Total income: $106.49 without personal investments
Total income: $4032.16Â with personal investments
Total expenses: $49.98
Total hours: 118.25
Hours are finally getting back on track at 118 spent on the Indie Adventure. This was achieved, even with a week off in the mountains of Georgia, by reducing Rocket League addiction and remaining more focused. There were a few nights playing Racing Simulators for legitimate research. No really, reports were written and everything. This will help create realistic expectations for my minimum viable product.
A more detailed breakdown of income, expenses and hours can be found by supporting Tim Beaudet on Patreon.
Development efforts in March started with a focus on Rally of Rockets, however due to a lack of confidence and the cost estimates of building a track it did not make business sense to continue Rally of Rockets development for another year. Instead the dream of building a racing simulator is being pursued moving forward.
What was learned
Stress Has Reason
Taking a break in the mountains was amazing. Spending time with Dizzy and Indie hiking and driving around was a great form of relaxation. This was much needed time away from keyboard, although the Indie Adventure stress was still there in the back of my mind.
The root cause of stress for Rally of Rockets was finally discovered and a new direction was necessary. The cause was confidence in making back the money invested into the project (not incl. time cost) for art, audio and additional help (already at $820.00).
As soon as the new direction was being considered, the pressure immediately reduced. This isn’t to say the Racing Simulation will absolutely be successful, it will still be an uphill challenge, but it is the actualdream project.
Titles Matter
Creating the How a Settings Screen SHOULD Look development video took 5 hours with a time-cost of nearly $80. From previous view counts I was expecting to have spent almost $2 a view, but with the help of choosing a great title, using the awesome title screen image from the game, and well timed/luck Reddit post the view count sky rocketed quickly becoming the best performing devlog video. Time-cost wound up at $0.30 a view.
Research is Fun
After the decision to jump on the Racing Simulator dream project a lot of planning started. Both from a business and design perspective. In playing other racing simulators a feel for what is expected and required of a minimum viable product start surfacing, as do some of the common pain points. These findings were written down which allowed for intense reflection.
Support Tim Beaudet on Patreon for more detailed breakdowns and other rewards.
