Developers, please consider Patreon for donations and Kickstarter for season 2.

[Tasty tots]

Steam takes 30% of your profits. Steam is necessary for releasing a game, but if you just want funds, there are other ways.

People are willing to directly donate to you via sites like Patreon.

People are also willing to directly invest in you via sites like Kickstarter. Take a look at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-returns.

Shadow run returns raised 1.8 million dollars to develop their game, just by promising features. You guys will benefit so much from this because your feature development is really good. Please consider this for funds.

[Ordering]

I once have heard there is a tax issue regarding Patreon, and honestly, I don't think devs could handle Kickstarter well enough at current state. They are just too inexperienced with marketing, let alone international one.

[Tasty tots]

Ordering eredeti hozzászólása:

I once have heard there is a tax issue regarding Patreon, and honestly, I don't think devs could handle Kickstarter well enough at current state. They are just too inexperienced with marketing, let alone international one.

I create stuff on patreon, when someone from the US->US donates to me, it has 0% tax. Europe -> US donations have 20% tax. Not sure about US->Korea but it might be lower than the 30% steam taxes

Yes, kickstarter is tricky but if they can find a way to spend $0 to raise money, it's always worth it.

Hell they could set up a paypal and I'm sure people will be willing to donate. That way it circumvents the 30% steam cut+ sales tax. Donations aren't subject to as high taxes, if any taxes at all.

[Bloodwest]

I'm not using patreons, kickstarters etc. but would pay for it as DLC instead.

[Edefonce]

From the suggestion thread :

Dandylion eredeti hozzászólása:

Financial issue is really a big one to us. Do we want much money for our vacation or high salary? No. We just want to sustain our development team and want to use more resources (improved 3D model, extra character animation, more various BGM, extra voice recording, extra servers and etc..).

We tried to use funding site like Kickstarter bug we've failed because it doesn't support Korea. We needed someone who has a citizenship of the country that Kickstarter support. But sadly...we are unlucky.

Time has passed, we found that there is Patreon which provides another way of funding. But we were very unfamiliar with Patreon's system and we couldn't afford to maintain another community channel at that time.

The thing I want to know for now is...what can I say....um...a mechanism? I know that Patreon is not just a donation, rather it is a sponsorship site. I worry that our development goal would be changed only for retain the sponsorship. Or is there any good reference in game development?
( * Oh, just to be sure, I just want to know the case. What I wrote above does not mean that I'll never do it or that it is bad. You know...how bad my English is.... )

[Linea]

When the funding for Season 2 development is not there in advance one can always release a "Season Pass" like many other games do.
So we can buy Season 2 right away and the Developers can release the missions one after the other like they did with Season 1.
Troubleshooter is one of those games where basically everyone who bought Season 1 would buy Season 2 and more in the future ;)

The work done in Season 1 will greatly benefit Season 2 development as engine and core systems are already in place and some assets can be reused so it is possible to deliver the same amount of missions, characters, enemies and maps in less time while it is of the same value to players as Season 1. This allows to sell Season 2 for the same price and raise funds for future plans in advance this way.

It's only fair if developers get rewarded for their hard work and can work like a seasoned company that has funds for future plans in advance greatly reducing the pressure on the team and benefiting creative progress.

[Tasty tots]

Edefonce eredeti hozzászólása:

From the suggestion thread :

Dandylion eredeti hozzászólása:

Financial issue is really a big one to us. Do we want much money for our vacation or high salary? No. We just want to sustain our development team and want to use more resources (improved 3D model, extra character animation, more various BGM, extra voice recording, extra servers and etc..).

We tried to use funding site like Kickstarter bug we've failed because it doesn't support Korea. We needed someone who has a citizenship of the country that Kickstarter support. But sadly...we are unlucky.

Time has passed, we found that there is Patreon which provides another way of funding. But we were very unfamiliar with Patreon's system and we couldn't afford to maintain another community channel at that time.

The thing I want to know for now is...what can I say....um...a mechanism? I know that Patreon is not just a donation, rather it is a sponsorship site. I worry that our development goal would be changed only for retain the sponsorship. Or is there any good reference in game development?
( * Oh, just to be sure, I just want to know the case. What I wrote above does not mean that I'll never do it or that it is bad. You know...how bad my English is.... )

Oh, that's sad about kickstarter, because kickstarter earned Shadow Run Returns 1.8 MILLION USD... Actually they can set up a Patreon that is exclusively just donations. Takes 10 minutes to set up and they can earn some direct money from that not subject to steam's cut.

Offering benefits for tiers is just optional. You can offer 0 benefits and just ask for donations and that's fine too.

[NoMegaCorps]

This thread makes me so sad about the financial limitations that the developer has. It's been a very long time since a game has really held a strong place in my heart and this game does the trick. However word of mouth and a push in marketing (reddit perhaps?) could really benefit the game.

[Ordering]

To be honest, as long as they don't hire a professional international marketeer, the situation will continue.

[Oubley]

Tasty tots eredeti hozzászólása:

Ordering eredeti hozzászólása:

I once have heard there is a tax issue regarding Patreon, and honestly, I don't think devs could handle Kickstarter well enough at current state. They are just too inexperienced with marketing, let alone international one.

I create stuff on patreon, when someone from the US->US donates to me, it has 0% tax. Europe -> US donations have 20% tax. Not sure about US->Korea but it might be lower than the 30% steam taxes

Yes, kickstarter is tricky but if they can find a way to spend $0 to raise money, it's always worth it.

Hell they could set up a paypal and I'm sure people will be willing to donate. That way it circumvents the 30% steam cut+ sales tax. Donations aren't subject to as high taxes, if any taxes at all.

um no, I'm pretty certain that income in usa should be reported to the IRS just because the site doesn't tax you, by law you should be disclosing it.

[Tasty tots]

Oubley eredeti hozzászólása:

Tasty tots eredeti hozzászólása:

I create stuff on patreon, when someone from the US->US donates to me, it has 0% tax. Europe -> US donations have 20% tax. Not sure about US->Korea but it might be lower than the 30% steam taxes

Yes, kickstarter is tricky but if they can find a way to spend $0 to raise money, it's always worth it.

Hell they could set up a paypal and I'm sure people will be willing to donate. That way it circumvents the 30% steam cut+ sales tax. Donations aren't subject to as high taxes, if any taxes at all.

um no, I'm pretty certain that income in usa should be reported to the IRS just because the site doesn't tax you, by law you should be disclosing it.

Sales tax I mean. Eveyrone has to pay income tax no matter what, but donations are not subject to sales tax from US->US on patreon

Europe->US on patreon is subject to VAT (europoean version of sales tax)

[Hypatia "Pip" Pitkin]

This game and dev team definitely deserve some additional help and funds!

[Dandylion]

We are really grateful to you everyone whenever this thread activates.

We also need funds for season 2 and are thinking of raising funds. But as mentioned above, we are not qualified to execute the kick starter. And we don't think we have the capacity to control well for season 2 the amount raised through the sponsorship channel whether it's large or small.

We are preparing to provide the story of Alisa and Bianca within the third quarter, which is already sufficient for the money by release sales with your support. But it's true that we still have a long way to go beyond the extra story and make our season 2 "Banished Children." :)

We have a small complaint about Steam taking 30% fee, but we think it's okay. When direct sales increase at Steam, Steam automatically exposes our game to many places on steam such as recommendation games. It helps our sales. So we think that the fee itself is the advertising fee. Of course, for big companies and famous teams that don't have to rely on steam exposure advertising, the steam fee is just an unnecessary system that takes away developers' money, but for a development team that can't afford to invest a marketing, steam exposure is a very big ad.

And when we need to speed up season 2 development, if we really don't have enough money, we'll definitely consider this method you mentioned.

Our team has already received too much love from you everyone. So now the six of us are trying to give you more stories with better content. Although updates are sometimes often delayed due to lack of development power, We will do our best to provide good content as it is delayed.

Thank you for always supporting us.

[Oubley]

Tasty tots eredeti hozzászólása:

Oubley eredeti hozzászólása:

um no, I'm pretty certain that income in usa should be reported to the IRS just because the site doesn't tax you, by law you should be disclosing it.

Sales tax I mean. Eveyrone has to pay income tax no matter what, but donations are not subject to sales tax from US->US on patreon

Europe->US on patreon is subject to VAT (europoean version of sales tax)

That might depend on what state, Illinois for example you are supposed to pay a IL sales tax for Internet transactions during tax returns if there wasn't a tax paid that was equal to or more then IL sales tax. I want to say steam used to not tax me for game purchases but def get taxed now the past couple of years.

Illinois calls it some "usage" tax on the returns, its for all out of state purchases/transactions.

Some might say what a bunch of crooks but then again it's probably why we send every other governor to jail lol.

To bring more back to topic, yes, the game seemed pretty well done in short time played, had some rough spots but all games do.

[Tasty tots]

Dandylion eredeti hozzászólása:

We are really grateful to you everyone whenever this thread activates. :Albus:

We also need funds for season 2 and are thinking of raising funds. But as mentioned above, we are not qualified to execute the kick starter. And we don't think we have the capacity to control well for season 2 the amount raised through the sponsorship channel whether it's large or small.

We are preparing to provide the story of Alisa and Bianca within the third quarter, which is already sufficient for the money by release sales with your support. But it's true that we still have a long way to go beyond the extra story and make our season 2 "Banished Children." :)

We have a small complaint about Steam taking 30% fee, but we think it's okay. When direct sales increase at Steam, Steam automatically exposes our game to many places on steam such as recommendation games. It helps our sales. So we think that the fee itself is the advertising fee. Of course, for big companies and famous teams that don't have to rely on steam exposure advertising, the steam fee is just an unnecessary system that takes away developers' money, but for a development team that can't afford to invest a marketing, steam exposure is a very big ad.

And when we need to speed up season 2 development, if we really don't have enough money, we'll definitely consider this method you mentioned.

Our team has already received too much love from you everyone. So now the six of us are trying to give you more stories with better content. Although updates are sometimes often delayed due to lack of development power, I will do my best to provide good content as it is delayed.

Thank you for always supporting me. :Irene:

Yep, steam is necessary for troubleshooter, I just mean for the DLC fundraising, you guys can set up a donation channel as well, either paypal or patreon. So instead of buying the digital artbook and having to pay not only sales tax but also steam takes 30%, we can just directly send you money. You don't need to provide anything in return, just say it's a donation.

[Aurean]

I would get behind a patreon monthly, you guys have made a excellent game with an incredible price point, I would have paid twice the amount without issue given the high replay value and depth of this game. And I definitely want to see the continuation of the series. My only complaint is that I would have liked to hear voiced dialogue, even if only for the important story scenes.