Harpagia · B2C · idle RPG game
Launch after 6 months no matter what, and let real players shape the game
First $10 sale within days; ~$150 in month one, ~$1,500 total by month two
Workedvalidationfeature-development
What they did
Forced himself to launch after 6 months of building even though his vision was much bigger and the game was an early alpha. A small group of players found it and gave feedback that shaped later versions. Advice: get feedback from potential customers, not friends and family; if you're not embarrassed by V1 (or V5) you shipped too late.
What happened
First sale ($10) a few days into launch; ~$150 first month, ~$1,500 cumulative by end of month two
- Stage
- Launch
“One of the best decisions I made was forcing myself to launch the game after 6 months, no matter what.”
“After I launched, a small group of players found the game and gave me feedback. I made my first sale a few days into launch, which was incredibly validating.”
“get real feedback as early as possible. Not from friends and family, but from your potential customers.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Harpagia: Post screenshots of your rough game on Reddit and stress it's free to playRevenue jumped from ~$1K to ~$10K a month almost overnight, despite harsh comments
- Harpagia: Share big game updates on Reddit every few months, within subreddit promo rulesEach post brought a jump in new players; revenue rose from $10K to a ~$18K/month peak
- Harpagia: Price in-game purchases between $4.99 and $9.99Players buy readily in that band; above $9.99 converts worse. No test numbers given
- Harpagia: Make the game free and sell optional extras that speed up progress~6% of downloads pay (games typically 2-5%); over $3 per active user a year
- Big 2 Wild: Build a tiny practice app in 6 weeks to learn launching before the real oneTaught AI-assisted building and app store approval; lessons fed the main game
- Harpagia: Focus on keeping players coming back before worrying about making moneyFounder credits it; no separate numbers