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<\/a>After the success of my 2018 RPG Cursed Lands, which left me feeling optimistic, I had high expectations for Planet Stronghold 2<\/a>. I\u2019m the kind of person who always braces for the worst-case scenario. For this game, I set my baseline at a very modest sales figure\u2014less than a third of what Cursed Lands earned in its launch week. (Of course, long-term sales are harder to predict, so I was mainly focused on that first week and month.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Little did I know that back in October 2018, Valve decided to roll out an “algorithm update” that effectively tanked visibility for anything that wasn\u2019t a AAA title or an indie darling. Over the next three to four years, I watched about a third of the developers I knew either quit the industry or turn to publisher funding, sacrificing what I\u2019d call their “true indie” spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when Planet Stronghold 2 launched, it was an absolute trainwreck. Even now, five years on, its sales don\u2019t come close to touching Cursed Lands<\/a>. The thing is, I eventually realized it wasn\u2019t about the game\u2019s quality\u2014it was all down to Steam\u2019s new rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This shift didn\u2019t just change completely my business, it hit nearly every indie dev I knew. The only ones who dodged the fallout were those with an established fanbase or enough money to fund massive ad campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later in 2020, I decided to try crowdfunding for my first game in the Tales From The Under-Realm series<\/a>, and it went really well. I might\u2019ve mentioned this before, but I like to figure out my “virtual salary” by dividing the money a game makes by the months it took me to create it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, Hazel\u2019s virtual salary was about four or five times higher than Planet Stronghold 2\u2019s! Mainly thanks to the fact that Kickstarter’s commission is only 10% vs 35% of Steam (they say 30% but with various fee and refunds it’s closer to 35%). Of course, it doesn\u2019t always work out that way. Some projects, like House of Chavez, barely broke even, mostly because I wanted to make the game better and ended up spending extra cash from my own pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when it hit me: crowdfunding isn\u2019t just nice to have; it\u2019s a must <\/em>to keep going. It doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ll automatically succeed, but it helps you avoid losing money and lets you plan better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s why: if I know I\u2019ve got a set budget for a game, I can figure out all the costs ahead of time. Then I can decide what\u2019s really important to spend on and what I can skip if it\u2019s not essential to the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike many indie developers, I don\u2019t hold off on starting a game until all the funding is secured. Waiting for full funding can cause serious setbacks (think of all those Kickstarted games delayed by years!) and it\u2019s tough to convince people to back you without something tangible to show. You can\u2019t just pitch \u201cI\u2019m building a town sim with RPG combat and blah blah blah\u201d without at least a working prototype or screenshots\/gameplay videos to back it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why I made sure Thieves of Dingirra<\/a> had its core gameplay nailed down before launching its Kickstarter. It\u2019s also why, even for a basic visual novel crowdfunding campaign, I aim to have a full plot outline, the main cast\u2019s character art and a few CGs ready beforehand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then comes the tricky part: once the funding\u2019s in, do I call it done, or do I spend an extra month or two\u2014and more cash\u2014adding new features or content? It\u2019s a tough call, and honestly, there\u2019s no universal answer. With House of Chavez<\/a>, I went all in, pouring way more money into it than I raised because I wanted it to be the best it could be. Looking back, it wasn\u2019t a smart financial move, but sometimes pride in your work outweighs the bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a huge difference between blindly sinking a year (or more!) and a ton of money into a project like Planet Stronghold 2 with no guarantee of breaking even, and investing a couple extra months and a few grand to polish something you\u2019ve already fully funded and you do it only because you want to make it the best possible. That\u2019s the line I try to walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Here comes the money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Pre-production phase and conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Conclusions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n