Hobby Startup KPI Update #4
Before writing the build scripts and updates required to release the game on mobile, I wanted to give a KPI update. It’s been quite a while since I last updated, so this will be a big one.
Administrative > 11.03 Hours > -$2207
- Switched server to Digital Ocean Hosting, giving me a much better platform to grow on.
- Configured SSL certificate on server to support HTTPS for both website and game.
- Put game behind Cloud Flare CDN to make game load faster around the world.
Marketing > 17.62 Hours > -$3523
- Wrote multiple blog posts.
- Submitted game for iFrame distribution to multiple websites - More about that in a future post.
- Commissioned the creation of two tutorial videos for draw 1 and draw 3 solitaire respectively.
- Wrote How To Play Solitaire page.
- Posted game to multiple discussion websites, including Reddit.
- Drew a Dinosaur picture to get unbanned from /r/WebGames.
Research > 0.0 Hours > -$0 (YAY)
Development > 107.10 Hours > -$21420
- Spend a fair amount of time working on my own game engine to make it good enough for production games. Ultimately failing.
- Rewrote entire game from scratch using PixiJS, moving over the best components from my previous engine, such as Preloader, Tweens, Graphics Resampler and my Unified Input Handler.
- Added undo feature to game.
- Added draw 1 / draw 3 feature to game.
- Wrote custom bitmap cache renderer to fix PixiJS bug in Firefox.
- Added mouse cursor hints to game.
- Created a build process to allow for better caching of images using CDN.
- Made the game faster to load by combining image assets into sprite sheets.
- Made the game work well on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Kindle Fire deices.
- Created Facebook App around the game.
Expenses > -$1680
- $100 - One year Digital Ocean Hosting
- $531 - Two year SSL certificate from Comodo
- $240 - One year Cloud Flare CDN hosting.
- $800 - Commissioned the creation of tutorial videos for draw 1 and draw 3 solitaire.
Total cost for this run $28831. Quite expensive but I am still optimistic that I can make it back inside a reasonable timeframe.
And now, let’s get the Mobile Apps online so we can start making some money!