New Boardgame for Success

[wildambitions]

Servicefly,
All of your posts are filled with such a wealth of knowledge. I thank you and look forward to seeing your project come to life. I appreciate the insight and usefulness of the information you share. :hl:

 

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[servicefly]

MJ, I think I've accidentally turned this into my new venture blog. LOL Thanks for the patience.

Update: I am actually building the tangible board game for my game. It is quite fun, I think this is why many women like that scrap booking thing. Of course, scrap booking would drive me insane, but building this game is awesome. I bought a bunch of cutting tools and professional art supplies (I have been working on an Art degree - 8 year plan). Its kinda like buying tools since I already own all the tools I need now. I didn't need to buy the supplies but this how I splurge; I'm not an impulsive shopper but I do love to buy item I will use over and over, like my cordless Dremel!

 

[fanocks2003]

MJ,

I know people are lurking, I have been in the Web Marketing industry too long to not know. I said what I said to gauge response as it helps me in my future marketing of my new website. I don't mean to be too manipulative, I just needed to get a measurement of sorts. Anyway, I have decided to build the blog and post entries like the posts in this thread with details. All Fastlaners who post in this thread will get a subscription for FREE. As promised I will be posting a link to this forum as a thank you. If you design a landing page, I will link to it.

Side note: I hate the color orange on a car, but damn if Lamborghini can't pull it off with class! Like the new addition MJ. I will own one soon.

I will be more than happy to post about your game on my startup blog. And to the one who thought the project went fast: This is how startup entrepreneurs work. One week is like a years work. Much happens, a lot of energy flies around the place etc. We work fast. Very fun indeed.

 

[servicefly]

I agree fanocks, a week goes fast and all other things seem like speed bumps. Also, you are the 1st one I'm inviting to subscribe to the website. I hope to talk you into joining the "Experts" group once you subscribe.

 

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[servicefly]

Update:

Haven't started the cutting and pasting of the graphics onto an actual game board yet. The one natural force that can slow any Entrepreneur and superhero down has hit: THE FAMILY HOLIDAY!!!

I will resume after my large dysfunctional family get together called Thanksgiving is over. As they say, we put the "fun" in dysfunctional! Cheers to all and Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[Homage]

when you create the board game make it start off really practical. Start the person off with a really low amount of money to invest and do something with. Like 2,000 and make the player work from there. That will show who really can become successful:eusa_clap:

 

[servicefly]

Awesome suggestion. I have in fact created 15 jobs spanning the entire spectrum as best possible from newspaper delivery person to Executive Manager. I want everyone to see how a janitor can overcome a Manager, etc...

In the beginning the jobs are picked randomly and realistic expenses are created to show little money for investment. I am hoping to be online with this game in January. The holidays are really slowing me down. Next week I will have a working board game demo for testing, as i have finished the design and calculations. I am really excited and have already generated an accidental buzz in my community.

 

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[servicefly]

Update: We have played the boardgame version twice now and started to iron out the kinks. So far it looks great as our main teaching tool for the institute! My goal is to have it online by the end of January. I think it will bring much hope to future Entrepreneurs, rather than the BS get out of debt advice from Suze Orman and the like. One of the self-made Entrepreneurs that played the game compared it to Cashflow 101 and said "This game blows it out of the water! It's so real that it could scare the average person until they realize what it teaches." I felt his statement was the best compliment so far. He is a very credible and successful businessman.

Happy Holidays to all!

 

[PurEnergy]

Sweet

Feel free to send it over if you want another opinion.

I'm wondering if you've incorporated non-business decisions into the mix. These are lessons I try to teach my son that have a huge impact on his future. For instance, when and who he might marry. Children. Health insurance. Where he chooses to live. What he drives and spends money on personally. Things that will keep you in the game rather than keeping you on a treadmill. Maybe this isn't the focus of your game but in these times it seems relevant.

I hope you make a Gozillion!

 

[servicefly]

Thanks for the input PurEnergy. Now that the game is built, all of the changes are focused now on the players understanding of how to play. I did; however, take real life decisions into account and they play a vital role.

Update: Hope to finish up Q&A by the 2nd week of January (looks like we are on target). A little about the game play:

Players start by picking 1-15 jobs randomly. Each job card gives the following expenses:

• Rent
• car payment
• car debt
• credit card payment
• credit card debt
• Misc. payment
• Misc. Debt - This covers med expenses, car breakdowns, etc.
• Net Disposable Income - Checking account
• No savings account needed for the game.

Once they have their jobs, it is automatically input into a Personal Budget spreadsheet. The spreadsheet covers:

• Expenses
• Salary
• Total Debt
• Personal Investments - Stock, Loans, 401k, etc.
• Paydays
• Net Disposable Income
• Etc.

All players start on the bottom left square of the "life track" (looks like the track around a Monopoly board). There are 32 scenarios & 4 payday squares. Not enough time to give all the scenarios.

The idea is to make decisions along the track until you have enough points to start a business. The points equal your customer base times $ to create net sales for each business. A scenario example is the option to receive $1,000 in credit (new credit card). If you take the money, a bill is created and you lose points. If you turn it down, you get points. Just fyi; mortgaging a home loses you points!

Once you have a business and past the Break Even point, you start using an automated Profit $ Loss Statement (I tried to make it look as real as possible). You cash out your personal investments and begin running your business(s). All of the businesses possible:

• Website
• Storefront
• Kiosk
• Warehouse
• Consulting Services
• Stock Trader (private fund)
• Real Estate Investor

To gain more points there are marketing items players can purchase at any time, even before they have a business (creating buzz). Also, each business requires a business structure:

• LLC, taxed at $50 for the structure per payday, taxes are 10% cost is $500
• Incorporate, taxed at $100 for structure, taxes are 5%, cost is $1,000
• Sole Proprietorship, taxed at $10, taxes are 20% cost is $50
• General partnership, taxed at $10, taxes are 25%, cost is free (many scenarios on the track ruin this structure)

There is a suburb with 12 residential houses for purchase as Investor on the board and a commercial Real Estate area (Business park) with 6 commercial buildings. Players may own 13 properties total.

Players may have one of each business plus Real Estate. Only one of each of the 8 marketing items can be purchased each turn:

• Micro Ad
• Press Release
• Direct Mail
• Magazine / Trade Journal Ad
• Marketing Service
• Trade Show Booth
• Radio Ad
• TV Ad

The whole objective is to get your net worth to $10 Million 1st. I really summarized the description so far and have to mention that it is played much easier then it reads here. I'm getting great responses.

Happy Holidays Fastlaners!

 

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[servicefly]

Update: Now I have finished most of the testing as a board game and have moved to the next stage of building it online. This stage has become much more difficult with the economy! Many Coders have gotten jobs leaving a select few available at high prices. I have posted on Guru, RentACoder, ScriptLance and others for quotes and have received nothing in the last week! If I have to program this myself it will take me a year! I will post some images soon of the game board so you all can see it.

On the business side; my strategy is to get this game programmed by a pro, and begin building content for the website during this stage. The website will become a community website with a blog authored by me, then hopefully a few more bloggers and lots of articles. I expect the website to be live and structurally complete by the 15th of January without the game, but with my blog and articles.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

We're all excited to see it!

 

[andviv]

What language you are using to build the site?

 

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[servicefly]

The website is a Joomla installation by my preference. I want the game to be a Flash/Flex build, but finding a good Coder has become much harder than anticipated. I am a Joomla expert, so it will not look too much like a generic joomla CMS install when I'm done. I really think Joomla is best for a community website after trying them all (Drupal, SilverStripe, Mambo, wordpress, etc.).

 

[servicefly]

Update:
The website is EntrepreneurInspired.com. There is a section for "Success! The Game" and Strategy Venture Group, INC. my company.

Website is half finished and I am two weeks behind. Official launch is possibly February 1st. The next step in our strategy is to offer a special deal to Premium Members who pay a for the year. We will be offering them a class for free; "How to Start Your Own Business With Little or No Money!"

There are 3 levels of membership:

1. Free - Each member has access to articles and the main section of the forum.
2. Premium - Members pay $4.99 per month to have unlimited access to "Success! The Game" to play online with up to 8 live players. If they pay a year at once, the subscription price is $3.99 per month. Also the free class above is available to members who pre-pay the year. These members are also able to purchase classes a la cart as they prefer.
3. Student - Members who pay the tuition receive all of the website for free and all classes. They are guaranteed to present their ventures to our Panel of Experts for investment or just feedback. Our Panel of Experts become mentors to all students (the whole panel). The cost is $199 per month.

You are all welcome to check out the website while it is under construction. All members registering now will become FREE members automatically when we launch.

 

[Inphinity]

Awesome work, will check it out !

 

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[BryanC]

Has anyone tried, mentioned, or heard of this game here:

Higher Laws : The Abundance Game : About The Game

 

[servicefly]

Update: It has been awhile again... I have still been battling a few health issues, but things have progressed. I have added a business plan generator for members to sweeten the pot and show more tools in the future will be available.

Due to my high standards of quality, I have delayed the launching further. I am now expecting March 31st as launch date. All of you may take a sneak peek at the website if you like, it is in my signature. If you register, expect the Webmaster to turn off your membership until a pre-launch date which you will be notified of by email. We already have quite a few pre-registered members on hold. The game will be available 45 days from the launch date.

As far as "Success! The Game" goes, it has been wildly successful in local seminar tests in our area. Even more so than I expected! Many experienced Entrepreneurs have said it would have saved them many failures and most of the new Entrepreneurs have said they finally get what they should be doing.

We have so far decided to stick to our story line; EntrepreneurInspired.com is built from only garage sale money, not investment capital. We are practicing what we preach, but I will say that it is hard! In order for this to work, we have to get a minimum amount of paid members before we can pay the programmers to build the game online. It is even harder for me to not spend the little bit of extra money required to build the game and have it ready at launch! A strong pro to building slowly is the balance of server load. If we had the game on at launch, I believe we might incur server load issues reducing quality.

 

[Scout]

Any update on release?

 

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[servicefly]

Update: Things have slowed to a crawl because we haven't found a Programmer who has the ability and desire to build our game online. Outsourcing issues have caused this problem. Outsourcing is so cheap that most internal Flash/Flex Programmers only develop games for themselves rather than take on jobs for customers. We have already run into Programmers (outsourced) which said they can do the job but couldn't. Until we get the game online, I;m afraid we are just about frozen in our tracks.

On a positive note, we have made many powerful contacts and are preparing for workshops with the game to show Entrepreneurs how to achieve the success we have. I have been asked to talk for the SBDC in our area. I will probably talk for them since most of their information is quite outdated.

 

[Scout]

Servicefly, have you looked at colleges that have computer gameing curriculum. The engineering school I went to WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Department of Computer Science - Undergraduate Programs), has mandatory senior projects (2 to 4 people) related to their field called MQP’s. I also remember they had some courses specific to game development.

When I graduated the first project for a outside company was free, you only had to supply the materials. Future projects had a fee but minimal. Now is a slow time but coming next fall you may have a lot of students that would fit your needs.

May be worth checking out.

 

[Scout]

Another link: Interactive Media & Game Development (WPI's Interactive Media and Game Development (IMGD) major)

I would contact the faculty and explain your dilemma and see if they have a fit.

 

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[servicefly]

Update: It seems as though each time I post, more time passes in-between.:huh2:
I have been asked to interview on some radio shows (Internet primarily) and put on some workshops. As this slows things again by changing our direction slightly, we think the benefits are exponential. I did not expect to gain popularity so fast in my area. Just the other day I attended a "Startup Workshop" and was appalled by the information put out by the speakers and the local SBDC!

2 of the main speakers talked primarily about the Credit Report and a 3rd about getting a business loan. Most new ventures do not start with a business loan; such loans usually are given to growth stage companies. The host of the workshop found out who I was and asked me to speak for the last 10 minutes. By the time I agreed and stood up, 80% of the audience had fled!

I got up in front and began with this statement, "I see many Entrepreneurs per month with great ideas and a fresh business plan. The 1st thing I do is file their business plan in the trash." The leftover audience's eyes widened and the host looked very scared. Anyway, I continued by explaining what an action plan was and a mantra, very close to Guy Kawasaki's explanation. I finished with this, "If you want to present your idea for investment or a pre-purchase from a prospective customer, remember that we really only care about what tasks you will complete to make the whole thing happen the way you say it will!"

So that was the final straw I needed to agree with my fellow Entrepreneurs who sought to get me out there and teaching. Keep an eye and an ear out for the "Inspired Entrepreneur" Web radio show and workshops, we are developing them now.