6 ms·

They were also making 14-15K per month before that (it's mentioned in the post), so they were already extraordinarily successful as far as 2-person indie gamede

by eps 4y ago

They were also making 14-15K per month before that (it's mentioned in the post), so they were already extraordinarily successful as far as 2-person indie gamedev teams go.

RektBoy 4y ago
From what?
- Slippery_John 4y ago
  Donations. They have a patreon and have had paypal donations long before that with the occasional donation drive to pump up numbers.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Yeah they used to have a PO Box you could mail checks/etc to. I still have it in my billpay. The only gaming value that has come even close for me has been Factorio.
    - Akronymus 4y ago
      Maybe aurora 4x could be to your liking.
- autophagian 4y ago
  Probably from their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bay12games https://www.patreon.com/bay12games
- TomK32 4y ago
  In my days we were sending them money via Paypal and if it was above a certain amout, then they'd kindly ask for your postal address, draw you a sketch (I have three, one of them with two dwarves in minecart jumping over a ravine, one of them has a beer in his hand) along with a button.
dmarchand90 4y ago
Yeah but they were not making that much the whole time. If you look back some years they were just scraping by.
- TomK32 4y ago
  Looking at the numbers and releases I must say: If they had streamlined their release process to put out releases more often then the revenue might have been more even and better.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    Hard to say, working faster/harder doesn't usually mean the quality will remain unchanged, and their user base probably care more about the quality of releases rather than how fast they put out releases.
    - TomK32 4y ago
      I'm not talking about working harder or faster, barely anyone could keep up with their attention and dedication to detail, I mean the release process that appears (from the outside in the eye of a webdev who merely does a git push and clicks a button some time later) to be rather crude shipping of the game. They didn't even use version control software 9 years back https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19381634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19381634
  - dmarchand90 4y ago
    Yes and no. Possibly. Personally, I think their dedication to work on it in an artistic 'passion project' style is what made the game what it is. I suspect if they had followed a more regular schedule they would have gotten a more ordinary, and forgettable, indie game.
  - AlwaysRock 4y ago
    Maybe. Factorio does a great job of putting out releases and sharing details about what they are working on and you would have thought they were evil incarnate after they recently said they had to raise their price by $5 to keep up with inflation. People are fickle and hindsight isnt always so clear.
genocidicbunny 4y ago
As far as indie devs, yes, but in the greater scheme of things that is still fairly pittance money. $180k pre-tax split two ways, and then eaten into heartily by health insurance (Tarn and his brother have mentioned that medical issues are what pushed them to do the Steam release) doesn't leave a whole lot. But that also means that as long as they don't significantly increase the cost of their lifestyle, that $7m pre-tax will go a very long way.
- yCombLinks 4y ago
  That's January sales. Sure, they'll fall off, but it's not suddenly zero additional money
- fragsworth 4y ago
  It sucks that their tax burden is going to be higher on account of making all this money in a single year, putting almost all of it in the highest brackets. Unless they did some clever accounting tricks throughout the 20 years to prepare for this situation, which I highly doubt they did. I don't know where he lives, but in California it could easily add up to close to 50% since he's "rich".
  - thegjp210 4y ago
    You're confusing income tax liabilities with corporate taxes
  - filoleg 4y ago
    As far as I know, they live in Washington state. Which should help with the tax on income at least a little bit, given the state has no income tax. Still, yeah, having the entire amount being dropped on them in a single year will probably have pretty major federal income tax consequences. Hopefully, they will figure it out, and the sales of Dwarf Fortress on steam won't dwindle. I find that it is a pretty good timing for the release, given that Rimworld (the spiritual competitor) has gone extremely mainstream, so people are definitely more open these days to that type of games.
    - 4y ago

by eps 4y ago

They were also making 14-15K per month before that (it's mentioned in the post), so they were already extraordinarily successful as far as 2-person indie gamedev teams go.

RektBoy 4y ago

From what?

Slippery_John 4y ago
Donations. They have a patreon and have had paypal donations long before that with the occasional donation drive to pump up numbers.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Yeah they used to have a PO Box you could mail checks/etc to. I still have it in my billpay. The only gaming value that has come even close for me has been Factorio.
  - Akronymus 4y ago
    Maybe aurora 4x could be to your liking.
autophagian 4y ago
Probably from their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bay12games https://www.patreon.com/bay12games
TomK32 4y ago
In my days we were sending them money via Paypal and if it was above a certain amout, then they'd kindly ask for your postal address, draw you a sketch (I have three, one of them with two dwarves in minecart jumping over a ravine, one of them has a beer in his hand) along with a button.

dmarchand90 4y ago

Yeah but they were not making that much the whole time. If you look back some years they were just scraping by.

TomK32 4y ago
Looking at the numbers and releases I must say: If they had streamlined their release process to put out releases more often then the revenue might have been more even and better.
- capableweb 4y ago
  Hard to say, working faster/harder doesn't usually mean the quality will remain unchanged, and their user base probably care more about the quality of releases rather than how fast they put out releases.
  - TomK32 4y ago
    I'm not talking about working harder or faster, barely anyone could keep up with their attention and dedication to detail, I mean the release process that appears (from the outside in the eye of a webdev who merely does a git push and clicks a button some time later) to be rather crude shipping of the game. They didn't even use version control software 9 years back https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19381634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19381634
- dmarchand90 4y ago
  Yes and no. Possibly. Personally, I think their dedication to work on it in an artistic 'passion project' style is what made the game what it is. I suspect if they had followed a more regular schedule they would have gotten a more ordinary, and forgettable, indie game.
- AlwaysRock 4y ago
  Maybe. Factorio does a great job of putting out releases and sharing details about what they are working on and you would have thought they were evil incarnate after they recently said they had to raise their price by $5 to keep up with inflation. People are fickle and hindsight isnt always so clear.

genocidicbunny 4y ago

As far as indie devs, yes, but in the greater scheme of things that is still fairly pittance money. $180k pre-tax split two ways, and then eaten into heartily by health insurance (Tarn and his brother have mentioned that medical issues are what pushed them to do the Steam release) doesn't leave a whole lot. But that also means that as long as they don't significantly increase the cost of their lifestyle, that $7m pre-tax will go a very long way.

yCombLinks 4y ago
That's January sales. Sure, they'll fall off, but it's not suddenly zero additional money
fragsworth 4y ago
It sucks that their tax burden is going to be higher on account of making all this money in a single year, putting almost all of it in the highest brackets. Unless they did some clever accounting tricks throughout the 20 years to prepare for this situation, which I highly doubt they did. I don't know where he lives, but in California it could easily add up to close to 50% since he's "rich".
- thegjp210 4y ago
  You're confusing income tax liabilities with corporate taxes
- filoleg 4y ago
  As far as I know, they live in Washington state. Which should help with the tax on income at least a little bit, given the state has no income tax. Still, yeah, having the entire amount being dropped on them in a single year will probably have pretty major federal income tax consequences. Hopefully, they will figure it out, and the sales of Dwarf Fortress on steam won't dwindle. I find that it is a pretty good timing for the release, given that Rimworld (the spiritual competitor) has gone extremely mainstream, so people are definitely more open these days to that type of games.
  - 4y ago