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“I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

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Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#91

Post by brg1007 »

eXpl0it3r wrote: post #74
brg1007 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Romania - without paying rent - 550 USD will suffice for 1 month of daily spending. He mentioned that he has a low mortgage which probably splits with his girlfriend and for a 1 bedroom apartment can be as low as 250 USD per month. 750 USD is the average gross monthly income (before taxes ). Usually software developers earn double that.

Okay, but then it's just naive to think that it's enough to have the most minimum amount of money to survive. Before I'd quit my job, I'd make sure that I have at least x months of at least the average income on the side, plus calculating all the required spending for taxes and fees.

Totally agree with you. But based on my experience most Romanian people do not have a very good "plan ahead" culture. Usually they start something as soon as they have the minimum requirements met and that is because they really want to not let the opportunity pass, because in the past opportunities were very very scarce (in every domain) . And this lack of opportunities made a very deep dent in the Romanian culture.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#92

Post by viraptor »

cousin_it wrote: post #49

His sense of what games are "cool" wasn't in tune with the public. That's the cardinal sin. Pixel art dungeon crawlers aren't cool. It's as if he was a musician and decided to release a glam metal album today. Low budget, poor marketing, uncooperative bureaucracy - nah dude, none of that matters, you're just too in love with glam metal and people aren't buying glam metal.

> Pixel art dungeon crawlers aren't cool.

I bought at least 3 of them. My steam recommendations are full of them and many have big, happy communities. I think "aren't cool" is a bit of an overstatement. They're not AAA level cool, but few things are.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#94

Post by thelittleone »

ninjaroar wrote: post #86
thelittleone wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit my job a few years back with around $150k in the bank to fund my startup. A few months later, still nervous about leaving full time employment, I took a job interview with a big four. I received an offer with a base salary of $600k. I turned that down and committed to the startup. A few months on, I receive a letter from the tax department advising that my previous employer provided corrected earnings informat…

600k base salary? What type of position is that? Developer salaries in the big four (I assume you mean Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple) are high but that is still twice what I normally hear (and have gotten offers for), and that's assuming you're talking about total comp. I'm not doubting you, i'm just curious what type of experience you need to get that.

It was a Partner position at a big four consulting firm. Leading up the Cyber Security practice.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#95

Post by csmattryder »

mindfulplay wrote: post #89

The main advice should be: not another pixel art game. Please. We have enough of these. Folks let's move on from the 1970s. Also this is getting tired seeing honest, hard-working, self-motivated talented individuals push themselves into the same tried and tested crappy old corner of 'indie pixel art games'. It's quite difficult to see anything innovative or even remotely enjoyable from this genre anymore. It's not Ro…

Completely agree. There's a post on /r/GameDev right now (actually, it's a recurring theme) where a dev posts that their game isn't getting any traction; struggling to market; few social media interactions; and you find it's all down to being "Yet Another Pixel Metroidvania/DungeonCrawler".

A lot of devs are still living with the 1980s "Build It And They Will Come" philosophy. That was great when Elite and Manic Miner were the only games out. Now you've got to onboard your market with Alpha builds, get feedback early - gee, it's all a bit Lean Startup now.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#96

Post by mindcrime »

cousin_it wrote: post #49

His sense of what games are "cool" wasn't in tune with the public. That's the cardinal sin. Pixel art dungeon crawlers aren't cool. It's as if he was a musician and decided to release a glam metal album today. Low budget, poor marketing, uncooperative bureaucracy - nah dude, none of that matters, you're just too in love with glam metal and people aren't buying glam metal.

It's as if he was a musician and decided to release a glam metal album today

There's still plenty of interest in glam metal. Steel Panther are doing well, and back in 2014/2015 when Mötley Crüe did their "final tour" they were one of the best selling acts during that period.

It might be better to say that "his sense of what niche to target, and how to target that niche, wasn't as well developed as it should be". In the same sense that you can make money selling glam-metal today, he probably can make money with a pixel-art dungeon crawler, if he can figure out how to target the specific group of people who are into that sort of thing.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#97

Post by thelittleone »

ricardobeat wrote: post #82
thelittleone wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit my job a few years back with around $150k in the bank to fund my startup. A few months later, still nervous about leaving full time employment, I took a job interview with a big four. I received an offer with a base salary of $600k. I turned that down and committed to the startup. A few months on, I receive a letter from the tax department advising that my previous employer provided corrected earnings informat…

Why not take the job for a year or two and have a (half) million to fund your startup?

I did consider it. But the lead partner jumped through some hoops to get me admitted directly as an outsider (I had never worked in a big four). To take that job with an intent to leave in a year or two would have reflected poorly on him and me.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#98

Post by yuliyp »

flexie wrote: post #72
ajnin wrote: post #28

Quitting your job with only 4 month worth of savings, with a new mortgage, to enter an industry known for its oversaturation, extreme competition, and high luck element for indies ? That's insane. Maybe I'm just risk-adverse. That said, I think he actually succeeded, despite appearances. Managing to release a working game in 3 month, that actually got sales, is a feat in itself. The game will keep trickling sales, if…

It's not that I disagree, especially with the opinion that the gaming industry is over-saturated and that a lot depends on luck in that industry. But I'd say that 4 months worth of savings is in the better end when starting a new business. Most people who do startups or who otherwise become entrepreneurs have much less than that. And I think having too much of a cushion can lull you into a false sense of "doing somet…

4 months of expenses, not necessarily 4 months of full-time-employment income.

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#99

Post by [deleted] »

ricardobeat wrote: post #82
thelittleone wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit my job a few years back with around $150k in the bank to fund my startup. A few months later, still nervous about leaving full time employment, I took a job interview with a big four. I received an offer with a base salary of $600k. I turned that down and committed to the startup. A few months on, I receive a letter from the tax department advising that my previous employer provided corrected earnings informat…

Why not take the job for a year or two and have a (half) million to fund your startup?

[deleted]

Re: “I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”

#100

Post by jbb67 »

cousin_it wrote: post #49

His sense of what games are "cool" wasn't in tune with the public. That's the cardinal sin. Pixel art dungeon crawlers aren't cool. It's as if he was a musician and decided to release a glam metal album today. Low budget, poor marketing, uncooperative bureaucracy - nah dude, none of that matters, you're just too in love with glam metal and people aren't buying glam metal.

Yeah, it's the kind of thing I might have been interested in 20 years ago. Now I looked at it as a result of this thread and thought "that's cool!".

But do I want to play it in competition with so many other things I could play? Not really. Sorry :( I'm sure it's very well done and I might enjoy it, but there is no reason to move it to the top of my large to-do list...

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