Browsing Borders the other evening, I flipped through a copy of Make Your Own Damn Movie by Lloyd Kaufman. I didn’t buy the book (for a non-filmmaker I already have a ridiculous collection of books about independent filmmaking), but the introduction by Matt Stone (of South Park fame) included a brief story of how he met Lloyd Kaufman and got his movie, Cannibal, released on video by Troma Pictures.

 

If you want the full story, find the book and read it at the bookstore like I did. The point I’m making is this: Matt & friends had become so caught up in selling Cannibal to a studio that they had forgotten the real reason they had made the film in the first place: so people would see it.

 

The first chapter re-iterated that point with a different, rather icky story by Kaufman. I won’t give any details about that story (lazy bum; Borders is open until 11), but Kaufman really wanted to stress the point that if you’re not making films because your really want to make films, then you shouldn’t even bother. If money is your only motivation, there are far, far easier–and more secure–ways to make money.

 

I think the same applies to making games. Or any other kind of end-user software.

 

I taught myself computer programming in the mid-1980’s because I wanted to make games. And that purpose continued to drive me through college.

 

Thus, I was a bit distressed that my first job after college wasn’t working for a game company. Nor were my 2nd or 3rd jobs, for that matter, but I learned a valuable lesson during my years in Corporate America: It isn’t just about games. I like making software, period. Even more, I like making software that people use.

 

Whether it’s a game, like Artifact, or end-user software, like The Journal, my driving purpose in designing and developing software is having people play it/use it. Nothing makes me happier than a satisfied player/user. That I also make money at it is a bonus.

 

Even if I didn’t make enough money to live off, I would still be making games, still designing software, still stringing together code and components, hitting compile and watching it run. I know this for a fact because I did it for years before I ever made a dollar off it. I would come home from work and fire up my PC and plug away.

 

Yah. I’m a geek. So are you.

 

Anyway, what I want to leave you with on this New Years Eve is: Remember why you wanted to make games. It probably had nothing to do with money. More likely, you had just finished a game, or completed a level/mission within a game, and you found yourself inspired to create an experience of your own. Relive that moment. Let it rekindle your enthusiasm, and keep you going throughout the coming year.

 

Money or no money, never forget: If you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right.

 

-Joe

 

 

Oh…and see if you can’t have the game design document done by New Years. That way, you have the whole year to work on it.

 

C’mon! Finish your turkey and get started!

 

-Joe

 

 

I pride myself on my ability to finish projects. So it’s frustrating to have a project that I can’t/won’t finish, for whatever reason. I try to learn from it, though. If you can’t always win, maybe you can at least try not to lose the same way again.

 

My experience with the Paintball Net project, as well as another project that I’m currently working on, has taught me a valuable lesson:

 

 

If you don’t, when the going gets rough (and it will get rough, I assure you) you will find yourself scraping bottom in the motivation barrel.

 

It’s one thing to work on a project because your boss told you to. Like all employees, I have done exactly that. I have continued to put in daily effort on projects that I thought were the stupidest waste of their money and my time ever imagined. I didn’t want to be working on those projects. I asked to be taken off of them. No dice. And being an employee, that was that: I worked on what I was told to work on.

 

As your own boss, though, you have very little leverage. None, really. Because you cannot convince yourself to do anything you don’t already want to do.

 

Sure, you might be able to force yourself to do it for a little while. But you won’t be able to keep it up. Unless the project/task is very short and over quickly, you’ll grind to a halt. Sooner rather than later.

 

I guarantee it.

 

And if you prove me wrong … well … congratulations. You’re a masochist.

 

Another lesson is: Cut your losses. Once you’ve recognized that you’re not going to finish a project, for whatever reason, get rid of it. Don’t drag out the process. That only makes it harder on you, and can have a negative impact on what you are working on instead. In my case, I would feel guilty for not working on the project, and emotionally beat myself up about it. Never a good thing.

 

So learn to recognize the difference between needing a boost to refire your passion and needing to move on. In the first case, you can recover. In the second … not so much. If you have the Extreme Power of Will you might still get it done. But at what cost to yourself and to your other projects–including the project you probably should be working on instead?

 

Ah, well. I’m not sure it’s all that encouraging, this wake for a dead project, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

 

-Joe

Just get in gear, get it done, and then get yourself a glass

Of whatever you fancy, tea, beer, wine, or gin

Raise a toast, raise a cheer, then go do it again.

 

“Welcome to the party, pal.” –John McClane, Die Hard

 

Seems like an impossible number, doesn’t it? If you’re like me, still scratching and clawing to reach–and sustain–the level of double-digit sales per day, considering the possibility of 1000 sales per day may seem like wishful thinking. Useless daydreaming even.

 

But is it?

 

Consider this: If you sold 1000 copies of your product every day, it would still take you over 3 years to have sold 1 million copies. And over 200 years to sell 1 copy to each adult member of the current US population. And the US represents only about 5% of the total world population.

 

Suddenly, 1000 copies per day doesn’t seem so large.

 

So, what good is putting 1000 copies per day into perspective?

 

First, it forces you to consider the larger context of the software market. As indies, we are used to being thrilled with 100 sales in a month, and success stories that involve selling 10,000 copies. In the overall software market, though, not only are numbers like 1000 sales per day possible–but they happen daily. Hell, last I knew, Dell built and shipped more computers than that each day before lunch.

 

Second, while it’s important to be proud of what you have accomplished, it’s just as important that you see how much room for improvement there still is. In fact, for indies there is virtually no ceiling. So long as you want to do better, you probably can.

 

And, finally, until you actually think you can see numbers at the level of 1000 sales per day, you probably won’t. We are often the biggest limit on our own success. Obviously, it’s not as simple as visualizing 1000 sales per day and *poof* you’re there. You will have to create a plan and then follow that plan as long as it works; then make a new plan and follow that one; and so on.

 

When you’re struggling to grow your sales from day to day, it’s easy to find yourself looking “one notch up” from where you currently are and focus there. For example, if you’ve spent the past couple months trying to move past 5 sales per day, once you’ve hit that mark you might find your next goal is 6 sales per day. You get to used to focusing on small increments and it becomes a challenge to step back and “think bigger.” If, instead of shooting for 6 per day, you focused on 10 per day, then 20 per day, then 50, and so on, you will grow your expectations and adjust your plans differently.

 

Ask yourself: What would happen if my sales suddenly doubled? Tripled? Increased by an order of magnitude[*]?

 

How would you adjust your business day? What processes would you need to change and/or automate? What new investments in software/hardware/people would you need to make?

 

Look at your answers, and you have at least a portion of your new plan to grow your business. Some of the changes might be easy to do and you’ve been putting them off. If something on your list can positively affect your bottom line, answer this additional question: Why aren’t you doing it now?

 

You may not be able to afford all of the required changes, but having a plan is the first step, and you’ll be better prepared for when you do need to make those changes.

 

I’m not trying to trivialize the 1000 sales per day number. It’s a significant number, no doubt. From where I sit, it’s still a dizzyingly high mountain. But the more I think about it, the more I look at the slope, the more I begin to see the possibilities, hints at trails and access points and locations for base camps.

 

A mountain is only an obstacle until you realize you can climb it. Then it’s just part of the journey.

 

-Joe

 

[*] For those of you without a math/science background, one order of magnitude is 10 times greater.