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After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

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Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#141

Post by travisjungroth »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #139
datalopers wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they? 300,000 units * $30 = $9M - 30% Steam tax = $6.3M in a single year take out federal taxes (just gonna call it 36% and ignore SFJ/MFJ), leaves them about $2M each. I'm sure they're some sort of a legal entity in WA state and will owe the b&o tax too. They deserve it absolutely but $2M each does not put them in a position of "fuck you" [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfeXqHFmPI

2m each is not "Fuck you" money perhaps but it is enough to comfortably retire to the original post point. It depends on lifestyle you desire but if I could retire tomorrow, I would make that lifestyle work.

> 2m each is not "Fuck you" money perhaps but it is enough to comfortably retire

That is exactly what "fuck you" money means. It's not about having so much money you couldn't possibly want for anything. People will always want. It's about having enough that you're not beholden to anyone for your basic needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJjKP8vYjpQ&ab_channel=Youtu...

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#142

Post by throwaway2037 »

throwntoday wrote: post #117
fire wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are still in contact with the guy, could you ask him what the marketing learning actually were? Everyone has their own take on marketing and it's honestly really difficult to get the concept with most posts about it being so fluffy. I'd honestly love some cliff notes or a bulleted list from someone who has actually succeeded, especially if they ( like me ) had no marketing experience beforehand.

Getting a big twitch streamer to play his game was the only marketing he needed. Although their time is up for sale I think some amount of them do genuinely enjoy gaming and will try out something that is interesting to them.

This story sounds like luck. That isn't marketing. It's like hoping that Kim Kardashian will use my new face cream and tweet about it.

Another idea: Bribe a popular streamer to play your game and tweet about it. I am sure it is common.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#143

Post by dvzk »

cletus wrote: post #60

I'm so happy for these guys. Selling 300,000 copies @ $30 each is life-changing money. Over the years they've accepted donations but from what I've seen it's tended to a few thousand dollars a month. Decent but not a lot for 2 people. I still find DF really inaccessible but this Steam release will prompt me to give it another go. Whatever the case, I'm happy for their success.

As an observer since the initial release, Tarn repeatedly refused requests to compromise by expanding the team or involving a publisher. It was a genuine passion project the sort of which rarely succeed financially. I couldn't be happier for them!

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#144

Post by Firmwarrior »

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #110
TrevorJ wrote: post #2

They are definitely in 'set for life if we make wise choices' territory. In another month I'm betting they will be in 'set for life even if we make foolish choices' territory. I'm really happy for them. They really stayed true to their passion and I'm happy to see them rewarded for this.

I hope they read this thread: "So, what the hell DO you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery?" https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/whats_the... It's got some dark news, but real advice that seems legit.

~~I feel like HackerNews has enough reasonably financially-literate people that we can do better for advice to someone than that

If you're going the Reddit route, at least link to /r/fatfire or /r/personalfinance

A competent business owner coming into a windfall this size is in a pretty good spot compared to your average rando off /r/askreddit~~

EDIT: Please disregard this comment, just left it here as a monument to my own jerkness

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#145

Post by throwaway2037 »

theptip wrote: post #27
datalopers wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they? 300,000 units * $30 = $9M - 30% Steam tax = $6.3M in a single year take out federal taxes (just gonna call it 36% and ignore SFJ/MFJ), leaves them about $2M each. I'm sure they're some sort of a legal entity in WA state and will owe the b&o tax too. They deserve it absolutely but $2M each does not put them in a position of "fuck you" [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfeXqHFmPI

$2m in the bank is enough to easily draw $100k/yr from interest, which fits the GP’s “set for life if we make wise choices” IMO. That is way above median income in wealthy countries. Assuming you don’t try to live in SF!

LOL. Who is getting 5% risk free interest rate on USD? No one. I guess 1% after taxes is a more reasonable expected return. Remember that interest rates on retail deposits were pretty much zero for last 10 years. So, 20K USD per year. But if they can keep it up for next 5 years, then yeah, pretty much can retire on 1% interest rate forever.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#146

Post by throwaway2037 »

repiret wrote: post #130
opportune wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they’re smart they hopefully have incorporated and will only need to take money out of the corporation to pay themselves to cover their expenses. So they won’t pay tax on the full amount up front and will have most of the money pretax for future business expenses

If it’s a C-corp, then the corporation will have to pay income tax on its profit. If it’s an S-corp, then the owners will have to pay income tax of the corporate profits even if they do stay in the corporate coffers. Unless there’s another way you hand in mind?

I recommend "Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich".

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#147

Post by nonethewiser »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #142
throwntoday wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting a big twitch streamer to play his game was the only marketing he needed. Although their time is up for sale I think some amount of them do genuinely enjoy gaming and will try out something that is interesting to them.

This story sounds like luck. That isn't marketing. It's like hoping that Kim Kardashian will use my new face cream and tweet about it. Another idea: Bribe a popular streamer to play your game and tweet about it. I am sure it is common.

Bribe? It's just paying them. It's not like they have some duty not to take money or that its illegal.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#148

Post by benlivengood »

the-smug-one wrote: post #64
rng_civ wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Works great on Proton so: 6 hours in with ~20 dwarfs and decent automated production

Do you also experience mouse input lag? My input is constantly dropped. Test drawing ("free-hand" mode) a line of mining quickly. Are any squares missing?

I get input lag in Windows around 100-150 dwarves. It feels like the GUI not registering clicks, but since the GUI is a separate thread on top of DF it's possible that events are simply lost if a step of the simulation takes a long time. E.g. the selection box will keep running underneath the autosave window or complex world events (migrants, beasts, caravans, season changes), and I think I'd rather have that then random buffered events all playing at once, but certainly GUI integration could be improved a bit.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#149

Post by Firmwarrior »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #112
lostmsu wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a goodnews day. This, fusion announcement, and the Apple forced to allow 3rd party stores. Haven't had anything like it in a while. Just bought the game out of respect even if I don't get to play it.

Oh good point on the other good news announcements!

There's also progress in gene-editing cancer treatments, China throwing in the towel on their "COVID 1984" plan, a LOT of progress the last few years on space commercialization, serious conversations about how we're generating our energy..

It's pretty wild. My whole life from the 80s up until the late 2010s was under this dark cloud. The wild optimism of the mid-1900s was gone, and more and more it felt like we were settling into this grim expectation that Humanity was going to slowly die off. Then over the course of just a few years things completely changed

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#150

Post by pantalaimon »

chaostheory wrote: post #132
bombcar wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe they now have enough cash to emigrate to Canada if they wished to do so.

Canada, like the US, has its own health care crisis. Wait times for medical care seem surreal. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/canada/british-columbia/... https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-paramedics-...

Is this a global issue now? Same in Germany.
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