Ask HN: Advice on boostrapping my RPG Playground project?

So I'm quitting my full-time job as a programmer, to try and get RPG Playground (http://rpgplayground.com) profitable.

I saved up some cash to survive for about a year, so basically that is my runway to become "ramen profitable".

Since there are a lot of entrepreneurs on Hacker News, I hope to get some advice or tips on how to pull this off, or things to stay clear of. I'm happy to share any info or numbers of the status of the project.

8 comments

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dozzie 9y ago ↗

First, you may want to be much more specific about what is this about. You see, there are so many different things under the "RPG" umbrella, some of them requiring computer to play, and some requiring a dungeon master and fellow players, but no computer involved.

koonsolo 9y ago ↗

It's an online game editor to make RPG video games. http://rpgplayground.com already has an early version of the product.

brudgers 9y ago ↗

Ok. What is your plan for becoming profitable?

koonsolo 9y ago ↗

Current plan is to get to enough features and go to Steam Greenlight, and start selling with early access. It will be the standalone version for Windows and Mac that is sold.

After that I will release a premium version of the Flash release and get revenue from that.

brudgers 9y ago ↗

How many features are required and of what complexity?

Why not go with the product as is?

What is the projected revenue from Steam Greenlight?

What are alternative channels for delivery if Steam changes its policies or deprecates the service?

debacle 9y ago ↗

The most important advice you need to hear: your Flash tool is never going to get the adoption it might deserve because it's in Flash. Your potential user base is shrinking, not growing, and it is only going to shrink faster.

https://chrome.googleblog.com/2016/08/flash-and-chrome.html

koonsolo 9y ago ↗

Not a real problem for now. I can compile my AS3 code to Windows & Mac, and have the option to go mobile thanks to Adobe AIR. If the shit really hits the fan and Flash is completely blocked, I will convert my code to OpenFL (Haxe), which will not be that much of an effort. Then a whole new range of platforms become available, including HTML5.

So I keep my options open.

debacle 9y ago ↗

Then get yourself a Patreon, and good luck!