Okay, despite my lighthearted title, this is actually a serious discussion. So please, hear me out, and then get on that comments button or fire me off an email or something, because I really do want to hear back from everyone concerning this.
First of all, I really appreciate how much everyone is enjoying the game. I put in about four hours of work on this game a day and it’s really nice to see that work pay off in terms of your support.
Those of you who have been following this game for awhile may remember me mentioning that I was laid off back in May. Since then, I haven’t had any really good prospects come up. While I’m not in dire financial straights or anything (Nekochan makes more than enough money to support us both) it has made be examine my priorities and try to figure out what the “next step” in terms of my life plan is, and I’m taking a serious look at making No Moshing’s Games a for-reals game company. I would love to be able to do this for a living, and make Harem Collector (and future projects) a full-time job that I can focus on. Plus, it’d be nice to send Gurotaku a little cash for all the images he’s worked on for the game.
The business plan that I’m roughed out is highly inspired by the existing plan that webcomics and webshows use. Basically, the core content (ie, the games themselves) would be free, and I would attempt to make money by selling related merchandise. Oh, and I should probably lay this out officially: Harem Collector is, and will always be completely free to play with no DLC or paid content.
I like this plan because 1) I don’t have to fuck around with DRM because in-game DRM is bullshit and I don’t have the resources or patience to chase pirates and 2) It’s a proven business model.
There are some complications though.
First of all, the images of the characters in game are made using sprite builders and face generation programs, and I don’t know how much ownership over my characters and images the creators of those programs have.
Second of all, a number of people have very generously donated money to the project, and they still need to have their financial support recognized and rewarded, even if as an official for-profit company No Moshing Games would be unable to accept donations any more.
Third of all, I don’t know how many people would be willing to have t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets or whatever of a hentai game.
So, I want to hear from all you guys, donors, fans, and casual players alike. I want to know what you think. What kind of merch you’d be interested in buying (if any). If you think this is selling out and me doing this would cause you to drop the game entirely, let me know. If you think a t-shirt featuring the hero on a throne surrounded by girls and the words “I’m A Selfish Guy” on the back is a pretty awesome idea, let me know. If you’ve previously donated and think you deserve your money back if I go for-profit, let me know.
Any huge changes are many many moons away, so take your time with the replies, but bottom line is that I want to hear from you.
i’m not sure I would buy it, but a lot of people would, though if the t-shirt were just “I’m A Selfish Guy” I think I would buy it…or maybe one with “151” with “It’s A Sacred Number” in the back
I’d get either version of the shirt if I had the money for it.
One way you could get around the ownership of characters problem would be to hire some artists from hentai-foundry or some site like that to draw the characters for the merch. that way you’re only using the images from the face generator as inspiration.
Also I can’t speak for everyone but I would definitely want a coffee mug with a picture of the hero sitting on a throne surrounded by women with the words chaotic neutral bitch above them. Just saying.
Ditto on the coffee mug or the same design in line art on a clear water glass.
Sounds like mousepad material to me (since I don’t drink coffee)
I love the dialog from the game. I would buy a “Chaotic Neutral, bitch.” coffee mug for sure.
I suggest having a poll about what to include. Maybe even have the shirt with him on the throne (151).
You have some unique lines that do stand out. I’d love to see how far this game goes, and whether it will reach that Sacred Number, with just as much infamous lines.
BTW, anyone know what the stuff to put in for the clocks are? I haven’t been around long enough (since May) to have found it….
This is referring to the one inside that house and the one in the clock store.
The throne on the shirt would be interesting but im pretty sure most people would think twice about wearing it in public and the lines may not always be substantial enough for a shirt so try wristbands cause i know i would definitely buy on of those with “Chaotic Neutral, Bitch” on there
on another note you may want to try using that “suspicious character that sits in the bars” on various merchandise since he is always good for a laugh and not directly hentai
I’m a donator and I’d definately have no intention of wanting my money back if you go for profit with this game. I could be intersted in buying merchandise if it has some BDSM flavor to it (humorous or not). However, I’m pretty far away from the USA and last time I ordered from Amazon US the delivery costs and import fees were huge (pretty much doubled my final price), so I am not sure if I’ll be able to swallow those 🙂
I think this is a pretty solid idea, not all merchandise have to be hentai related, hell iv’e seen some really stupid shit sell like hot cakes so this is not half bad at all.
I have donated and I don’t want my money back just beacuse you want to go official.
Good luck!
I’m just a guest here, but I occasionally enjoy playing rpgmaker games, mostly interesting concepts and nice pics as a bonus.
Living, similar to GEO, quite a long way away from the US and the fees he/she mentioned ate my buying motivation a few times. I’d personally enjoy buying merchandise, posters are quite often bought around here. Things like coffe mugs with witty remarks should should sell quite well to. Problem is, you’d need to reach more people to truly make a profit…
hm, ” sell quite well too.”
Furthermore, T-shirts and such could work too
After reading some of the comments from legend of krystal I agree that I’m not sure if your fan base is big enough to support the model. But one way you could safely test out whether it would work or not is to use a site that allows you to custom make t-shirts and mugs and buy them individually. That way you could charge the people whatever mark up you decide on then order the product for them. That way there is no start up cost and no risk. And you could combine that with the idea to allow people to purchase the right to have their name in the game somewhere. That way people who don’t want to have anything physical could still support the project.
I’m torn.
On the one hand, I’d love to see someone pull something like this off. But I’m not sure that this is really a way to generate a living, and I don’t want to see you starve.
After reading the other posts, I got the idea that nobody seems to realize that while a lot of people secretly love Hentai (and a lot of things related), things like this are a pretty big social taboo in our society. People can claim they’d want to spent money on products such as this, but in practise, you’d likely only get a few dozen orders in, at best.
The problem, in my eyes, is that while your game is great, it isn’t popular enough to be able to support the kind of bussiness model you’re proposing. Webcomics and Webshows thrive off this kind of model because their individual pieces (a single comic, a single episode, etc.) are short and easy to make, allowing for a lot of them to be created in succession, and gain a following fast. People react differently to a single, big game, which – as you more than anyone should know – takes a very long time to create. On top of that, most Webcomics and -shows have a relatively light subject matter, agreeable to many people. Your game with more… shall we say, provocative subject matter, which might turn a lot of people away.
So in conclusion, while it hurts me to admit it, I don’t think this is a good idea. Maybe (and I can’t believe I’m going to say this) if you had a few games already under your belt, things would be different, as you’d have a larger pool of material to draw from. Right now, however, I have to say no. Don’t do this. As it stands now, the game is better fit to be a hobby project than something you could make money from. Don’t throw your money and time away on trying to make it something it isn’t.
Hmm, have you though about getting funding thru offbeatr or similar sites?
Maybe make funders or smth get credits or have them choose a npc name or whatnot, wouldn’t be exactly a company but…
hardest part would be getting visitors but you could always try for a plug from other sites.
OMG, are you THE Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! At my blog! Wow.