Hi.
I am wondering how you make money from your oen open-source games.
Indie game usually has very little odds of having great sales, not to mention Indie games usually has relatively low price per copy on mainstream platform like steam.
So I am planning to make an open-source godot game, hopefully it will make small sum of money to motivate myself.
Some ways of making money from open-source game I could think of:

  1. Donation
  2. Subscribe support
  3. itch.io name your price

Just some random thoughts though.
Thanks.

    MagickPanda I am wondering how you make money from your oen open-source games.

    An indie game is not always open source. And a free game is a third thing.

    I'm watching a successful developer who puts his free games on Patreon. He's got closed code, but he's letting users modify his games by releasing a toolkit for that. And he's making pretty good money right now, releasing an update to one of his games about once a month.

      Thanks for the hint guys.
      I am making it open-source because I think making it free and free-as-in-speech will benefit both myself and the community:
      For me, it will let thousands of coders/game makers to help me review the gdscript for bugs/problems I wrote for myself. For the community, it will help pinpointing any potential problem in either godot engine or addons if everyone has access to a copy of project of my game.

      That's just my 2 cents though.

      It's worth pointing out as well that you can still sell something and open source it generally so people can mod it to a ridiculous level if they want and they might well even appreciate that, you also could sell it for a dirt cheap price in order to attract people but still make your money free of any horrible item shop and ad nonsense, I'm thinking less than $5. My current monetisation plan with one of my own titles for instance is to do a mount and blade style situation since it's early access and have it free to play as a demo up to a certain point alpha.

      Then start charging, this way early adopters actually benefit when the game gets full release because I view it as incredibly cheeky to charge $40+ for an early access title that often ends up becoming vaporware anyway. What's even more insulting as well is these sorts of devs don't post the code up for someone to look through and potentially take on even though they've clearly given up on the idea. Don't be like these guys, itch as well offers quite a lot of flexibility in pricing so you can do the method I described.

      I think people underestimate how much money you could get off a dirt cheap game as opposed to one riddled with item shop nonsense and the idea should be explored more. In other words I want to do to big games studios what walmart did to small businesses in the 2000's and I have a bit of a plan for it.

      Open-source game doesn't necessarily mean open-content game for one thing.

      Now to talk about monetization, you could still make money off of your IP via franchising - that is you can sell posters, figurines of characters or iconic objects in the game, if your game is online and your players data is on your servers(i.e game ain't modable) you can do SaaS/GaaS and sell premium content, skins what-have-you.

        Megalomaniak That's a very good point and something I'm exploring as well, you would be surprised at how much easier it is to set things like that up, you've got plenty of plastic 3D printing services to choose from if you want to turn your models into figurines etc. but also there are custom plushie companies and things like that. Given that they're capable of mass production, this means if you have a sudden spurt of interest from people you're not completely screwed if you get a lot of orders.

        It's as simple as sending them a 3D model of whatever you've got and then they automatically print it out after you pay the money, not sure how other stuff works but it looked pretty straight forward. Another thing I was looking at as well is printing companies that do artwork, they've got all kinds of stuff and have lightweight frames you can stick on a wall with adhesive without even having to worry about drilling.

        You will have to price all of this in of course and it will cost a bit, but that's the point, supporters are going to want to support you anyway so they'll probably be fine paying for a collector style item, if you make it truly limited as well depending on what it is that's another idea, like skins but less stupid and you actually get something physical. I remember studying up on how movie props are made as an example back in the day and it was all kinds of horrible chemicals and fibre glass resin you had to mess with yourself, now 3D printing I think seems to be the way to go. I'm thinking of even prototyping some stuff when I get the money.

            Lethn regarding prototyping physical models, it could be cheaper than 3D printing to use CNC machines and various base: wood usually but grinder could works on other materials too. Both are actually pretty similar as open hardware printers & CNC machines share common bases (controllers, stepper motors, ...). There is also laser engraving, but it's awful on wood, and great on some thin metal sheet.

            To get back to the topic, my opinion is it's depends on game and audience. For instance, Putrid Shot Ultra has, to be honest, what most would call crap visuals and simple sounds, still the game is a lot more fun than 60 € or more 3D full of effects and issues AAAAAAAA games which needs 200 GB disk space and a 5000 € hardware to play at 60 FPS. I tried the demo, like it, so bought it on Steam for 2.69 € or something.

            One way to make money is to provide a base game with nice things but limited contents, then charged additional contents to get more of it. But the payware games like many deck builders car games are quite a shame and a scam, as well as pay to get everything faster in online games, fools paid just to beat others and please their ego. Still, that can be done if there are idiots who are willing to do so.

              This is why I think a physical option would be so much better, you get to keep the game itself for free, but if people want to buy something they can and support the dev and they'll still get something in return rather than it being a straight donation. Limiting the content is a big no no in my book and so is putting anything behind paywalls. The one exception would be having a game demo out there for free, which I would be fine with, but the demo has to be substantial enough for people to get a real feel for how the game is.

              I agree with you in regards to cost vs time/money spent on the product, I'm just thinking in terms of how to be competitive with the big studios who in comparison rob gamers for all they're worth. As for the actual graphics and quality of a game, I think these days players are a lot less fussed about graphics even now, you look at games like Terraria and Rimworld as an example they're still going strong despite being 2D games.

              Lethn That's a very good point and something I'm exploring as well, you would be surprised at how much easier it is to set things like that up, you've got plenty of plastic 3D printing services to choose from if you want to turn your models into figurines etc. but also there are custom plushie companies and things like that.

              It is possible to buy a 3D printer and make souvenirs yourself.

                  Tomcat I just wonder if that's a false economy potentially, you have to factor in all of the stuff like electricity usage among other things which will inevitably go up as a result of you running a printer potentially 24/7. To me I feel like it would make more sense to order from a service when you need to then that way if business dries up or it turns into a disaster you're not left with a 3D printer you have no use for.

                      Lethn To me I feel like it would make more sense to order from a service when you need to then that way if business dries up or it turns into a disaster you're not left with a 3D printer you have no use for.

                      The situation here is a little more complicated. The 3D printer can often be used to make small parts, sometimes necessary in the household, and it is often much more profitable than buying them in stores. Difficulties are in the design — not everyone can make the right model and the selection of the right material for the task.

                      And also a 3D printer needs space. And ventilation. Electricity on this background takes on negligible value.

                      And souvenir production pays for itself almost always — the profit from it almost reaches the profits from the arms and drugs trade. The most profitable of legal businesses. Other business on the benefits can surpass it in rare cases, but only for a short time.

                      But to succeed, of course, must already be popular. Figurine of the Witcher will be much more in demand than a character from an unknown game.

                      It makes more sense to buy a 3D printer yourself and provide similar services. 😃

                        a month later

                        While it may be difficult for some people to create the right model and choose the correct material for the task, it's great to hear that it can be a more profitable option for making small household parts.
                        I also found it interesting that souvenir production can be so profitable, and having a popular character like the Witcher can definitely boost sales. If you're interested in exploring other profitable hobbies, you might want to check out this article: https://joywallet.com/article/best-solitaire-apps-to-play-for-real-money/ on the best solitaire apps to play for real money. Thanks for sharing your insights, and happy creating!

                        6 months later