[chalst]

The model you need to work is different from the freemium model, which says you earn money by getting people engaged enough to pay for upgrades. Here you want to make the game cool enough so that players want accessories to advertise their association with it. It sounds like more of an all-or-nothing proposition to me.

I don't think, pace patio11, that the game needs to be blockbusters to generate decent revenue, but you do need your players to feel that they belong to a community of gamers. I have the impression that merchandising generates decent revenues for some B-list webcomics: you might contact some of these to learn about their experiences. Who knows, maybe you can have your game characters appear as guests in their webcomics and vice versa?

I think being a startup has advantages here, since startups are cooler than corporations.

[waru]

Contacting webcomics was a good idea; thanks. I have already been thinking about cross-promotion through webcomics, too.

It is kind of an all-or-nothing proposition. We just have to hit that sweet spot of a really cool product/game/characters.

And I agree that being a "cool start-up" has some advantage over corporations, too.

[rmc]

We just have to hit that sweet spot of a really cool product/game/characters.

Sounds like you're banking on winning the lottery. If you want to be a world famous creator of this, then that's what you should aim for. However if you want to run a business, and allow yourself to work full time on this, then you don't need to be a rock star. You can, in fact, support your business fulltime without having to 'strike gold'.

[waru]

Well, I didn't necessarily mean being a rock star or the next Angry Birds, but there is a general sweet spot of "cool, desirable product" that I want to hit.

You mean that with a good marketing strategy and a self-sustaining business model, we don't need to have "the next big thing" in order to support ourselves and do this full-time, right?

[rmc]

If you charge more than $1 you don't need to be the next big thing, since you need less customers.

I am a little confused by your question about marketing. Do you think marketing and a business model are optional? You aren't going to have a mega hit or a small successful business without marketing.

That doesn't mean you must act out scenes from Mad Men or do boring PowerPoint presentations, you can be unconventional, like notch's "oops my server is broke, everyone gets a free copy", or talking about your business model on HN.

[waru]

To clarify, I don't think marketing or a business model are optional, and I don't expect to have a hit or a small successful business without them. I would like to try something unconventional, so we'll see.