5 ms·
I don't have a story about enterprise sales, but if you'll allow me I will just slip in the story of the first copy of software that I sold. I hope no one minds
by DizzyDoo 10y ago
I don't have a story about enterprise sales, but if you'll allow me I will just slip in the story of the first copy of software that I sold. I hope no one minds.
I wrote a silly computer game about cats (http://store.steampowered.com/app/386900 http://store.steampowered.com/app/386900), essentially making a puzzle game out of finite-state automata questions you get during the computation course of a Computer Science degree. Of course, the abstraction on the mechanics involve cats, because it's a good way to trick people into doing computer science.
Now, three weeks before I released the product, I stuck up a webpage where people could purchase the game for a higher price, but the twist was that they could send me a picture of their cat, and I'd put the cat in the game, in a level somewhere. I didn't really know if anyone would be interested, I didn't do any marketing, but since it didn't take long to hook Stripe up and the idea amused me, I went for it. The next day I received my first customer, someone from Peru, who in broken English described their cat 'Missy', and attached a dozen or so photos of her. So, I draw an in-game representation of the Peruvian cat, place her in the game, and add a feature where when the user mouses-over Missy, an overlay pops up with a photo inside. I still have no idea how this customer found me, but I do know who their cat is, what food it likes, what toys are its favourite. Over the course of the three weeks, a little more than a dozen people preordered and sent me (usually loads) of pictures of their cat(s), which was quite a personal subject for some. More than one had recently lost their pet, and wished me to memorialise the cat inside the game, either for them, or their wife/husband, as a gift or as a surprise when they played it through. I did not expect to be in some way apart of people's grieving. Some of them wrote me much later to express their thanks. What stuck with me most though was the feeling of making a personal connection with someone on the otherside of the globe, Peru, Singapore, Algeria, etc, and effectively being introduced to a member of their family. It was a surprisingly meaningful experience.
So no, not at all about big enterprise sales, instead a $10 game involving cats, but, there you go.
- raverbashing 10y agoI love your story! And the game looks fresh and a nice idea (I liked the art)
- iamcreasy 10y agoDid you go through Greenlight?
- DizzyDoo 10y agoI did indeed. Not the best process in the world, but I was only there a week.
- chris_st 10y agoThat's a great story, and it looks like a good game. Could you elaborate on Steam sales? Non-steam? Thanks!
- DizzyDoo 10y agoI released on Steam, and Steam's been great. Since I just developed the game by myself, I only needed to sell a couple thousand copies to break even, and that happened fairly quickly. Releasing on my site (http://cranktrain.com http://cranktrain.com) and on other stores like the Humble Store, the Mac Store, that's all rather worthwhile too, it all adds up. My site is a small Django site with Stripe, so that gives me the biggest margins, though I then have to sort out things like European VAT payments, which is a pain, but hopefully I'll grow that for my next game and it'll become worthwhile. The Cat Machine has done modestly well, but it's let me work on games full-time. And it all started with that one cat-owner in Peru.
- 100k 10y agoThanks for sharing the story. I just bought a copy. I love cats and enjoyed my automata class in school, but I would have never thought to take such a nerdy topic and turn it into a puzzle game.
- swah 10y agoThey should've been talking about your game in cat forums or something...?
- archagon 10y agoThanks! How long did the game take to make?
- kdamken 10y agoThis story made my day, thank you for posting it.