it doesn't go as you describe it, there is no "0$" to select, when you click Download Now, Itch says "This game is free but the developer accepts your support by letting you pay what you think is fair for the game." then the player has 2 options, either click on "No thanks, just take me to the downloads" if they don't want/can't pay or pay what they want and can if they want and can pay. The point is that Itch makes clear that the game is free and that the player is free to pay what they want if they want/can. It works more like a spontaneous donation than a payment per say. :-)

Also, Itch's "pay what you want" system applies to Itch as well as each developer is free to choose if they want and how much they want to share of their income, the payment feature from developers to Itch is just as optional as from players to developers, this is what I call freedom and why I love Itch so much. ^L^

I don't want to just give you some of my money, I want to buy my own copy of Renryuu Ascension, this exchange is meaningful to me. Moreover, I don't like the patreon system which gives favor to people who pay over people who don't pay, this system creates inequality between players who pay and players who don't pay, making the game not really free as players who pay get more attention and get more out of it than players who don't pay, even worse, the game's development itself is influenced by players who pay, meaning that the game is influenced by money, this is no different from being influenced by a publisher who funds the development so this is not really indie development to me, I don't like this system which makes money have influence on development and so I don't want to support it.

Hey, Naughty, you already knew how much I am fond of Renryuu Ascension, I already got in touch a lot with you about it, didn't I? ;-)

Actually, I am so fond of Renryuu Ascension that I wish to help you develop it.

I was waiting for the good moment to talk to you about it and since I am expressing you how much I love your game and how much it inspires me, I think this is the good moment to tell you about my dream.

It has been a while that I have been dreaming of becoming an indie developer because video games are part of me since I was a child and I have been having a lot of ideas for creating new video games.

Remember the ideas that your game inspired me to enhance it that I shared with you and that you liked and added to your to-do list? ;-)

This is my point, I want to become an indie developer, I am fond of your game so I want it to be completed as soon as possible, it inspires me ideas that you like to enhance it, you have an endless to-do list to achieve, which requires a lot of time and energy, which I can share as much as you need, I want to help you achieve Renryuu Ascension because I like it and I want to get to experience it in a fully satisfying way with nothing missing and nothing lacking as soon as possible, I am determined to help you to achieve it, I also think that I can learn from you since you already have experience in game's development, you could teach me how to do things then I would help you to do them, which would be mutually beneficial as I would alleviate your workload while I would earn experience and we would double the efficiency of Renryuu Ascension's development since we both would dedicate time and energy to it, which would benefit to everyone waiting for its completion. :-)

So I have many good reasons to want to help you achieve Renryuu Ascension, I am determined to do it, I can afford to share a lot of time and energy to dedicate to it since what I want to do is become an indie developer and I am so fond of your game that I wish to work for it through to its completion, I can give you many good reasons to be interested in sharing your workload with me, and I think it would benefit everyone.

So? :-)

RyenSaotome6 years ago

Alright, I'll take a look at the "pay what you want" option. ^^

I gave your offer to help a though. What would help you most to improve as a developer is probably the normal eventing options given in the RPG Maker to get to know them better and improve the mindset needed for game making. At least if you want to stick with the RPG Maker MV for making games. If you want to make other games later, then it might not be the best to start with the RPG Maker , since most of what you learn in it won't work that way in other programms. So the question you should ask yourself is with what you want to work in the future and focus on that.
Sadly the normal eventing and mapping are two things I don't really need help with. I have a lot planned, but those plans are in my head and are what I need to do myself to make this my game. Even something simple like the mapping is best if I do it myself, since I have my own style and create stories while making the map or create it in a specific way for existing ideas, so someone else making it for me wouldn't work well.

What I could use help with in general is:
- Complex eventing (like the warmap battle system). If you can help in this regard would highly depend on how much you already know about RPG Maker MV eventing, as it wouldn't be much help and save no time if I need to explain and teach everything to you first.
- Pixelart (mostly for character sprites, for example for monstergirls since I can't make those with the character creator)
- Someone to give me music for specific battles, scenes or maps. There are a lot of places for free music, but finding the right track for specific things is time consuming so I usually stick to the default stuff I already have.
- Help with plugins. I think they're usually written in javascript, which might be useful to learn since it can be used for other things apart from RPG Maker plugins, but personally I don't have the time and motivation to do it. XD
- In-depth balancing feedback for partymembers (skills, equippment, stats), enemies and economy (gold gain and use)
- Graphic design stuff for walkthrough, websites, artbook, special screens like skilltree and so on, to make them look better.
- Help with the walkthrough to add more details, quest solutions, keeping it up to date and spellchecked. Currently someone is helping me with it and made good progress lately, but doesn't have infinite time so maybe a second person to help with it won't hurt.
- Help to find more places to post the game and to advertise for it. I constantly hear the game gets little attention for the quality and quantity in it, so I assume it's due to myself concentrating on the game making over advertising for it. ^^"

Maybe you can see something you'd like to help with in this list, but I'm not sure if that'll really help you with your dream of becoming an indie developer. Usually my tip when someone wants to start a game is to fool around with a small project first to learn the different options the programm offers. And not immediately try to make something that can sell or get on patreon for money, as those projects with such a goal in mind often don't get finished when they don't get as much support as they thought they could get.

Maxime Martyr6 years ago (2 edits)

Thank you for considering my offer and thank you for your advices. :-)

To be honest, to become an indie games developer is a life dream for me however since I still have no experience, I don't really know how to get started and how to efficiently organize myself, so when I enjoyed so much your game, and you like the ideas that it inspires me to enhance it which means that we share a compatible mindset, that I wished I could alleviate some of your workload and help you to boost its development and achieve it for everyone who is waiting for its completion (including myself ;-3), I thought that working with you might earn me the experience that I need to grow confident enough in my possibilities to continue on my own 2 feets. :-)

But I also imagined that if we got along really well, we might want to remain a team and continue together creating new worlds with their own inhabitants who live their own stories inspiring players, why not? :-)

Say, I would be interested in your perspective on some softwares made to develop video games, if you don't mind? :-)

These are the current 6 softwares which caught my attention:

- RPG Maker MV

- GameMaker Studio 2

- Godot Engine 3

- GDevelop 5

- Unity 2019 Personal

- Clickteam Fusion 2.5

I understand your will to do things yourself, I didn't plan to work in a team either, you made me want to make an exception since you are creating a game that I enjoy so much and am impatient to experience at its full potential that it made me want to participate with my energy, my time and my spirit to boost its developement until its achievement. :-)

I imagined that you teached me how you do things then once I knew your ways, I would do all I can your way to assist you in achieving the game of your dreams. :-)

I still think that it would be easier to start to earn experience and confidence by joining a work-in-progress rather than starting from scratch with no clue how to proceed and organize myself but what I am the best at is having ideas, my strong point is my imagination, but I guess no one needs to hire a "giver of ideas". :-3

I knew that teaching me would take some of your time and energy but I thought that once I know how to do things like you want them to be done, I could really alleviate your workload and boost the efficiency of the development progress, meaning that the time and energy that you would give to me to teach me, you would take them back and even more with all the time and energy that I would give to you since I would allow you to focus on the hardest part while I would take care of the rest, this is how I imagined we would work. :-)

I never used RPG Maker yet so if there is something that you don't know how to do with it, there is not a chance that I would know. :-3 This is why I wanted to take care of all the easier tasks and thus allow you to focus your time and energy on making the hardest parts work so the game would keep progressing fast even if you are challenged by a hard task. :-) Also, if you want to achieve something complex with RPG Maker, did you ever ask for assistance in RPG Maker forums or ask to the creators of RPG Maker themselve? ;-)

Ah, sorry, I suck at drawing, so I better not draw for you, however what do you say if I tell you that I know a wonderful place where to find a large choice of game assets such as pixel arts? ;-3

I actually like the default musics and think they are good to get in the mood. :-) Well... Since we are talking about musics, you have changed the battle music and I miss the previous one because I don't like the current one, I find it off-topic for battles because it feels rather weak, it doesn't feel as energetic as the previous one, it doesn't get me into a fighting mood like the previous did.

Ah, sorry, my native language is french, I am used to read and write english, I enjoy speaking and listening to japanese, ich kenne deutsch ein bisschen and that's all I can say, I don't understand any other language including computers languages so I'm afraid I can't help you to communicate with RPG Maker in its native Java language, SUMIMAAAASEEEEEEN! *bows profusely* >_<

Ufufu. :-3 My point is that I don't understand anything in computers languages so I am no more motivated than you to learn Java and this is why I need to use softwares which allow me to communicate with them in a language that I understand. :-3

Well, to be honest, I couldn't enjoy Renryuu Ascension if there wasn't the debug ultimate attack skill to skip repetitive battles because I don't enjoy repeating the same meaningless battles again and again so I basically use the ultimate attack to skip meaningless battles and earn the experience needed to become stronger for interesting unique battles that I enjoy playing fair. :-)

I actually started the task to complete the game's wiki a while ago and I stopped quickly because I thought that it is nicer to get in touch with other players to ask something instead of reading a document alone. Now that I think about it, some other games creators here on Itch have created a sticky help topic on their game page where anyone can ask for help and anyone can help and that works really well. :-D Why don't you create and stick a help topic on Renryuu Ascension's game page, a place for everyone to help each other in a friendly mood, don't you think this would be nicer than a cold lonely document? That works for others so why wouldn't it for us? ;-)

Hmm... Well, since Renryuu Ascension is a game for a specific public, it must remain on appropriate places so let me think... It is already on Itch and Game Jolt, hmm, what about Indie DB? Also, may I ask you why you want to advertise your game? Don't Itch and Game Jolt communities give you enough feedback? Why do you need more attention? What did you want to achieve with creating Renryuu Ascension in the first place? Now if you want my honest opinion, ask to people who tell you that your game doesn't get enough attention how themselves discovered it? My guess is that they found it because they were looking for it, well, not specifically it, but they were looking for something which lead them to it, don't you think? In other words, they found it and they enjoyed it because it was what they were looking for, this is my point, if someone wants something then they look for it until they find it so if someone doesn't find your game, it is because they don't look for it because they don't want it, meaning that you don't need to advertise your game because people enjoy sharing what they like so you just need a loving community of people who like your game so much that they want to share it around them. ;-)

Ahahah, every indie developer that I have met has given me the same advice: Start small, don't aim big from the beginning. :-3

Well, money is not my purpose and I told you and I explained why I don't like Patreon system anyway. :-3

Also, I don't plan to release an unfinished work, I want to share my world only once it is complete, it lacks nothing, nothing is missing, and I am fully satisfied of it. I want to create games because I imagine games that I want to play myself so I will be the first and most important player that I want to satisfy before sharing with others and I know that I will not feel satisfied as long as my world will not be complete so I will not share it until it is. :-3

RyenSaotome6 years ago

What a wall of text. x.X

The RPG Maker is the only programm I've intensively used for game creation, so I can't compare it to any other programm. Sorry.

I can tell from your long motivation speech that you're really serious about liking the game and wanting to be part of the development but sadly I still have to decline. As mentioned before the mapping and normal eventing is simply something I want to take care of myself.

I don't think a single thread for all problems is needed. If people would name their threads proper (which they don't), others with the same issue would see and find solutions for that problems faster. And people already help out when they can. If you want a faster answers and more communication with other players, the best place to go would be our discord: https://discord.gg/A79WrBq
I'll post the link on the main page of the game as well.

I want to advertise the game so that more people can find it obviously. :D
Not everyone looking for a game like Renryuu knows itch or gamejolt or the other pages I posted the game at. Therefore posting it or advertising it in more places makes it easier and more likely for people to find the game.

More players means more support (hopefully), which I don't put in my own pocket. Instead I use it all to hire more or better artists, or potentially to affort custom music, sound effects or other nice stuff like that later to improve the overall quality of the game.
The original goal was to become a full time developer and earn my living with game creation. But the support from patreon is sometimes not even enough to cover my expenses for CG artists, so I'm still no where near that goal. That's why my highest priority right now is simply to keep going to finish this game in the best possible shape one day.

Talking about support, I did change to the "pay what you want" system on itch btw. ^^

I like patreon and the rewards since it allows me to give back something to people that support the game. It just feels like I can return a bit of the favor and love given to me by these people. And it's not like they buy ownership of the game and can tell me what to do, there is no need to worry that they have any "control" of my work. While many parts of the game were affected by feedback of players, I never made a decision just because the person asking for it was a patron.

It sounds as if you're very ambitious. That's good but can also cause you headaches when things don't work out as "perfect" as you want them to be. ^^ Part of why I suggest starting with a small project by yourself is so that you run into problems. Then you figure out how to solve them and learn new ways to use features the engine offers, or where to search for help. Especially if you have no experience yet it's a great (and hopefully enjoyable) task to make a simple game on your own and make your first steps into this world of development. That's also how you can figure out if you're really enjoying it enough to keep going and stay motivated over a long time to finish a project. I've seen a lot of people with ideas starting to make a game with good concept but then never finishing it since they couldn't keep it up for long. Some people also confuse the joy the have while playing with joy for creating their own game. Don't be mistaken, creating a game is work. It can be tiring or boring at times, but that's what you have to get through when you want to create something. ^^

I sincerely wish you the very best, and I hope you won't be mad at me for refusing your well-meant proposal. ^^

Maxime Martyr6 years ago (7 edits)

Ahahah, when I read that you did enable Itch's "pay what you want" feature, I didn't even continue to read your message, I went to Renryuu: Ascension's game page, was glad to see that I could indeed finally pay the 10 € that I have wanted to pay for it for a while then did it right away before coming back here and I'm laughing myself about it! :'-D

May I ask you why you chose RPG Maker of all games creation softwares?

I didn't mean that people who want a game like yours specifially look for it on Itch or Game Jolt but even so, Game Jolt and Itch are some of the most easy to find games platforms, you find them upon looking for any kind of games and you entitled Renryuu: Ascension as "Hentai RPG Maker game" so if I look for hentai RPG Maker games, yours is pretty much the first one that I find in my search engine (Ecosia), so it really is very visible for people who want something like it and so I maintain that you don't need to go out of your way to advertise it, as I said people who want it find it easily already and people enjoy sharing their nice discoveries so people who discover it and enjoy it naturally want to share it around them, you don't have a thing to do to popularize it beside making sure that it is worth the attention, meaning focusing on its development. ;-)

By the way, since you are talking about the artists, I have to say that I have appreciated the contribution of every artist who have drawn CGs for Renryuu: Ascension so far (except the 2 off-topic CGs that I have reported to you already, the one where Ryen is drawn as a woman while he is not supposed to be this way in the scene and the one where Grey doesn't look like she is supposed to). But the artist who has drawn the last Mira CGs and the beach ones, I don't like their style which I feel doesn't suit the overall game style. I mean even if Renryuu: Ascension's CGs have been drawn by various artists, all of their CGs suit each other and that has allowed the game to build an overall harmonious graphic style, alright? This is why the CGs from the artist who has drawn the last Mira CGs and the beach ones make me feel so bothered, because I don't recognize the game's style and I don't recognize any of the women that I have grown familiar with on their CGs, they feel strangers, it even makes me wonder if they have actually paid attention to how the characters actually look before drawing their CGs because in their CGs, the characters don't look neither like their portrait neither like their other CGs and I definitely don't like the way this artist has drawn them, the colours feel bland, their skin has become colourless, their eyes are terribly drawn, they don't even have iris, you know, these black rounds at the center of eyes present in every other CGs which make their eyes not feel empty, this artist has even managed to completely miss them so the eyes of the characters drawn by them feel empty, as if this artist has stolen away the characters' souls, and they seem to have a fetish for big boobs because they have drawn every woman's breasts way bigger than they have always been, making me think that they really don't care about all of the works made by all of the other artists who have contributed to Renryuu: Ascension and built together the overall game graphic style, it seems that they draw what they like and don't care if their contributions doesn't suit the overall style, so I don't like the CGs from this artist, I had to tell it. To sum it up, I think the contributions from all other artists are way better than those of this artist, I feel a significant downgrade of Renryuu: Ascension's overall quality because of this artist's contributions, I am sorry to say but I thought I had to let you know.

How much does it cost to hire an artist?

Ah, when you talk about support, you actually mean money, I understand now, you want to attract more people for more money. I just hope that you will not end like many people, letting money corrupting your passion, wanting to please everyone to become wealthy and forget what you originally wanted to achieve.

I am not surprised that you don't earn your living with a work in progress, your creation is not complete yet, so you can't expect to earn your living with it yet, just continue doing your best to develop a game that you want to play, putting your heart into creating the experience that you want to share with the world, then once it is complete and it lacks nothing, until you feel fully satisfied with it, then once you reach this point, then you can sell it for a fair price in order to share it and be rewarded for it. ;-)

This is where we disagree about the Patreon system, you reward your patrons, meaning people who give you money, with privileges, meaning that you give privileges to money. But if we think about it, they give you money because they appreciate your work, in other words, to reward you, meaning that you actually reward people who reward you for rewarding you, which doesn't make much sense to me. :-3 But what really bothers me is that you reward money, you give love to money, this is what really bothers me. Yes, I am aware that we live under the reign of capitalism ideology and we all have to have money just to have a right to live in society. But money is a necessity imposed on us by a social system that we didn't chose so I don't think it deserves some love. This is why it bothers me that you talk about "giving back some love" as if you see money as love because you think receiving money is the same as receiving love. Anyway, my point is that people give you money in order to reward you because they appreciate your work so you don't need to "reward the rewards" because this negates the point. Indeed, if you think that you have to do something to be worthy of your rewards, that means that you negate your rewards because it feels as if you think you don't deserve them if you don't change something. Which doesn't make sense since you precisely receive some rewards because of what you are already doing so you don't need to change anything, you don't need to add anything to please your patrons because if they support you, that means that they already appreciate your work as it is in the first place. Unless they support you for the rewards. Which is why I don't like a system which grants rewards for support, because then we don't know anymore if we are supported because our work is appreciated or if people support us because of the rewards. Patreon is even worse because it even creates a hierarchy between patrons themselves! The fact to privilege people who provide money is already discutable in itself and Patreon pushes even harder by creating a social hierarchy between patrons themselves according to how much they provide with a hierarchy of tiers. Let's take your Patreon for example, I hope you don't feel attacked, I just want to develop my reasoning in order to let you better understand my perspective:

"- For just $1 you'll be able to vote on occasional polls about game content, use of pledges or many other things."

What does that mean? When you want to ask for opinions about your game's content, you ask to your patrons only? To people who give you money only? Their opinion about what you should do matters more just because they give you money? Then this is how I said, this is no different from a publisher who influences development just because they fund it. Also, since you privilege the opinions of people who give you money and these opinions influence the game's content, that implies that the game's development itself is influenced by money.

"- All patrons with $1 or above can vote on "patron poll events". These special events will be created with an open end and patrons can vote in what direction the event should continue. "

I don't know what is a "patron poll event" so I don't know what this is about and so I have no opinion about it. :-3

"- Special "Patron" role on the Naughty-Netherpunch discord sever."

Meaning? Do people who give you money get to be treated differently in the Discord server? Like some VIP?

"- Early access to new content with the game tester version. This version is usually given out to testers one day before the release of an update."

This actually amuses me that you put your patrons to work to beta-test your game before releasing it to the public. :-3

"- You can ask for 1 name to be added to the game. The name has to fit the world and can't be copyright protected or from someone very famous. Please send me a message if you want to know if your idea will be okay."

This feels more like "Give me ideas for names" than a reward to me and while I like the idea of involving people's contributions for minor game's contents such as names, it bothers me that you make these contributions a privilege granted by money again.

"- I'll add a character to the game based on your reference or description of his look and nature. Please note that I won't add any copywrite protected characters and that he needs to fit the world. No custom events for these characters."

I honestly can't complain about this privilege because I really like Naevy and May so I am glad that some patrons requested you to create and add them in the game, however the fact that this is a privilege granted by money bothers me again.

"- Your name get's mentioned in the special thanks of the game credits."

But only if you pay at least 30 $ per month, low grade patrons don't get any recognition in the game's credits, this is hierarchy, bitch! :-3

"- You can request 1 monstergirl to be added into the game and decide her look.

Please note that most monstergirls will be added to a special farm, receive a relationship with Ryen, and might get a sex scene later."

Same as with names and characters, while I like the idea of involving people's contributions for minor game's contents, it bothers me that you make these contributions a privilege granted by money. Also, I don't understand why suggesting monster girls is a higher privilege than suggesting characters. In my honest opinion, unique characters with their own events, dialogues, stories, quests and scenes are much more precious than meaningless monster girls who are there only to be fought and mercilessly killed or captured and tamed for items and sex scenes. So I don't understand the logic of making the privilege of suggesting monster girls a higher privilege than the privilege of suggesting unique characters. That doesn't change my opinion that neither of these contributions should be privileges though. :-3

Now don't get me wrong, please, I am well aware that you need money in order to be able to fully achieve the game that you want, I am aware of the cold reality of our civilization fueled by greed, I'm just saying that we shouldn't privilege money.

I actually enjoy solving problems, and I know how to search for solutions if I don't come up with any on my own. :-)

I thank you for your advices, I appreciate that you share your wisdom. :-)

I also thank you for warmly welcoming me into the world of developers. :-)

Do you get bored sometimes while developing Renryuu: Ascension?

Hey, thank you! I sincerely wish the very best to you too, I did since I discovered Renryuu: Ascension and got to learn your personality through the way you have made Ryen's and after I got in touch with you and confirmed that you are how I thought you were. I'm glad to know you and I wish you success. :-)

Well, I am disappointed because I really wanted to share your workload and contribute to achieving Renryuu: Ascension because I have grown quite fond of it however you have explained me the reasons for refusing my offer to work together and I understand them so I really have no choice but to accept your choice. :-) Moreover, how could I possibly be mad at you when you keep being so kind to me? ;-3

RyenSaotome6 years ago

I started using the RPG Maker as a child. I didn't know how to code back then so the RPG Maker was an easy entry to make a simple game without having to learn a coding language.

The commission fees from artists vary by a huge amount. You can find people making sex scene for maybe $25 in low quality and go up to several hundred dollars for semi-professional artworks. Also additional characters, complex clothes or backgrounds can cost extra. I'm usually in a price range of $40-$150 for CGs. With the more expensive artist obviously having a way higher quality than the cheapest artist.
That using several artists causes for different art style and that not always everything fits together is a sad but unavoidable fact. I don't employ people, I request each CG individualy. No artist is forced to stick with me or can promise me to give all his time for my requests, thus I have to stick with several artist and sometimes replace someone.

As long as the game gets funded by people during the development, I'll keep it available for free. Even once it's done. I'll probably give options to buy the game, similar to the pay what you want on itch, but I'll always keep the option for people to download it for free.

I was writing about the various patreons aspects but quickly realized that it'll only spark more arguments. I got your point and understand why you don't like patreon, but I'll stick with it for the time being.

I don't always feel motivated to work on the game, as it's just that, work. So I stay out of the maker for a day or two, but eventually get back to it when the motivation is back or a new idea is in my head and wants to be made. :D

Maxime Martyr6 years ago (3 edits)

So you have wanted and found your way to develop games already when you were a child and you still are doing it, you really impress me as a developer, I was right to want to learn from you, you definitely are the kind of developers that I aspire to become. :-)

Say, have you kept a copy of every game you have created? I am interested in witnessing your evolution as a games developer by playing your games from your first to your last which has already become my favorite RPG Maker game even though it is incomplete yet. :-)

I look forward to experience the complete version of Renryuu: Ascension, I'm jubilating thinking about it! ^L^

I can totally relate to your story because I lived a similar one. I grew up in worlds of imagination, video games, cartoons, books, my mother was a librarian so she used to bring lots of books at home and my younger older brother was a hardcore gamer who transmitted his passion to me, passion which has grown even deeper than his, growing up in worlds of imagination has developed my own imagination to make it quite creative, think about the ideas that your game inspired me to enhance it that I shared with you and that you liked. :-)

So, naturally, having grown passionate about video games and having grown a creative imagination, I obviously have always been inspired a lot of ideas of video games which don't exist and have wanted to make them real since I was a shonen.

However at this time, coding was mandatory to create games because there was no software to take care of it like there are now or I didn't know any at this time.

So I attempted to learn coding... Until I gave up because I was so bored that I couldn't stay awake, I kept falling unconscious on my keyboard, my brain would just switch off from boredom and my body would collapse. :-3

Then I gave up on learning coding and on my dream of creating my own PC games and I didn't think about it...until I discovered softwares "to make games without coding", my Helldorado! :-D

I discovered that such softwares exist 5 years ago and I was very enthusiastic about them, dreaming about what I could do with them... *L*

First, I wanted a PC worthy of me.

At this time, I was starting a new life in a new town where I knew nobody and nothing and arrived empty handed, so I had to set up my new home, which was empty, I had to equip it with everything I need progressively, which took me years.

I have just recently finally bought a PC worthy of me. :-)

Also, I am an user of open-source softwares so naturally I got interested in Linux, remember that I started Renryuu: Ascension on Linux then switched to Windows and told you that it is possible to move the save folder from one OS to another? ;-)

I have spent a lot of my time and energy to search about Linux, gathering theorical knowledges and preparing myself to move from Windows to Linux, actually my new PC was originally meant to be a Linux PC...until I confronted the theory to the practice on my previous PC before choosing a Linux PC in order to make sure that it was the right choice...which turned out to not be. :-3

Linux seemed to be Helldorado in theory, it turned out to be Hell in practice. :-3

So I gave up on Linux and eventually chose to stick with Windows because there is really no satisfying alternative yet.

Therefore my new PC turned out to be a Windows PC after all. :-3

I still spent a lot of my time and energy for Linux though. :-3

I have also been searching for games creation softwares and for games made with these softwares in order to get an idea of each software's possibilities, I have been looking for and playing a lot of games made with various such softwares and I have been impressed and amazed by what some people have made with these softwares! *L*

Like you. ;-)

Also, I have always loved to help so I spend a lot of my time and energy helping who I can in any way I can, beta-testing games, reporting flaws, giving feedbacks, sharing inspired ideas, etc... :-)

Since I am aware that I am not talented in drawing nor in composing musics nor sound effects, or at lest I don't believe it is in my reach, I have also been gathering places where to find resources made by people more talented than I am to use in my own creations. :-)

I have also always been curious about video games' history because it fascinates me to witness evolution, how did things and people came to be as they are now, just like how I want to play all of your games in the order that you have made them in order to witness your evolution. :-)

So I spend a lot of my time and energy to search about video games' evolution, download and play a lot of games from all times, my PC is a true museum dedicated to video games' history, I have gathered quite a collection and have grown quite knowledgable about video games' history, I am now like a video games' museum's professor. :-3

Also, since I got into subbed anime a few years ago, I have grown quite fond of otaku culture and I wanted to live in the place where these wonders of imagination come from. :-3

So I wanted and attempted to learn japanese.

I have acquired some basic knowledges of japanese but I lost my motivation so I gave up.

Actually, I have learned a lot more japanese from watching subbed anime than from actual lessons of japanese. :-3

I also got into visual novels so I read a lot of them. :-3

I am also interested in esperanto, the fair international language, I plan to learn it as well, and I know it it the easiest language to learn and use, since it has specifically been created to be easy to learn and use by everyone. :-)

So as you can see, I have been quite busy with quite a lot of things, and now that I finally got a PC worthy of me, I am currently preparing it, customizing it, optimizing it, installing the softwares that I need, cleaning my previous PC that I have sold, choosing what I care for and want to move into my new PC, what I don't care anymore and just erase, then once I am done with my previous PC and my new PC is ready, I can finally get started on my first game after 5 years of dreaming of it and preparing for it! :-D

First I am finally going to get to learn esperanto. Because I want to provide my games both in my native language which is french, in the most used language which is english and in the fair international language which is esperanto. :-)

Then once I master esperanto, I'm going to pick a software and experiment with it until I grow experienced enough to master the software and use it to create what I want. :-)

Since I have grown familiar with RPG Maker as a player and since I have been enjoying many games made with it which motivate me to try it too, I think I'm probably going to start with it. :-)

Now you know how to code?

Hmm, so, artists don't charge a standard price per CG, they tailor their price from the amount of work each CG requires, interesting, thank you for explaining to me. :-)

Where do you find your artists?

Hmm, I'm thinking... Hey, Naughty, I can't afford to provide money on a regular basis because I don't have that much money and I never know when unexpected expenses will come, however I can provide money on an occasional basis, I can afford to provide 100 € from time to time. I really want you to achieve Renryuu: Ascension. So when you need money to cover occasional expenses like CGs for example, let me know, I can help, I will use Itch's pay what you want system to provide some money when you need it. ;-)

This is what I said, even though Renryuu: Ascension's CGs have been drawn by different artists, they have all managed to fit with each otherin harmony, the only exception is the artist who has drawn the last Mira's CGs and the beach ones, this artist obviously didn't actually paid attention to how the characters actually look before drawing their characters. I say "their" because they definitely are not the game's. The colours, the outfits, the clothes, the shapes, the sizes, the proportions, this artist didn't respect anything from the original characters, they have drawn what they wanted but this is not the game's characters, I have grown familiar with them so I can tell! Moreover, their drawing style is really bad, the colours feel bland, the skins are colourless, they don't even draw iris in eyes so the eyes feel empty as if the characters have no soul, every woman's breasts are oversized, this artist is definitely not a high quality artist, every other artist who has contributed to Renryuu: Ascension has done better. >:-(

By the way, speaking about CGs, you told me that you wait for CGs to be ready in order to add scenes into the game and I thought about it, tell me, Naughty, couldn't you add scenes into the game with texts only beforehand then add their CGs later once they are ready instead of making us wait for the scenes just because their CGs are not ready yet?

I like that you are not greedy, we are going to get along as long as this doesn't change. :-)

You don't have fun developing games? It is only work?

What do you do when you take a break in order to get the motivation and inspiration back?

RyenSaotome6 years ago

I don't have every old version of the game, especially from the time where I wasn't taking it very serious yet. The oldest upload is from november 2014. The game was still made in the RPG Maker VX Ace and requires that you have the VX Ace RTP (Run time package) to play the game. https://mega.nz/#!rxZx0YqA!UCT77EpsG9H4mg3kpUq74_a_TFlIMdu59cXNEk2r7ww

Most of my artists did I find on https://www.deviantart.com where people constantly post offers for commissions of all kinds.

I doubt I'd ever ask someone for financial support for a scene or something as long as I have my own income to fall back on. :D I won't stop you from donating, but don't feel obliged to do so at any point.

Scenes work better when I have the CG done. It's easier for me to make the scene since I can describe what happens in the image while looking at it, and writing the scene first means I have a very precise image of what the CG should look like which the artist often can't fullfill and that can causes unnecessary arguing. ^^"

Sometimes it's fun, at other times it's more about the fulfillment of finishing my ideas rather than joy of the process itself. But I wouldn't still be working on the game after so many years if it wouldn't make me happy in some way. :D

I don't have anything particular I do for getting back my motivation or to relax best. I just play games or listen to music and eventually I find myself getting back into the maker. XD

Maxime Martyr6 years ago

I asked you about all of the games that you have made and you mentioned only Renryuu: Ascension, is it your first game? But you said that you started making games since you were a child, you haven't been developing Renryuu: Ascension for that long, have you? Moreover, I don't see a child making a hentai RPG for an adult public. :-3

Say, you said you wasn't taking Renryuu: Ascension seriously at first, what made you take it seriously eventually?

Of course I have the VX Ace RTP installed on my PC, I told you that I have played many RPG Maker games, didn't I? ;-) From RPG Maker 2003 to RPG Maker MV. Speaking of which, which version of RPG Maker has been your favourite so far? :-)

Hmm... Do you think CGs are necessary? Wouldn't be enough to textually describe exciting scenes and let the player's imagination picture them? I wonder, wouldn't the effect be even more powerful if the player pictures the scenes themselves in their imagination instead of just looking at pictures? What do you think?

By the way, why did you choose to receive payments in $? You live in Germany, right? So your currency is €. I thought about it and I wanted to say, if you chose to make people pay in $ because you think it is more convenient for everyone since it is the most used money, then you're mistaken. Because $ is actually the currency of one country in the world, the USA, while € is the currency of an entire continent, Europe, implying that it is the currency of many more people than $. Continent which happens to be yours furthermore. We have to pay an additional fee to our banks for currency conversion if we pay in a currency which is not ours, implying that making people pay in $ makes many more people have to pay an additional fee than making people pay in €.

I don't feel obliged to support you, I want to support you because I appreciate your work and want to witness its achievement as soon as possible. :-)

Oh so you write the scenes according to the CGs drawn by the artists? I thought it was the other way around.

Talk to me about some games that you are fond of. :-)

You must really like making games if you always come back to it fast, you are the kind of creators that I appreciate, driven by love, passionate. :-)

View more in thread