Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Post-BAFTA positech random update

cliffski

So I didn’t win a BAFTA. I didn’t think I would. I thought Papers,Please would win it, and it did. I did get to drink champagne and listen to carol vorderman and some nobody from hollyoaks though. Quite why some nobody from hollyoaks is giving out games awards baffles me. At least Dara O Brien actually *is* a gamer.. Anyway…

By the time you drive to London & back, park in London, book a hotel room in London, BUY 2 tickets for the awards ceremony and hire special outfits that apparently in 2014 we still need to drink champagne… There isn’t actually much change from £1,000 ($1,600) in being an indie game dev at the BAFTAs. Obviously for a billionaire like me, this is petty cash, but it’s a big chunk of change none the less. Luckily those fine chaps at steam ran a BAFTA sale on the day with Democracy 3 included, which earned me about £12k that day, so woohoo! I win!

sale

Now I’m back in my sheep-surrounded country headquarters, and coding away, there are probably a number of other updates to mention. Update #1 is that for a LONG TIME, I will be working away on Gratuitous Space Battles 2, and mostly I just *can’t* show you any of the stuff I’m doing now until I reveal the ‘big feature’ in it, and I don’t want to do that until i have some newer art, which will be a month or three.

Secondly, there are firm plans now to bring Democracy 3 to the IPAD. Oh yes. the IPAD. I have not been a huge evangelist for the income-generating potential of the ipad, but I have had such commercial success with D3, and it’s such a touchscreen-friendly GUI, that I have taken the decision to give it a go. There are not enough thoughtful deep strategy games on tablets, so I’m hoping to find a niche there. I’m outsourcing this 100%.

facebook

Thirdly, I continue to throw money at advertising, despite nobody ever agreeing with my theories there :. Right now I have a pretty steady $400/day spend on facebook ads. My tracking (which I’m improving today) shows that getting someone to visit the BUY page on my site for D3 costs between $3-4. The game is $25, DLC can take that higher, and of course there is extra viral + future income. Right now, I’m content to continue with that experiment, having chalked up $4,541 on facebook ads this month. The direct+steam+apple app store sales of D3 are very good, so I’m still somehow making a daily profit on this, and as D3 has paid for itself happily, I’m looking at this process as a general ‘raising my general site profile’ expense right now. I’d stop if it ever hit 50% of my revenue.

There are also TWO other projects in the works under the positech umbrella. that probably sounds mad, but I’m slowly expanding in little dribbles, and I’m not working on either of them, so I still have plenty of time to concentrate on spaceships. yay!

 

11 thoughts on Post-BAFTA positech random update

  2. I hope an Android version is planned too. 80% of all mobile users worldwide shouldn’t be without the possibility to play this great game ;-)

  4. Hi Chris,

    I’m Alex. I’m a composer. I’m writing this message because I love the indie games you produce and while I think the music is good I don’t think it’s as immersive as the games you produce.

    I’m a classical composer, I’ve had a few pieces published and have a record contract with Centaur Records in the US, (I’m based in the UK) and I’d love to help the music match the qualities that draw the player into the world you create. I understand you run a fairly tight operation but I really think I could help vault your games to a new level.

    I know I sound like a bit of a maverick, I’m not but you don’t get anywhere without a little self-confidence!! I’m very flexible and easy to work with.

    I look forward to hearing from you

    Yours sincerely
    Alex Ford
    (07712131461)
    alex.michael.ford@gmail.com

  5. Sorry, to hear that no Android version is planned, cliffski.

    But are you sure that this is a good idea? Google Playstore is growing fast (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b3023dda-66be-11e3-aa10-00144feabdc0.html), Apples market share is going to fall under 10% soon, and a lot of developers seem to make more money with Android than iOS.

    It seems just to be tricky to have the right pricing (free-to-play to get a larger player base, with IAP to remove ads, other IAP to unlock some parts of the game).

  6. The cost in terms of developer time in terms of engineering a new payment model to the game is likely to easily swallow any potential revenue. Everyone I know developing for android says it makes a pittance compared to IOS.

  7. Pingback: One pad, one vote: Democracy 3 en route to iPads

  8. Glad to see more core-oriented games are coming to iOS. It’s a shame about Android, though I completely understand where you’re coming from. Anyway, we’ll be featuring you on PGR in a couple of minutes and I just wanted to say good luck with the port.

    Cheers.

  9. Pingback: Political Simulator Democracy 3 Coming to iPad Later This Year » 148Apps » iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch App Reviews and News
  10. Pingback: Political Simulator Democracy 3 Coming to iPad Later This Year | Gadgetgigs
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