Greetings to everybody!

I will be releasing a short game I've been developing for some months. I don't plan to make a living out of it but would be nice to get back some pennies as I made it in my free time and I spent a bit on the development.

The question is: which option is more appealing to people why try demos here? Buying the game after beating it if you had a good time or it's preferable that I just open a Kofi or similar site, open to donations?

As I said I don't plan to get any amount of money, but would be amazing to be tipped if someone liked my work.

Edit: the base idea has always  been to make the game free, but with the option of paying a price for it.

Thanks for your time!

It depends on many factors, for example, the follower base you have or the niche your game corresponds to.

My experience and what I see in Itch is that a free game has many, many more visits and downloads than a paid game.

If your game is free, very few people are going to leave you a tip or donation, this is something you should keep in mind.

The most common model, and one that seems to be most successful, is to offer the full game for free and add an extra for a price.

For example, there are many VNs that are free, but they only offer 1 or two free updates for year, however, if you help the development, you have access to updates every month, etc.

Appealing are free games. But since there are so many free games, the real appeal has to come from the game.

I suggest you look at similar games in browse and sort by top sellers, if you can see any trend either way for payment options. People have different attitudes and spending habbits for different types of games.

it's better to add a demo and a bonus, otherwise the range will reach 0