Learning to Sell

Game Update

Still working on getting Steam achievements working in the game. We are maybe a breath away from getting it working which is very exciting! After this is completed we will work on implementing a new system to say yes/no at the end of dialogue which will effect various things in the game like the reputation meter, the stats of troops in the squad making the decision etc…

Spent some time this week personally engaging a lot of friends, and family on the video game. I offered most of them a free key and to my surprise many of them said they wanted to pay for it to support me. It’s always nice to be validated that way. It’s also good to get some selling experience in with people I know before moving into a cold audience. Every sale is money in the company that didn’t exist before so that’s very important.

I spent some time engaging with a marking friend of mine to see what we could do on the shoestring budget that I’m working with. It’s good to make connections with people that can be a true ally for you. You want people that believe in what you’re doing.

I have some target numbers for sales and also for wish lists on Steam now that it’s there. I really want to focus hard to get all the levels done, along with the steam achievements early so that I can move on to polish and maybe one or two new mechanics.

It would be great to add something into the game like a system that let’s the player have a little more control in combat. Maybe give the player the option to run away. I also want to create a system to allow the player to recruit monster type troops into their army for use later. It would be easy to do invisible wandering monsters as well for this purpose. I keep going back and forth on how I want to do items, and I’m leaning toward making them all consumable with a benefit and drawback to all items. I really want people to think when they make item decisions.

It would also be great to have some sort of army wide system like the artifacts in the game Slay the Spire. Maybe if we made some sort of “banner” system for squads. I love old Warhammer and I feel like Standard Bearers, and musicians would be super cool although I would need to get some 3D models specifically for those. Even better would be the ability to have graphics that changed on the Standard Bearer depending on the banner in use. This might be the only swappable items allowed.

Of course all these features are not set in stone, just some things that I’ve been thinking about off and on for a while now. There are a bunch of other ideas I have as well. I hope that the community for the game picks up soon so that I can get a direction for what people want to see things go so I can focus in that direction.

I added a new Policies section to the website which is specifically in place to let the press know about how we will handle Steam Keys for press entities. It’s still a work in progress and so it might change in the future. I guess it’s better than nothing.

Personal Update

Dealing with some various household items lately. Lawn care, HOA fees, special programs, and end of year paperwork. I swear it never ends sometimes. The boys have been stepping up their help around the house when I ask without complaint so that’s been good overall. Sometimes I feel like they aren’t getting enough of my time.

I listened to a motivational speech by Steve Harvey on YouTube this week. I had no idea he was a Christian until I heard that. I also had no idea the trials he went through to get to where he is now in television. I found out that he had a stutter and other speech problems when he was younger, and was homeless living in his car at one point. I’ve been trying to surround myself with a lot more stories like this. The typical “overcoming adversity” story. I feel it’s more encouraging than listening to all the things that are wrong lately. I still indulge in some of that from time to time though.

In Steve’s motivational speech he said something interesting to me. He talked about having a vision board of 300 items. Something to look at every day to focus on. A reason to keep getting out of bed. So I took it to heart and started building my one vision board list on my phone. So far I have a little over 200 items. He wasn’t kidding when he said that when you get to about 75 items that it will get tough. At some point I found that I ran out of things that I selfishly want for myself. I started putting things on the list that were more about my family, girlfriend, and her family on there. I’m not sure what effect it will have, but I’m all for putting things into practice to see how well they work for me.

I think that the idea is that if I look back a year from now I will see how many of those things on the list actually came true. Part of it is just believing I can do something. It’s a way to start combating limiting beliefs that I have about myself. On the gaming front I said that I want to eventually create a local multi-player, and online multi-player game. I also said I wanted to employ 1000 people. I still honestly love paying people and taking care of them. If anything that’s why I want to be successful. I hope that never changes about me. A little more selfish gaming stuff I said I wanted a pinball machine and a Dance Dance Revolution.

I guess we will see how well this works in a year from now. It’s really tough coming up with 300 things. I’m hoping to have it completed soon.