Poll: Should we change the way the 25$ tier work? (Patreon)

So I mentioned last month that I might do a poll in order to take the temperature of the room when it comes to the bonus scenes and the way the 25$ tier works in general. I have a lot of doubts about the bonus scenes, I won't lie. For one, it's a lot of work. And I don't feel like the bonus scenes are well-liked. I am not sure, of course. It's just more of a presentiment. I want to satisfy you guys, so if it's a miss almost every time, and it makes me work more in the process, then this whole thing is kind of a failure.

The second reason is that we quickly seem to be hitting a wall when it comes to the number of bonus scene ideas proposed. Every time, it seems that the number of proposals is dwindling.

I won't change how the tier work next month. Just want to make this clear to those who are looking forward to proposing an idea. I might not change it at all. It's just to see people's opinions. If I can make the tier better, then that would be great. If you want to share your thoughts, please do. Here are the likely changes:

1 - Keep things as they are

If most of you are happy with things as they are now, then I am happy as well. I tend to worry too much sometimes, so it might be all inside my head.

2 - Make it so that every tier can participate in the idea submission, but you guys are the ones who vote for the idea that wins

Since we're having a harder and harder time coming up with ideas, one of the options would be to open the idea proposal to all tiers, and instead, you are the ones who vote for the idea that ultimately gets made into a bonus scene. It would certainly fix the issue of not having enough ideas being proposed… but it would most likely weaken the value of the 25$ tier… which would then make the bonus scenes less financially viable.

3 - I am the one coming up with three ideas, and you guys are the ones who vote for the idea that wins

Another option would be that I'm the one coming up with the ideas, and you guys decide on which one becomes a bonus scene. I have mixed feelings about this. You've seen the last bonus scene, so I don't know if you felt like it was of higher quality or not… I certainly was more inspired. But that's because I had no restraints. I didn't have to follow a specific prompt. But the goal of the bonus scene was also to take me out of my comfort zone a bit. By giving me scenarios that I might not be interested to write, and giving me restraints I usually don't have, I thought I could somehow grow as a writer… though maybe that was only a pipe dream. If I do become the one proposing ideas, I would make them very vague (like the last bonus scene). I would also probably follow a certain pattern.

One idea would be a 'what if': This would be a what-if scenario about what could happen if a certain character decided to do a certain thing. Something similar to the first bonus scene (what if Laura decided to invite Sandra to her wedding).

One idea would be an 'in another universe': It would be a scenario where the characters either don't follow their own personalities (Harry could be evil for example), or the settings are completely different (Harry is a knight instead). Would make it pretty goofy since I don't have sprites with other costumes and such, but it's not like we need to take things seriously either.

One idea would be a 'meanwhile': This is pretty much like the last bonus scene. Meanwhile something is happening, what is happening to a specific character?

I think using those three vague types of ideas could be fun, but it could also create its own set of complications. Also… I won't lie… I prefer if you guys participate. It's more fun that way.

Which would bring me to the other option…

4 – I come up with three ideas, and you guys come up with three ideas.

When I first mentioned that I would maybe be making some changes, some of you guys wanted to alternate every 2 months between me proposing ideas, and you. But that makes things a bit complicated because I wouldn't really know how to market that kind of pattern. It would become somewhat convoluted to say to newcomers that they can only propose ideas every… four months (maybe more)?

So the best middle ground would be that I propose three ideas (following the same pattern I just mentioned), and you guys could also propose ideas of your own. Now whether my ideas would be part of the initial voting (in the comment section), or if they are set in stone for the final vote… that's something we can decide later. But I think that might be the best of both worlds… if our biggest problem is the number of proposals that is.

If our problem is the bonus scene itself though, then…

5 - Change the way I handle the Passed On tier completely

Maybe the bonus scenes are just a bad idea in and of itself. If you're dissatisfied with them, then maybe there's a better way to use the time and money that I invest in them. We could do many different things, whether it is fixing already-made art from the game, adding new CG sets, adding new animations, or creating custom wallpapers. Could be a lot of things.