September 2013

September 24, 2013

Dark Acre Year Two Report

YEAR OF THE #KINGINDIE

Check out the Year Zero & Year One reports.

Major Events from Year Two

Detailed chronicles of Year Two can be found on the pages & posts of this website.

FACTS & FIGURES

Financials

All values in Canadian dollars, year total/monthly average (previous year)

Year Two saved a bit of money on operating costs, mostly because there wasn’t much new hardware/software to acquire. Like the previous years this is very much on target with the original ‘06 projections.

The billings above are, as before, hypothetical. But something changed in Y2, something rather important. I launched two pay-for videogame experiences & moved the e-book business over to 100% self-published. Dark Acre now has an owner-operated storefront. While there’s been almost zero marketing done on the products available, there were strong sales throughout the latter half of the year.

I’ve always found it gauche to discuss earnings. I have no problem sharing the costs: after all, I think it’s important for folks getting into this business to know. What I can say is that Dark Acre only cost roughly 200 bux to run in its third year of operation. It’s also worth noting that I worked way less in Y2 than in previous years.

Another way of putting that is I was 200 bux away from breaking even in 2012-2013. Now, the nature of the videogame/ebook business being how they are this is no guarantee that the coming year will be better. Considering the current marketing efforts are a snarky Twitter account & hyperactive Pinterest, it’s unlikely that there’s going to be as much movement on the existing inventory.

So what does that mean? It means, as it always has, that I need to publish something I feel is worthy of a real marketing push.

Results

Primary Game Projects:

Ludum Dare 48 Entries:

The Darkade:

Writing

Year Two has been the best year so far with 5 pay-for products on the shelves.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

1. Switched to Self-Published

While technically “self-published” prior to the move to Gumroad, it wasn’t until launching The Apartment that I realized there was a serious need for total ownership of product. We could argue back-and-forth about the merits of being on this or that pre-established storefront, such as Amazon or Steam, but I’m sticking firm with the belief that the largest dividends get paid when you own the store.

2. Quit Reading Twitter

I believe the use of Twitter as a two-way communication medium is toxic. I could write a paper on it & I’m not going to, but I can speak about how much better my life got when I finally stopped Following other’s minutia & restricted my own output to a handful of daily, pre-scheduled, cathartic one-liners. Again, folks may have all kinds of anecdotes about how much Twitter is helping them be better game developers or people, but for me it’s been good to be away from it.

I’ll say this though: I’m happy to come away from Twitter with the #KINGINDIE hashtag. It’s hilarious how many people Unfollowed because they found it “pretentious”. Mission accomplished, that’s one Follow closer to independence for those folks.

Taking Twitter seriously is a high road to hell.

3. Switched to Skype/Facebook for Conversation

So that’s not to say I abandoned social networking altogether, no. I think it’s still important to maintain a certain level of human contact, especially if you’re an isolated shut-in, but it’s far better done in a real-time space with room for fucking up & being human. Status updates are “curated reality”, while VOIP chat is the raw deal. I’ve had more rewarding conversations in the past year in chat channels than I ever did on Twitter.

WHAT WENT WRONG

1. Not A Gosh-Darned Thing

I’ve been thinking about this for a month, & I can’t find a single thing really “wrong” with Year Two. The businessperson in me is a little angry that I didn’t market the #1GAM output more, especially The Apartment, but I know that it’s still too early for a major push. The shelves need to be well-stocked before opening the doors. So, yeah. A really exceptional year for the Dark Acre.

YEAR THREE

Work continues on Projects Zero Zero, Zero Five, Zero Eight, & Zero Nine. I’m committed to the long haul & invested in the bigger picture, so it may be more than a year before there’s any significant visible output on videogame-related projects.

This seems to be the final psychological hurdle to leap in the quest for creative independence, losing the need to constantly show results for outside approval. It’s a far better discipline to trust in the work & believe that the finished product will be far more valuable when delivered to a waiting public whole & intact.

In last year’s report I promised to release Solarus III. That didn’t happen. I could re-promise that same thing but I’d rather keep my integrity intact. There’ll be words put to paper, no doubt, but whether they’ll see the light of day is something that will happen when the time is right & the work is done.

I also pledged to drop my weight back down to 80 kilograms. That didn’t happen either. I’m still on the #GAMEPLAN, though it has yet to re-manifest itself as a proper habit.

At least one of Year Two’s promises was kept: the Dark Acre was transplanted to Vancouver Island, & the living is indeed easier here. I’m wary of making any predictions on how the change of scenery & lifestyle will affect my creative output.

I guess we’ll know in 12 months.

I’d like to personally thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this & if you’ve been following along via the other outlets, thank you for that too.

It hasn’t been easy going this year, but it’s been an important period of growth and learning. And most importantly, Dark Acre has survived.

Here’s to another 365 days of game development, authorship, & creative independence on the Dark Acre.

Just sitting here most days trying to figure out if the stuff I’m consuming is any good.

2013.09.01 – 2013.09.30

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