August 2019 Review

timbeaudet

  • Total income: $397.53 without personal investments
  • Total income: $3791.75 with personal investments
  • Total expenses: $52.99 + unspecified amount
  • Total hours: 182.00

In June and July there were many extra hours put in as Dizzy had some work trips that allowed more development time. In August Dizzy and I took a long weekend to visit family, you wouldn’t know it the hours chart though, where August actually beat June and July. Some of those hours came from a 24-hour stream event where Turbo Boom! improved significantly for Alpha 0.2.0. And many more hours were crunched into the preparation of the surprise party build, Alpha 0.3.0. Early August was spent wrapping up a few extra features like ghosts and leaderboards for the

obstacle course racing game Turbo Boom! Soon after development stages jumped from feature development (alpha dev) to content development (beta dev). Since the content of the game is still incomplete beta testing does not begin until later in the beta development stage however a vertical slice is coming soon. Middle of August was also big for game development as I have decided to pitch Turbo Boom! to publishers. Having a publisher is not a requirement, I am simply reaching out to see what opportunities may exist and I am absolutely willing to walk away unless I feel it is worth doing. A publisher is better at… publishing… than I would be, and this should improve sales. For a more detailed breakdown of finances, support Tim Beaudet on Patreon

There were also a few work orders going on during August and that led to more business management-y stuff than really desired. It really does take a lot of effort to communicate what is desired. That communication is extremely challenging as  well, as words are ambiguous more times than not. Deliveries come with unexpected direction taken, but after reading the orders it can make sense to go that direction. Hind sight is always clearer. Also costly, this does invoke a financial risk as well.

What was Learned

Good Process is Great I know this lesson started in July, but it bears repeating as Turbo Boom! is the smoothest project I have ever worked on personally. In two months the game has come from nothing to extremely far, practically complete. It is already better than Archer though that is comparing an apple to an orange. The value and excitement from others playing the game is clear, the game is fun. Turbo Boom! provides entertainment.

Small Games are not Bad Games

A significant amount of ideas and viewers requests have been turned down to ensure scope remained extremely tight for the 3 to 4 month deadline. This has significantly improved the focus of the game, and despite being limited, the smaller size is not a bad game. Yea there are a million and one features I would love to see in Turbo Boom! but each one explodes scope. Monitoring effort vs value has been huge.

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