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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”

#221

Post by emodendroket »

hennsen wrote: post #197
flexie wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And about that: > But if having 6 or 12 months worth of savings is a requirement, then you can rule out just about everyone except rich kids and upper middle class teenagers. If you’re a good Software developer and have no idea how to save some 20-30k bucks in 2-3 years for your plan of your own business you’re doing something wrong. Like you are bad at contract negotiations, no good contact network in the industry t…

The post says the guy lives in Eastern Europe.

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

#222

Post by humanrebar »

Terretta wrote: post #151
muzani wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love pixel art dungeon crawlers, but the competition is completely insane. I can't build something along the lines of Terraria or Starbound given a lifetime. Glam metal isn't really a good analogy. I'd say it's more like building cathedrals. The market isn't what it used to be. They're still admirable and today's tools are better for them. But they're monumental work, even for the experienced, and you'd be insane t…

> like building cathedrals Cathedrals were AAA titles, took generations and the funds of a pope. Pixel art indies are like Norwegian Stav Kirke, a cathedral made of wood. It’s concevable you could build one yourself. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stave_church

No, they're more like "home churches", which are what they sound like -- churches that meet in peoples' homes and put on their own services and activities with the budget they can scrape together.

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

#223

Post by virgilp »

Gaelan wrote: post #101
virgilp wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the name, I'm guessing he's Romanian; it's not illegal here to have a contract that states "everything you create, even in the spare time, is the company's property, unless you get written manager approval first". I have exactly such a contract. And yes I know it would be illegal in the US. (I'm not exactly sure how enforceable such a clause would really be, but that's another story, and I really understand him…

US has similar contacts actually.

Strange. My US colleagues were surprised I have this clause and said it would be blatantly illegal in California. Guess they were wrong :)

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

#224

Post by repomies691 »

onli wrote: post #145
repomies691 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I started my company like 10 years ago, I also had savings for only like 4 months. However my plan was not to do games specifically but anything that pays the bills. Though I made one game as well but more like for fun and training, not for money. My various products did little money, though I had to look for gigs quite often to support the development. After 1-2 years I made enough money from the products so th…

4 month is nothing. I needed 4 month just to get the new version of my already existing project working, that I thought had a chance in the market. If I had had the stress of being without work and home in 4 month that would never have worked. And at that time I hadn't even covered marketing, or having the time for it. I got 2 years covered before starting this path (not all with savings, there is additional income).

Well of course it is better the more savings you have. However for me when I started my entrepreneurial career, I think the fact that I didn't have much money helped to launch the business. I had to pretty quickly to launch some products to make revenue and/or have contracting gigs. That for me was huge discomfort zone, because I was used to the the comfy life of an employee. I have seen situations where people don't have financial pressure, then they end up building product in garage for 2 years, and in the end not launching it and returning to kind of employee role.

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

#225

Post by duiker101 »

shimfish wrote: post #201
shimfish wrote: post #163

Just to add my personal data point of experience... 6 years ago, I took a break from doing webdev freelancing and spent around 3 months developing a kids app. At that point the money ran out so I released the app even though it wasn't entirely finished and quickly went back to doing web freelancing in order to be able to feed my family. The app sold in small amounts but it was getting great feedback from the people w…

P.S. https://itunes.apple.com/app/my-playhome/id439628153 in case anybody was wondering.

Completely unrelated, but what's with all the characters having their arms open?

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

#226

Post by virgilp »

maccard wrote: post #107
virgilp wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the name, I'm guessing he's Romanian; it's not illegal here to have a contract that states "everything you create, even in the spare time, is the company's property, unless you get written manager approval first". I have exactly such a contract. And yes I know it would be illegal in the US. (I'm not exactly sure how enforceable such a clause would really be, but that's another story, and I really understand him…

Surely that clause would still apply if he made 90% of the game while employed by the company?

Yes but my understanding is that he (claims to have) coded it all in one month. After resigning.

Quite honestly, it sounds hard, but not impossible. This is not WOW we're talking about.

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

#227

Post by jaymzcampbell »

BacioiuC wrote: post #217
jaymzcampbell wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read that as the apartment was a new build of some sort and had not yet been connected to the main supply. So he was then left with that expense as the owner. I was surprised he paid for such an apartment, it sounds like he didn't get any sort of survey done before handing over funds/agreeing what would actually be completed before moving in. Combined with then quitting a job with so little savings I think this yea…

Hi, OP here! Just now got around to check Hacker News and reply. The thing with the apartment is, I've wanted to buy one for a while and in Romania there's a state aid that allows you to buy one with just 15-25% advancement. At the beginning of the year I had enough money saved up for the advancement and I was making about 1.5K euros monthly through work and another side-gig. The thing is, a salary in Romania outside…

Jesus, that sounds like a nightmare! Hope you get it all sorted out. Probably even more expensive but any potential of suing the developer collectively with the other people? Sounds like they'll have annoyed a lot of people!

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

#228

Post by duiker101 »

eXpl0it3r wrote: post #24

I don't understand how people still think that just creating and publishing a game is enough to sell enough copies or make a living from it. Maybe a few years back, that barely worked, but even then, if you didn't have an audience, your game never sold as much.

Because a handful made it, and those are the ones that make it to the news, inspiring people to do the same. Till reality hits.

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

#229

Post by SamReidHughes »

virgilp wrote: post #223
Gaelan wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US has similar contacts actually.

Strange. My US colleagues were surprised I have this clause and said it would be blatantly illegal in California. Guess they were wrong :)

It depends on which U.S. state you're in.

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

#230

Post by jblow »

aedron wrote: post #149
jblow wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend being careful from whom you take advice.

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.
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