Regarding Killer Trait Updates
Hello, everyone!
It's been a good minute since my last update, hasn't it?
A lot of people have been asking me about Killer Trait updates and when the full-game will be released so, after a lot of thought, I decided to make this post.
Here's the thing: my Patreon hasn't been doing well. It hasn't been doing well for several months now. While the decline started after Where Winter Crows Go's release in November of last year, it's gotten progressively worse from February 2024 onwards. And because of this I'm going to have to pause my billing for my current patrons from August onwards—at least until I have something new to post.
It'd be a lie if I said this didn't affect me, I'm only human after all, but I'm also well aware that Patreon is a tough thing to maintain in a way that's consistent and interesting.
Unfortunately, since I live in Argentina, my only real way to get funds for my games is through Patreon, donations on Ko-Fi and sales and donations on Itchio. While it definitely helps that I hire some people from Argentina for certain art related things (so I pay them in Argentine Pesos), most of the people I commission are from overseas, so it's always a must to be able to pay them in USD.
And that's the issue: since I don't have that much money anymore and I can't commission people as often... this inevitably delays my progress on both Killer Trait and Potion Pleasing (DEMO out now!) indefinitely. It's sucks for me too, but it's the reality: making games costs money.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Killer Trait will have re-designs for most of the characters (not counting Carl because his design was originally my own) since the ones in the DEMO were stock sprites I bought from an artist, not my own designs. And I want these characters to be 100% my own, which is why I decided to have them re-designed. I've talked about this in the past in more detail when I decided to have Crowe re-designed, you can find that post HERE.
Of course, for these new character sheets (with the exception of Oz's, which has already been finished) and the new sprites, I need game funds in order to commission the artist. Even after the sprites are done, there are a couple of backgrounds—the characters' rooms—that I'd like to have originally made (especially since the ones I bought from Minikle are very limiting and don't really fit with the characters' personalities). And this doesn't even account for CGs, which I'll probably have to postpone for a while because the sprites and the backgrounds are way more important.
Some might be thinking "What about Where Winter Crows Go?". While I was lucky that WWCG's first demo was so well received, I still spent a whole lot of money from my own pocket to make it. I bought a lot of assets and, when I got a few donations, I commissioned a few artists to help me. WWCG was NEVER a game made with only free resources.
Making the art book for WWCG was a way I found to get a little of that investment back, but I'm well aware that I'll never get all the money that I spent back. And that's okay! To this day, I don't regret having invested my money to make WWCG because it gave me a lot of experience, perspective and made me learn a lot.
Be that as it may, however, I can't realistically make the rest of my games free. As I mentioned before, game development is expensive in both money AND time. Without funds, it's a given that things are going to be delayed.
So... where does that leave things?
Well, after pondering on it for a while, I came to the conclusion that I'm not really ready for a crowdfunding campaign right now. Those are extremely hard and ALSO cost money to advertise well and make sure everything's in order. So... the temporary solution I arrived at is setting goals on Ko-Fi!
How would this work? Basically, I would set a monetary goal of the amount of money needed for a certain asset in a certain game that needs to be made. For example: sprites & character sheets in Killer Trait. Once that goal is met, I'll commission the person in question so they can start working on it! After that, I'll set the next goal and so on πͺ
I'm thinking of setting the first Ko-Fi goal once August starts. And from there... I'll see how it goes! If things don't go well, I'm also considering making Where Winter Crows Go paid for a while—don't worry, I would make an announcement first—because I honestly have no more ways of getting game funds for Killer Trait and Potion Pleasing and, as mentioned before, making games is really expensive (and I'm only one person).
Thank you so much for reading until the end and I hope you have an amazing day!
Get Killer Trait
Killer Trait
Would you ally with a serial killer to get revenge on your worst enemy?
Status | In development |
Author | prikarin |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Tags | Amare, Boys' Love, Crime, Dark, LGBTQIA, Mystery, Otome, Romance, Story Rich, Thriller |
Languages | English |
More posts
- Oz's new design & Fawna's design12 days ago
- First goal on Ko-Fi for Killer Trait Character Sheets & New Sprites!36 days ago
- Something about Oz & my projects in generalJan 28, 2024
- Please, stop asking me about the game's release dateOct 25, 2023
- Quick disclaimer about my personal boundariesSep 16, 2023
- About Killer Trait's MCAug 26, 2023
- Important Poll! Itch & SteamAug 09, 2023
- New Demo Released + Demo PostmortemAug 07, 2023
- Monthly Newsletter!Jul 08, 2023
Comments
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i just played the Demo version and i am looking forward to it. I hope you will make it soon. I would pay for this gameeee
i played this game a little under a year ago and have been applying for jobs recently. trust if i get one i would love to start helping to fund this masterpiece of a game
I will maybe pay after August (summer job) bc, I rlly love this game, so yeah! Also, I first played Where winter crows go (sry if the name is wrong) and I loved it! and after I saw this game, and I love it even more. Thank you
I'm not a fan of paying for games but... Sometimes, a developer earns my respect in such a way, I would be willing to fork over some dabloons. You, have earnt that. I would be willing to buy Killer Trait when it launches.
tbh I would totally pay 4 ur games !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you sm! πβ€
You, the developer and source of this experience in question, deserve to be compensated for your work. As a budding small business owner I empathize with the weight of asking people for money for your work. It's possible you could offer some projects for free and others for sale. It's up to you. You are important!
Thank you! π₯Ίπ
I would absolutely pay for it. These things ain't cheap to make. And your time is money. :3
Thank you so much ππβ€
I dont mind u making ur games pay only i could just watch playthroughs! (just rst easy we arent pressuring u)
You could try kickstarter to raise funds for your games so you don't have to wait for the full game to be out to start making your money back!
Unfortunately, crowdfunding isn't a possibility for me right now π
Kickstarter isn't available in Argentina and, even if it were, Kickstarter campaigns are very hard to make because they require a lot of planning, marketing and art to be done specifically for the campaign.
Currently, I don't have the money to hire an artist for a campaign nor someone who could help me with marketing; not to mention I also have a full-time job π’.
I love your creations so much WOULD 100% pay money for your games. Iβll definitely try to help fund you when I have some spare cash, gotta get that art book asap! Please donβt feel guilty or something that you have to put a pause on things till you get funding because this is definitely super understandable. I fully believe WWCG should be a paid game, and all future projects you make!! GET THAT BAG!!
Thank you so much for your kind words and support, you're very sweet π₯Ίππ