What would 5 years of doing this success look like (we would both be 48, by the 5th year, many of our friends would be pushing 60)? Anything can happen – nicco and i can just get sick and wont have the time and attention to do this.
- Nicco at 8,000usd/yr from the sales and commissions.
- I can spend about 6,000-8,000usd a year on freelancers for the output.
- that’s 2500 sales of 10usd/book per year (we bring our products to their full price as everyone who bought it at half gets updates and free stuff attached to the core products).
- Success is 25,000 sales of Assets created by people using our tools or building those tools are generated (we don’t get any monetary thing from it except the permission to BUILD ontop of what they have built ontop of; and they can build over and on top of what we build – and a virtuous cycle is sustained).
- 1000 people buying 5 materials per year.
- A youtube channel with the thousand people following and getting videos about the products and how better to use it. Youtube Live of Q&A.
- We do have Product Upgrades – especially when serious rules or usability issues arrises. We have version updates every 6-8 months. The product they initially bought is Upgraded.
- Complimentary products – Lets say we create a Core set of Rules and a set of Tools. We upgrade that in the next 5 years continuously. There is no additional revenue because everyone who bought it is getting an Update. How does the game in the brain make money?: Game Assets and packages. Core Rules updates are forever free – and open Sourced – but specialty products – like additional ship models created using the Core Rules will be new materials that help pay for everything else.
Why would you pay for something when you can produce it all yourself? Because you CAN AFFORD to pay money for TIME. Those who cannot afford money for time – don’t need the assets because they can produce it with the core rules.
The way Open Source projects become virtuous cycles that pay for itself is time and effort until it starts to work – growing and learning.
Also I don’t think we will get it right, Someone will get it right – the way each Success is paved by many of those who tried. We will be one of the MANY who tried to make this work till someone will make this work.
It is unfortunate – and These are details I like incorporating in games – how much things really cost – and how much work things really need. Because in the Game I can try over and over again to make it work, to make a better world and learn a little each time of one more weakness or challenge to overcome – even if I cannot afford to take the risks of someone far wealthier than me.
The way we ran that Ship business to the Ground in Traveller and I get to see it in real life – running a business negative as the son of a business owner who can afford to lose those amounts of money. I already saw it in the game – i just got to see it in real life and things that haunt me about what real people do to other people. (when I witnessed a business unit was plundered by its management causing retrenched employees and the officer illiciting sexual favors from one of them, the stealing of employee bonuses). Someone who writes games as the impotent 32 year old person who didn’t know what to do when faced with these problems. I am the person who grew in experience and ability in light of that point of my life and how I could have tried to fix it with what I know now. Doing everything to avoid the situation that put us in that. I think in Mark Knights game i felt so strongly about that so when i got to play an Administrative Accounting character I enjoyed it because that was where I was weak and this character was strong at. I saw what the skills were used for – in auditing the problems of the company and investigating the plundering. The Adventurer or Hero character I had in mind was the guy who could have prevented or repaired that huge problem.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.