Oddworld Forums - JAW Interview: "I don’t want to release PC and Mac the same day as console"

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- - JAW Interview: "I don’t want to release PC and Mac the same day as console" (http://www.oddworldforums.net/showthread.php?t=21511)

My point still holds. I'm prepared to pay a lot more then what they are asking for the base version of the game, as long as they add something extra that would make it stand out of that version. I just don't like the idea of paying more with no additional benefits.

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I think he was drawing a comparison to music sights like Bandcamp that allow pay-what-you-like with a set minimum fee. I don't see it being all that successful in the games industry. People don't generally feel the same emotional connection to devs (even indie ones) that they do towards singer-songwriters.

There’s at least one early example of Patreon being used to fund a game developer, though. From this GiantBomb article:

Giving away games for nothing, however, is obviously at odds with the idea of being able to support yourself for a living though game development.

"I just really want people to be able to access it in every possible way," she said. "I’ll probably make things that cost money in the future, but it’s really important to me to have a lot of stuff be free and be a gift. Part of how I’ve been supporting myself is that I have a Patreon account."

Patreon is an interesting, relatively new service stemming from the term "patron."

"a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, cause, or activity."

Through Patreon, you can support creators, even if you're not totally sure what you're paying for. Porpentine's patrons collectively pay her $650 per game. She's averaging one release per month, but it's not like being a Kickstarter backer. Porpentine is not required to provide "updates" on what's happening, though if she stopped producing games, people could theoretically pull their support. But that's not the case right now, and it's working out for her.

"It’s really good to have that confidence as an artist, and have this material support," she said. "You can’t support marginalized artists only through singular acts of recognition or through praise. You have to give them jobs, you have to reform their day-to-day systematic existence, you have to make it worthwhile and healthy to be them. Money is a concrete thing that is very helpful to marginalized artists. Rent and food and clothing--these are all concrete needs. I’m just really glad to have that support, and it allows me to make free games."

And Kickstarter has handed over money to quite a few developers now, with Double Fine as a good example.

I don’t see a “give us extra money” option seeing widespread adoption any time soon – although Mac app CodeKit gives the option to pay at a different price tier depending on how much you feel it’s worth. So it is possible, just not necessarily in an industry as massively commercial as games.

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The analogy I was making was referring to digital copies of games, not physical discs. You'd expect a digital piece of software to be independent of platform, just like a DVD. Especially if the game is designed for multiple platform to begin with.

Havoc has heard tell of this thing called 'technology', but has yet to encounter it. Once found he will send all of us a Polaroid to be used in our Beta Max players, allowing for full color spectrum enjoyment.

I kinda hope OWI never does a kickstarter, somehow I'm sure I will end ruining myself by pledging for the highest package.

Well they could also only have low price packages, but where's the fun in that :p

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You and me both. But I kinda hope they dont have to resort to it. If they make a decent profit from this, then it shows that they can make it on their own and it'll be a huge achievement on their part. I dont mind if they do a kick starter, but I know they are strong enough to get back up there with the big companies.

It would be a bit weird for them to do a Kickstarter. I'm sort of of the opinion that everyone and their grandma is trying to run a campaign at the moment for anything they can think of and they're basically rattling their plastic cup at you asking for a handout. Kickstarter is supposed to be a place for people who have a good idea but don't have the funds for execution of that product. OWI/JAW don't fall into that category I feel, unless they can prove me wrong.