I released a small computer puzzle game based on finite state automata called The Cat Machine[0] back in August, which still steadily sells copies, accompanied with bigger spikes when a Steam sale comes around. From what I hear, the 'long tail' after release goes on for some years, which I believe since back in 2009/2010 I wrote a number of Flash games and I still get a monthly Paypal of about $5 from them. Steam is a bit healthier than the Flash marketplace nowadays.
Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
21–30 of 124 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#22My watch company. Started it in September and started selling before the watches were made. They're still in production and will be finished soon. Wouldn't maybe call it "passive income", but the sales keep coming through WOM. ( http://gardannewatches.com )
Really interested in designing my own watch.
What software do you use to design them? Is there an industry standard format that I would need to send manufactures?
I've tried googling around but I have not found anything conclusive.
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#23I released a small computer puzzle game based on finite state automata called The Cat Machine[0] back in August, which still steadily sells copies, accompanied with bigger spikes when a Steam sale comes around. From what I hear, the 'long tail' after release goes on for some years, which I believe since back in 2009/2010 I wrote a number of Flash games and I still get a monthly Paypal of about $5 from them. Steam is…
This is amazing and hilarious! Could you tell us a bit more about the process? Did you build this on your own? What did you use to make it run on so many platforms - Unity?
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#24During my day job I run a full-time startup, but, as a weekend hack a couple years ago, I built an automated email sales tool called Autopest ( https://autopest.com ). I've never done any promotion for it, but it keeps growing on its own organically via word-of-mouth. About a year and a half ago I mentioned Autopest in an HN thread titled "Ask HN: How to start earning $500/month in passive income in next 12-18 months…
This is very cool.
If there was a way for autopest to automatically stop when the other party responds to your "pests" (maybe via an email client plugin) I would sign up for sure.
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#25I've been running https://commits.io/ The income is passive, but I know I can do a lot more if I put more time into it.
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#26I released a small computer puzzle game based on finite state automata called The Cat Machine[0] back in August, which still steadily sells copies, accompanied with bigger spikes when a Steam sale comes around. From what I hear, the 'long tail' after release goes on for some years, which I believe since back in 2009/2010 I wrote a number of Flash games and I still get a monthly Paypal of about $5 from them. Steam is…
The game looks interesting. How did you come up with the music in the trailer? I think it's really fitting. :)
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#27Is anyone doing old-fashion landlording these days? I'm trying to break into that space, but I have no idea what I'm doing and could use some advice from someone who's done it before.
I run a 4plex. It's not really passive income, but the income:time invested ratio is much better than my programming salary.
The single best piece of advice I can give is to provide a great experience for your guests and have a high price to match that experience. No factor I've found better judges the quality of a tenant than the ability to hand over a big wad of cash.
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#28My watch company. Started it in September and started selling before the watches were made. They're still in production and will be finished soon. Wouldn't maybe call it "passive income", but the sales keep coming through WOM. ( http://gardannewatches.com )
I would echo the same sentiments as others. The watch design looks great, however, it does look like a photoshop render than an actual watch. If this was not posted on HN, I would have immediately ignored it as a scam. Have you shipped the watch to any customers?
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#29I released a small computer puzzle game based on finite state automata called The Cat Machine[0] back in August, which still steadily sells copies, accompanied with bigger spikes when a Steam sale comes around. From what I hear, the 'long tail' after release goes on for some years, which I believe since back in 2009/2010 I wrote a number of Flash games and I still get a monthly Paypal of about $5 from them. Steam is…
This is amazing and hilarious! Could you tell us a bit more about the process? Did you build this on your own? What did you use to make it run on so many platforms - Unity?
I made in just under 4 months of work, came from an idea I had at University when studying those classic finite state machine diagrams, where you effectively have to draw state machine diagrams that process a regex-like set of rules. I realised I was having fun solving these problems, and I reckoned with the right abstraction I could trick people into doing some basic Computer Science-y logic puzzles! Cats, it turns out, are really good for that!
All built on my own, with some music help from a friend of mine. Used Unity for ability to easily hit Windows, Mac and Linux. I'll probably get around to porting it to iOS and Android next year too, since feedback has been so strong on Steam, and there's a definite impulse-buy aspect to having lots of colourful cats riding around on trains.
Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
#30I released a small computer puzzle game based on finite state automata called The Cat Machine[0] back in August, which still steadily sells copies, accompanied with bigger spikes when a Steam sale comes around. From what I hear, the 'long tail' after release goes on for some years, which I believe since back in 2009/2010 I wrote a number of Flash games and I still get a monthly Paypal of about $5 from them. Steam is…
The game looks interesting. How did you come up with the music in the trailer? I think it's really fitting. :)
Full credit to my friend Peter Nickalls (http://www.peternickalls.com), who composes music for TV shows that are far more impressive than my little game. The soundtrack he did for the game is fantastic, I'm glad we put together the soundtrack DLC.