“I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business” • Hacker News Board

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

#291

Post by toast0 » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:08 PM UTC

alchemism wrote: post #249

cheschire wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And twice your salary in a retirement fund by the age of 30, and three times your salary in retirement by 35. Basically quit your day job only if your side hustle is already making more money per month (not per hour) because odds are even making more per month is still going to result in not being able to survive much past 57. Side note, how many 57 year old indie game devs are there?

How does the average American put tens of thousands of dollars into a retirement account within 5 years at a point in life where there is a morgage and/or children? That does not seem like conventional wisdom.

It's doable if you get 5% annual growth on the balance, and put in 10% of salary. I ignored compounding, and assumed your income was flat.

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

#292

Post by ramy_d » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:11 PM UTC

TheSithMaster wrote: post #257

Hmm, it looks to me like you got very close to 700 units on day one according to Steamspy. 696 units to be exact. Link: https://steamspy.com/app/725040

i think we'll see better results in the next few days as the numbers update

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

#293

Post by phaus » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:26 PM UTC

shimfish wrote: post #246

phaus wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of my daughter's favorite iPad games. She's been playing it for years and occasionally I play it with her. Did you do the artwork yourself?

:) A friend of ours does the artwork using actual pen and paper. We scan it in and clean it up in Photoshop.

I used to draw quite a bit and I'm thinking of trying to get into game development as a hobby. Most mobile games have generic or mediocre art, but your friend did a really good job here. You did a pretty great job too. Its a simple concept, but everything works really well and there are lots of little details that make it more interesting.

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

#294

Post by astockwell » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:41 PM UTC

alchemism wrote: post #249

cheschire wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And twice your salary in a retirement fund by the age of 30, and three times your salary in retirement by 35. Basically quit your day job only if your side hustle is already making more money per month (not per hour) because odds are even making more per month is still going to result in not being able to survive much past 57. Side note, how many 57 year old indie game devs are there?

How does the average American put tens of thousands of dollars into a retirement account within 5 years at a point in life where there is a morgage and/or children? That does not seem like conventional wisdom.

This is the conventional "textbook" wisdom. It is obviously desirable, but in real life completely impossible. And the gap between reality and this kind of "on-high" prescription is why so many people/families have no savings and have no real way to get out of their current situation.

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

#295

Post by deafcalculus » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:45 PM UTC

jblow wrote: post #230

aedron wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure everyone here would be really grateful if you could expand on this a little.

Not really worth it -- if I put in effort to write a substantial comment here, it's just buried in the noise of all these people who think they can give advice on how to build and launch a game.

Jon, there are many here who would very much like to hear what you have to say. If you think it'll get buried, please leave it as a comment to the main thread.

BTW, Jon Blow is the creator of Braid and The Witness. He is also working on Jai, a programming language.

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

#296

Post by MrScoobs » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:47 PM UTC

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #218

chii wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it wasn't a business venture, then don't treat it like one. Needing sales means it's a business venture.

Unfortunately we don’t live in a society where people who are passionate about art can pursue their passions fully and avoid starving or otherwise risking their quality of life. In our society merely choosing to pursue your art to your fullest extent is considered a business venture and not an artistic venture, and even choosing not to because of money reasons is itself a business decision.

following your passion may not be the best advice for anybody. See Cal Newport's perspective on why. One of his examples is Steve Jobs. http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/04/05/what-steve-jobs-meant-...

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

#297

Post by rocky1138 » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:50 PM UTC

twothamendment wrote: post #242

krapp wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it became a business story as soon as the developer quit his job and risked his future livelihood on sales. He could have worked on the game in his free time and released it for free, otherwise.

That is exactly why I'm happy working for someone else. I love to code, solve problems and make things. I do not what to run a business. As soon as you are in your own you are running a business.

Same, except that I still sell my game and work on it at home on my own time.

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

#298

Post by wolco » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 5:58 PM UTC

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 worth of savings really lowers your chance of surviving the first few customers.

You want to feel safe so you can take calculated risks.

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

#299

Post by wolco » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 6:00 PM UTC

cheschire wrote: post #215

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget 3 months, the rule of thumb is 6 months for an emergency fund

And twice your salary in a retirement fund by the age of 30, and three times your salary in retirement by 35. Basically quit your day job only if your side hustle is already making more money per month (not per hour) because odds are even making more per month is still going to result in not being able to survive much past 57. Side note, how many 57 year old indie game devs are there?

I would guess a few but they are retired from full time work.

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

#300

Post by stfwn » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 6:02 PM UTC

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…

I'd say the learning experience should be to manage your own expectations. In my experience in music many musicians set out to ‘make it’ without defining what that is at all. They don't define success, so they'll always feel bad about not having achieved it.

The musicians that actually ‘make it’ are those guys/girls that say ‘I just want to write one song that is my own’ — ‘I just want to make a 5-song album’ — ‘I just want to play my album in a bar’. ‘I just want to sell a copy to someone I don't know’ — ‘I just want to sell 10 copies to people I don't know.’ ‘I want to play my songs somewhere that is not a bar.’ And every time it turns out the next achievement is just around the corner from where they are, so they always feel good about having achieved something and they always feel motivated to achieve the next thing.

This guy better change his blog post to ‘I made a game and I released it on Steam’ and talk about how he's going to take a job in order to fund himself while I tries to sell 100 copies, and then write ‘I sold 100 copies of my game’ and talk about how he will get to 200.