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- Feed Preview YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store : gamedev
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Following up on this. I'm not alone in this idea scan to minute 51: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/axe-of-the-blood-god-episode-2-chatting-with-richard-garriott-and-shadowrun-chronicles-jan-wagn...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
This post goes into detail about the who situation. http://amirrajan.net/a-dark-room/#grrr The tl;dr; is it isn't worth going after. Just have to continue to build exceptional experiences to c...
/u/SpeciousPresent on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Love your game! I first played it on the browser and never knew it came out on iOS until I saw this! Quick question though: I'm sure you're aware of ADR's clone "A Dark Room - Free" by Duy Khan...
/u/v4pelife on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Annnnd now it's in top paid apps again.
/u/DayneK on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Averages to ~21hrs/wk for 64 weeks straight. Just over $100 an hour with those hours. Impressive.
/u/DayneK on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Wow, 25% VAT! The equivalent tax here in Australia is 10%.
/u/DayneK on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
This comment needs a reddit gold.
/u/mconeone on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I think you should also take into account the success you had with ADR. The next game you make will automatically have a larger playerbase. Toucharcade et al will be more interested in it, and re...
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Seattle - 10% :(
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I'll follow up with my CPA thanks.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Someone needs to learn how taxes work. Even someone single and with no dependents and no other tax breaks should only effectively pay 26% of $275k (about $71k) in federal income tax. Maybe if sta...
/u/Loomismeister on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Wow, you made like 140k from this one app splitting the profits in half. That's pretty amazing.
/u/Shteevie on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
They are, if you are wealthy enough to live off the proceeds of your stock investments, or if you are a national consumer or oil company.
/u/Shteevie on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
That's a gross salary of $184k / year. Your employer will be paying more than that for you with payroll taxes, health insurance, and 401k. It's ridiculous money, especially for 7 years of exper...
/u/adriaandejongh on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Thank you for your interesting article, and being so vulnerable on the internet! Some comments: I occasionally talk to Apple's developer relations people, who in turn talk to the editorial te...
/u/rishav_sharan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
On the same hand people earning US's median income in India, still wouldn't have to pay the draconian taxes. Dont get me wrong. I am not bashing US here. I am just very surprised as I had assum...
/u/wapz on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Wow, you had an amazing job and not one most of us can expect out of college. The offers I had were under 60k per year in the sf bay area (which is around 25 per hour gross). I'm surprised you ...
/u/crosswalknorway on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Really fascinating stuff! Thanks for being so candid about things on your blog! It was really interesting to follow the app's (and your) journey from obscurity to the top spot! Also, let me jus...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I think 3k annual for an app is realistic. Crank out some fun games part time and it can add up.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Will do
/u/foobraco on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Yeah, with that kind of money here in Guatemala, you could not work again at least for a couple of decades if you don't buy something like a house or a very expensive car.
/u/SteelReserve40s on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
US Sales taxes are between 6-8% in most states.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Swedish VAT is 25%. The income tax and VAT also covers full benefits, regardless of who you are, as well as everything else that the average American gets 'added' to their costs. The Big Mac In...
/u/SteelReserve40s on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Sweden gets more of its tax revenues through a comparably higher VAT, which is 3-4X what the average American pays. And the 30% is the marginal bracket for a high income earner ($100kish+) -- the...
/u/Javin007 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
As someone currently making 6 figures in software development, but who wants nothing more than to quit my job and write a game, you have now confirmed one of my greatest fears. :(
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
All of that was funded long before an income tax existed.
/u/jubelio on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
A decent hourly rate? Hourly (40 hrs, 48 weeks) doing ADR "full time" 59 Net hourly rate when I actually was working full time 51 TIL $51 an hour, or $59 an hour for 48 weeks, is decent. Time...
/u/i8pikachu on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
OP should be investing that money into equipment and other things he can write-off instead of handing it to the government.
/u/geekteam6 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Yeah a million non-monetized downloads for an app without IAP is a big missed opportunity -- unless OP at least added ad banners or something?
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I want to personally thank you for this detailed post as well as your development log. (I'm reading them through them all now, they are great.) This is a great source of insight into your develop...
/u/Serapth on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Depends really on the demographic of your game. Game Developers aren't really a typical ( and therefore well represented ) example audience.
/u/quarrel on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
http://taxfoundation.org/article/2014-tax-brackets
/u/Dooflegna on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Any interest in still porting to Android? Send me a PM. Can also help with Windows phone.
/u/Heroic_Stevorino on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Depends on how he is structured on the health insurance piece... The truth is that there can definitely be some savvy things video game devs can do... But they dont always apply to every circum...
/u/iAMthePRONY on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
where do you live?
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
You made more than you think. Look into marginal tax rates. Only your income above 250k is taxed at 33%
/u/indiecore on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
How does your country fund public works/government services if there are no taxes?
/u/pooh9911 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Probably yes.
/u/gunnar_osk on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Isn't Feedback Friday a good place for such things? :)
/u/rishav_sharan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Seriously. I expected the taxes to be lower in a capitalist country. I am an Indian and India is semi-socialist, but even I pay lower taxes than that.
/u/Kinglink on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Shit, I was really impressed at the numbers.. .and then you ended up 3k ahead.... That's awful. on 500k, you somehow cleared only 3k more than if you did a 9-5. Though I'd argue most people out t...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
The 51 an hour is net, not gross. And medical insurance was provided to me at no cost.
/u/chum_guzzler on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I would have to say that if he got a million downloads, then he completely wasted them. You should be able to make much, much more.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
"It seems like you're trying to create a job where there is none... you'll pay for that" ~ US Government
/u/zumpiez on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
He netted $152,000; what do you mean "got so little"?
/u/i8pikachu on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Please explain how you get 33% income tax?
/u/eliott on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
this is really blowing my mind right now.... mostly because that's approx what I make but IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WAY, yet similar, web dev at a gov't job. Relaxing as hell, get to do what I wan...
/u/noplace_ioi on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates > thanks for the clarification, yes I work in a country with 0% tax
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
If you're self employed, why would you even live in a state that has income tax?
/u/rtpg on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
one thing though, is that a "normal" software job (as in, not one in games development) will offer you much more security and a much better pay. Which gives you the resources to moonlight in game...
/u/kingxgamer on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
The fact that you made a net of 152k + had the opportunity to make money doing contract work is amazing. That alone is worth your 16 month adventure. If you had to work for a job or client for 40...
/u/VelveteenAmbush on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I think that's the importance of making connections in the indie gamedev community, and swapping feedback with other devs. Meetups, tigsource forum, reddit, etc...
/u/ObamaRobot on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
You're welcome!
/u/pyabo on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Thanks Obama! wait... Did I say that right?
/u/wapz on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I really think your numbers are misleading. Making 152k net compared to making $51/hour at a job is a MUCH larger gap than $3400. At $51/hour you're looking around $110k/year, which is "simply" p...
/u/pyabo on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Yea guess I was talking out of my ass. I just looked at my records and the only big items I'm deducting are 150 sq ft or so for my home office, and Internet. Maybe my accountant IS overcharging m...
/u/SixFootJockey on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Don't forget the additional 12% self employment tax.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Well, congrats... At 33% income tax (what bracket are you in?!), you're already paying more taxes than an average Swede does, with none of the benefits... How...?
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
If you can program (and love it), you can do very well. Yes, it took 7 years of work, but it is very much doable.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Whoa. This is crazy insightful. Games are def a labor of love these days. I have an ios productivity app and whole I'm not going to publish any numbers, over a few years I've come out quite a bit...
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I don't think too many people are making $51/hour after taxes and health insurance, so this is going to look better to most people than it does for you.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Which country do you live in? That income tax is insane.
/u/minderaser on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Do you not work yourself? I would encourage you to take a look at this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates There are a lot of countries with 30%+. Some countries,...
/u/ap1212312121 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I could literally retire with $276,500. I live in Thailand btw.
/u/noplace_ioi on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Can I ask why the Fuck your country is talking almost half of your money as tax? And sorry to ask but why did u include medical insurance in this ? Are you listing your income and expenses? What ...
/u/Heroic_Stevorino on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
np - congrats on the successful game!
/u/revereddesecration on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
In Australia you can get a family of 4 insured for $5K per year. $1600 per month is insane.
/u/Rudy69 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Congrats, I've been grinding at the AppStore since 2009, no real success yet. I did quit my job 2 years ago but I make most of my income doing contracts for other clients (still beats a 9-5 job)....
/u/geekteam6 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
How do you monetize all those downloads of the free version, then?
/u/kpflynn on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Sorry, the featuring system is not automated, but the app store rankings are. Although no one knows the algorithm fully, but there are some pretty educated guesses out there.
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Shoulda put some small, nonannoying ads on it
/u/pakoito on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
> I can assure you it is in no way automated and is a highly curated > system. When you look for "photography" in the store and find a toilet paper roll app plus a couple of f2p ...
/u/kpflynn on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Mobile Game Partners. We've worked with partners like Ember Games, Uken, Zhurosoft, Pixelberry, and a few others. Previously I was at Z2Live and Kabam.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I'd be happy to do a guest entry on my blog if that's something you'd be interested in. DM if so.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Quite a bit of work supporting it after the initial launch. Mostly marketing, giving a way promo codes, writing about it, presenting on it at local user groups and conferences. Fixing bugs and so...
/u/quarrel on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
How many hours a week did you spend supporting ADR after it launched? It seems a little weird that you compare how much money you would have made from a 9-5 job over 16 months with how much money...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
More so a warning. TL;DR; I effectively won the lottery with ADR. If you're going to do this, go in with extremely conservative expectations.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Thank you for the feed back! :-)
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I feel like you are complaining about how the figures turned out even though you got a decent hourly rate for being your own boss and doing what you presumably enjoy. By the way the game went v...
/u/i_solve_riddles on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
> or get married (your wife may not appreciate this). you think?!
/u/Heroic_Stevorino on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
CPA Here - it sounds like he lives a pretty lean business/lifestyle. It's hard to do much when we get that fact pattern. But I appreciate you repping our profession :) FWIW - I took the numbers...
/u/zeelar on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Whats the name of your company?
/u/pooh9911 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Gamer forum and reddit would like to do that.
/u/rasori on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Yeah, I think it's easy to focus on an individual game, but as the market is currently set up it seems there's a huge value in the long tail. The question is really how long that tail is... if ...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I just do plain jane web development for my stable income :-)
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
ADR has no IAP
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Ha! I had an iPhone so that's what u started with first :-P. The game is about 16k lines of code. Not an easy port. I tried contracting out to someone, but they fell through.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Yep. I feel that having many assets in the App Store is the way to go.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
How does an indie dev find that initial audience? Any suggestions? There's only so much feedback friends and families can provide. Wayward Sword did something similar. Releasing only a little b...
/u/n4te on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
You could do what I did: move to another country. The US still requires taxes on worldwide income, but they give a $100k foreign earned income exclusion which you qualify for by being out of the ...
/u/seandanger on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
What made you decide against simultaneously releasing on Android, or porting it later -- perhaps after the viral success? I've only released one game, but 65% of our revenue comes from Android. ...
/u/flargenhargen on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Interesting. Thanks for posting. I guess I don't feel so bad about pulling in a few k per month on my dozen-ish titles which are nowhere near #1, especially since I haven't done any work on the...
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Both of you need to shop for new insurance. I'm 28 and just signed up for a plan on healthcare.gov - max out of pocket is $6k, premium is ~200/month for just me. First 4 doctor visits are $0 copa...
/u/geekteam6 on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Thanks for the great info. Question: How much revenue came from IAP?
/u/Rastervision on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
That's not a bad wage. Contract work doesn't really offer any more, and you wouldn't own the IP or framework. A typical game development job doesn't really guarantee a continued income either. ...
/u/VelveteenAmbush on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
> With digital media, it's incredibly easy for developers to fix > problems and incorporate feedback. Given this, the current approach > editors take to reviewing games i...
/u/kpflynn on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
I started a company which helps mobile games, among other things, position themselves to potentially get features from Apple/Google. I can assure you it is in no way automated and is a highly cur...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
It was high deductible insurance, me and my spouse. Yes. It is ridiculously expensive.
/u/codeninja on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
That must be for an individual... I paid $1600 / month to cover my self, my wife, and our twins. Private insurance is expensive as hell.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Absolutely! Loved developing the game, talking about it, sharing my journey. I just feel that I'm one of the lucky ones. Others don't even see a fraction of ADR's success.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
It's a bit stressful when you can't predict the cash flow. I do independent consulting for stable income. If I were to rely on ADR solely, I would be jumping out of a window by now :-P Also, I'...
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Yep. High deductible insurance with Aetna TX was 680 a month.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
For ADR, it just turned out that people refused to pay more than a buck. I'm sure it varies from game to game. $.99 is the sweet spot for text based games I guess.
/u/amirrajan on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Thanks for the feedback. The clones actually were in violation of section 3 of the MPL. That in combination of a common law trademark put us in an okay position to take down the clones. Michael...
/u/walrus4lyfe on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
He explains quite a bit about this on his blog. Just read through it, check it out!
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Do you think you would have made more money if you had designed ADR as a free to play from the beginning rather than a paid app?
/u/tmachineorg on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
> "As for what I've learned about the App Store... not a god damn > thing. I still don't understand how A Dark Room went viral in the > UK. I don't understand how ...
/u/ on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
10 grand for health care? Am I reading that right? The fuck is that about?
/u/pyabo on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
Good info, thanks. Are you in the US? If so, I think you are paying too much in taxes. Find yourself a good tax accountant. They are simultaneously very expensive and worth every penny. Also......
/u/mc_hammerd on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
can you explain why changing the price to 1.99 ruined ur ranking? thoughts on paid vs iap vs free for 2015? any suggestions on appstore tactics? good post - cheers
/u/b0dhi on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
That was a good read, thank you. The part at the end where you complained that someone used your source in a way you explicitly allowed them to was cringeworthy, however. Arguing that it's agai...
/u/bryanww on YTD Revenue for A Dark Room iOS, a game that made the #1 spot in the App Store
There's also the value of knowing your time is spent doing something you (hopefully) love. I think it's extremely difficult to be an indie game developer, but if you can do it it seems it can be ...