Advertising

I’ve started running ads again.

We’ve not run any since the last Gamefound campaign closed.

Sales were great for a couple of months afterwards anyway, and then we almost completely ran out of FlickFleet stock.

So no ads.

Nothing to sell.

Except that’s not true.

New game!

We have our print at home roll and writes: Rocky ‘Roid and The Planets My Destination.

We can’t run out of stock of those - they’re digital downloads!

So I’ve started advertising them.

I’m hoping to get a few more sales of TPMD.

I think it’s a better game than Rocky ‘Roid and has had great feedback.

But we didn’t crowdfund it, or advertise it at all until now.

So sales have been about 1/100th of Rocky ‘Roid!

Crowdfunding works.

Might crowdfund the next one again :/

Holiday

I’ve spent the last week away with all my family again.

19 of us.

2 years to 78 years in age.

It was great to see them all.

Hang out.

Explore south Wales.

Play some games.

But most of all to see my dad doing better after his recent operation than he has been in years.

Seeing him standing and walking unaided.

With more energy.

Staying up later.

The marvels of modern medicine.

Home now, and need to crack on with fulfilment.

First up, mopping up that last of the errors from the Gamefound campaign.

Error

It's been a mixed week.

The boxes have arrived. 

Paul's house is rammed again.

One of many stashes!

We're just waiting on the delayed baggies before we can start making everything again.

And start fulfilment.

But most of the week has been fixing my error.

Last week I found out that we'd overcharged 150 people on the latest Gamefound campaign.

My mistake.

I reduced our prices, and missed the pledge level itself.

So I took some time to find out exactly who was affected and then emailed them all.

Offering a £5 refund, or a £5 add-on.

It's taken a long time to update the spreadsheets with those answers and issue the refunds requested.

But it's all my own fault.

Our customers are awesome though.

Everyone's been nice about it.

Some offered it as a tip or a charity donation.

We're lucky to have them!

Feaster

Paul and his family are visiting for the Easter weekend.

Feaster.

A weekend of feasting, catching up, and gaming.

It’s great to see them all.

Catch up.

Plus, play some games.

We’re teaching each other new games.

Playing a lot with the kids.

Plus a bit of playtesting.

Roll and Write 4 is only a couple of weeks old. But Paul’s enjoyed it and had very few suggestions for improvements.

I love that I can turn roll and writes around quick enough that we can play it again.

But different.

On the same weekend.

Action

I've been feeling a bit jaded the last few weeks.

It's sapped my enthusiasm.

I've not made much progress.

Things we're piling up in front of me.

I needed a change.

I took Wednesday off work.

Cracked on with those tasks.

New versions of a couple of roll and write prototypes.

Sorting out a couple of FlickFleet fulfilment tasks.

Started writing the 3rd edition rulebook.

Made decent progress.

Carried that into the weekend.

Had two hours to myself during Daughter the Second's dance rehearsal.

Spent it playtesting.

Made changes. Tried them out. More progress.

Got home. Made more changes.

I made a note once. I think I read it from Shane Parrish.

Action leads to Progress. Progress leads to Momentum. Momentum leads Motivation.

I think it might be true. 

It's been a good week. Things are picking up.

Deficit

Historically, our website sales have been very low.

Very low.

We lived from Kickstarter to Kickstarter.

Suddenly, last year we started getting some great FlickFleet reviews. 

And since May last year website sales have been amazing. Like two orders of magnitude better.

At times that made sense: a great review, some TikTok coverage, running ads during a campaign.

But it kept going. Once the ads stopped. 

Still amazing.

That great run finally came to an end in February.

Bit of a blessing really, we’ve run out of most things.

But now we’re running at a deficit.

Overheads outstripping sales.

It weighs on me. Saps my motivation. Eats away at our cash.

Takes me back to the dying days of Reiver Games, watching the money pour out of the account.

While I wallowed in self-pity.

Need to get my mojo back.

We should be getting the boxes and the baggies we need to start making everything again just after Paul gets back from his holiday.

That’ll help.

I’ll have to start running some ads again then.

Take some action.

See if we can get it to pick back up.

We need to be covering our overheads at a minimum. 

Again

I like to do things again.

I re-watch TV shows.

I re-read books.

I like to return to places I’ve been before.

I play games tens or even hundreds of times.

With the endless stream of new games coming out, I think that makes me a bit weird.

People try to play all the new stuff. Just once or twice and then move on.

I’m sure my terrible memory plays a part in it: I can enjoy a TV show or book again and I’ve forgotten a decent chunk. Even on the third or fourth time through.

Still, a bit odd.

Playtesting roll and write 3 in the pub last week

So why do I enjoy playtesting so much? Every play is different. 

Familiar, sure, but different. The rules change a bit every time.

My brain is strange.

After last week’s release of my second roll and write game, I’ve come up with a fourth roll and write idea.

Looking forward to starting testing of that shortly. It’s heavily inspired by Star Trek away teams :)