Monthly Insights - June 2024
Its the last day of June. That means its time for my first insights post! This is going to become a paid feature on here but I wanted to release the first one now and keep it public as a preview. I'm still working on the pricing tiers but we are getting closer to this being a full blown project.
Its the last day of June. That means its time for my first insights post! This is going to become a paid feature on here but I wanted to release the first one now and keep it public as a preview. I'm still working on the pricing tiers and we are getting closer to this being a full blown project.
I started this blog on the 15th of June. I started prototyping ideas in my notebook on my trip to Montreal earlier this month. Blogs have always been something I wanted to do but felt I missed it. The internet goes through a lot of fads and phases as time passes. Web2.0 largely pushed blogs and indie web sites into the dredges of the internet. Major platforms took the majority of the thought space making it practically impossible to build something like this without a existing audience to pull from. However, I have spent years getting closer to the point where I feel that stepping into the unknown might actually be the right way forward.
We have pulled over 350 members since launch. I started with 170 from my Patreon after notifying folks that I was building this project. I could have simply used Patreon like a blogging platform but I have felt for awhile that dedicating a ton of time to a platform that is funded by venture haptical to be unwise, even if its the top of its category. The internet is at a point where every platform is just one major investment or merger away from being utterly obliterated and made unusable. While I don't think that will happen any time soon, I am concerned that it could happen in the future. Their profits are a split of creator revenue not a flat fee. This means that they are directly funded by more creators joining the platform. As time passes it has become more obvious that they are having some trouble gaining new creators. Because instead of trying to directly improve the plat form with interesting ideas they are simply adding expensive redundant features that are already done better in other places. Simply put.. they added video hosting and merchandise. Two things I already have YouTube and Fourth Wall for. They keep asking me to change my plan from my original fair split to a significantly worse split for the privilege of using features I don't want. This feels bad and I don't like it and makes me expect them to force it on me eventually.
When I turn on payments for this news letter I get the full cut. Ghost my hosting provider does not take a cut of any revenue I will earn here in the future. However they do charge hosting fees. Currently this site is costing me 25$ USD per month. While not cheap its much less than the 40$ Patreon currently changes me for a less useful platform.
All stats are down for June. Revenue is also down. However this is not a sign of doom and gloom. Yes, stats are bad in June but this happens annually. June is consistently the least busy month of the year for me traffic wise. This is why I tend to take a vacation in June. As I did with my trip to Montreal. Its also a time of year where I rebuild and make changes to my work flow and set-up. I often also try to make slightly less content and focus on behind the scenes. This often leads to some somber vibes on my streams as there is always some rather obvious stress around the instability of this industry. This is something I'm trying to improve so I can put a positive spin on the rebuilding month of June. Its hard on me mentally but people always come back by mid-late July.
YouTube traffic is also down however its doing better than this time last year. Money is way better than I expected as well. June 2023 I made less then 600$ Cad and right now we are sitting at $946. This is largely due to folks watching the live streams and throwing money at their screens as super chats and for that! I'm extremely grateful.
Something else that is interesting is a short did really well this month. Its the only thing I uploaded that brought a significant influx of new audience members. You can see the blue line above jump up as it started taking off. This is something I've been bashing my head on for awhile. How do you attract new members and subscribers to a community so focused on one game. While I'm stable right now long term success is governed by your ability to add new viewers onto those who lose interest and vanish for awhile, or forever.
Typical short fashion. After a week of it being up the views flat lined I don't expect it to do more but it was a good chance for me to learn a little bit about how shorts work. Maybe I'll write about that some day when I can grasp it a bit better.
The most successful upload was my "I deleted windows" video. Where I delete windows (duh) and install Linux Mint. I'm in the early stages of making a follow up. Here is hoping that will be up sooner rather than later.
Things I need to cover.
In last weeks weekly post I had a segment where I talk about games I want to cover that week. Here I'm doing the same sort of thing but more forward looking. These are some games on my wish list I want to buy and have a look at. As well as some upcoming titles yet to release that I am keen on. Not sure what this part of these posts will look like long term. Consider this a prototype.
Exanima is a strange dungeon crawler that has been in early access on steam since 2015. While that is a bloody long time it keeps slowly getting more interesting as I read the patches. I might have to pick this up soon and play it if there is interest.
Ostriv is a city builder made by a solo dev from Ukraine. I've wanted to look into this game for ages and have not had the chance. The itch really came back for me to try it after Manner Lords released as there are some similarities between the two. Since its 10% off I might have to get it..
Enter the Chronosphere is probably my most anticipated game right now. Even though it has no release date I have played a few demos as well as the original prototype. Thankfully that prototype is still up and playable. It was made for the 7DRL rogue-like game jam and was easily my favorite that year.
I love Brigador.. Everything about it, the vibe, the music, the aesthetic and the gameplay. Brigador Killers is a long awaited squeal. It does have a prototype for sale on itch but I've been holding off on it cause I am waiting for it to be in a presentable spot to properly showcase.
The next game I'm curious about is Cyclopean. This also came from a game jam prototype. Developed by Schmidt Workshops who is rather prolific. The last title I played by this developer was Islands of the Caliph. I played the first 3rd of the game on stream and finished it on my own time. Fantastic and unique old school dungeon crawler and I still want more of it.
Going forward these monthly insights posts will be made public on the last day of every month. They will include these detailed stats and behind the scenes things and a list of games I'm keeping an eye on.
I really hope you like this post! If you have feedback let me know below.