2024 review
I’m currently working full time as an independent video game developer. This is the second time I’ve tried to do such a thing, but this is the first time that I’ve done so for the entirety of the calendar year. I thought it would be nice to take a look back at how I’ve grown over the last year, both financially and in my ability to reach others online with my work.
finances
Like last time, I am not making enough money to sustain myself and I am currently only able to do what I’m doing due to my savings. Here’s how the money shakes out for 2024: 1
| item | net revenue | expenses | income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender Dysphoria | $711 | - | $711 |
| Gender Dysphoria tapes | $38 | -$269 | -$231 |
| Ultraprocessor Ribbon | $40 | - | $40 |
| voluntary commitment | $241 | - | $241 |
| no signal | - | -$2,000 | -$2,000 |
| Twitch | $1,000 | -$130 | $870 |
| Indiepocalypse | $16 | - | $16 |
| Patreon | $423 | - | $423 |
| Ko-fi | $387 | - | $387 |
| Pluralsight | $10 | - | $10 |
| Bandcamp | $32 | - | $32 |
| Vimeo | - | -$240 | -$240 |
| 2D Con | - | -$578 | -$578 |
| San Japan | - | -$144 | -$144 |
| Internet | - | -$433 | -$433 |
| total | $2,898 | -$3,794 | -$976 |
I’m closer to being in the black than I expected though I am certainly still losing quite a bit of money in this endeavor. Since I am unable to support myself on this income and I have a need and desire to move to an area of higher living costs, I will have to find employment next year. This was expected when I started working independently again, but still disappointing.
Most of my money was spent in production costs for no signal, but aside from that I spent quite a lot of money on two marketing experiments: producing the tapes and going to conventions. These experiments were quite costly, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot from them. I don’t think I’ll engage in them in the same way, but I have some ideas in mind for how to do them more effectively.
reach
This year, I streamed much more often on Twitch thanks to being able to do game development full-time:
| Stat | 2023 | 2024 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time Streamed | 466h 8m | 859h 5m | +84.3% |
| Average Viewers | 12 | 20 | +66.7% |
| Unique Chatters | 482 | 873 | +81.1% |
| New Followers | 462 | 741 | +60.4% |
| Subscriptions | 134 | 330 | +146.3% |
Twitch provides enough income to cover the cost of internet and hardware, but more importantly I am happy to see that I’m able to share my work and games with so many. I’m also thankful for the many new friends I’ve made on the platform and I’m looking forward to next year being even better.
Streaming does seem to work well for me, as an avenue for marketing. In fact, I was able to do a guest appearance on the official Godot Twitch channel which is something I did not expect at all. While I don’t have any concrete proof, I also don’t think no signal would have gotten as many wishlists as it did (1,440 as of this writing) without my efforts as a streamer.
However, while streaming is a cost-effective way for me to reach people, it cannot be my only strategy since not everyone watches live streams. I like conventions, but it appears that non-local conventions cost me much more to attend than they benefit me. Hopefully, next year, I can find satisfying and low-cost ways that align with my principles to reach more people.
reflection
All things considered, I am satisfied with how things have turned out this year.
On the financial aspect, it is a bit embarrassing to share how poorly it is going despite the fact that I expected this outcome. In fact, I don’t think of myself as being good enough at my craft to be able to support myself… yet. However, I’m often asked what my finances look like as an independent so I hope my transparency is of use to someone who also aspires to follow this path.
A surprise is how well Gender Dysphoria continues to perform. Despite it being a very small project first published in 2020 that I didn’t expect people to find, it still continues to find a healthy number of players. 2 It sells pretty well on Steam considering the complete lack of marketing I do for it. On itch.io, I don’t make any money at all — aside from a single $1 payment this year which I appreciate, but is nonetheless much too little to bother withdrawing due to transaction and platform fees. However, I still receive comments on itch; this year, 13 users took the time to leave a comment. I am always happy and excited when this happens and I respond to all of them.
The biggest disappointment this year was the delay of no signal. I wanted to release it in the summer, but I ended up increasing the scope of the game while searching for a way to make the game more fun. There’s a lot I have to say about this, but I’ll write a retrospective about this when the game comes out. I think I will be able to release the game next year and I’m looking forward to that.
For those who enjoy my work — whether you are a friend, a financial supporter, or a fan — thank you so much for a wonderful year. I’m looking forward to what next year has in store.
Footnotes
-
Each line item has been rounded to the nearest dollar. Net revenue represents the amount of money I received in my bank account. Expenses only include my own expenses like sales tax, the cost of internet, and contracting expenses; it does not include things like platform cuts and transaction fees. ↩
-
Unfortunately, itch analytics don’t give me access to how many plays have happened during a specific time span. Since it’s been uploaded, the game has been played in the browser 20,037 times and downloaded 3,483 times. Steam has the same issue, but since release 473 unique users have launched the game on Steam. ↩
