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[ChocolatierGames]

Hello! I am a beginner to the indie dev scene (I started about 8 months ago) and I have recently set up a patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ChocolatierGames to help fund my Game Dev and Game Journalism I do. Any tips for getting out there, or any critique on the page itself?

[woodsmoke]

Only regarding gamedev:
I think 8 months gamedev experience is not enough to make quality games which people will give you money for, but I may be wrong. You need oustanding content to "get out there". I would focus on getting very good before thinking about money. You are still young and have loads of free time to git guud. I wish I had started making games at your age. The world is yours!

[VampireSquid]

First make a game.  Then worry about patreon.  It makes no sense for someone to pay you in the hopes that you *might* make something.  There are lots of people who have been developing games in their spare time for years, have small user bases and make nothing.  Those are the people it was designed for.

[WarpQueen]

I agree with those who wrote above. Other than that, maybe go in and be a patreon supporter yourself? Looks better to have one supporter than none.

[teemuki]

I also agree with the comments above. The basic rule of crowdfunding like patreon, kickstarter, indiegogo etc. is to build your audience first. When you can show some proof about your skills and you have fans that know your products, it's a lot easier to get them support you.

Fast forward 3-5 years from now:

You've been making games for a couple of years and have acquired a decent knowledge about game design, programming, art and what not. You've failed many times and learned your lesson. You have released a couple of games on newgrounds and have started to get better reviews on them. People recognise your nick name on tigsource forums and maybe you even have a small fan base already.

Then you start designing your new game and start posting in your social media that "hey i'm gonna launch patreon account soon". Build hype around your new game and your patreon for a month or two. Get people to subscribe to your blog and what not. Then start asking for money and you might very well get some!

This of course requires tons of work, but being a succesful game developer is not easy and most of the time there are no shortcuts. But that's part of the fun, right? And it makes the successful projects taste even sweeter. Good luck, bud!