Slow but steady something something
It’s been a while since this blog felt very bloggy. So much has happened since May 2014 when the studio was founded, and the Tipping Goat website has been stuck in “PLEASE BUY THE GAME” mode for too long. I felt compelled to blog about what’s up, so here’s some studio news.
As you may know, Tipping Goat is a one-man studio, and Super Slam Dunk Touchdown was mostly a self-funded project (with some much-appreciated help from a few generous early backers). The Kickstarter did not succeed, so I spent a lot of time since then trying to raise money through early access sales so I could finish the game. And I did that.
I’m proud to have launched a game on Steam, but the Windows launch was not a financial success. I still believe in the game, and I hope it will do better on Xbox One. After all, a 6 player, local multiplayer game is more at home on a game console. And a console release was the plan from the beginning of this project.
To help the next launch do better, I’m working on a new Season Mode, which will I plan to launch with the Xbox One release. I hope with extra 1-3 player content, the game will be more appealing and give players more value for the price. And, as I’ve mentioned before, this will be a free update for all buyers of the game.
Unfortunately, Super Slam Dunk Touchdown has cost a lot of money to create and I am now splitting my time between that project and some contract work. This slows down development of SSDT, but I’ll get some money for badly needed hard drive upgrades in addition to being able to pay for more Season Mode assets. I don’t have an estimate when Season Mode or the Xbox One port will be ready at this time.
The good news is that (as of today) the game has been selling steadily on Steam since launch. The money coming in is not enough to pay the rent with, but it gives me hope that there is a wider audience out there to be reached.
This hasn’t been the most uplifting blog post, but I want to get the studio back to being more communicative about what’s going on lately. To end on a better note, here’s a peek at one of the new Season Mode arenas, The Practice Lot:
