It has been nearly 30 days since we at Sacred Arrow Workshop released the playable demo for our project, Jumara. This milestone represents a significant achievement for our team, marking the transition from development to a more public and interactive phase of our journey. We’ve learned a lot from this experience and are eager to share some insights and plans moving forward.

Launching the Demo and Kickstarter: Lessons Learned

Releasing the demo was a thrilling step. It allowed us to share a piece of what we've been working on with the world. Alongside the demo, we decided to launch a quick Kickstarter campaign. Admittedly, we didn’t follow the usual recommendations of pre-announcing or heavily promoting our Kickstarter. Instead, we took a leap of faith to see if the platform’s organic audience would be interested in our project.

Our hypothesis was confirmed: without external promotion, the Kickstarter campaign struggled to gain traction. While we didn’t achieve significant backing or gather a substantial amount of data, this experiment provided valuable insights. We realized the importance of building and nurturing a community around Jumara before attempting another crowdfunding effort.

Building Our Community

Following the Kickstarter experiment, we took a step back and reflected on our approach. In our previous Patreon post, we discussed our new social media strategy. We are committed to interacting with and growing an audience that is genuinely interested in Jumara. Our goal is to cultivate a close-knit group of playtesters who can provide feedback and help shape the game's future.

We understand that many companies pay for playtesting, but with our modest budget of $200, we aimed to explore this opportunity differently. We sought to gauge interest in the game and determine the best monetization model—whether to opt for a free-to-play model with microtransactions or a low-cost game without them.

Moving Forward with Jumara

Despite the limited success of our Kickstarter, we remain optimistic. Jumara will still see the light of day. We’ve decided to redirect our focus and resources from promoting the Kickstarter to further developing the game. The past two weeks have been a mentally stimulating challenge, pushing us to refine our strategies and ensure the sustainability of Sacred Arrow Workshop.

We are excited to announce that I am working diligently to complete a beta version of Jumara. Unlike the demo, which served as a simple tutorial, the beta will showcase the core gameplay loop and offer a more comprehensive experience.

Jumara is designed to be an easy-going, casual game. Over the coming weeks, we will decide on the final monetization model. Personally, I lean towards games that provide a complete experience upon purchase. However, the rise of free-to-play models with microtransactions cannot be ignored. These models, while potentially exploitative, offer ethical dilemmas that we must carefully navigate.

Seeking Feedback and Connecting with Our Community

We value your feedback on these matters. Although many may advocate for the free-to-play model, we invite you to consider how microtransactions have transformed games, not always for the better. I have a fond nostalgia for the days when buying a game meant receiving everything it had to offer, including physical goodies like manuals, maps, and soundtracks.

Our goal is to offer a fair and rewarding experience for those who support the project. While we provide news and content freely, we aim to proportionately reward our supporters. This balance is delicate and often subjective. For instance, some might find $49.99 for five card packs reasonable, while others might consider it exorbitant. To strike this balance, we envision a model where in-game currency, earned through gameplay, can be used to unlock content, minimizing the reliance on real money transactions.

Join Us on This Journey

We invite you to follow us on our platforms and share your preferred sources of news and why they resonate with you. Your input will help us stay transparent and connected with our community.

As we reveal more about Jumara, your feedback will be invaluable. Whether we go with a free-to-play model or a low-cost purchase, our commitment remains to deliver a game that is enjoyable, fair, and rewarding.

Thank you for being part of our journey. Stay tuned for more updates, and let’s shape the future of Jumara together.

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