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Patreon Research - Uncertainty! Ideas! Hope!

5 years ago2,656 words

I've looked at a few other indie developers' Patreons to get ideas about how to structure mine. There have been disheartening things, some hopeful things; it's been a journey!

Yesterday, I wrote a post venting about worry woes, not for the first time. Amusingly, it seems that I post about the same general issue every couple of months like clockwork, though in my mind it didn't seem as frequent as that. It's embarrassing, but I suppose it's going to keep happening unless I actually do something about it and break out of the cycle.

Just setting up my Patreon properly will be a little step. I don't know if it'll amount to anything significant financially, but it's better than nothing, and on a psychological level it feels like progress.

I technically have had a Patreon account for years, but I don't consider it 'officially open' at the moment even though I do technically have supporters on there.

Largely it's due to a sort of embarrassment, I suppose. I was never any good at actually maintaining it or interacting with the people who supported me because I set it up during darker days, when I was even more crippled by my demons than I am now, and I felt bad about taking money from anyone without delivering anything reliably... but also didn't want to just shut it down because I was so scared of being penniless, then I felt bad about that and... bleh, I suppose that just led to pretending it didn't exist, or something.

Several people have expressed a desire to support me though, and I certainly need the money. I don't know if I'll make enough from games sales, and that income is going to be really spread out anyway. Things have changed a lot since a few years ago though. Now I know exactly what I'm doing, I have a clear goal which I'm working towards every day. I've been posting stuff I make on this blog and Twitter, and it actually seems like it'd be really nice to have somewhere I could post updates like that for the eyes of the people who care the most.

I'm trying to think of methods I can use to push through my various avoidance issues. The root of these issues seems to be the underlying fear that if I do the thing I'm avoiding, I'll experience anxiety symptoms which will consume me for a long time. I seem to feel better when I can vent about these feelings, but usually I don't have anyone to talk to, so I end up avoiding so as not to experience them in the first place. So perhaps essentially talking to myself in a blog post like this will allow for immediate verbal release of any negative feelings if I do experience them at any part of the process. Talking about things does help immensely, for me at least. It's the main reason I keep this blog.

So with that in mind, I'm going to research how other creators have used Patreon, to know how best to set up my own, and to have a better idea of what to expect from it or do with it, and I'll be talking in this post about what I find. Hopefully by the end of it I'll at least have a better idea of how the whole thing works, and I'll have broken through one of these ridiculous mental barriers which has blocked me for so long.

So let's get started!



Well, I say all that, but I actually briefly started researching this last night. I googled 'patreon indie game developer' or something, expecting to find articles saying things like "what to offer to patrons as an indie developer!", since that's the biggest question I have myself at the moment.

The first result that came up was this Patreon: [LINK]

It's for a team of three people working on something described as a "2D retro multiplayer mmo-like RPG" called Aether Story, and from what I can tell, I think the game might actually already be playable in some form? It has four patron tiers (or 'membership levels', as I they seem to be called on Patreon?), and the language used for these and the description is very thorough, comes across as professional and thought-out. Lots of effort has been put into preparing the page, planning the tiers, and making the game.

It has 13 patrons for a total of $136 per month.

I wonder how the developers feel about that. It's certainly disheartening to see. But maybe there's a lot of other stuff going on that I'm not aware of; maybe it used to earn more, but recently died or something; I wouldn't know. I just see a slice. Or maybe they're happy with that amount?

It allows me to put my own position into perspective; I feel like I've already had more people than that expressing interest in supporting me, so maybe I'd do a bit better. I don't know.

Next.

Here's the second result: [LINK]

It's for a team of four who describe themselves as having "decades of industry experience between us". I wonder whether they're older developers who found working in the industry on big teams miserable and split off to pursue their own ideas - this apparently happens a lot - or whether this is just bigging up something which is more equivalent to my own 'working in the industry' (that is, making free games from my bedroom in my parent's house).

Their tiers are really informal, just snappy sentences about how they'll help out the developers; nothing that the patron would get in return. That'd be way easier for me to do, but I'd also feel bad offering nothing in return.

Their description sounds professional-ish as well, with a bit of informal honesty about the real reason money's needed: just to pay the basic bills.

But they only have 4 patrons, offering an undisclosed amount each month. It's sad putting myself in their minds, being a team of four possibly-previously-professionals and pouring all this effort in, hoping to make a living from it, and nobody seems to care...

It helps again to put my own situation into perspective. Thanks to the success and enduring fanbase of MARDEK, I definitely feel I have an advantage that most developers don't. I'm definitely failing to take advantage of that at the moment, partly because I fear I'm naive for believing this to be the case. Maybe once I post on Reddit boasting about how I made this successful Flash game once, I'd be as un-noteworthy as everyone else. I've been spoiled by being treated as if I was some amazing ~celebrity~ or something (though it's been a long time since all that), so being ignored feels like the worst possible outcome. Even though hiding away to avoid pain isn't getting me anywhere.

Anyway, next.

This is the third Google result: [LINK]

Perhaps I should be making a note of exactly what these other people are offering for their tiers, since that's what I'm struggling to decide on. Hmm. Five tiers seems too many to me! And it's interesting that this one starts at $3. I also notice that all three of these Patreons' tiers include Discord benefits, so it seems that's the norm. Maybe I'll have to start a damn Discord myself, UGGGHHHH!!1 ...I say, dreading a return to the stresses of community management that was Fig Hunter. I don't want to worry about community drama! And yet I - and others! - made lasting and meaningful connections from my communities, so HMM... Maybe I do need to do that.

I suppose if people have to pay to get in, that'd reduce the chance of trolls? But then I hate the thought of a highly combative person paying and then joining and I'd feel like I was beholden to them in some way, like I was a customer support person who always had to keep a polite the customer is always right! mentality at all times... Stressful just to think about.

Offering demo builds would actually be really useful, and I can see that being an appealing thing to support for. So I'll consider that.

I looked at the person's website, and they have a lot of tutorials on there, most of which have 0 comments. Again, perspective.

It's interesting again how they present themselves in a professional way, describing themselves as 'we', the team, throughout the Patreon page, but when you look at the "About the team!" section, it lists one person. I mention this professionalism because no doubt I'd be... well, not like that. You know me! I'd probably describe myself as literally insane and talk about my brain surgery and how my bum hurts or something.

Would that amount to more supporters than the 28 this person has?!?

Personally I'd prefer someone who presented themselves in a more honest and human way, but I'm weird; maybe most people would be put off by something that didn't sound professional.

28 is not a large number, but if you imagine these people behind these numbers in a physical space, sitting in a lecture theatre around the person they're supporting, it doesn't seem that bad, and having way more just feels overwhelming. I wonder how much they're collectively paying per month.

Also, I checked this person's Twitter, where they have fewer followers than me (I've made no effort to ever gather any myself), and follow 17 (I follow 0; I feel awkward about that and want to change it). Their posts - or mostly retweets, I barely understand Twitter - get about as many likes as my own though? Interesting. They tweet about their tutorials, and get more likes and retweets about them than they get comments on the tutorial itself.

Interesting. I'm getting a better idea of what I should do for my own, so I'm not sure how many of these I should keep looking at. Maybe I'll do one more, for now, since this post is getting long; I can always update whatever I make over time.

Next!

Oh, it looks like all the articles I was expecting to find are coming up next in these results; I'm just surprised those fairly low-performing accounts came up first. Maybe it's because I had 'patreon' as the first word or something.

I noticed ∞ this post ∞ because the name Jeff Vogel seems familiar, though I can't place it... Something to do with Kongregate, maybe? I don't know! Let's see what he says, though at this point I feel familiar enough with the general idea that I'm wondering if I'll see anything new or surprising.

Ah, Spiderweb Software! That does ring a bell! This is interesting, since perhaps this person's previous success was more like my own than these other people's?

He links to a Kickstarter which is a remaster of something called Geneforge, which I vaguely recognise, but never played.

It got $85,000! 2,111 backers.

See, things like this are what I should be looking at, really. I feel like I have the potential to get something similar considering my past successes... It's just a matter of pushing through the avoidance and actually doing something to get the word out.

Perhaps with MARDEK I've missed my chance by leaving it so late... but then again, it's not exactly a remaster. Maybe Divine Dreams could do just as well, but I don't know, is it too different? Or maybe it's at a high enough quality that people will be impressed rather than put off??

Anyway, I'll keep reading the article.

He talks about letting his backers contribute ideas, which makes sense; I essentially give that away for free at the moment.

An aside, from following links: ∞ this article ∞ talks about a team of four (young!) indie developers who've turned to Patreon for funding (they look like a boyband or something...). There's a link to ∞ their Patreon ∞: $5,285 per month! 1,506 patrons! Now that's more like it!

They say they release two games a month, which seems insane to me. The games don't look to be of a very high quality individually, but with that quantity, I can imagine support feeling worth it. Plus if they're releasing them all and charging for them, that'd add up to a lot too.

It's not exactly appropriate for my situation though. I'm one person releasing huge games rarely. Still, nice to see they're doing well with it.

Back to the article, it also mentions Dwarf Fortress getting by on donations, but that's famous (as it notes); it has the sort of "I was here first" history which no money can buy. MARDEK has that to some degree.



Hmm.



I suppose games have to be of a certain quality though? I know that Soulstorm, the Abe's Exoddus 'Reimagining', is going to be an Epic Games exclusive (if it ever even comes out). That's likely AAA quality. My work isn't!



Yes.

I've been at this for a while, and since I'm so out of my comfort zone, it's exhausting. It's been quite journey! The first few results weren't so promising, though they did help me actually feel better about my own potential advantages. I should probably read more about successful Kickstarters like that again, rather than getting disheartened like I did with the post yesterday.



I won't do anything with my own Kickstarter just yet, but from all that, here's what I'm thinking for some possible tiers; I'd prefer just three rather than four or five:


$3 - Bronze
Access to Patron-exclusive updates on Patreon. I'd post quite often, with things like what I've been posting on Twitter recently.

$6 - Silver
Access to a Patron Discord. I'm reluctant, but it seems to be the norm.

$12 - Gold
Access to demo builds, and a special Discord place for Gold members.


I'm interested to hear your thoughts about all this!

I've been hiding away for ages due to mental illness, but once I actually tame my demons enough to stumble out of my dark cave, the light doesn't burn quite as much as they told me it would. It really does feel like once I start getting out there, it'll become a whole lot easier, and perhaps I do have a history I can really make use of to make something of this, eventually. (If I got $80,000 on Kickstarter, that'd help me feel secure for years!)

So yes, hopefully you got something out of reading my train of thought here! It certainly helped to write it all out.

If you know of any other Patreons I should check, let me know! I might update this post with some more research later.