Year In Review 2023

Welcome back to another year in review. This is now a traditional post every year showing some of the numbers behind the scenes and giving some ideas to what will happen next year.

Summary

From last years A plan I managed to get 2 of the 3 tasks done. The Save & Audio Manager updates both went out this year. The Save Manager back in spring and the Audio Manager a few weeks ago. Sadly the Leaderboard Manager update didn’t get to be worked on this year, but it is in the pipeline and likely to be the next asset store thing I work on next year on the side.

Downloads

This years downloads were another all time high. Google play took the spotlight again with Detective Notes popping off a little through the second half of the year. The Unity Asset Store managed to weather the runtime fee to an extend, seeing a reduction in September/October before returning somewhat to normal. The biggest shock is a bit of luck really with Itch getting some traffic. The Save Manager managed to get some good SEO by pure luck and is currently getting daily views and a few downloads a day. This was a supprise, but one I’ll happily take.

Money?

I got a few donations this year, the first Carter Games has ever received. Nothing massive or life changing of-course, but much appreciated given the work I put into this side hustle.

Upcoming

Next years going to be different to the last again. Instead of having plans I’m just going to working on a main project with a few on the side if I get stuck or need a break from it. The main project isn’t actually a playable game or anything but a portfolio project. I started a little project last year on the side to re-create Persona 5’s turn based combat system from a code perspective. The visuals are trying to minic the style as well but don’t have to match or anything as long as the logic functions. Given the projects scale I really want to finish it. So I’ll be focusing on this next year for a change of pace. However, any asset support that is needed will come first dependant on the severity of the issue.

I have also roughtly planned out several side project tasks to do if I feel like taking a break from the main one. These don’t have any priority, but some of these may come out throughout the next year or so.

Closing

Overall, not a bad year of operation for a side hustle. I’m really happy how the Save & Audio managers turned out and hopefully I’ll get the rest of them updated at some point next year and finish the portfolio project too. I’m hoping for 2025 to start a full on game project as the main task for that year. So we’ll see how it goes. See y’all in 2024.

~ J,

Asset Store Update