I always said: even if we end up with only 10% the customers, they're *ours*. We can serve them better than Hasbro is serving 5E's customers. Which is how we grow that 10%.
Assuming the game is worth a shit, obviously.
Mm. Yeah maybe. But I think I question the use of "your audience."
Are they your audience, if they're not showing up for your stuff?
I should add: I do not therefore think 3rd party 5E development is inherently *bad*, or a bad idea, or a bad business decision, it's just very risky.
As long as you know the risks, you have a strategy, you'll be fine.
We are better able to serve our community than Hasbro is. And we don't want to build value in someone else's brand.
So we had to make our own games.
...they can't talk about the stuff they're interested in, they *must* talk about D&D because their non-D&D videos do worse.
There are lots of conclusions you can draw from that, but *I* conclude "then those people weren't your community. They were Hasbro's and you were supporting them."
So for instance, Stronghold & Followers, big hit for us, very happy customers.
But they're not MCDM's customers. They're Hasbro's customers. S&F made Hasbro's product better. It made their customers happier.
You see it with YouTubers. Lots of D&DTubers feel like....
Those customers...are not yours. They are Hasbro's customers. The OGL gives you the opportunity to make some money building out Hasbro's brand, but no matter how good your product? It's still Hasbro's brand.
Yeah but you're not gonna like it. :D
Speaking only for myself, I view being a 3rd party 5E developer as spending your time and money supporting someone else's product and brand. Someone who is, at best, not supporting you.
That is enormously risky. You have no power in that relationship.
I think if I were asked to give advice on what's the most important component to a game's success? Like, what can literally you do, to make your game better?
"Polish."
Polish includes testing. So when I say "Polish" I mean, among other things, "LOTS of testing."
But I also mean....
Just: how many people used the word I used on round X of that one puzzle.
"Man what do the Poles have to do with these sandworms?!"
Now you know how I felt reading DUNE for years and seeing the phrase "polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert."
So, all I can say is; if what matters to you is anything like what matters to me?
"Polish."
It's part and parcel with the general problem of talking about TTRPGs online. There's a whole constellation of products in this category, made by an astonishing variety of creators.
They do not all have same the same goals, they do not all measure success the same way.
I have no problem buying stuff I don't use, just to support a creator. Shit I spend stupid amount of money whenever I go to a game store on stuff just because I want to support the local store.
But if I were a store owner? I want real customers. Not vibes-based sales.
So, yes, people can be and are successful in the gaming space with products that make money, make happy customers, but do not rely on people actually playing and liking the game.
It's just not me. I've spent lots of money on YouTubers I know, I've bought books, shirts, all kinds of stuff.
I think there are whole games, whole game lines, that are successful even though very few people bother trying to play it.
They buy it, read it, and like what they read. They'd buy more!
We all have a TON of games in our Steam Library! Have we played them all? The fuck we have!
Enough people bought the game so that we can afford to keep doing it.
The people who bought the game, played it.
The people who played the game, liked it.
But even this answer, the best I could come up with after thinking about this for decades...requires context.
I requires understanding of what I consider "success."
To me, success means...
...iteration. I mean having the time to try things, go down dead ends, learn why things failed, iterate. Lots of iteration.
This also means: scoping the product in such a way as to *allow* for lots of iteration, testing, polish.
I think if I were asked to give advice on what's the most important component to a game's success? Like, what can literally you do, to make your game better?
"Polish."
Polish includes testing. So when I say "Polish" I mean, among other things, "LOTS of testing."
But I also mean....
Gmail corrected my "Space Heroes" typo into "Space Herpes."
I just want to make sure everyone knows Mayo Clinic has a therapy miniature horse named Blue Sky
lol
What I take away from this is: for reasons humans will never understand, Kangaroos are 100% ready to defend the planet against invasion.
I do not believe kangaroos would fight God.
I think they would see him and say, "Oh hey Lemmy."
The process still works with a 5.1 setup, but it definitely sounds better in 7.1.
They also want you to buy downward firing speakers for your ceiling? But I don't have those, and I still get the experience of audio passing over my head quite clearly.
But yes, you also need a Dolby Atmos receiver, and you need at least a 5.1 setup. I started listening to Dolby Atmos by accident, it was just one of the options on the Blu-ray. I thought you needed at least seven speakers.
Even the difference between 5.1 and Dolby Atmos on 5 speakers? Major.
Those roos only backed off once they saw it was a human!
"Oh sorry bro, but in the air you liked one of the Sailbeasts of Delta Pavonis VI!"
