I DO MY OWN STUNTS update 32
Whew, we've finally made it to the last blog post about I DO MY OWN STUNTS!
A question that many new game creators ask is how much does it cost to create and publish a game?
To create the prototype for I DO MY OWN STUNTS, my costs were:
Don't Go In There game (to experiment with the box) - $26.99
Meeples - $14.95
Blank playing cards - $8.95
Total = $50.89
There were other expenses, like the time it took to draw the art for the prototype and design and playtest the game, but those I'm treating as a sunk cost.
Moving on to the production of the game: The art was "free" since I did it myself and I didn't keep track of the time it took to create it all (although if I read through my old blog posts, it looks like I created the art between July and September, so 3 months?)
Once I had completed all of the art assets, it was time to get a quote from the printer. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I went with Gameland because they were the printer who had created Don't Go In There - the game that inspired the box. The quote from Gameland for 100 units was:
Unit price $19.124 - 1912.40
Mold fee (1 set for the plastic insert) - 150
Sample Fee (3 set) - 300
Handling change - 250
Delivery Cost (air freight) - 950
Additional shipping costs were $75 for tariffs and another government fee of around $250
Total cost to the printer (and US government) = $3,887.4
My retail price for the game was $65 a unit (78 copies pre-sold)
I kept 3 copies for samples/my own collection (a "loss" of $195)
3 copies of the game were gifted to publishers/friends (a "loss" of $195)
2 cases (16 games) were also sold to a local game store ($35 a unit)
I used USPS to ship all of the games. The game weighed 15.70 oz and I
made sure that the game fit the medium box size which was a flat $22 per
unit. USPS ground shipping was $22 a game.
I also had several international backers and shipping ranged from $29.95 to $40.45 depending on location.
So, how much did I earn for I DO MY OWN STUNTS?
$5070 earned from selling games to 78 customers
$560 games sold to game store (16 copies)
Total = $5630
Minus printer and tariff costs = $3,887.4
Minus production costs = $50.89
My total profit was $1,691.71
It doesn't seem like much, but I think of it this way: My goal was to learn how to make a game from beginning to end and have it show up on my door a complete product. Check.
I wanted to learn what it was like to deal with a retailer and have my game sold in a game store. Check.
I wanted to make a game for people to enjoy. Check.
I wanted to have a game that I could then pitch to other publishers and possibly sell. Still in progress with this one.
Overall, I think that I DO MY OWN STUNTS was a big success - although whatever I do next will need to be either cheaper to produce or made at a larger scale - maybe even both.
I've learned a lot and I hope you did too. I'm looking forward to the next one!
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