Working on Schooled with Rooster Teeth

I wanted to take this week's blog post to give thanks to and talk about my experience with the Rooster Teeth team and their production of their show "Schooled". Schooled is a show where Geoff Ramsay (of Rooster Teeth fame) trains a group of kids to beat the Achievement Hunter folks (also YouTube stars) at a video game. The game in this case, is Ultimate Chicken Horse. 

I worked with an amazing producer named Mike from INE Entertainment, and I was actually able to Skype in with the kids while they played. Working with him, with the kids, with Geoff, and with Millie (his daughter), was absolutely great and I really appreciated being there. The kids really seemed to enjoy having me there, and I think this is a great opportunity for them and for Rooster Teeth.

I'm not a great actor or particularly expressive on camera, and they helped me out to feel comfortable and relaxed. I really earned a ton of respect for video producers, content creators on YouTube, and the Rooster Teeth team not only for helping me and giving me that opportunity but also for trying a show that leads in a more family-friendly direction. Their usual stuff is, well, not family-friendly so it's a risk that they're taking and so far it seems to be working really well. 

So big thanks to them! This show is giving us exposure, especially to the younger audience which will be important once we come out on console.

New Feature Sneak Peek!

As you may or may not know, we've been working on a new feature for Ultimate Chicken Horse here at Clever Endeavour Games. This is a feature that people have been asking for for a while, and we think that it might help bring the community engagement to the next level.

As you can see in the gif above, we show a player placing several blocks at once. But what does this all mean??? Well, it means that we're working on a free play mode where you can build as much as you'd like, play around, attach stuff, blow stuff up, and generally make the wacky creations you've always dreamed of making. 

In free play, one or more players can move between running and placing at their own pace, without game rules or scores or restrictions. We've already seen people make some crazy stuff (like the pic below, from Kenshi9000) even though the tools were really not there for it... we're hoping that these new tools will bring the game to a point where it encourages this creativity and allows friends to enjoy the full ultimateness of the creation side of Ultimate Chicken Horse. 

The Importance of Cash Flow & Projections in Games

You don't have to be an accountant to look at your cash flow. In fact, you don't even need to have an accountant to look at your cash flow. The business / financing / accounting side of things is an aspect that many indie game development studios struggle with. This isn't surprising, as usually these teams don't have a person dedicated to this kind of stuff. 

But I wanted to discuss cash flow today in conjunction with projections. I'm not a magician, and I can't tell you how much your game, our game, or any game will sell. What I can say, however, especially now that our game has launched, is about how many months we can survive if a) sales stopped today, if b) sales go worse than expected, or if c) sales go well. This is important! This is very important.

Someone on your team, even if you don't have a "business guy", is going to have to know when to start approaching publishers for funding your next game, when to look for investors or government funds, or when to stop working on a feature of a game that "just hasn't taken off yet but it will soon... soon!". Without a crystal ball, you should still know how much money you're spending per month, how much you'll need to be spending in 6 months, and how much revenue you're going to be earning to offset that cost.

If you're working on a passion project, a hobby project, etc. and not expecting to make a business out of it, that's one thing. But, if you're looking to build a sustainable business with revenue and employees, you're going to need to be able to make tough decisions, project-altering decisions even, based on financial constrains (or, let's hope, newfound financial liberties $$$). 

Beyond the balance sheet and the profit / loss report, you should really have a cash flow document. We've only done a proper one recently, and we're a bit late, but it helps us clarify how much time we have to work on features and prepare for the future. Even if it's not 100% set in stone... projections are often way off, but that's okay! It's better to have it and be way off than not to have it at all, because the internet exists and you can now alter documents without having to put them on punch-cards.