Welcome to the Fiction Factory Games Patreon

I'm Stefan Gagne, owner and lead dev for Fiction Factory Games. I co-authored Arcade Spirits and Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers, and wrote Penny Larceny: Gig Economy Supervillain. I work with diverse teams to collaborate on art and music, bringing those words to life as LGBTQIA+ friendly narrative indie games.

And... I'm sick of the rat race. I'm sick of capitalism. I just want to make art, not juggle platform demands and the intensely crowded indie ecosystem, dealing with publishers and marketing teams. So I'm side-stepping out of the rat race and trying something different:

I'm releasing my next game for free.

No cash required to play, no live service, no battle pass. Download it and go. It's that simple. And hopefully, more free games beyond the next one, and so on, until I'm too old and busted to continue.

How is that possible? It's a simple equation:

My Personal Assets + Patreon Funding + Twitch Stream Funding + Back Game Catalog Sales = Game Development War Chest.

The first release under this new paradigm will be "The Shadow Over Cyberspace," a sci-fi horror story about digital eldritch entities through the lens of Y2K internet culture -- the Strange Aeon is coming, the Old Ones are rising, and all you've got to keep you alive through the mayhem is a dial-up modem and a couple hacker friends. And anyone will be able to play it for free.

I've used Patreon before, five years ago when I was writing novels and creating the original Arcade Spirits. It made sense to fire up the works again, and see where it can get me.

Backers at the $1 tier will get developer blog posts, as well as weekly musings on game design and the industry. Backers at $5 and above will be able to download prototypes and beta tests ahead of the final release, so they can offer feedback if they like. The first beta release and blog post will be dropping next week. I'll continue to keep open the free Discord channel for everyone to talk about the game, but these written articles and beta downloads will be Patreon exclusive.

Now, to be completely candid and open, there may be paid game projects on the horizon too depending on how this goes. I don't want to say "everything free, forever!" because the future is always uncertain. But even if that happens I could continue to provide patrons with inside looks and deeper ways to participate. And you can back out at any time you're just not feeling it.

If you can't afford to join the Patreon but want to support us in other ways, honestly, word of mouth goes a long way for an indie -- tell your friends about our games, encourage folks to pick up Arcade Spirits and Penny Larceny, and so on. Watch the socials. Keep the flame burning.

We're headed into the strange aeon, eyes open. Let's make it a damn good one. Thank you so much -- I wouldn't be able to do this without your encouragement. If you're reading these words now, you're down the rabbit hole, and I'm grateful for that.