The Serious Art of Designing Fun

This morning, I had an epiphany.

Spending 8 days trying to condense a wide swath of research material and execution plans into a 4-page business plan tends to do that.. or at least, I think it was 8 days.

The point is that I finally have what I feel is a good first pass summary regarding the company goals and objectives. Of course, that just leaves me with the task of writing the sections which expand on the items I had worked so tirelessly to summarize.

You could almost call it the 'circle of life'.

Oh... and the epiphany? Blogging is a fantastic way of getting rid of pent up negative energy.

Thanks for reading.

Day 3 and counting.

I never thought setting up a business plan would be so much work! To make matters worse, I find my attention constantly wandering back to my game design and implementation details.

I guess I'm more of a game builder than a business man.

However, I have to say that putting together a business plan is probably the best decision I've made. Putting a plan down on paper really helped sharpen my vision. As a result, there's strong cohesion between my short term goals and my long term ones. In addition, I'm currently re-evaluating my project timeline and budget.

Time to head back to my business planning session...

A very important part of a business proposal is the proposal budget. No financial investor is going to touch a business proposal that doesn't have one. I've resorted to keeping track of my business finances (of what little there is) in order to lend gravitas to my budget.

In keeping up with my small budget approach, I've decided to go with the free accounting software, GnuCash. It's perfectly suited for tracking an indie development. It lets me keep track of my assets, liabilities, and expenses using plain English. It also lets me enter amounts using different currencies (a real big plus given that I'm Canadian and most software sold online are in US dollars). It even has the option to retrieve the currency exchange rate from the web on a daily basis.

Most importantly, GnuCash helps me quickly plan out a several budget scenario within the program. It tracks my cash flow and let me compare it to the budget scenarios.

Oh, did I happen to mention that it's free?

If you're planning to ask how it stacks up to commercial accounting software like Quicken, I have never used any other accounting software so I have no clue... nor does it matter. It lets me get the job done and get it done fast.

If you intend to use the software, I highly recommend that you go through its Tutorial. Not only does it teach you how to use the software, it also teaches you how to practice proper accounting. My head's just bursting at the seams with information about tracking loans, mortgages, and taxes. A definite plus.

For all the wannabe Canadian entrepreneurs out there, there's a great article on managing the finances of a small company using GnuCash by Aerospace Software. Look for the 'GNU Cash for Business Users' series found at this link. It's a real eye opener - or it was for me.

There's a great article on how to pay yourself if you're the only shareholder at the site. Click here to read it.

Finally, if you're looking to put together a proposal budget, I found the R.I.T. (Rochester Institute of Technology) website to be an excellent tutorial on drafting out the budget. You can find the tutorial at this link.

Recently, I checked in with fellow indie developer Owen Goss - a stalwart supporter in my efforts to go indie. His company, Streaming Colour Studios, is on the verge of releasing its first title, Dapple. So far, the product looks to be on track towards its projected release date.

What's especially exciting is that the latest news update contains actual gameplay video footage! The video briefly demonstrates the game mechanics and the various game modes. Follow this link to see the video.

Personally, I can't wait to see the end product.

Good stuff, Owen!

The past few days have been distracting as I've diverted my focus away from my project in order to focus on updating my resumé. My next big step is to draft out a business plan in order to secure more financing.

It doesn't hurt to start figuring out the long term financial plan even though the short term development is financially secure - it helps me sleep better at night. In fact, the low development cost is both a blessing and a curse. Because the financing cost is low and the return on investment (ROI) are equally low, I can't approach venture capitalists. Instead, I'm going to have to go with the government, friends-and-family and/or angel investors as my primary financial source.

At the same time, I'm planning to take the initial prototype to the next level - by adding multiplayer support.

The combination is going to make for an interesting week.

Before I sign off, here are some noteworthy links regarding financing:

• Boston business journal article
  Discusses general financing tips for first time entrepreneurs (fairly old but I'm guessing, just as relevant)
• GameOn Finance
  A Canadian website dedicated to the task of finding finances for game development
• Infusion angels
  An angel investment company
• captureplanning.com
  Covers the delicate art of drafting business proposals.
• "Writing a successful proposal"
  A step-by-step tutorial on writing a business proposal by the Rochester Institute of Technology.