Using Patreon/Ko-Fi

[Sleepy]

Out of curiosity, does anyone here really use patreon or Ko-fi to help fund their projects? If so, have you had much success? If so, how?

Glancing over some of the more successful patreons for VNs, a lot of them seem to either have an established fanbase to begin with (via multiple games or releases), fulfill a particular niche genre, or can afford to constantly release content. However, that's difficult for many groups, so Ko-fi is somewhat appealing since it's based on small tips to begin with versus asking people to be willing to commit to a monthly fee.

[juunishi master]

May I lurk here to learn more about things with Patreon/Ko-fi?

I want to start Patreon to fund VN project(s) too, but haven't made any finished/released project, so I'm interested to hear if there's anyone that start Patreon without having any fanbase.

[Evy]

I've used Patreon for my project and never got anywhere with it. I've had it for over a year and even after converting it to a general art Patreon, I have yet to get even $30 USD from it in total. (Then again, I'm pretty invisible in general...)

[KittyWills]

Patreon is really set up for creators who are constantly making something of some sort, be it art or otherwise. Considering game dev has so much down time from a consumers point of view there really isn't much incentive for them to donate. If you plan to make short episodic VNs that say... you release a chapter every month you could probably make a patreon work. But if you have a once a year release date there is no reason for someone to donate monthly.

The only way I've manage to get any form of donations is because I stream game dev on Twitch. But those have been small one time ko-fi style donations. No hits on my patreon as of yet. =/

[Sleepy]

IIRC, Patreon can also be set for something like 'everytime I receive a certain amount of donations, I'll release a video'. However, similar to what KittyWills said, that sort of format seems to work best if you're releasing something episodic.

I've used Patreon for my project and never got anywhere with it. I've had it for over a year and even after converting it to a general art Patreon, I have yet to get even $30 USD from it in total. (Then again, I'm pretty invisible in general...)

Out of curiosity, how regularly do you update? What sort of benefits do you give patreons?

[Ghost of Crux]

Patreon is really set up for creators who are constantly making something of some sort, be it art or otherwise. Considering game dev has so much down time from a consumers point of view there really isn't much incentive for them to donate. If you plan to make short episodic VNs that say... you release a chapter every month you could probably make a patreon work. But if you have a once a year release date there is no reason for someone to donate monthly.

This is my main issue/dilemma with the entire Patreon idea, to be honest. As someone who is also a full time student with increasing workload and doing VNs as a serious hobby, I can't be sure that, say, I won't get bogged down by IRL or other things I need to do. I work solo, too. I kind of worry that the fact that since Patreon takes money monthly, it can seem like since working solo takes way more time, it's like I'm gathering money for myself by not hiring someone to help and dragging out the project :'D;;;

For people who aren't working full time/dedicating a whole lot of their free time on seriously working on big projects, do you actually go for making a Patreon page?

[juunishi master]

Out of curiosity, how regularly do you update? What sort of benefits do you give patreons?

Here's Evy's Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/clysmian

For people who aren't working full time/dedicating a whole lot of their free time on seriously working on big projects, do you actually go for making a Patreon page?

Uh ... how about people who are working full time and planning to shift into full time VN developer? *quietly raise my hand*

I'm still looking up what's good to offer as Patron rewards for now, though. It's difficult since I'm a programmer and a writer, not an artist. I do collaborate with my artist friend, but she has her own schedule and freelance works, and I think it's not fair to push her to provide rewards while we don't have any patrons.

On the other hands, I think Patrons won't support if they haven't seen any reward they like, so, yeah. Maybe we should pile up some real works to showcase, before we can actually benefit from Patreon. I ... dunno. My two cents.