Want to help support the Boss 101 team and see Boss 102? YOU CAN!
Short version
Purchase it on Steam: (right here!)
Purchase it on Xbox One: Xbox One Store for Boss 101 Help with the Boss 101 translation project to bring Boss 101 to more regions: Boss 101 Translation Project Already have Boss 101 or don’t have the money? Spread the word about our game!
Long version Thanks for your purchase of Boss 101. Whether you bought the game during a sale, when we launched or somewhere in between WE THANK YOU! It's been a crazy, wild ride getting to this point and we are so grateful for your support.
As you may or may not know, Boss 101 didn't exactly set the sales world on fire and due to this we are having to take a VERY hard look at our situation for future games. There is no plan to roll up the tents and leave town just yet but we have to scale back the production on games like Boss 102 until our financial situation stabilizes a lot more. At the moment we are all either looking or have extra jobs to help pay the bills. Things like sales and giveaways, while increasing our visibility, don’t really add a lot to the bottom line.
In the end – it’s about funds. We simply cannot go forward at the rate we have been burning our capital. At this point we would need to sell many more copies of the game to stabilize. We’re sitting at well under 3000 shipped copies at the moment across all platforms. Many, many of those were sold at a low or sale price (under $15/each) so even that number is deceiving.
When Boss 101 launched in November 2017 we sold the majority of ALL SALES TO DATE in the first three launch hours. This is exactly when we were on the front page of Steam. We were off the front page in about 3 hours and sales took a nosedive. In fact. If you total up all the money made after those first three hours (including console Boss 101 sales) we still haven’t matched that dollar amount. If a person had taken a job at Starbucks last November they would have made more money by today than all Boss 101’s sales. Take our profits and split it across three people over four years and you can imagine where we stand with our savings.
Boss 101 is the game we wanted to make and it was made with NO COMPROMISES. We made it as much for you as for us and we made it with our own money. Every time we felt there was something off, we adjusted it. Every time we thought something didn’t look good enough, we made it better. More animation, levels, weapons, hats, story. Everything serves one purpose, to entertain and give you the best value.
So here we are at the end of four years. Feeling great about the game itself but a sad we didn’t get the word out to more people. I know about one million ideas might be going through your head so let’s address a few of them. We want you on the same page as us after all.
What about a publisher? They could give you money and help with localization, translation, porting, marketing, etc!
We pitched Boss 101 to nearly every publisher that would listen. Letters, videos, gameplay, you name it. We offered as much as we reasonably could in terms of deals. Most publishers did a hard pass and a few did soft passes with “well, maybe next time”. We tried this route – believe us. Sure there might be more publishers out there but we did look long and hard!
What about YouTuber (insert name) or this awesome reviewer (insert other name) or what about (insert new name)!?!?! I just know they would love Boss 101! We sent out nearly 1000 copies of Boss 101 to reviewers, YouTubers, media outlets and as many people as we could find. If they even looked like they might like Boss 101 they got a letter and a copy. In the end we had so few bites we didn’t even register on MetaCritic (you need four ‘verified’ reviewers to get a score). We even offered to partner with people to increase visibility by doing fun hats or promo things with them to promote Boss 101. Not one single returned mail on that idea.
What about Kickstarter? Crowdfunding? Etc We never wanted to go this route. The goal was always to bring YOU the game FIRST and not ask for money until we had a solid product to deliver. We had seen so many failed crowd funded projects with bad time estimates and vast overpromising. We wanted to work at our own speed and unleash Boss 101 when the time was right. In the end that might have bitten us in the butt. At the same time we feel we did the right thing in MAKING the product before we SOLD the product.
Can’t you just port it to Switch, PS4, Ouya, Atari Jaguar? You would sell a TON OF COPIES!
Well, that is really about time and money and we just don’t have those resources at the moment. The game was always intended to go to console and if the fine folks and Microsoft hadn’t placed us in their great Indie Development program we might never had been on any console. Porting is not a press button affair and each iteration of the game on every system takes time and bug testing. We are three people (only one of us is a programmer). Boss 101 took nearly five months of work to bring to Xbox. We got those dev kits via the ID Xbox program. If we had to lease Switch Dev kits or PS4 or any other console we couldn’t do it easily.
Can’t you just translate it to Japanese, German or (insert language)? I bet it would sell a ton in (insert country)? Same problem as above and maybe worse. Boss 101 has a TON of idiomatic expressions. It’s way more than a Google Translate away. It would take a lot of time (there is more dialog than you might guess). To top it off all the characters speak in particular ways that would best be handled by a pro. Again – this is time and money. Of course – that would also mean the insertion of all the new language text into the game via a system we don’t really have at the moment since Boss 101 is an English based game made primarily by English speaking people.
We DO have an option to bring the game to various regions and languages though! See the Boss 101 translation project here: Boss 101 Translation Project
What can I do to help!?! I want to see Boss 102! Simply put – we need to sell many more copies.
First – if you have bought the game – THANK YOU. You have done so much already. If you have not bought the game we would ask you continue to support us with recommendations on anywhere and everywhere. It means a lot to have a good rating or “Thumbs Up”. If you really don’t like the game or feel it’s not your thing fair enough. Sadly some of the negative reviews seem to amount to little more than “Good game but not my thing – THUMBS DOWN”. Haha. We always hope we are rated for the goals we set as much as the fun you had. Still – you opinions are you own.
If you bought the game on sale or won it in a contest – THANK YOU AGAIN. We are so glad to have you here and thank you so much for playing Boss 101. If you could recommend us or point a friend our way that would be awesome. Heck, if you want to gift Boss 101 to a buddy – please do! If you want to help with some Boss 101 Store translations then please check out the Boss 101 Translation Project .
Streaming, posting, blogging, V-Logging, reviews and everything in-between all help us raise awareness and ideally bring in people to see and purchase Boss 101.
We’re hoping to continue to make more games and Boss 102 is at the top of that list. To do that we will need not only your support but the support from as many friends and fans as possible. We think the game is great and we want to see it succeed. We know it’s not for everybody yet we feel there is a player base out there. If you can help us – we would greatly appreciate it. Regardless, we’re hanging in there and bringing you our best!
Thank you and always remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!
Boss 101 on Sale this week, get both our games for under $10
You can get Boss 101 for 33% off this week and if you are feeling froggy you can get your BUNDLE of Boss 101 and the Zazmo Arcade Pack for UNDER 10 bucks!
That's a bargain at TWICE the price.
Now's your chance!
Thank you for your support and remember to live your dreams!
-Tim
2018.03.18 Team news, game news and discounts for you!
Hello and welcome to the latest Boss 101 update!
Wanted to give you all a heads up on the latest happenings at the Donley Time Foundation as well as a look at Boss 101 progress. We always need to thank you first and foremost for your support. Without your help, we couldn’t be doing this so THANK YOU!
Boss 101 on Console
Though it may not relate to you directly if you already own Boss 101 we announced the game is coming to Xbox One. That’s been our primary job for the last few months. This consists mostly of porting work and changes to the code to make the game run smoothly.
It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel too! After a few challenges we are heading into the final stretch. You might think it would be as easy as setting the game format to “Xbox One” and hit “Export” but there is a lot to making a PC game work nice on a console. More so if you are a small team that focused primarily on the PC version! Haha
Overall though – Microsoft has been nothing but champs in the whole process and made everything as smooth as possible. On our end we had to do changes to the save/load process on console as well as tweaks to achievement scoring. All in all, nothing too hard but a lot of little things and bugs added up to a month or two of work.
Zazmo Arcade
We’ll keep you posted and if you are interested we have ANOTHER game in Early Access at the moment. It’s called the Zazmo Arcade and listed below. In it we take arcade games from Boss 101 and blow them out with two player co-op. head to head battling and much more. Check it out! You can get it for a 33% discount if you already own Boss 101!
Thank you again and talk with you soon!
Remember to always – LIVE YOUR DREAMS!
-Tim
Boss 101 - Out Now on Steam
2018.03.02 Game Night/ Dev night Video Up
Development Stream - Game Night
Our game night video - be warned - lots of laughing and screaming! Joshua and Tim talk about new game ideas too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE2quuumYco
More to come and this Monday so join us then if you can!
Clueless Artist Series on Twitch Tonight! Watch Joshua learn from Tim! Going live with Zazmo Arcade Game development at 6pm CST. Come join us for fun, laughs and perhaps some Steam giveaways!
Link: https://www.twitch.tv/donleytime
Should be a blast and hope to see you there!
Zazmo Arcade Pack Info Roundup Steam Store Page:
2018.02.22 Boss 101 and Zazmo Arcade Bundle Live Now
Hello everyone and thank you so much for all your support.
As you might already know, we are releasing our latest game, the Zazmo Arcade Pack (ZAP) on Early Access today. If you already own Boss 101 we thank you and as a bonus to owners we have created a special bundle on Steam just for you.
If you already own Boss 101 you can get the Zazmo Arcade Pack for 33% off by selecting “Complete your bundle of Boss 101 and Zazmo”. This will allow you to ONLY purchase Zazmo and get the bundle discount. Of course this works if you purchase ZAP first and later want to buy Boss 101 at 33% off. Just use that ‘complete your bundle’ option and get your discount.
You may notice that ZAP has some familiar games that were originally found in Boss 101. We did, however, take all those games and add new features the biggest add being co-op multiplayer. There are five games in total and ALL of them have multiplayer modes and tons of new options.
We’d love you to check out ZAP and hope you give it a look. We also have some new things in store for the Boss 101 universe and look forward to bringing you more games!
Thank you again for your support and remember to always live your dreams.
Welcome to all those new to the Boss 101 game universe and THANK YOU to all our longtime friends and fans who have supported us and been here since launch (and before).
This is Tim and I wanted to give everyone a heads up on the coming happenings at the store and at our development studio.
As you may know Boss 101 is on sale this weekend and we have seen an uptick in Steam sales. That means more friends and fans checking out our game. Thank you for that. Your support means more games from us and we appreciate it.
Onto the longer update!
Boss 101 and the Xbox
You might also know we are currently working on bringing Boss 101 over the Xbox. This is an important new release since it means more people will be able to see and ideally purchase Boss 101. More support for us translates DIRECTLY to more support for YOU in all our games and releases.
We would love to see Boss 101 on as many platforms and translated to as many languages as possible. We also really want to do Boss 102 as soon as we can. Your support, your funds effectively, make all that possible.
We made Boss 101 on our own dime, no publisher. We did that to bring you the best game we could at a speed we could manage. Now that Boss 101 is out we need your support with purchases and we would LOVE your support with a good review or word of mouth recommendation. You don't need to, of course but it does matter and does help us. Especially given this weekend's sale.
Boss 101 and our new game ZAP
While we are getting Boss 101 on the Xbox One we are also working to deliver a fun arcade game called the Zazmo Arcade Pack (ZAP). If you already own Boss 101 you will notice familiar game themes. Indeed, we brought over four of the mini games from Boss 101, added a NEW game and then added a TON of features like multiplayer, co-op and more elaborate single player. All these new games have more options and are bigger in many ways.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! We know you might want in on this and we are prepping a SPECIAL pricing reward for Boss 101 owners if they are interested in ZAP.
ZAP will be going into Early Access this coming week. When it does we are planning to immediately reward all Boss 101 owners with a price discount from the already lowered ZAP Early Access cost. Translation - Boss 101 owners will get ZAP at a low, low price if they want it. More details coming!
Personally we hope you give it a look. We've been playing the games in ZAP almost daily and you can check out our devblogs and more on the store page linked below.
Thank you again! Welcome to anyone new and remember to always live your dreams!
Comments and questions are always welcome.
Best,
-Tim
2018.02.10 Boss 101 Dev Update and MORE!
Hello and thanks for joining us for another development update and state of the union.
As you may already know we are bring Boss 101 over to the Xbox One console. Our last few weeks have been dedicated to that and to our new game the Zazmo Arcade Pack (or ZAP).
Side Note: We are looking into ways to get ALL OWNERS of Boss 101 some sort of discount if they want to purchase the Zazmo Arcade as a nod to your support!
We were approved in late November to come out on Xbox One and due to a bunch of legal documents, we had to wait to announce it. We hope to put Boss 101 in front of a more people and bring in more funds to keep our game endeavors going.
Boss 101 was well received on Steam but not widely reviewed by critics or the game press. For us that meant less sales than we hoped. Still we have plans to bring out MORE games in the Boss 101 universe and we are always appreciative of YOU helping us spread the word.
Look for some news this upcoming week too! We expect a big announcement coming this Thursday!
The Zazmo Arcade Pack - our new game
After Boss 101 we wanted to do a take on 80’s arcade and console games. From there we pulled ideas for fun co-op games you could enjoy with a buddy. Our goal is to bring a lot of fun to players and create memorable gaming situations.
A quick look at the games included:
• Tank Wars – Two tanks versus each other or the world! Besides head to head play we added a co-op mode where you and a friend battle endless hordes of tanks. You can even revive a fallen buddy! We have multiple maps and game modes too. Of course, we also have ricochet bullets and guided shots as options for players. Mazard – Two space men trapped in the maze of the space wizard. You battle aliens who can turn invisible. Thankfully you have a radar to tell you where they are. Don’t stand in place too long or
• Mazard will drop a flame bomb to flush you out. You can also revive a friend if he falls.
• Breakout – Classic block breaking gameplay. We have single player and co-op modes as well as a head to head option to challenge your friends.
• Last Stand – You and a friend guard a pile of power crystals. You have unlimited lives but if the alien steal all your crystals, you lose.
• Rob’s Adventure – A shooter adventure with you and a pal flying through space. Battle alien armadas and bosses and yes, you can revive a fallen comrade here too!
Zazmo Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIvYHYsie9U
More Boss 101 info on the way and as always - remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!
Minor Fix - adjusted the firing button and trigger in Rob's Adventure to function the same.
A minor update but wanted you to know! Thank you for your support and remember to live your dreams!
-Tim
2018.01.18 Zazmo Live Stream and Boss 101 Prizes Friday 1/19 at 5pm!
Join us tomorrow night at 5pm CST for a live stream of our latest game on the Zazmo Arcade as well as playing Savage, Shard of Gosen. We're giving away FREE Boss 101 Steam keys and we'll be joined by Matt Fitzgerald the creator of Savage.
Check out our channel here https://www.twitch.tv/donleytime
