Before We Leave launched in May 2020. How has life changed for the Balancing Monkey Games (BMG) team?
How has life changed since the launch of Before We Leave in 2020?
We have hired permanent staff – now 5 employees to add to the 2 directors. We have an office manager, a producer, an artist, and a game designer/junior programmer. BMG have been able to secure an office now, with an attached shared space (that we’re still trying to find people to fill!).
We have documented processes and systems—Hacknplan! Business plan! Art pipeline! Studio handbook! Brand book! This might not sound exciting but these are the things that help make a studio more sustainable in the long term. And we’ve started working on the next thing! What a journey...
What lessons did you learn from the first game?
Oh wow, where do you start? A million dollars is really not a large amount of money in business terms. Also that those people who say you have to do the stuff you don’t want to do, like marketing, or ditching ideas that aren’t fun or popular, are right, sorry. We had to find ways to manage those.
Working remotely was actually quite hard for us and made team relationships more complicated. Also, time zones are a pain. We found it’s really nice being in a room together with your team mates.
Spacewhales? Are they just a lifestyle choice or are they a necessity?
A necessity, absolutely. Everyone needs one.
Where do you see BMG in five years?
Well, with our second game launched, making the millions. Maybe a couple more staff, working on the next project or the one after that. We'll still be in South Dunedin, connecting with the community, mentoring students, hosting school visits, etc. We want to give back into our community and invest in other projects.
https://www.balancingmonkeygames.com