It’s been a whole year since the campaign ended so it’s time to take a look back and also answer some questions about the future.
Where Are The New Games??
Wasn’t I supposed to have two new games finished by now? Actually, no.
First of all, I want to clarify that while a calendar year has passed, there is still time (and money!) left in my productive “funded” year. There were several periods of downtime due to vacation and external projects, and I haven’t been counting these in the total. Meanwhile, these projects (and Spaceteam itself) have independently been making some money so I still have about 4-6 months left of the “one year of development time” that my backers paid for.
Second, while the plan was (and still is) to finish Blabyrinth before the “year” is up, I knew I would only have time to start on Shipshape, which is much more ambitious. In the original rough schedule it was listed as “(to be continued…)”. So that game is still quite a ways out.
I was also anticipating priorities to shift as I found a good balance for making things work long-term. I tried to make it clear in the campaign description and video that not only is game development unpredictable, but I reserved the right to follow interesting opportunities if they came up. I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Now that I’ve been living this experiment for a while, it seems like the best way for me to stay sustainable while planning for the future is to make money from three main sources:
- Crowd-funding from faithful Admiral’s Club supporters (you!), through Kickstarter and eventually Patreon when I re-open the club.
- In-game “tip jar” (i.e. Upgrades) for ongoing support from those more comfortable with the App Store model.
- Commissions from external projects. Note that I only accept these projects if they pay enough to add to my total development time. My rule of thumb has been 2 weeks of work == (must pay for) ==> 4-6 weeks of dev expenses. If a project only pays for itself, then it’s not worth it.
So What Did I Do This Year?
Here’s what my original schedule looked like:
Here’s what my actual schedule looked like (click through for full size):
(The stuff outside the white box is not being funded with Kickstarter money)
Rewards!
It wouldn’t be a real club without embroidered patches, certificates, membership cards, shiny medals, and Spaceteam magnetic poetry. I spent a lot of time preparing source material, ordering supplies, building the member database, printing, stuffing and mailing over 700 packages.
The Lexicogulator
I built an online editor that connects to a database which can also be read by the game. Ensigneers have been creating and sharing Lexicons on their own, without me having to make any changes to the app, which is awesome. Here are some fun ones:
- MedicineTeam
- aussieteam
- Minecraft
- BountyTeam
- coachella
If you make your own Lexicons, please share them on this thread in the forum!
The Character Creator
This mild-mannered personalization feature also doubles as a testbed for potentially uploading other kinds of images or data… interesting possibilities!
Developed Useful Skills!
I learned how to build basic web apps, in this case using Node.js, Angular, and MongoDB. This was a good investment in my own coding skills, since I’d like to add customization support to Blabyrinth too. Now that I have this experience I can do more complex things with future games.
Took over Android support
My porting partner Apportable made great efforts to get Spaceteam working with Google’s latest updates but our contract is now over so I can no longer rely on them. I now have to investigate and handle Android issues myself, which takes time.
Six new languages
Thanks to my volunteer translators, people can now shout at each other in:
- Russian
- Japanese
- Hebrew (right-to-left text support was a huge pain!)
- Czech
- Polish
- Brazilian Portuguese
Spaceteam ESL
The ESL version of Spaceteam has 5 levels of vocabulary taken from the 1000 most common English words. It has adjustable speed and difficulty. It has a pronunciation practice mode. And it comes with reference material showing teachers how to use it in a classroom setting. We’re launching to the public (for free) in a couple of weeks! Stay tuned.
Spaceteam Kids
Using Spaceteam ESL as a base, I’ve been working with the High Commissioner to make a more general purpose Kids version, also with adjustable difficulty settings. This should also be ready soon.
“Breach Defender”
A customized version of Spaceteam with a hacking theme (commissioned by Big Monocle on behalf of Intel) used to promote computer security at a conference. This was a fun small project that helped extend my development time.
The Spaceteam Board Game!
Taking Spaceteam to a new plane of existence. I’m actually just consulting on the game, it’s being designed and produced by another team. They will be launching their own Kickstarter soon, sign up for news here!
The Humble Bundle version
This may not seem too exciting but I got two nice things out of it:
- A version of the app that can be downloaded and purchased outside the Google Play store. This may not affect a whole lot of people, but I think it’s appreciated by those who need it.
- $11k in additional sales (not bad for a two-week promotion!)
CaptainsMess
I want to share the Spaceteam networking code in a way that’s useful to people so I’ve been carefully untangling it so it can be reused. I’ll post the initial version later this month, but unfortunately it will be iOS only. Hopefully it will still be helpful.
Blabyrinth
Blabyrinth is well under way and it is now my primary project. I’m starting to solidify the framework for the game. Players can connect, move around a simple maze, interact with scenery, pick up and drop items. It’s not that interesting to look at yet. But I’m getting ready to start building the generators for the labyrinths and puzzles, which should be a lot of fun!
These Things Also Happened…
- Moved into an awesome new co-working space
- Started the Montreal chapter of Puzzled Pint
- Got married
One Last Thing
If you like the music in Spaceteam, my composer Phil has started his own fund-raising campaign to support his independent music. Check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/couteaupapillon
…
Onwards!