6 ms·

Show HN: Our startup Construct 2, how far we've come and lessons learnt so far

12 points by TomGullen 15y ago

We did a "Show HN post" 6 months back of our startup and we're very excited to show everyone how far we've come as well as the lessons we've learnt so far! It's been a roller-coaster so far and we think there's lot more of the same to come! We did apply for Ycombinator funding but got turned down :( But may re-apply soon :) For those that don't know, our startup is called Scirra and we make Construct 2 which is an HTML5 game engine (http://www.scirra.com). Our engine allows anyone to make HTML5 games without knowing any programming. It's only me and my brother working on this and we're based in London. This is our first startup, since we last posted we've: - Fully documented the engine http://www.scirra.com/manual/1/construct-2 - Added a fully documented Javascript SDK to help attract programmers to use our engine http://www.scirra.com/manual/15/sdk - Added particle effects: http://www.scirra.com/labs/particles2/ - Added Box2D physics: http://www.scirra.com/arcade/addicting-example-games/36/html5-physics-rolling-platformer - Added Gamepad support - Export options for Appmobi and Phonegap - Added webfont support - Added publish to Chrome store - Launched a 'Youtube style' HTML5 arcade (complete with game stats which is quite a popular feature!) Project Blaze Zero is the most popular game on there so far: http://www.scirra.com/arcade/addicting-shooter-games/349/project-blaze-zero - Received angel investment - Grown to serving 100k uniques/200k visits/1.1m page views a month compares to 25k uniques/50k visits/340k page views in July (and still increasing fast) - Served nearly 100k downloads of Construct 2 - Got our first print review in .NET magazine (current issue, check it out! Page 26) Lessons we've learnt so far are: - Documentation is predictably boring to write, but incredibly important (like super important) - Working from home can suck, normal sleep patterns are difficult to maintain - It's hard to get on TechCrunch and probably not worth the bother - Blogging is important, and most startups/companies do it wrong. Writing about things people want to read is important (but a lot of startups just seem to use it as a news feed) - Blogging can lead to unexpected and valuable connections - Good web design/development is iterative. You can't nail it on the head in one go (we've gone through about 3 designs, 1: http://web.archive.org/web/20110703070339/http://www.scirra.com/ 2:http://web.archive.org/web/20110716015112/http://www.scirra.com/ and 3:http://www.scirra.com) - Customers love it when you email them back in under 10 minutes - Engaging with people who comment about things you write/your product on social networks is important - It's hard to get Twitter followers (we're still figuring out how to run our Twitter really) - Akismet is amazing - If people dispute you on Paypal you should resign yourself to the fact you can't win - Engaging small audiences most people avoid can be valuable: http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=2148782 - Working out custom advertising deals with small websites is the best way to go - Having a supportive community is an amazing motivator - Accounting isn't fun and we'd rather just pay someone else to do it for us - It's super fun and totally worth it :) (generally!) We've got so much planned as well, but just hardly enough time to do it all!

windsurfer 15y ago
What made you decide to make an offline tool? Do you find it's easier for people to use and collaborate with? Do your customers use source control? Do people actually purchase your "business"-class license? Have people made over $5000 USD in revenue using your tool?
- TomGullen 15y ago
  Hi! Thanks for the questions. Ashley decided to go for a Windows offline tool as this is his second engine. The first was Construct Classic (open source). When embarking on Construct 2 he felt it was better to stick with the skills he knew best. Also we weren't sure a year or so ago if the web could handle a complex app like a game engine. Construct 2 has hundreds of thousands of lines of code in it and there aren't many web apps of that complexity in the wild and we couldn't find any at that time that offered the responsiveness we enjoy in a Windows native app. People do purchase business licenses yes, it's required for registered businesses and individuals who make over $5k USD. I don't know if many users have made over $5k, (but some individuals have purchased our business license). I suspect not as it's still quite early for HTML5 and we haven't yet added as much monetisation opportunities as we plan to.
  - windsurfer 15y ago
    Interesting, thanks for the response!
petercooper 15y ago
Congratulations! Y Combinator missed out on a good thing here but you are strongly positioned for another run at it, I'd say. With the recent Game Closure funding, HTML5 gaming is proving to be an incredibly hot space. It's only me and my brother working on this and we're based in London. As you may (or may not!) know, I run HTML5 Weekly and a few other newsletters and have mentioned Scirra's work from time to time. And.. I obviously didn't do my research till the other day when I discovered how (with respect) "small" you are. Your company's image and all of the projects you do make you guys look about 10x bigger than you are - so well done on that. It's hard to get Twitter followers (we're still figuring out how to run our Twitter really) You have to make hard, long term decisions when it comes to Twitter. From what I see, you're mostly focused on responding to people (good), mentioning your own blog posts and releases, and then retweeting occasional HTML5 gamdev related stuff. What you're missing is the "secret sauce" it takes to become a thought leader (hate the term or not, it means something ;-)). Retweets are, sadly, a bad way to build an audience, whereas tweets of your own work well. The trick, then, is to rig up something like Buffer and load it up every few days with tweets relating to ideas and technologies you want to push (Guy Kawasaki is a total master at this, BTW.) Become known as THE account to follow in the HTML5 game development space, perhaps. Accounting isn't fun and we'd rather just pay someone else to do it for us Right, but you really have to be careful here, especially being in the UK and primarily, I'm assuming, selling to the US. It introduces a number of complexities, especially when you get into VAT, and you either need a super clued up accountant or to keep your own careful eye on what's happening. Perhaps in 20 years most accountants and tax men will know the Internet well ;-) If people dispute you on Paypal you should resign yourself to the fact you can't win Unless you're sending out physical product, having a no quibble refund policy/guarantee will make you a lot more $ than it loses you. In my experience, at least. Got our first print review in .NET magazine Did you actively pursue that or did they find you?

12 points by TomGullen 15y ago

windsurfer 15y ago

What made you decide to make an offline tool? Do you find it's easier for people to use and collaborate with? Do your customers use source control? Do people actually purchase your "business"-class license? Have people made over $5000 USD in revenue using your tool?

TomGullen 15y ago
Hi! Thanks for the questions. Ashley decided to go for a Windows offline tool as this is his second engine. The first was Construct Classic (open source). When embarking on Construct 2 he felt it was better to stick with the skills he knew best. Also we weren't sure a year or so ago if the web could handle a complex app like a game engine. Construct 2 has hundreds of thousands of lines of code in it and there aren't many web apps of that complexity in the wild and we couldn't find any at that time that offered the responsiveness we enjoy in a Windows native app. People do purchase business licenses yes, it's required for registered businesses and individuals who make over $5k USD. I don't know if many users have made over $5k, (but some individuals have purchased our business license). I suspect not as it's still quite early for HTML5 and we haven't yet added as much monetisation opportunities as we plan to.
- windsurfer 15y ago
  Interesting, thanks for the response!

petercooper 15y ago

Congratulations! Y Combinator missed out on a good thing here but you are strongly positioned for another run at it, I'd say. With the recent Game Closure funding, HTML5 gaming is proving to be an incredibly hot space. It's only me and my brother working on this and we're based in London. As you may (or may not!) know, I run HTML5 Weekly and a few other newsletters and have mentioned Scirra's work from time to time. And.. I obviously didn't do my research till the other day when I discovered how (with respect) "small" you are. Your company's image and all of the projects you do make you guys look about 10x bigger than you are - so well done on that. It's hard to get Twitter followers (we're still figuring out how to run our Twitter really) You have to make hard, long term decisions when it comes to Twitter. From what I see, you're mostly focused on responding to people (good), mentioning your own blog posts and releases, and then retweeting occasional HTML5 gamdev related stuff. What you're missing is the "secret sauce" it takes to become a thought leader (hate the term or not, it means something ;-)). Retweets are, sadly, a bad way to build an audience, whereas tweets of your own work well. The trick, then, is to rig up something like Buffer and load it up every few days with tweets relating to ideas and technologies you want to push (Guy Kawasaki is a total master at this, BTW.) Become known as THE account to follow in the HTML5 game development space, perhaps. Accounting isn't fun and we'd rather just pay someone else to do it for us Right, but you really have to be careful here, especially being in the UK and primarily, I'm assuming, selling to the US. It introduces a number of complexities, especially when you get into VAT, and you either need a super clued up accountant or to keep your own careful eye on what's happening. Perhaps in 20 years most accountants and tax men will know the Internet well ;-) If people dispute you on Paypal you should resign yourself to the fact you can't win Unless you're sending out physical product, having a no quibble refund policy/guarantee will make you a lot more $ than it loses you. In my experience, at least. Got our first print review in .NET magazine Did you actively pursue that or did they find you?