Despondent/Enthused

It’s been a weird week.

I’m still trying to get to the point where web sales cover overheads and we have a viable business that doesn’t rely on Crowdfunding to keep us afloat.

I’ve upped the ad spend, hoping to boost sales.

Now sales are just covering ad spend instead.

And with Trump on the horizon our games are about to get 20% more expensive for Americans.

That’s half of our customers.

Could have been worse: at least we don’t make them in China.

I’m feeling a bit despondent about it.

On the plus side, I finally joined Bluesky.

Come find me!

I moved from Twitter to Threads a while back.

It’s been fine.

But I missed my gaming chums.

The vast majority of the #CraftWednesday crew weren’t there.

Within hours of joining Bluesky, it felt like I’d found most of them again.

I’m feeling enthused.

I’ve found my team again.

Roots

I started computer programming when I was ten.

Both my degrees are in it.

Almost all of my day jobs have been doing it.

For the second time in my life I'm now a manager of a team of programmers.

I don't program at work any more.

I've been doing some for Eurydice Games this week though.

I had to get the books completed up to the end of October so our accountants can do our VAT return.

That included 102 Gamefound orders for Away Team Bingo.

I can download them from Gamefound as a spreadsheet.

I need to get them into our accounting software.

I can import them to it as a spreadsheet.

A different spreadsheet.

Over the last few years I've written a few programs to move orders between the various spreadsheet formats we use.

This week I've been tweaking them to support the latest changes.

And then getting those orders into the books.

Around that I've been tweaking my Sirens game.

We played it at Newcastle Playtest on Tuesday.

There were six of us, and it was the only game present that went to six players.

I knew it needed work.

So we played it.

Needs some work!

Now I have some ideas of how to work out the kinks...

YorCon

I’ve spent the weekend in the middle of nowhere.

Playing games with an awesome bunch of people.

Lots of new games.

My favourites were Lord of the Rings Duel and Space Base.

We went for a couple of walks in the countryside.

I played a couple of games of Jotunsaga.

Gaming designing in progress

With other designers.

It got really good feedback.

And spawned a bunch of new ideas.

I took a Sharpie, a pen, and some blank cards.

So I could make a new version.

And try that too.

And there’s Newcastle Playtest tomorrow.

It’s coming on nicely…

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!