Lemma Soft Forums

Hey all. This is my first post, I just joined Lemma just to post this.

How exactly should I price my Ren'py game?
Ok, I'm honestly not even close to finishing my ren'py game, but I would like to know how much approximately do you guys charge a commercial product per hour? (if you don't mind me asking)
For example, you want to sell your ren'py game, but it is ~5 hours. How much would that go for? Or if you could give a hourly rate, like a 5 hour game means 5 dollars (1 hour=$1). This is a pretty bad question, I know since there are various factors like art, gameplay, text, design, etc. that can affect quality and how much it should sell for. But I just want your opinions on what seems fair for prices for games.
My game is about 10 minutes right now, and I spent well over 10 hours (includes time spent drawing sprites, coding, editing, etc.)
Yes, it is really short for the time I spent on it... But I am new to coding and ren'py so I am really slow.
If I make my game about 3 hours long, it would take me alot of time since I make all the sprites and code and make the dialogue. I am also planning on making the icon, menu background, I have two scenes made as well already and will make more. I was wondering, since it'll take a long ass time for me to make, but is also a short game, should I charge in the first place? The reason why I'm asking if I should charge or not is because I will be doing this all by myself, with no help and it'll take up alot of my time. I am in high school (junior), almost going to college. I still really want to make this work though, making a VN to be published to the world would mean alot to me.
I'm planing on finishing making this game by the time I gradutate, or before I'm in college (perferably).
But of course, school comes first!

So, to sum it up:
What is your opinion on the rate for pricing for ren'py games/VN?
How much should I charge for a three hour game? (or should I just make it free?) ... Or somehow make it longer ?

All advice and opinions are appreciated, and I'm open to sharing details about my game and getting pricing advice.

I think you should make it free. It is your first game and it is short. Make the game, learn more about the process, put it out for free, build an audience and then charge for your second game.

Though I am not yet ready to consider a commercial game, I've always told myself that I would price it based on value of content, rather than production costs or 'standard fees'

Essentially, what would _I_ be comfortable paying for a game like what I am selling.
Its a hard question to answer and judging by commercial games isn't as accurate / fair (to both you and the purchaser) as we'd like it to be.

trooper6 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:06 am

I think you should make it free. It is your first game and it is short. Make the game, learn more about the process, put it out for free, build an audience and then charge for your second game.

That makes alot of sense. Thanks for your input!

Imperf3kt wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:10 am

Though I am not yet ready to consider a commercial game, I've always told myself that I would price it based on value of content, rather than production costs or 'standard fees'

Essentially, what would _I_ be comfortable paying for a game like what I am selling.
Its a hard question to answer and judging by commercial games isn't as accurate / fair (to both you and the purchaser) as we'd like it to be.

So basically ask myself if I would pay for the game? That seems like a good method. Thanks for your comment!

I've have seen, the most for a VN go for as much as $20-30 for a high production Visual- so best answer is but that is how much I have ever paid. Now it's really all depending the quality and length of the game. If it's over 1 hour= $3-5 dollars 2-5 hours= $5-10 5-10 hours= 10-30. Nobody will pay over $30 dollars for a game that's an hour and doesn't have as much as another game or Visual they could of got.

GrammaHobbes wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:18 am

I've have seen, the most for a VN go for as much as $20-30 for a high production Visual- so best answer is but that is how much I have ever paid. Now it's really all depending the quality and length of the game. If it's over 1 hour= $3-5 dollars 2-5 hours= $5-10 5-10 hours= 10-30. Nobody will pay over $30 dollars for a game that's an hour and doesn't have as much as another game or Visual they could of got.

I was initially thinking that I would price it a dollar for a 3 hour game. But then again it's my first game so I was unsure. Though so far, my vn has come along pretty well, and I have splashscreen, scenes, sprites, etc. (Point is, I'm going to spend alot of time to make it look as professional as possible) But from the comments so far, I may be more leaning towards making it free. Thanks for your comment though!