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