Posted September 03, 2019 by Blackcross & Taylor
Hello all
The long version of this post is below the line. It's heartfelt, and explains everything that's happening and my motivations.
The short version is...
Heaven's Grave is falling slowing into a financial abyss and it's dragging the studio to Hell with it.
I.e. it's really, really not selling.
I can't continue working on Best Friends Forever without knowing it's going to cover its costs (and save the studio from the brink of ruin.)
So, I am considering a Kickstarter and I wanted to know people's thoughts on this in general, rewards they'd like, if this is the worst idea ever etc.
Otherwise, all future projects will be put on hiatus while I find other ways of raising the money to cover my losses.
(I'd like to think this would be through high-stakes poker games or wreck-diving for lost pirate treasures, but we all know it's going to be an evening job.)
So, yes, that's where Best Friends Forever is at the moment. Thoughts? Suggestions? Maps to treasure? Please let me know in the comments.
Many thanks for reading
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This is a long post, so apologies for that. I’ve written and re-written this so many times and abandoned it completely twice. But I just need to lay it all out there, so here we go! ^_^
As some people may have gathered from other posts alluding to it, Heaven’s Grave is not doing very well in terms of sales.
I’m not here to complain about that – if people don’t want to play the game for whatever reason, then that is completely up to them.
But it has left me in a very poor situation financially.
My studio is small (just me with hired artists etc). Until now I have covered all the costs of making the games myself and had to absorb the losses. This was fine for the smaller games, and up until now, the studio was, overall, breaking even.
But when a larger game like Heaven’s Grave fails to make back (at the time of writing this) even a quarter of its costs, things begin to look bleak.
My next game, Best Friends Forever, is mostly paid for baring a couple of small expenses, but I cannot, in all honesty, afford to spend another three to four months working on this game, when I actually suspect (due to the school setting etc.) it will sell even fewer copies than Heaven’s Grave has.
If I am to continue working on Best Friends Forever, I need some sort of assurance that I will be able to cover my costs at the end of it. Otherwise, I am going to have to put all future projects on hiatus and get myself to the employment office for another job, because I can no longer afford to cover the losses I have already accrued.
So, I was thinking about doing a Kickstarter to cover the costs of Best Friends Forever, and I was wondering what people thought about that in general, whether they'd back it, whether they never back Kickstarters as a rule, what kind of rewards they like to see etc.
I considered explaining the situation and opening pre-orders, but with a Kickstarter it means I won't have to worry about refunds if not enough people are interested and I can set up rewards as incentives as well.
I've never done a Kickstarter, so I'm just looking for some feedback (especially if you've had experience of it yourself) because, at the moment, it's really the only way I can see to continue and I didn't want to just quit and put the game on hiatus without letting anyone know or have a chance to do something about it.
Best Friends Forever cost me a grand total of £6652.21 (Just over $8000 at today's exchange rate)
These are the costs of the art etc only. I have never made enough money to be able to draw any sort of wage from my studio and saw the creation of games as my reward for the time I put into it. All I required was that the games did not cost me money (i.e. they made back in sales what it cost me to make them).
So it would be that sum plus the Kickstarter fees/costs I will be looking to fund.
If the Kickstarter makes its goal, I can continuing making Best Friends Forever on the schedule I have at the moment, and then move on to Thorns of War. If it doesn’t make it's funding goal, well, like I said, I’m going to need to cover my losses one way or another, so getting another job will be my only recourse.
Plus, if the game fails to meet its funding goal, I feel I can predict with some accuracy that the game never would have made enough sales to cover its costs (at least in no tenable timescale) and I would have avoided spending four months of working on it when I could have used that time to secure an alternative income.
So, that's where Best Friends Forever is at the moment. It's not ideal, but I am not willing to give up just yet. I'd love to hear any feedback with regards to Kickstarter or, indeed, any other thoughts people have on the whole situation.
If you've read this far, then thank you for your time - please know that to everyone who bought any one of my games, who left feedback or even just followed me on itch, I really do appreciate the chance people have given me.
Best wishes to you all and many thanks for reading.