Pages

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Donation Questions

So, for the last month or so, donations have been...well, kind of wonky.

No, this isn't going to be that kind of post.

I've been trying to figure out if there's a reason why donations have been off. Is it the slow pace of development, or do people just not have requests? Or is money tight this time of year?

I used to have a policy of, if I didn't make donations for a given week, the following week would not have any game releases. I stopped doing that because a) it was kind of malicious, and b) I like it when people play my game and give me feedback. I would much rather encourage donations through positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement, which is why I stopped doing that (and no, I'm not going to start doing it again, no worries).

So I guess the question here is, what can I do to encourage donations? I know the last couple of weeks have been weird, what with being sick and Mass Effect 3 getting in the way, but I do like to know that I'm responding to the requests of the community. So if there's something I'm doing wrong, please let me know. If you have a better idea for donations, leave a comment.

44 comments:

  1. Personaly, I think that nothing is wrong. Maybe people are just runing out of ideas what to request. I know that I have a hard time to think of something that isn't already in game or requested features page.

    ReplyDelete
  2. For me I am simplay waiting until my request is done (maid/battlemaid stuff). Makes little sence to think of something new if your old stuff isn't yet done.

    But I agree I don't think anything is wrong. it was just a little wierd time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I Agree with Mr. Blaze, it's just a weird time. Just carry on with requests at your own pace and the donations will pick up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Call me a bitch ^^ but I'am one of these guys who don't donate for such games at all.

    I always ask me ... who is paying 10 bucks to get a dress or a minor 1/4 page scene into such a game.

    Do you make the game because it's a hobby or do you want to make money with it? I mean i paid 20$ for bonecraft and thats a whool porn game with several hours of game play and if you add a new itom a minor scene thats about 1min or maybe 5min of play time?

    Sorry but the cost/revenue is simply to low. (Sure i know that 10$ wouldn't cover your work time for adding even such minor things. I'am coding a game in C++ with Qt so i know the pain :) but i do that beacause i want to tune my C++/Qt skills.)

    If you simply miss ideas i'am sure many people will help you out even type the stories for you.

    no offense !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you ever look up custom software you find that most of it costs thousands of dollars. Even if they have a product already that fits your nitch (funeral home database applications... for example) you are still looking at 10 grand easy to purchase it and 2 or 3 licenses.

      Why? Cause of how many people are using it. Hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of copies of Quickbooks will get purchased but your average funeral home management software/database will be purchased a couple hundred times... yet the time, cost, and effort required to develop each is about the same. To recoup those expenses with fewer sales... they have to charge more per client.

      This is sort of the same thing. Bonecraft is a higher profile game that will generate a lot of interest because of effective (but expensive) advertising. It also has a fully realized graphic engine and so on and so forth. And last, but definitely not least, it caters to the public at large... not a small nitch of mega pervs. All of which means more people will have an interest in it. Also the developers have already got a contract saying how much their publisher will pay them whether bonecraft makes a dime or not.

      Better game? Graphically perhaps. The rest is debatable. But its not really apples and apples to compare it to Cursed given the difference in markets.

      Don't get me wrong... your reasons are perfectly valid from a strictly consumerist point of view. But they are not from a developer point of view. But that's just how the world works some times.

      Delete
    2. I'am well aware of the differense between "of the shelf" software and custome one like you offer as i told you i'am a coder on my own and as a freelancer i get about 50-100$ a hour :)

      That's why i asked if it's a hobby of your own or do you want to earn cash with it. If you want to sale your service you need to increase your throughput as many of the guys told you. Also you need to be aware that in takeing others money come some kind of responsibility.

      Your not the only one working with this kind of "buisnesscase" but it always seem to fell like you (all guys who work with donations) want to have both the best from both worlds. The freedom of doing it the way you like with the pace you like but on the other hand other guys should pay you for doing your project. Sorry it's called donations and not salery :)

      I only took bonecraft as an example for how much software a pure consumer can get for 20$. I didn't want to compare the games.

      Sorry to rob you blog comments for this kind of discussion .. you asked why donations are lakeing and i would say because of the pace of development, like some others already mentioned.

      once again, no offense !

      Delete
    3. The whole idea that the developer point of view shouldn't take into account the consumer's point of view is bullshit. Because part of the developer's thought should be - "Who am I developing this for, and how am I going to get compensated for it?" or "Who is my audience", etc. etc. Not having these figures understood is the death of any good developer, whether it be for games, or for software in general.
      I can see that this custom software might have a higher price on it, but I think this dev should count him or herself lucky that they get so many donations in the first place. I think other folks have put it well, what is this developer attempting to do with this game? Make a living fully on it? Or just have fun? I was under the assumption it was the latter, if it is the former.... I honestly would have to say I worry about the disposable income level of the targeted consumer, and how the consumer values the product.

      Delete
    4. I can't tell if you two are trolling or just bat shit insane.

      The mundane stuff is by far Cursed's weakest point. I have mundane stuff in my real life. I play games to get away from that. That's what games and every other form of entertainment are about. Getting away from the mundane shit in life. That is what entertainment has been about since cavemen started drawing stuff on walls with rhino poop.

      The idea of playing a game so I can experience the mundane makes as much sense to me as getting a car with no engine so I can experience walking or a house with no roof so I can experience the outdoors.

      In both cases I don't need to go get something that does the opposite of whats it's normally intended to do so I can experience those things... I just need to get off my ass and go experience those things. Only the analogy falls short cause I might actually enjoy walking and the outdoors... but no one in their right mind enjoys the mundane bs in life.

      And honestly... if you think there are many other people in this world that want a "mundane monotony simulator" then you need to get out more. I honestly don't mean that as an insult. Seriously, not a joke and not an insult: if you think there are many people who would pay some one else for the opportunity them do their chores for them... then I dunno... that's so absurd I can't even describe how absurd it is.

      Readers do not want mundane. Movie goers do not want mundane. Music listerns do not want mundane. Gamers do not want mundane. And, more importantly, people with money in general to not want mundane. If AM is going to make money with this he needs to get AWAY from the mundane. Not focus on it more. He's bordering on having way too much of it already.

      And several nights reading a good book? Jesus wept... I can't think of anything more absurd that some one expecting me to pay them to see some one read a damned book. I honestly thought you were making a sort of twisted joke till I kept reading and, to my great disbelief, realized you were actually serious. I would expect AM to pay *me* for that. Not the other way around.

      Delete
    5. ugh... the above posted in the wrong place. can a mod remove please?

      Delete
  5. i think money is a bit tighter this time of year, what with easter coming up

    ReplyDelete
  6. I personally can't see making a request with so many things on requested feature page still with only partial or no progress. Looking at that, being at the end of a lengthy list isn't very appealing. And this isn't a short attention span talking, I've been keeping an eye on your game from early 2011.

    But, and I'll be honest here, the game feels like it hasn't changed much even with all that has changed. The growing wardrobe and number of transformations is nice and all. But there is still only one real career option, that isn't even finished. Lab theft aside, Maria's interactions with the player are bare bones and the second event is just left hanging. Long lasting relationships show very limited prospects at the moment and are not even possible as that system is a work in progress itself.

    There is a point when, if exploring every possible transformation isn't your thing, you just run out of reason to play. And if you do replay, no matter your smaller choices the game-play in general tends to run the same way due to lack of greater choices or interactions. And bad ends aside there are no endings to even play for.

    So yeah, in short, might be the slow pace of development. There are so many placeholder texts and works in progress. If you start seriously finishing things and stop leaving things partly done, donations and requests might pick up again. But as it is it looks like you are buried.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Part of it might be the seeming low turn around of when requests get done? I mean, I look at your requested features page and there's tons left in there. Adding another thing doesn't really appeal to me because who knows when it's even going to get done?

    I dunno. Maybe it'd help if you set a day aside, like once a month or something, to only try to plow through requests. That'd make me feel more secure that might my request would even get worked on.

    *shrug*

    ReplyDelete
  8. I know Im waiting on my request to be done and I dont have a lot of extra money to throw around. I am really excited about my request eventually being in the game (I requested the Bunny TF) but dont really have the cash to make it a priority or get more than I already have coming. When I donated, I set aside alot of my "disposable" income for the next 2 weeks just to request. Cursed is a lot of fun for me, and I like the new releases, but I just dont have the financial power to be a regular contributor. I sincerely wish I did.

    ReplyDelete
  9. this may seem like a weird idea but how about you dont release an update a while (lets say 2 weeks) so that instead of several small releases of minor details but one relese of big additions you could also just update less frequently that way the new contet will be more apparent

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello
    First of all sorry for my english.Im a the tipical lurker ,worse the tipical poor lurker so maybe my opinion is not important anyway i think is mix of factors like people just say to u if somebody donate to have a request is cool to have the request done, before donate more so finish the request list, 2;i love the game but some times the replay value is short i belive the game need more randons encounters to spice the things 3; is the moment too , the global economy is bad now (1 year ago i have job and maybe y can spent 10-50 euros to have my personal fetish made , now sadly im unployment so no) and in more normal frame of thing dude the people that follow u also play ME3 and Skrym XD so have lest time to spend in other games.
    Anyway i want to express my gratitude for ur time and your game and encorague to continue (i know that nice words is not the same that cash but is all i can spare now)
    Byy and thanks for ur time reading this
    alf

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'll go with speaker n°6 here : evergrowing selection of clothing, styles and tf is fine and all, but the bottom line is : you're still a stripper, and that's it.
    TFs and wardrobe have fairly limited ingame effect and while I do love the slow pacing, one of the most specific and potentially interesting aspect of the game, it kinda hurts the replay value : if/when you start a new game to try something different, you will have to invest hours into it before you see the results of your choices. AND you'll still be a stripper, because potential career change comes yet a few hours later.
    The focus has changed these last few updates, with the addition and dvpt of the church, the 2nd maria mission, Genevieve, things that add depth to the world. The kind of stuff people like me will value much higher than a different TF or a new set of socks. Maybe that's something worth looking into - but I'm highly biased :]
    Considering the current weirdness, I'd wait for some stabilization before making any decisions, see how things go in a more normal period.

    On the other hand, I can't afford to donate shit and the donations you do get are mostly accompanied by TF/clothing requests, if I'm correct. I mean, that's every single one of your major requests, pregnancy aside - and a vast majority of the minors.

    That could quite simply be your problem, actually : you have (at least) two overlapping but different crowds to please.
    You might just have to take a good look at that, see which one is more generous and/or invested in the project, whether that's the same or not, and decide if you're willing to frustrate one so you can better satisfy the other.
    Even if, by the looks of it, it means that I personally won't enjoy the result as much.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm still waiting on some sort of relationships to be done. The whole premise of the game is well as a guy you treated women poorly and tried sleeping around with them. So what happens when you're a girl? Sleep around with people. It seems to be against the whole reason you were turned into a girl in the first place.

    Besides that adding more missions is always nice and as other people have said we're still stuck as a stripper. Again going back to the reason you were changed, the only fleshed out option so far is to show your body off and possibly more for money at the moment.

    Personally I never touch any of the transforms except for the cat one, and I probably wont download the game again until relationships are in

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fenoxo continues to succeed with CoC because he updates very frequently and (now that he's getting over most of the furry waifu donations) the game is highly accessible and easy to get into and replay whenever you like. Within an hour you can get yourself looking like you want, do what you want, etc.

    His game has a sandbox layout where most content is accessible right off the bat, or within 20 minutes of playing (to gain a few levels) and provides keyboard shortcuts to all menu commands to quickly overcome monotonous grinding and repetition, since it becomes as simple as pressing 1, 1, 1, 1, etc to get through the same Imp encounter you've been running into. In CoC, to get from point A to point Z, you can just go to point Z, although maybe you'll have to go through points B or C first.

    Your game has an open layout, but with very linear progression. Due to the limitations of the RAGS engine (or perhaps by your design) the same old repetitive actions and encounters cannot be blasted through with some keyboard button mashing; you must manually hunt and click the same options again and again and again for every in-game day until you reach the event. Furthermore, to access many transformations, events, and quests you must play through all preceding content every single new playthrough, due to the unreliable and unstable nature of exporting/importing and loading old version saves. In Cursed, to get from point A to point Z, you have to go through points B, C, D, E, F, and so on and so forth until you get through all points preceding Z.

    Even if someone donated for you to add or do something, it'd be tacked on at the end of a long to-do list that's being whittled through very slowly, and the content that they requested wouldn't even be available to them until they had waded through 7-8 hours of repetition to see their scene or item or whatever.

    There, I said it (although technically I've been preaching this "Repetition and carpal tunnel are not fun" thing for months).

    EDIT: Previous comment deleted for proofreading/editing purposes.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Reading through the above... seems like the common thread is that you need to actually focus on just one thing at a time and get stuff done.

    I'm not saying you haven't been pointing enough work into it or that you haven't been accomplishing lots behind the scenes... I'm sure you have. But we cant SEE it. What we see is a huge list of incomplete requests.

    My suggestion is to start focusing on one thing at a time and try to actually complete things. Start with the smaller stuff so you can get the list size down... then move on to the big stuff people are waiting on starting with anything that's close to being done. You might want to continue dedicating one day a week to just jobs as they seem to be the biggest thing to write/code and people want the variety new jobs brings... but the rest of the time try to focus on just one thing.

    This SHOULD have the net effect of making it LOOK like you are accomplishing more... even if you are in fact doing exactly the same amount of writing and coding.

    And no matter how many people might respond to this comment and say that's cheating or dishonest or what not... the truth is you have been doing as much work as any one can expect already. It seems like you have just been going about it in a way that prevents you from actually completing things.

    I actually have a few ideas myself but... in truth... I have no money at all to spare atm... and the ideas in question would be big donations at the least. But the rate things are being completed doesn't bother me so much.

    My reason main is completely different...

    For me... there is one thing that seems to be outside your control that is simply killing my enjoyment of Cursed. I can not bring myself to keep starting this game over ever few updates. I was able to mostly load my 2-21 save in 2-29... but in 3-8 it is completely broken. And exporting and then importing (in addition to requiring a half hour of playing before i can import) also still makes me start the game at April 2nd and doesn't copy over even half of my stats/traits... never mind job progress and so forth. Yes I could use the testing item and manually editing the export file to partially catch up (minus the traits) but that's another 30 minutes of messing around just to get back some where in the same general area as where I left off... and then 2 days later I get to do it again.

    The net effect is that the first time I'm faced with restarting/hacking my way back to not even close to where I was.. I go pull up some free porn online instead.

    I keep checking back with Cursed and usually after 6 months I see enough new stuff to not be completely irritated at having to do so much stuff over again... but that only lasts until you release another update... about 2 days later... so I'm playing this game just a few hours roughly 4-6 days out of the year.

    I'm pretty sure you had no idea how much of a cluster fuck RAGs was going to be when you started... and I know there is no way to redo it now. But ultimately that doesn't matter.

    The bottom line for me is that I'm not going to put money towards a game that I cant really enjoy... even if the reason I cant enjoy it is technical in nature and outside the control of the developer. I'm sorry... I could very easily put that money toward features from other such games that don't have this problem.

    I strongly suggest finding a way to get around RAGs' ultra shitty save system.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. me again... just an addendum... the expensive feature requests i mentioned? The bigger one was a permanent work around for the saves by expanding the testing item export into its own save feature. If I had the money I would gladly donate $50 for it... cause other than that Cursed is awesome. But I don't... so it doesn't matter.

      Delete
    2. "Reading through the above... seems like the common thread is that you need to actually focus on just one thing at a time and get stuff done."

      "I'm pretty sure you had no idea how much of a cluster fuck RAGs was going to be when you started... and I know there is no way to redo it now."

      I second these sentiments.

      I came across rather negatively, but I only meant to identify flaws and weaknesses so that you may consider them and perhaps fix them.

      Delete
  16. Maybe its the feeling of entitlement. People might feel that they don't have to give money. I think it happens to almost every free thing on the internet.

    I remember there was a writer who post his chapters for a novel once per month. He stopped doing so and got a bunch of blacklash from this.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You need to keep a steady stream of updates on a reliable schedule. Fans can toss money for stuff they want done first.

    This is how fenexo rakes it in, he gives frequent updates on his progress, and daily posts on his blog. Frequent streams are also a very good thing to gather and keep fan interest.

    So mostly, you need to devote at least an hour everyday to this blog and game, make sure to let everyone know daily whats doing on.

    The recent updates were very nice by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Just another lurker, albeit more of a supporter of independent adult games than TF games per se so feel free to take my criticism with a grain of salt. Economic issues and issues of scale aside (how many features can you really build every day?), I see two big problems. One is that a lot of the requests have been for fairly random little items that are likely to only interest the person who bought them. They may be entirely satisfied with them, but all that work is unlikely to interest all that many other people who may say 'ooh, neat description' then move on back to their favorite items and ignore the new additions.

    The other issue I see is the 'magical' and/or 'sexy' additions. For example transformation into a demon or mermaid or cow, and the general expansion of the prostitute career. The problem I see here is that, well, fenoxo/pornarium/flexible transformation. Each of these explores a specific aspect of these realms in pretty graphic detail with a much easier-to-use system on every side. By comparison, the descriptions in this game merely hint at what those games describe both in graphic detail and schematically, if you skip the scenes due to squeamishness or whatever.

    Where Cursed excels, and what it has been lacking in lately, is the everyday. If I were to request anything, I'd request the basic systems. I don't want to see the magical quests of a futanari catgirl stripper. There are small towns worth of people dedicated to exploring that very concept in every possible direction, and I think the internet is saturated with that stuff for the time being. I'd much rather see what further kinds of silly and/or sexy trouble the PC can get up to in the business career, or see her try to balance a relationship with a nice ordinary guy with a magical woman popping in every so often to try to get her to rob high-tech facilities of magical artifacts without him being any the wiser, or even just see her spend a few nights with a good book.

    What I want namely is a sympathetic and ordinary woman and her life, in all its sexy and unsexy glory. That is what no other independent adult game I know of can give.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to say, this post really hits the nail on the head.
      The mundane stuff is where Cursed really excels, particularly in sculpting your body and mind and seeing the results in accelerated time.
      Core framework (e.g. careers, random events, relationships, traits reflecting actions and habits) really extends gameplay and keeps interest. Moreso when they're alternate options for playing differently or with different transformations, as opposed to going through the motions as a stripper again. Nothing against the career, since it is interesting, but not necessarily the Nth time.
      Eventually, it also extends your TF content, if you're going to integrate more of the suspicion mechanism as well.
      The Church and the Nuns has been good for this, recently, though still not quite as central as careers.

      You may actually get people willing to donate toward career or more Maria stuff (in a vague manner - I imagine you'd retain control over details, but this would be more "hey, work on this!").

      However, overall, your work has been great to enjoy, and best of luck however you aim to approach it.

      Delete
    2. I can't tell if you two are trolling or just bat shit insane.

      The mundane stuff is by far Cursed's weakest point. I have mundane stuff in my real life. I play games to get away from that. That's what games and every other form of entertainment are about. Getting away from the mundane shit in life. That is what entertainment has been about since cavemen started drawing stuff on walls with rhino poop.

      The idea of playing a game so I can experience the mundane makes as much sense to me as getting a car with no engine so I can experience walking or a house with no roof so I can experience the outdoors.

      In both cases I don't need to go get something that does the opposite of whats it's normally intended to do so I can experience those things... I just need to get off my ass and go experience those things. Only the analogy falls short cause I might actually enjoy walking and the outdoors... but no one in their right mind enjoys the mundane bs in life.

      And honestly... if you think there are many other people in this world that want a "mundane monotony simulator" then you need to get out more. I honestly don't mean that as an insult. Seriously, not a joke and not an insult: if you think there are many people who would pay some one else for the opportunity them do their chores for them... then I dunno... that's so absurd I can't even describe how absurd it is.

      Readers do not want mundane. Movie goers do not want mundane. Music listerns do not want mundane. Gamers do not want mundane. And, more importantly, people with money in general to not want mundane. If AM is going to make money with this he needs to get AWAY from the mundane. Not focus on it more. He's bordering on having way too much of it already.

      And several nights reading a good book? Jesus wept... I can't think of anything more absurd that some one expecting me to pay them to see some one read a damned book. I honestly thought you were making a sort of twisted joke till I kept reading and, to my great disbelief, realized you were actually serious. I would expect AM to pay *me* for that. Not the other way around.

      Delete
  19. I think a big release of something new might reignite some interest or even cause some new interest. I know that I actually haven't played to much simply because I'm waiting my request to be finished. It might be just a tough time of year for people I know I'm saving up some cash to purchase ME3 myself and replaying ME2 again just to refresh my memory.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Your game has an open layout, but with very linear progression. Due to the limitations of the RAGS engine (or perhaps by your design) the same old repetitive actions and encounters cannot be blasted through with some keyboard button mashing; you must manually hunt and click the same options again and again and again for every in-game day until you reach the event. Furthermore, to access many transformations, events, and quests you must play through all preceding content every single new playthrough, due to the unreliable and unstable nature of exporting/importing and loading old version saves. In Cursed, to get from point A to point Z, you have to go through points B, C, D, E, F, and so on and so forth until you get through all points preceding Z."

    I agree. Just going to work is annoying, look at all the steps for working as a stripper;

    1. Get dressed
    2. Go to bathroom
    3. Shower
    4. Makeup
    5. Something to advance time until work time
    6. Living Room
    7. Foyer
    8. Go to work
    9. At work, navigate to dressing room
    10. Get undressed
    11. Get dressed in stripper clothes
    12. Go to dance floor
    13. Realize "get dressed for work" didn't change your shoes.
    14. Back to dressing room
    15. Get shoes on
    16. Back to dance floor.
    17. Do work
    18. Back to dressing room
    19. Get dressed.
    20. Equip shoes.
    21. Head home.

    Every single day. It's so much clicking it gets obnoxious as hell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally agree... I once suggested a system that would allow one to still have the freedom to make choices and even tied the system into the idea of a simulating a real persons life (in the form of weekly routines... if things became too routine you might start to get depressed or become more prone to mistakes... if things aren't routine enough you start to become stressed and make mistakes there as well)... but would reduce the needless clicks to almost 0.

      It was immediately shot down by other fans of the game as taking away freedom of choice (even though it did no such thing).

      Delete
  21. I do love the game and the variation in transformations, the missions and the difficulties in managing your arousal. The problem for me is I've explored the 'enjoying the transformation' element as much as i can and are waiting for the other job paths to be opened. A possible reason (and indeed on of my own) for the lack of donations could be that with university/college having started this month or late last month, income is going into books and whatnot.

    PinPig5

    ReplyDelete
  22. I think the basic ideas came over already... I am one of the donators. And tbh. You got one of my very few donations (Fen didn't get one and I played the game a lot more for a long time before I started liking CURSED.) This game seems to have some sort of "feeling". But as said already, it is being destroyed by repetitive actions each day. If you learned magic and have a transformationm running, its a dozen clicks just for that... :-S
    Also as stated above: You might want to concentrate and FINISH at least the main plots and then one after another the additional requests before accepting new ones. - Or at least give a schedule sorting minor and major changes (e.g. a small random encounter could be implemented faster than a whole TF). I ran also in a couple of "loose ends" where you flirted with someone and at a given Point it simply ends.

    As the other people said already. It won't be the last time I donated. However, I want to see some progress that isn't a hillarous (at least for 90% of the players) TF or another clothing. At the start you play the game because you can follow a fairy tale. This gets messed up as soon as you come to implemented, but unfinished parts. And there are so many of them... If you ask me: Leave all the side stuff aside and concentrate on the basics. Add a little bit more variation to the "daily encounters" and get the 3rd and 4th job section into the game. - And add a few endings or at least a milestone where you can choose to play on or not/go back to a certain major decision that you did in the past and go another route.

    - Just my 2 cents. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  23. See, the thing for me is that I wouldn't want to donate for new features. Frankly, at this point I'm not even sure you're ever going to finish the features you already have planned. I want the same stuff you already have to be more meaningful. Flesh out the careers, the relationships, the main story with Maria, the consequences of the physical changes.

    I think accepting donations for fluff features is kind of a trap, actually. Not only does it mean you're not spending your time making forward progress, it also means you have more things to maintain in the future. And at this point, the size of the backlog probably means that you're spending energy feeling guilty about not having gotten to all those things yet, I'd guess.

    What you're getting at the moment isn't actually donations. You're accepting *commissions*, and at a pretty low price for the time it takes to get them done.

    If that's really what you want to do, if you want to accept commissions, then formalize that. Figure out what rate you want to charge for your time, then put together a pricing page with like $50 for a totally new transformation, $5 for a new dress, or whatever.

    I'm totally serious here; if you want to run this as a art-request business, then do it *right*. Your time has value. And if you still find yourself with an unmanageably-huge I-cup backlog, *raise your prices*.

    That said, if you don't want to be in the commission biz, then stop accepting commissions. Just let people donate if they want, with no obligation on your end other than that you keep putting time into the project. Then spend a certain percent of your time on getting the backlog cleared out, and otherwise get back to moving things along.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I haven't donated myself but from what I've seen you've gotten quite enough.(at LEAST over a 1000$)For a text game that's running on kind of a meh engine that's a pretty ridiculous amount. But that's just what i think, I'm not hating.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi,
    I might be jumping on a train here, at least in some parts but i agree with a lot of people who posted above. On the other side you already are doing a good job by working half the time on requests and the other half on further developing the game.

    That said I would recommend limiting new requests to get your backlog under control for the smaller things, and focus more on bigger stuff like careers. Maybe instead of more requests accept donations for some extra time spent to put into the relations/jobs/story etc., that could prove to be beneficiary to both, money gain and progress.

    Another point is the mentioned repetition of actions and the lack of transferable games from version to version. Its really great to see new versions coming out nearly every weak but it also adds a lot of frustration. Due to the design of RAGS the added things in newer versions cant show up in saves from older versions simply because they didn't exist at the creation time of the save its one big problem of RAGS.
    I don't envy you to have to either live with this or find a way to work around that...

    One way to lessen this could be to reduce the release frequency of new versions to maybe only once a week or even only once every other week.
    This could have the added bonus of more time of find bug before having to redo everything to get to the new implemented stuff.
    On the other side it could lessen the interest of players because of less frequent releases, but i don't think it would.

    I personally don't have enough free money to donate, nor is there a usable option for me to donate, at least at the moment. Instead I try to find bugs/typos/glitches etc. to help out. That being said if I could donate, I would do so to get either a working save function to be able to transfer game-progress from version to version, or further flash out some story elements like the convent, relations, quests or jobs.
    (Like for example to be able to, if heavily lactating, start the lactation/breast expansion in the nuns, could lead to some hilarious problems/situations or if you take over the convent to some other income options... but I'm driftiong off topic here)

    I would personally refrain from comparing CURSED to CoC or other games mentioned, especially those with a big company behind them, mainly because it will always be comparing apples and oranges in the end and simply speaking its not fair to both sides. The differences are simply too big, starting at the game engine...

    Add to that all the economic side of the donators and it adds up to a decline in donations.

    Still you are doing a great job and i hope that this problem will resolve itself in short time.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Been a lurker for a while (personally haven't donated, but that's 'cause I don't have the money to).

    One thing I wanted to point out is that projects have waning and waxing interests. That's natural, particularly for smaller projects. Add that to the fact that a lot of what you've been doing seems like bug fixes/tweaks, and there isn't a lot of reason for me (as a normal player) to come check your site more than once every 3~4 updates. That means once every other week. When I check something that rarely, it's easy enough to forget it in the list of other things I have to check. That means every other month, which quickly means a completely forgotten game.

    As writer myself (being pretty active in some Interactive Fiction circles) I know how hard it is to keep people's interests. It seems like, for every day you don't post something, half the people that showed up that day (to your site) don't bother the next. And if that next day goes without something new (even if 'new' is just a random blog post that barely touches on the game), half again disappear. In short, people need *constant* interaction to be kept entertained.

    Just a little bit of interaction a day can go a very long way in keeping people interested. If I see the developer responding to people's questions/comments, I'm more likely to want to leave my own questions/comments, and that little bit of effort I expend in asking the question makes me want to come back even more.

    Add that to the fact that you have a huge backlog of requested features, which puts people off from requesting more (as they know they're going to end up at the end of that list), and you have a lot of things that just put people off from contributing. I think the main reason you're even as popular as you are is because of the quality of your game. As silly as it sounds, the only thing that's keeping you afloat is that you're game is so interesting, which creates a niche market, even beyond other TF games (a smart, even seemingly *realistic* TF game).

    Remember, marketing is key. For some games, that means god only knows how much money poured into TV adds. For others, that just means an approachable, talkative developer.

    ReplyDelete
  27. There's that too. More visibility means more potential donators, so you might consider taking the time to put yourself and Cursed a bit more out there. FP comes to mind, considering it already has a bit of a game dev community. As does Hongfire, though those are mostly rpgmaker games. Hell you could go to the MonsterGirlsUnited people, you do have monstergirls of sorts. No shortage of places to show off.

    Other than that, I'll go out on a limb and say we have a clear tendency here : you probably should concentrate on what makes Cursed unique. Just adding TF after TF after TF puts you in direct competition with all the CoC, Nimin, Pornarium, etc, who have bigger following and use an engine that is not RAGS. That's not a fight you can win (nor you should want to). Plus you already have quite a few different possibilities on that front, once the backlog is cleared.

    Expanding the daily life aspects, as said by someone, exploring the depth of your setting, places to go, people to see, a story to care about, that's probably your biggest strength. Background, relations, jobs, interactions, hobbies ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. Though It seems people are more willing to donate to TF's than the more difficult long term stuff. Short term gratification and all...

      Delete
  28. Well, I would like to donate, but for me it is a question of toward what. I don't have much I can spare and some things I would love to ask for seem to major, whereas others are simple things like being able to come in late to work...which frankly seem SO basic that I worry you would be adding them anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I would be much more likely to donate if you made more games like Trials than continued to build the mountain that is Cursed. There's only so much fluff you can add to a game.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Just started playing this a few days ago, but I'm already seeing a lot of the big problems people are talking about.

    1) People aren't going to want to donate to get just another entry on a HUGE to-do list. If you want more donation for suggestions, you're going to have to put a major dent in the content people have ~already~ paid for.

    2) Since RAG's saves are un-reliable across versions, the import/export feature needs to reliably import ~at least~ ALL skills, traits, magic, and transformed states. It'd be nice if it worked like a 'new game+', and let you keep your possesions as well.

    ReplyDelete
  31. i would donate, but with mass effect 3 just come out also with ninja gaiden 3 and resident evil raccoon city on the horizon, cash has been tight right now.

    ReplyDelete
  32. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing you're doing wrong is developing in the RAGS engine.
    But I know how much work it would be to migrate, even if a suitable alternative were found.

    ReplyDelete
  33. First of all I need to see my prev donations to be implemented, then I'll donate more

    ReplyDelete