Must have Bling and a budget

I have totally tanked on a big project back in 2002-2003. Mostly after that it was smaller projects that got to the alpha stage.

silkjade.com/Resume/Resume/Art-2002.html

Started production March 2002 and finished for me in March 2003. The other team members took longer and I think the game came out in June 2003. I was working in a full time job at that stage. I started the project when I was 21 years old so I can claim I was a little inexperienced. Even back then I wanted to do a smaller games in a 6 month production time frame.

If I got a awesome full time job at the supermarket (work at Coles supermarkets dawn filling atm 15-25 hours a week and a Warehouse 8-16 hours per week) I would of made a cool 551 AUD before tax.

12 months on the game project and if I wanted the minimum OZ wage = $28652
So to return my wages the game would of had to sell 7163 copies for my wages ($ 4 per sale for me :) ).

Have a look at Gish and its not to pretty. 12 month recovery looks hard to achieve for a full time 12 month commitment. Also I got a nice 0 sales and -something $$ :) for the 12 months and wiped out my bank account. However I did gain a nice chunk of experience and met my Wife in 2003 :). Because I was online so much making the games we met. So everything in life can have positive outcomes if your looking for some positives (for me it was a awesomely successful/failure game :) ).

www.gameproducer.net/2007/05/09/sales-stats-gish-121000-sales/

This below is from my online indie kit in production. The Kit when done will take a developer all the way up to the must have bling stage which is Code,Final art and Final Music. If portals and game players bought my place holder art then the kit would be good. However even with awesome Bling bling art the fish won't bite. Its a tough market to please.

www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/Silk-jade/Silkjade-Budget.html

I have two part time jobs which provide the income for my family and the projects (just the 2 of us). People take out loans for cars easy so why not a loan to start up your company? Well you get the car and it makes you feel good (instant happiness, long repayments). But for me I feel good completing projects. Also if I went to University it would cost me $10000 AUD to do the course I want to do per year. Well I plan to spend $10000 AUD this year on making 8 games. Just cap your budget and deploy your chips wisely.

The game production is fueled by 45% of my wages plus what was left of the war chest from last year. We have cut back on everything and just do the basic things. Also I don't smoke, drink or go out to parties. Me and my wife do a lot of bush walking and hire out 2 movies a week for $2 :). I use a credit card with a $2000 limit and at the moment we are on target to complete 4 projects within our budget. Also if I need I can hook into more working hours to feed the credit card if I need to. My car has some problems but I patched it up myself.

I may be crazy and people tell me a new car doesn't break down as much as my old beast. But at the cut off date of March the 26-09 we will make a choice to continue or not. If by the 2 year mark the 16 games did not much then I will have to consider other options (get a hair cut and a real job).

Hard Numbers: $25000 over 2 years or $12500 per year.
Product Target: 16 Average product net return per sale $12 AUD per sale
$25000 divided by $12 = 2083 units sold for investment recovery
$25000 divided by 16 = $1562.5 per game
$1562.5 = 130.2 Units sold per game

Now that 130.2 is not in the first day (I wish :) ). To me its over a 2 year cycle at least or

65 per year
5.4 per month
2.5 games per week
0.3 games per day

Now the most important factor. We complete 4 games per semester at a average time of 1.5 months our time. To get my part time minimum wages back and my wifes wages back for our time investment of 1.5 months or 6 weeks (390 hours).

Month (25 for me and 40 for my wife) 390 hours per game X $14.5 AUD = $5655
Year (25 for me and 40 for my wife) 3120 Hours per year X $14.5 AUD = $45240

Hard Numbers: $115480 over 2 years total investment or $57740 per year
Product Target: 16 Average product net return per sale $12 AUD per sale
$115480 divided by $12 = 9623 units sold for investment recovery
$115480 divided by 16 = $7217.5 per game
$7217.5 = 601.2 Units sold per game

Now that 601.2 is not in the first day. To me its over a 2 year cycle at least or.

300.1 per year
25 per month
5.7 games per week
0.8 games per day

Currently Molipop is on target to pay itself off after 6 days on the market (just released by us on our own website with only about 200 Downloads). However that sweet spot of 5.7 is not quite there yet. We win at Silkjade with our solid work ethic and fast no fuss 1.5 month production. If Molipop was a 16 month project then god help us get the money back for our wages. But due to our fast tracked production game development is within reach to be a viable hobby business.

Remember your hired teams can go past the 1.5 months or 6 weeks. As a team you should be onto your next project and just receiving updates from your coding/art/music teams.

This is just our strategy to keep the bean counter happy which is me :). Your time is valuable use it wisely. Don't make the best product make the best strategy for sustainable growth.