Split

My focus has been split this week.

Photo by Lena Taranenko on Unsplash

Partly trying to fix the issues with the ads.

Partly preparing for next weekend.

For the third year running Paul has booked a remote lodge for a long weekend of gaming.

It's in the arse end of West Yorkshire.

Surrounded by the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

It sleeps about 40 people in bunks.

There's no mobile signal, and the first year there was no WiFi either.

Just gaming.

With great people.

All friends of Paul's.

I'll be there for 48 hours.

Driving down after work on Friday, coming home on Sunday night.

I'm really looking forward to a weekend of gaming with great people.

Some walking in the wilds.

And maybe even some playtesting.

When not focused on fixing the ads, I've been trying to get a new version of my troll game ready.

For the weekend.

Fingers crossed!

Cashflow

Businesses live or die on their cashflow.

We're lucky that we've been profitable for five of our six years.

We had to replace a laser-cutter in the other one.

But cashflow is a continual problem.

We go from feast, after a crowdfunding payout.

Photo by Sarah Agnew on Unsplash

To famine.

Most years Paul and I have had to lend the company money to stay afloat.

Or fund crowdfunding advertising.

The last few months have been hard.

Larger than expected bills.

Getting used to paying VAT.

I've had to cover bills from our savings a few times.

And we owe people money.

It's stressful.

My goal this year is to get the website sales to cover the overheads and make a little positive cash every month.

I ran the numbers.

Worked out what we'd need to spend on ads to hit that point.

I started slowly increased the ad spent so we didn't drop back into the learning phase.

It dropped back into the learning phase :(

Ad performance has tanked.

I've had to lend the company money to cover the ad spend.

Really hoping it gets out of the learning phase soon.

Gamble

Board game publishing, well any publishing really, is gambling.

You back a horse.

By choosing a game to publish.

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

You bet a stake.

By paying for marketing and artwork.

Kickstarter has improved things, since you no longer have to gamble the manufacturing and shipping costs upfront as well.

And then you find out how your bet did.

When you sell the print run, or run the crowdfunding campaign.

If you’re a big company, you hedge your bets.

Back many horses.

Hoping some of them win big enough to cover any losing bets.

We’re small.

One bet at a time.

Each one needs to cover the stake really.

Away Team Bingo is live on Gamefound now.

It finishes tomorrow.

And it’s tracking towards just covering its stake.

Rough

This week I've mostly felt rough.

Had a bad cold at the beginning of the week, and then my COVID and flu vaccines at the end.

I've taken a lot of Lemsip!

We've still made progress though.

Paul's been building up stock.

Including of the new Box of Pirate Flicks - so that's now up for sale on the website.

I've been finishing off the Away Team Bingo campaign, ready for Tuesday's launch.

At this point it looks like it's going to under-perform Rocky 'Roid.

I just hope it breaks even!

I've also opened a Gamefound store.

And been working on Jotunsaga.

#

New terrain cards, might make them hexes.

Incorporating feedback from last weekend's playtest with the public, and last Tuesday's trip to Newcastle Playtest.

There's no rest for the mildly ill!

Six/Seven

Our sixth financial year finishes today.

Seventh if you count the year I ran it on my own at the beginning.

Before Paul joined and we became the home of FlickFleet.

It’s been another pretty good year.

Made a profit.

But nearly ran out of cash twice.

Did ok.

What will next year bring?

Hopefully more conventions.

Maybe a new game?

I was playtesting Jotunsaga at the North East Tabletop Expo on Sunday.

Feedback was positive.

It’s improving.

Progress is being made.

Video

I’ve spent the week doing stills for the Away Team Bingo video.

A still!

And shipping a lot of games.

We had our best week of orders since November!

And with Paul still away, I was shipping them.

The stills are good progress, but I also need to film some video.

And that’s been a challenge.

Finding the time.

During daylight.

When I’m not shipping games.

My day job have recently changed the benefits package to give us an extra day off per year.

So I’ve used mine today.

To do the filming.

And then hopefully the editing too.

Here’s hoping for a day of solid progress.

Growth

Last week I talked about how I’m chasing growth.

Not for the reason you might expect though.

Not to win capitalism.

Or sell the company to Asmodee.

But to get to the point where it’s really working.

Currently it almost is.

Almost.

We pay Paul a (meagre) salary.

We’ve grown every year so far.

Except this year

We’ve been profitable 5 out of 6 years.

But we’re not stable yet.

Web sales need to be greater than overheads.

So we can survive between crowdfunding campaigns.

Sometimes they are.

Sometimes they aren’t.

And then we’re bleeding cash.

The last couple of years we’ve had to lend the company money to do things.

Or stay afloat.

We haven’t this year.

But at one point we had less than £150 in the bank.

With bills to pay.

I want to grow.

So that doesn’t happen any more.

That’s why.

Fool

I’m an idiot.

I’ve been fixated on our financial year.

This one is going to be worse than last year.

Not by much.

Only 5% or so.

But I’ve been trying everything I can to close that gap.

Or even squeak out a sixth consecutive year of growth.

Web sales have more than doubled this year.

But that’s not enough to counteract the Pirate Flicks being our second best campaign, not a sixth consecutive best ever FlickFleet campaign.

Plus we’ve missed a couple of conventions this year.

Away Team Bingo was a chance to close that gap further.

The game is ready.

So I’ve rushed the campaign.

I’ve been trying to get it delivered by the end of this month.

To hit this year’s numbers.

That’s doing it a disservice.

The campaign is far from ready.

No high ink photos.

No video.

Reviews aren’t ready yet.

Artwork is pending.

And I haven’t run any ads.

Because the campaign isn’t ready.

I’m a chump.

I should push it back.

By a month. Or six weeks.

And do it properly.

Give it the attention it deserves.

Growth isn’t everything.

Weird

It's been a weird week.

Didn't know what day it was at the beginning due to three days camping in a forest.

Thursday to Sunday.

Then a Bank Holiday Monday.

Since I've got back I've been working on Away Team Bingo's crowdfunding.

Got some initial sketches from the artist! 

And setting up a Gamefound store.

And trying to learn to Tiktok.

And planning a campaign video.

And thinking up a (fifth!) print at home roll and write while lying still for 45 minutes in an MRI.

And making some sizeable changes to Jotunsaga.

Feel a bit all over the place.

Not sure whether I'm coming or going!

Away (Team Bingo)

I’ve been away again.

My second camping ina forest trip in two weeks.

I’m back now.

I spent the few days in between trying to get up to speed on Away Team Bingo.

Over 100 followers now!

While covering shipping as Paul was also away.

He’s back now too.

So I get a reprieve.

And can focus on the ATB Gamefound campaign page.

There’s several bits still to do.

And just over a week in which to do it.

It’s getting close now!

Need to get more photos up.

A couple more sections.

And hopefully some reviews.

Time to crack on!

Interruption

Last week I was ina camping pod in the forest.

Next weekend I’m camping in a different forest.

I have five days to make as much progress as possible on the Away Team Bingo campaign.

And Paul’s also on holiday.

So I’m shipping the website orders.

These are some of the orders going today!

With the stock he gave me a couple of weeks ago.

While stocks last.

I’m running very low on a few things already!

Oaks

I’m away for a week.

In the Lake District.

My happy place.

Our view is oak trees.

I need to relax.

There’s been loads of bookkeeping to do before we left.

Plus the day job has been a nightmare for a couple of weeks.

A whole week of relaxing.

With the family.

When I get back it will be time to crack on with the Away Team Bingo Gamefound Page.

But for now, relaxing.

Preview

Away Team Bingo is up on Gamefound.

The preview is pretty bare bones at the moment.

Early preview

But it’s there.

Available for people to follow it.

Slowly accruing followers.

I wonder how it will compare with the Rocky 'Roid campaign?

Or The Planets My Destination?

There's only one way to find out.

I'm splitting my time between fleshing out the campaign and the last campaign.

I've over 200 orders to get in the books for the Box of Pirate Flicks now they've shipped.

I've written a program for it.

I'm now meticulously checking that it's worked correctly.

I'm getting there.

But it's slow going...

Families

This weekend we spent in York with Paul and his family.

Now we’ve shipped all of the rewards for our last Gamefoumd campaign, there was room in his house for guests!

We spent the weekend chatting, catching up, scheming about Eurydice Games’ future.

And, of course, playing games.

It was lovely.

Now we’re back, I’m cracking on with Away Team Bingo.

Taking shape!

And sorting out the GamesQuest onward shipping.

Meanwhile Paul is building up stock so we can meet up again in ten or so days’ time.

And he can give me some stock to cover his forthcoming holidays.

They are well earned!

Progress

It's been a week of great progress.

Paul has parcelled up and shipped three pallets of games to GamesQuest.

On their way!

Two will cross the Atlantic by boat and then go via road to their US hub.

Then be broken down and shipped across the US and Canada.

The third will be broken down and shipped to the EU from their UK hub.

That's over 85% of the rewards of the last campaign shipped.

The last few will probably go in the next week or so.

Meanwhile I've been doing the proper rulebook for Away Team Bingo.

My next print at home roll and write game.

The low ink rules are finished!

Now I can send it out for review.

Last time I tried this I got no reviews back.

Hoping for better luck this time...

Rules

I’ve almost finished the graphic design for the Away Team Bingo player sheets.

The four low ink ones are done. 

Two out of four high ink ones are done too.

Next up is the rules.

Rules are hard

I’ve a pretty spartan rulebook that went to the playtesters.

But I need a new one.

With diagrams.

And examples.

It takes time.

It’s my current focus.

Next up is review copies and the Gamefound page.

It’s going to be a busy couple of months.

Let The Good Times Roll!

I'm done.

Away Team Bingo is finished.

My third roll and write game.

You are sending teams of crew to explore a planet three times.

To find the most impressive discoveries.

But lots of locations aren't safe.

Will you pick the right mix of crew for the mission?

It's a press your luck game.

You want to stay as long as possible to maximise your rewards.

But staying too long can be costly.

Or catastrophic.

Now the game is finished, it's just graphic design, finishing the rulebook and doing the crowdfunding page.

The top of a low ink page - getting prettier!

There's a start of a Gamefound page taking shape.

The graphic design is coming together.

Then it'll be the rulebook.

It's going to be a busy couple of months!

Learning

Our ads are stuck in the learning phase.

At least partially because I’m still in my learning phase.

Our ads should be showing FlickFleet to those people who might like it.

At the moment it’s either not showing them to the right people.

Or not interesting to the right people.

Not working yet…

I need to spend some time working out how to improve the targeting.

Or improve the ads.

Meanwhile Paul is boxing and parcelling the rewards aiming to ship them in the next month.

Early.

And I’ve started the Gamefound page for my next Roll & Write.

Lots to do.

Lots to learn…

Advertising

We have a great product in FlickFleet.

It has loads of fans.

People love it when they are introduced to it at conventions.

But our ads perform pretty poorly.

I've tried something new this week.

15 second videos of the game.

Taken at the UK Games Expo.

It's way more successful at driving traffic to our website.

But not helping with sales at all.

I really wish I had the time to work out how to do advertising right - I'm sure we could do much better!

Opportunities

I've spent this week working on two things.

Some 'proper' ads.

Which aren't working well yet, but might in the future.

And a business opportunity.

Which could be transformative.

It is, yet again, a busy time.

Meanwhile, Paul has got the laser-cutter repaired.

No longer out of action

And is boxing up the US/Canadian orders from the Gamefound campaign.

Now the laser-cutter is repaired we can make up the last few things required and ship them all to GamesQuest to begin their journey to the US.

After that it will be the EU ones and the last few standard rewards.

Fulfilment is well on-track.