When I began Grunge, I knew that I would want the project to be available for free. It was only within the last couple of months in development that I decided that I would be open to the idea of a suggested donation. I have several reasons for this, some of which revolve around the fact that I have a finite amount of time to complete the game, and my limited experience in making games.
I did not want to charge people money for a game that may not entirely work, or would break. I didn't want to deal with processing refunds for people who played the game and either didn't enjoy it, or it didn't work for them. Charging people money for the game upfront would have created more problems and stress for me.
Additionally, many of the assets (tilesets, plugins, audio) I use in the game are supposed to be for noncommercial purposes. I forget what assets those are specifically, but I didn't want to risk it.
Another large reason for making the game available for free is because Grunge is an RPG. You might be sitting there and asking yourself, okay, well, what’s your point? There are a lot of RPGs out there. While this is true, there aren’t a lot of RPGs with LGBT content. The only one that I can think of at the moment is Newfound Courage, which is a beautiful and excellently made game. (Check that one out.)
If you’re looking for a game with queer content, you’re better off playing a visual novel. Coming Out on Top, Yearning: A Gay Story, and ebi-hime's games are only a few out of the hundreds, possibly thousands that exist on the web. But while I love visual novels and I love LGBT content, I realized that I wanted to play a different kind of game.
I questioned why there were hardly any RPG games primarily focusing on queer characters. I think that part of the reason as to why there are so many LGBT visual novels relates to the fact that a lot of them are built in ren'py, which is a free software with a delightful number of capabilities. The software that I used to develop this game, RPGmaker MV, is not free. It normally retails for about $80, and I was able to get it on sale for $25. Game development is hard when you have a finite amount of time and funds. I was very fortunate and privileged to be able to invest the time and money that I had into making my game. For those like myself who wanted an LGBT game that wasn't a visual novel, I wanted to make it free to play.
Grunge is a massive game with hours of content, and its narrative is entirely dedicated to four LGBT characters, all of whom are women. Not only that, but many of the characters are people of color and have different identities and developed personalities. Grunge is dedicated to exploring complex narratives and addressing mental health. Although the exploration of these kinds of themes in games is becoming more prevalent, there are still not enough games right now that do this. As a young bi kid struggling with my own identity and insecurities, I would have loved to play a game like Grunge. It would have saved me a lot of grief, self loathing, and time spent trying to change myself.
This is primarily why I wanted to make Grunge free. I believe in making games that include diverse characters and address complicated subjects. I feel like games can be an important educational tool, and not just to teach people about a particular issue, but when designed well, they can also teach people about empathy. Representation is also important in games, and while the video game industry is getting better when it comes to inclusivity, it still has a long way to go. Grunge is available for free because I believe in making games like this accessible for many people who need it.
That being said, I’m also able to make this game available for free because I’m privileged enough to do so. Other indie devs may not be able to do what I did, and that’s okay! I don’t want anyone to get the idea that indie devs shouldn’t be compensated for their work, because they should be. I just had my own set of reasons for making this game available for free.