Would you buy an 18+ game if there's a free 15+ version?

[LVUER]

At $1 phrased as a "donation to support development" which receives a "gift" of extra content, again people will feel better about the prospect.

That kind of dishonest phrasing makes me resent the seller. It is a little matter, so it would be a little resentment, but definitely it would make me feel worse rather than better about the prospect, compared to an honest $1 sale.

I also advise against selling for a price ending with 99￠. Hoping that the buyer won't notice it is 1￠ short of a full $1 also is dishonesty which some shoppers notice.

If the little money gained from the game is then used to develop new game (which very probably won't be enough since it's just $1), then it's not a lie.

[Omniknight]

All this makes me doubt the quality of the game already, but oh well. :/ The WIP thread needs a definite cleanup......

[Lady-Cynic]

The money I would hypothetically make off this game would first go off to give a donation to my musician (he is working for free but I would really like to give him something for his hard work), to artist (who's my best friend) because she's in a worse financial situation than me and deserves it much more, and what's left over will go into funding my game To Hell with Love! because the frame work for the game will call for a ton of coding and I would definitely like to start saving to hire someone.

That being said, $1 is definitely not enough, so I may just end up having to pay the artist out of pocket and work something out for my friend and see if I can do a kick-starter for my other game when most of the script and assets have been created.

[Lady-Cynic]

All this makes me doubt the quality of the game already, but oh well. :/ The WIP thread needs a definite cleanup......

Why would this make you doubt the quality of my work? I'm asking a legitimate question that may shape how I market my game and if there's a possible profit to be made off of it.

[DaFool]

I am also interested in the concept of $1 microtransactions just to unlock erotic art. What vendors will take care of this, though? Bitcoin?

[Lady-Cynic]

I am also interested in the concept of $1 microtransactions just to unlock erotic art. What vendors will take care of this, though? Bitcoin?

I've heard some mixed stuff about Bitcoin so I'm not sure how I would work around it. I still need to do a lot of research if I plan to do a microtransaction for the 18+ material.

[merak]

If the little money gained from the game is then used to develop new game ..., then it's not a lie.

Someone gets something they value if and only if they pay. That is an exchange of money for the ware or service. That is sale, and is not donation, so it is a lie. How the seller uses the money is irrelevant to whether or not it is a donation.

[Lady-Cynic]

If the little money gained from the game is then used to develop new game ..., then it's not a lie.

Someone gets something they value if and only if they pay. That is an exchange of money for the ware or service. That is sale, and is not donation, so it is a lie. How the seller uses the money is irrelevant to whether or not it is a donation.

What we have here is a battle of semantics and perspective now. By LVUER's point of view, it is a donation because the 18+ version is an incentive and a gift, just like when you donate money, time, etc., you are compensated with something, be it trivial like a sticker or something much bigger, like in this case a 18+ version of a game.

With you merak, you view it as a transaction, since you see it as money being exchanged for a good.

Either way you address it though it's the same thing: You pay money (an X amount seeing as payment is still hypothetical at the moment) and you end up with a game. The only difference is the label attached. So new question to be posed: Does it matter if it's a donation or a transaction?

[MaiMai]

I don't see the point in reading the same story twice -- even if it has more pictures.

I feel, in essence, that sums up my dilemma. I guess I really (should) just make both versions free.

Have you considered making both versions in One game?
-- On the main menu, let them select one or the other to play?

I feel like this is one of the better options. Katawa Shoujo had an option where you could turn off the 18+ scenes. In terms of programming, I don't think that's impossible for you to achieve, at least if you get some help and ask more experienced programmers how to implement that option.

And on that note, for payments maybe you could just do a pay-what-you-want option? A few games here have that (e.g. Autumn's Journey, Cyanide Tea's games) unless that's not feasible for you for some reason.

[Lady-Cynic]

Hmm a pay-what-you-want sounds like a really good middle ground, though I'm a bit unsure how to go around it. I guess it's just more research for me to do.

[Jaybs]

If most of the scenes are the same and if you do decide to package them together, you could use a version of the Making adult scenes optional code from the Cookbook.