As I have worked on reviving Pegamoose Games, I have been pondering how to fund this wacky idea. If you have been to the main site and seen the stale under construction notice, you may be wondering, “Fund what exactly? It doesn’t look like much.” I started Pegamoose Games as a creative outlet and have Big Plans for it, which are finally making some progress. I believe in my Big Plans and know it could one day turn into a lovely Cash Cow. This blog is to share my monetary thoughts of Pegamoose Games.

What do the funds pay for?

I will get into fundraising in a bit. First, I would like to explain what funds currently go towards and if I had adequate funding, what I could pay for. Right now, a majority of my upkeep goes towards web hosting and domain registration. The more fancy features required, the more that hosting price drastically increases. For now, I have been running this site on the bare minimum until there is more momentum. It is run on a dual account with my author page on a shared hosting package. It’s not ideal, but is fine while I continue to treat the Big Plans more like a hobby.

I juggle the projects for this site with other projects, like my writing and other web development projects. I would love to have extra funds to hire a developer or two to push things forward faster, but right now, it is just lil ol’ me. It would be incredible to pull in other creative minds and manage the work (which is all designed out in copious notes), but I do not have enough to pay anyone, including myself. Anyone up for an unpaid internship?

Once I do have the digital product ready, I will need to spend a bit to advertise it. I am hoping when this reaches the point to wrangle some beta testers, word-of-mouth will spread. I still believe word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising. If it does catch on, then I won’t need to pay for marketing it (or, at least not as much). One of my dreams is for it to be so popular and so crowded, the system crashes. That sounds bad, but having too many people interested in the product would be a good thing. And, hopefully by then, it would attract a developer who could help fix this good to have problem.

If there is no money currently coming in to fund this project, how in the world has it beenl able to run the “perpetually under construction” message? Good question.

How is Pegamoose Games still running?

When I had worked in the corporate world, I had arranged with my wife to set aside a small percentage of each paycheck to help fund my gaming and writing pursuits. Over time, I had built up a decent sum. Unfortunately, my time away from the corporate world has whittled away that sum. It took a massive hit to help pay for the web development bootcamp I took over the Summer of 2023. On the bright side, it was that same bootcamp that provided a fresh bit of perspective and breathed new life into this project.

I do contribute smaller amounts from a bit of side projects to The Cause when possible. My book sales have kept both the Checkered Scissors and Pegamoose Games sites afloat, but just barely. In time, I will find a decent web development job which will once more fill up the project coffer. First, I need to reimburse myself for what I consider the bootcamp loan.

When this project takes off, I know it will do well enough to at least fund itself. I have various ideas up my sleeve to monetize this project.

What funding methods have I considered?

First of all, once the website is in a happier place, I will provide online sales of the Limited Edition physical copies of Snipe Hunt still sitting in storage. I say “Limited Edition”, because at this point, I have intentions to create a new and improved digitized version of Snipe Hunt. Unless something drastic happens to change my mind, I have zero interest is printing any more physical copies. My Peggy Game Engine is my solution to move away from physical game distribution.

Running ads on my site is a consideration, but one I will handle with caution. For many sites, I find ads really annoying and distracting. I do not go on social media sites as much as I had in the past, because they choke out the people I follow when ads are embedded within the social media feeds. If I do include ads on the site, they will be harmless, static messages more like newspaper ads than flashy billboards.

One consideration I have strongly considered is crowdfunding. I definitely have a strong product I believe in. Unfortunately, I have issues with this idea. First, I know very little about how to prepare and market a crowdfunding campaign. Second, with funds dwindling, I would not be able to hire someone to help prepare such a campaign (unless it is rolled into the amount and they are paid when the goal is met). Any takers?

In the early days of Pegamoose Games, I had set up one of those print-on-demand merchandise stores that could print the flying moose on all sorts of items. I still have a couple of the t-shirts from those days. It brought in a trickle of money back in the day. Plus, wearing those shirts was great advertisement. I have not looked into it, but I imagine there are plenty of such services still in existence.

Once the site is operational, and I have my checklist I’m working towards to make the site “live-worthy”, the site should generate money via virtual game sales and subscriptions. More on this a bit later in the blog.

I do have various avenues of income I have considered. Many of these, I have been inspired by other game companies.

What companies inspire my funding considerations?

James Ernest of Cheapss Games, now running much of the business under Crab Fragment Labs, was the original inspiration for the birth of Pegamoose Games. I loved the brilliance of how Cheapass Games brought down gaming costs by borrowing pieces from other game sets. For Snipe Hunt, I had found a parts manufacturer who could produce piece sets for a very reasonable price.

Although I have not played lately, I have put in many hours of gaming at Kingdom of Loathing. They have a couple of games for sale on Steam, but for many years, the original game was funded by donations (at least, that is what I remember). Players make a donation and receive a perk, like a virtual token, which could be traded in for some very cool in-game items. I have played through the basic game dozens of times, but they keep it fresh with various seasonal challenge paths. I would still love to make a game like Kingdom of Loathing. I have copious notes for a role playing game engine, too.

Another company that “keeps it fresh”, is Epic Games. My son loves Fortnite and who knows how much money he has sunk into the game over the years paying for virtual merchandise. He must have collected hundreds of characters and equipment. This merch is one thing, but I love how the company refreshes the game periodically with different season changes. They had insane turnout for hosting live events and virtual, in-game concerts. Plus, I am impressed by how they have sponsorships with Marvel, DC, Disney, and more.

Perhaps the grandest inspiration is to one day be like Mojang. Even though Microsoft paid an obscene sum of money for Minecraft, millions of people still play the game. All the mods and realms available now in the game, not to mention the merchandise, Microsoft has no doubt made all that money back and more. I do not know what I would do if something like that happened to me, other than pick my jaw up off the floor.

Very nice little list of inspirational game companies. Now, what about Pegamoose Games? You mentioned subscriptions and laid out various money-making ideas. What is your vision for monetizing Pegamoose Games?

Monetizing Vision for Pegamoose Games

At the time of writing this blog, this is how I envision turning Pegamoose Games into a money maker (even if it is just enough to keep the business afloat with a couple of quarters left over to buy me some Ramen). Income will be based upon the multiple layers of access.

Guests:

I welcome anyone to stop by the site to play a few of the solitaire games. I envision this like Wordle, Spelling Bee or any of those quick games to play when you have an idle moment. For the virtual board games, guests can look through the games, explore the pieces, get an idea of what they could play if they sign up. Some active game sessions will be open to spectators, so people can learn how the games are played.

Players:

The next layer are players, who are those who create a free account. Players have opportunities to have extended the amount of play for the same solitaire games, with the exception they may earn points. Collect enough points to trade in for various perks. Players may start multiplayer game session with the board games with other players. Having an active account, they can track various statuses, like winning streaks.

Subscribers:

The more avid players might consider paying for a subscription. They have all the perks of non-subscriber players, but may run concurrent game sessions and may use invite codes to allow (non-player) guests to join game sessions (like Jackbox Games). The best part for subscribers will be access to the Workbench, where subscribers may customize the piece set of any of the games. Or, they will be able to use the workbench to create and share their own game sets.

Other considerations:

If I am to include ads, even the more annoying flashier ones, I would present these at only the Guest and Player levels (another incentive to subscribe).

I am strongly considering game purchases. Players would need to purchase a game before starting a game session. Subscribers would have access to the a library of games with their subscription.

I have time to figure out how to handle other considerations. See? I have Big Plans for this site. But, as I said, I am one small fry developer guy trying to juggle too many ideas on very little money.