BBBen
patreon
Update - Twyla meets the mimic
🕑 Added 2017-10-23 22:01:00 +0000 UTC tl;dr - I'm working on the next LMO update (coming soon), Patreon has made some changes that are potentially a problem to all us adult game devs, and I explain a little about my ongoing plans.Let Me Out update
Most importantly, I'll say off the top that I'm putting out an update this month to LMO. I'm a little rushed, what with my holiday and jetlag really cutting down my effective work time, but I can still release one. I'm hoping to get it done within a couple of days, ideally. This will be another double update, with a public release and a patron release paired up. I think I mentioned this already, but I might as well remind you.
I've been working to get this ready over the past week. Mostly it involves editing and rendering new images. These both take longer than I would like - I've got a bunch of already written text (mostly by EFon, he's been great laying down a lot of material for the game) and the endings are already mostly programmed in, but editing and expanding the text so I'm happy with it and illustrating the scenes is just a lengthy process. Sometimes making these endings is surprisingly (to me) time consuming, especially considering you play through them pretty quick. I hope you like them! (If not then I'm wasting some work hours...)
I do get distracted by other ideas a lot, too, so my process isn't super efficient. I can mostly use the stuff I get distracted by later, though, as it's usually some idea for another game or just another ending that you'll get to see later. :) That's always been my process; I go off and make some random shit but that'll be in an update 4-5 months from now, so it's not wasted work.
Patreon's new terms of service
If you follow any other h-game creators on Patreon you may have already heard about how there are new rules about what developers can put on their pages. There's more details here: https://www.lewdgamer.com/2017/10/20/patreon-community-guidelines-suspensions/
This has been a big distraction for everyone in the industry this week, but at the least it doesn't look like it's going to be a big problem for me right now (fingers crossed). That may change, however, and I don't know if and when. Stay tuned and if there's a problem with this site I'll try to communicate through forums that I normally post on and my twitter: @BBBenAIF
More importantly, I still have another website; it's a bit primitive but it's got an open comments section and I can post links there, so bookmark it and if there's any trouble I can communicate with you there: http://bbben.aifcommunity.org/
My ongoing plans
I probably haven't clearly laid this out, because I've been toying with the ideas back and forth for some time myself. My plans right now (subject to change, naturally) are to finish LMO, then develop a demo for Pervert Action: Timelapse. In the process I still plan to make some updates for Attack of the Nega Maids, too, although that one will be ongoing for a little while.
The creation of that PAT demo is going to involve learning the basics of Ren'py, as I want to use that platform to develop the game. That's difficult because I need to keep releasing updates too, which is why it's very helpful to have AotNM to work on and update in the meantime.
What do you think? Should I post more LMO pics in the updates? Does making a Ren'py demo of PAT sound like a good idea or a bad one? Have you heard about the Patreon changes, do you care and do you have an opinion? I'd love to hear what you think! Let me know in the comments below.
Comments
BBBen
My big concern is about posting links publicly - hopefully I'll be able to find some accommodation for that, I don't know yet. :/
Yea the VAT tax is a government tax, and as a fellow Dane, i wished they would remove it. As it's a lot of money we are being forced to pay extra. (like if i donate 200 dollars, i have to also pay 50 dollars in VAT, stuff is insane.) And about the patreon issue. I don't think you have to worry to much about that BBBen, as your content (for the most parts), is pretty tame. Just think about what you show in the public posts, and it should be fine. ^^
BBBen
Yes, definitely more accessible, which would make a big difference. It would be easier for other players to pick up and easier for me to distribute it too, so that would solve a lot of problems for me. It also wouldn't stop me from writing prose, which is nice, or from having choice and interactivity in the game. It's just a bugger to have to actually learn the system.
Hank Rillek
A Renpy system sounds good, I think it's more accessible than the text parsers. More LMO pictures sound good as well.
BBBen
Thanks, yeah, it's a little stressful; I'm trying not to worry about it too much. My biggest concern is that I might have to take the links to all the games off the front page, which I think is an important feature to have to help new people see my work. I hope I don't have to take those down!
DragonFire
Well I hope you won't be suspended at all, because as I see it your games doesn't break their new rules. There might be some gray areas between some of the npc'es, but that's more in the story telling and doesn't directly get influenced by the main character. So here is to hoping they won't crash down too hard on ya, if at all :-)
BBBen
I think the VAT is actually a government tax, so it wouldn't go into the pocket of Patreon. On the other points, we're still waiting to see how restrictive these new rules are; it's possible they're actually not too bad in practice, but the review process is taking time. If I get suspended then stay tuned, because mostly suspended pages seem to be able to come back to life (so far).
DragonFire
I can understand some of Patreon's new policies, but not the ones that involve animations. To me there is a huge difference between reality and animation, the later being a safer environment to find joy in certain fantasies/fetishes, which in most cases I could never watch with enjoyment outside of the animated sphere. Having studied art for many years I've always felt that censorship is a killer of creativity. Many artists gets provoked by it and in turn try to fight it. In regards to this site, they hold the absolute power of what is allowed and not allowed. Most of their rules makes absolute sense, but some of the new ones smells like influence from Paypal's policies, which is a no tolerance towards erotica of any kind. Animated games and graphic novels often include some of the now forbidden fetishes, some of these games and novels tend to appeal to us patrons and in turn bring in a lot money every month. One example is neither a game or graphic novel creator, but animated video's, Studio FOW, who has 4001 Patrons atm, with $5 as their minimum pledge per patron, bringing in at least $20.000 a month. Any patron who pledge to a creator here should know of the VAT that Patreon charge, it differes from country to country, in my case it's 25% ontop of the pledge itself.. when I pay $1 to a creator and I'm charged $1.25.. the extra $0.25 is VAT and I'm pretty sure some of it goes into Patreons pockets to run this site as a whole. If not, then the 5% from each creator would still be quite a chunk in some cases. In Studio FOW's case that would $1.000, minimum, that Patreon get for having them on this site, plus any VAT revenue. If all patrons of FOW where Danes like me, VAT would minimum be $5.000 a month. And what kind of animated porn does FOW make? Well let's just say each video breaks at least a couple of the new site rules. I'm pretty sure if all the animated erotic artists and creators on this site got deleted, Patreon would loose a huge chunk of their income. If all creators removed the fetishes in question from their games etc.. their pledges would drop drastically, also resulting in less income for Patreon. So I think they shot themselves in the foot with this one.. They should be more large when it comes to animations.
