February 2019 Review

Total income: $871.07 without personal investments
Total income: $4790.65Â with personal investments
Total expenses: $29.99
Total hours: 82.25

Hours increased since January, however the hours are still lower in February for multiple reasons including events in January effecting early February. Also there were few evenings worked. In addition I started playing Rocket League for a bit of entertainment, though it needs to be kept on a leash – time flies by. A more detailed breakdown of income, expenses and hours can be found by supporting Tim Beaudet on Patreon.

February efforts were directed toward cleaning up and properly building out the foundational components. Making HTTP requests no-longer block the codepath, ensuring faster/easier development and no frame-rate glitches. Other improvements will help with graphics and resource management and consolidating code for maintainability.

What was learned

First Impression Matter {.wp-block-heading} In early February the itch.io application had a bug that reported many more downloads than it should have, v25 of the app has fixed the bug, so update if you have not. This inflated download count had me question what a new player would experience if they organically found

Rally of Rockets without first finding my stream. A new perspective was gained by changing mindset to a brand new player, with zero expectations, then downloading and starting the game. Many issues were spotted including no notice that the game is work-in-progress, the buttons title screen do not feel clickable, and some other sores.

Marketing is Challenging {.wp-block-heading} The success of games greatly depends on players hearing about, knowing about and eventually buying the game. Even the best game of all time could flop if no players heard about it. This is my greatest weakness and fear with my indie adventure.

Entertainment is Good {.wp-block-heading} As a game developer I tend to work-work-work. Perhaps a required trait for doing this full time. But in February Rocket League grabbed my attention and I played approximately 25 hours of co-op with a few regular viewers for a good time. Sometimes having fun is important as well.

Support Tim Beaudet on Patreon for more detailed breakdowns and other rewards.