Economic Status Update (Patreon)

TL;DR: The game have lost $7000 the first 3 months of the year, so I'll have to scale back development if it doesn't improve soon. If you're able to support the game on Patreon, donating or purchasing tickets, I would be forever grateful, as there's so much I want to do with the game and share with you all!

Hi everyone, been going over the game's accounting and wanted to give you all an update as it sadly isn't looking too good.

Last December, I wrote an update about sales had been looking down during summer 2023 but had improved doing fall, so it wasn't looking so it was looking decent towards the end of the year.
But after finishing the accounting for all of 2023, the year did end up with a loss of roughly 3000 dollars (USD).
This development has sadly gotten worse into 2024, where the game have lost a bit over 7000 dollars during the first 3 months of the year.
Luckily, I did have a decent cash reserve going into 2023, but it is starting to get dangerously low. As I do run the game through my company, running out of money would mean the company would go bankrupt, potentially meaning the closure of the game in the worst case.
So unless sales improves before the end of the month, I'll have to scale back on the production of the game to avoid that outcome. As it stands it would mean having to let Sheepy go (who have been working part-time on the game with for close to a year), which beside losing Sheepy development skills, would also cut the actual development hours put into the game in half.

The game currently sits at over 45,000 players, and if even just half of players spent $1 a month on the game (in average), the game would make more than enough money to support itself, and even expand the development, as I invest nearly all the money made by the game back into it.

So if you want and are able to help support the development, I would be forever grateful! Developing and sharing this game with you all have been a dream come true, there's still so much more I want to do with the game and I hope you'll all help support the game so we can make it the best possible!

If you're curious about the best way to support the game, becoming a backer here on Patreon is a great way if you stick around, as the consistent income is really great. For one time payments, donating to the avatar drive give's me the most money, but buying tickets is also a great way to support the game.

Finally, I think it's only fair I share how the game's money is spent, so I'll drop a rough breakdown of the revenue and expenses from last month (March).

Revenue (Money Earned)
Ticket Sales + Donations: $4400
Patreon: $3000

Expenses
Artist Payments: $550 (was low during March, usually around $1000-$1500)
Salaries: $7000 (this is roughly split 50/50 between me and Sheepy, resulting in a low but liveable wage for me and an okay part-time wage for Sheepy by Danish standards)
Office Rent: $100
Server Costs + Software License: $1500 (this is mostly server cost for the game and video server)
Platforms fees: $1000 (Patreon, PayPal, etc. fees.)