Following Up On Precious Kouhai v0.2

It's been... a weekend. I really don't want to turn this into a "venting" post, because this is a development blog and not a personal one, but Patrons tend to support the creator rather than the project and motivation has been low, so it only seems fair to make information about myself available when it affects development.

To actually follow up on the release of Precious Kouhai v0.2, it's been okay. I'm not sure if it's due to another algorithm change on itch or if something else is happening, but traffic suddenly cut in half a few days before v0.2 went into early access. One day I was holding an average of 200 views per day - something I've never even gotten close to with Maids & Masters - and the next it was half that, barely breaking 100 views per day. Following the release, views did increase back to roughly 200 per day and has stayed there over the weekend, but this is still a little strange. Everything else I've seen, both in my personal metrics and in analytics shared by other developers, shows a spike when an update releases with a gradual taper off to normal. Instead, things just sort of returned to what normal was before the drop. The same goes for the other things itch tracks, like downloads and browser plays (though browser plays in particular are still a little below normal).

At this point, you might be wondering why this matters, and why I care. That subject is actually fairly complicated, but I'll try to give a basic breakdown.

Putting aside that it's demoralizing to see the numbers go down, analytics like this are how developers like me gauge public perception. I'm still a very small dev, so I can't go to social media and look for a hashtag and see what people are saying. No one goes out of their way to ask me about my work. I can search the internet for myself or my projects, but that usually only leads to websites that host my work without my permission (which is why I have in-game options to find me; these websites rarely modify files, they just upload). When views drop like they recently have for Precious Kouhai, and like they have more than once in the past for Maids & Masters, it usually indicates something is wrong. However, because I have so little to go off of, outside of obvious changes like itch announcing a change in their algorithm, I can rarely tell what is wrong or what I can or should do about it. That's a big reason feedback is so important to me; you can tell me what's wrong, sometimes before it even gets as far as being a problem. It's a huge help.

These numbers can also be used to help me figure out if I'm succeeding or failing. Metrics like click-through rate give me a percentage of people who see my game and decide to click on it. That number is normally fairly low, around 3-5%. For Precious Kouhai, that number has fallen to 1.3%. It being that low is bad because that's how I get new Patrons. Someone clicks on my game, then they click through to Patreon, then they decide to become a Patron. Doing a bit of math, this means roughly 20,000 people see the thumbnail for Precious Kouhai every day. 200 people decide to click on it. Only 2 people end up on my Patreon page. Add in Maids & Masters, this blog, and so on, and that becomes 3-5. This lines up with the analytics Patreon gives me - on average, I get roughly 4 page visits per day, excluding Patrons. According to Patreon, it usually takes 3-5 visits for someone to decide to become a Patron. That means I need to get the attention of those four people 2-4 more times. Assuming they don't check the page more than once every update, that means it takes 3-5 updates (or, since I do monthly updates, 3-5 months) for me to gain just four new Patrons. Trying to grow as a small, solo developer is a slow, arduous process.

This is where I've lost a lot of motivation recently. Maids & Masters should, in theory, be bringing those one or two new Patrons with every update. I have gained one or two new Patrons every month, but nearly all of these new Patrons have cancelled their pledge within a few days of joining. Sometimes that new Patron isn't new at all, and it's one person joining to get the new update before canceling again. I understand doing it, and I still appreciate the support, but put plainly, it sucks seeing that cancel notification. Precious Kouhai seems to have brought in a few new Patrons, but the same problem exists. There's also the issue of new Patrons almost exclusively subscribing to the lowest tier possible, so even with those that stick around, my monthly income has been on a steady decline for the past 5 months even as my total of paid Patrons rises.

 

That loss of motivation makes it challenging to return back to work on Maids & Masters. If I'm seeing support decline like this, it makes me wonder if the project is worth the time and effort it will take to complete. I still want to complete it, but the combination of Precious Kouhai completely outstripping Maids & Masters in terms of performance and seeing my monthly income drop makes me re-evaluate what the best path forward is. For the time being, I've been taking some time to learn Godot (which is a very long-term thing; don't expect me to make any demos in that until at least after Maids & Masters is complete) and work a bit on the tactical RPG demo I mentioned a few weeks ago as a way to stay productive while still taking a bit of a break. 

 

Though to be clear, work is not ending on Maids & Masters. I still plan on having the first test build for v0.15.1 ready for next week so VIP Patrons can test out the new love shack content. 

I'm just dragging my feet a little. I'm also doing my best not to rush what's left of the second act and skip to the end so I can start working on something with more mass appeal. So, if you're here for Maids & Masters, don't worry - I'm not giving up on it.

Ultimately, my hope is that some of the recent changes I made on Patreon - adding annual subscriptions, making use of the community feature, etc. - will help keep some new Patrons around. There are only so many ways I can add value without pay-walling things, so hopefully that's enough. Seeing this happen has also really made me appreciate my long term Patrons. Some of you are generous beyond words, and I really am eternally grateful for the part you play in my attempts to chase down my dream of making games and writing stories for a living. It genuinely frustrates me that so much of this process comes down to money, because the only thing I want money for is keeping my bills paid so I can keep doing this. Those of you that stick around, even if you're in that $1 tier and haven't said a word since you joined, are the ones that keep me going. If you want to be one of those people, I'd appreciate it if you became part of that 1.3% and took a look at my Patreon page.