Is it worth supporting a free game?

help

Hello.

I have recently released a game for free a day or two ago as a learning kind of stepping-stone project. Some people have enjoyed it and I've got about 5 positive reviews (hooray!). I know that is a tiny number but it crossed my mind, if I support it a little, perhaps I could get more players and earn a little reputation. If people are considering buying a product from me and they look back and see a nice little 👍 on my last game, I think it will help.

Basically I would like to have a good track record moving forward for my next games. The drawback would be taking some portion of time from my next project (3 month timeline on that). The potential advantage would be getting more positive reviews which would improve my track record.

What are your thoughts?

in SoloDevelopmentby swolehammer

87%

[deleted]

You can do so if it brings you joy to see people playing your game as well as getting more feedback on your title.

But if you'd like to focus on growing as a developer, getting your name out there, perhaps even making a living off of it, then you're better off just getting started on your next title(s) and getting them out there.

Most people don't even bother looking back at previous games of a dev to decide whether or not to purchase a title (if people do look back it's because they enjoyed your game so much they're interested to see if you've got more where that came from).

GameRebellion

Having worked tirelessly on building a community, I reached an impressive milestone of over 19k followers! However, I soon realized that only a small fraction of them were willing to pay to play the game. This experience taught me an important lesson: if you want to turn your passion into a sustainable livelihood, you must build a community ready to support your project financially.

Offering a "free" game can attract individuals just looking to take advantage of the situation, which isn't worth the countless hours of work you've put into it. The key is cultivating a dedicated following that values and is willing to invest in your work, ensuring that your efforts are both rewarding and sustainable.

I'm glad there are still developers out there who are driven by passion. Many of us would be willing to work without expecting anything in return, but it's important to remember that you can make a living doing what you love. Balancing passion with practical needs is essential for sustaining our creative endeavours and ensuring that our hard work pays off meaningfully.

MindlessFinn

Do you have ideas for building a community ready to support your projects financially? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

kale-gourd

Game dev is a passion driven industry unless you are dedicated to pumping out schlock, and even then you have to be highly skilled to do that.

So if your heart is in it, go for it - that’s the only path to any success in games no?

MrCloud090

Personally I don't usually go and check what other games the developer made... So I would say, no need to support it... Of course if people find a bug, you may want to fix it

Square-Amphibian675

It's a nice scheme actually, same with my tactics, I already released at least 3 free games... unforetunately my paid game is not yet completed :)

cuttinged

You could put it on itch.io and they have a feature that pretty much automatically asks for donations.

MrGavinrad

Getting started on your next game and supporting your free title post-release can both be good things. If the player base is substantial for you it could give you some brownie points to update and make more people look out for your next game.

LordMortimus

Same sentiment as other; I don't look at a back catalogue to decide on playing/buying a game.

Your free game is free and was a learning project, updating and managing it is not necessary. As a good faith middle ground just fixing any major bugs that people report would be an 'above and beyond' move. But I don't think people would have any issue or expectations for it to be updated.

Lucky-person-330

Amazing . Definitely do that … but

You need to know that making people remember your game is NOT easy , your game need to be very good for people to say when you make a sequel or a new game “ oh that’s part 2 of the game “aaaa”” “ oh it’s a game of the same creator of “aaaa””.

Can I please know your game name if it’s in ps4-5 I would love to make a video of me playing it !

M0ONBATHER

I think supporting it is also part of the learning process!

ActiveEndeavour

Instead, can you use your free game to market your new title or at least build a community that will support you? Perhaps worth supporting your release if you see active players and can reach out to them to wishlist your new title or join a newsletter/discord.