Any Port in a Storm: Part 1

When we first started TinkerHouse Games, Lane and I had very strong idea of how it was all going to unfold. Then we quit our day jobs, packed our bags and headed out into the wild frontier of mobile gaming. That was when we first realized that we actually had no idea what would happen next. In an effort to help fellow and aspiring game designers muddle through the process of starting out, we offer the occasional true and spine-tingling tale... from the TinkerHouse...

Today's Lesson: How to work for yourself by working for others.

Our plan was simple. Launch Current, get accolades, get rich. Use the largesse from our first title to fund the next one. Oh, hell, the next three. And not sequentially the next three, but concurrently. We'd make them all at once. We'd offer rev share terms to our dev ronin at first, but pretty quickly we'd be able to pay for game development upfront.

So what happened? Well, for starters, it's become painfully obvious that the best laid plans—still—rarely work out the way you'd expect. But that's probably true for most new businesses just starting out, much less the ones exploring an industry that's really only come into its own in the last three years.

More importantly, we underestimated the dynamics of the app market and overestimated our ability to adapt to them. That's not to say we aren't infinitely more agile than the large companies we left or that we fail to perceive what's coming around the corner next. Far from it. We actually have a great handle on where things are headed. (Or at least that's been the case so far!)

The problem is that the window of opportunity moves very quickly and only stays open for an incredibly short period of time. Current was well-received critically and enjoyed enough downloads in its first week to land on both the New and Noteworthy and What's Hot lists. Despite that, we had about a week and a half of limelight before the next wave of hopefuls came in and Current lost its coveted pole position. The vast majority of our revenue came within the first seven days and let's just say it was somewhat below expectations. Suddenly, our master plan had sprung a serious leak.

And all of that transpired in about ten days. A super-nitro infused joyride with a Metallica soundtrack, yes. A thrill to be a part of, no doubt. But over all too soon.

So we stoically sucked it up and went about designing and commissioning three more games. All at once. Now that I look back at it, I can't believe we actually thought we would be able to design, execute, and bring to market three titles over the span of two and a half months. But we did.

It probably helped that we really needed the money.

Part 2 tomorrow...I gotta do some other stuff now. Stay tuned.