Some things I haven't been posting about or mentioning in public have been weighing me down a bit lately, these are the things most people probably ignore or don't think about, but I wanted to vent a little bit here today and at the same time mention that it feels a bit better getting rid of some debt even at these bad times price-wise.
I guess things started off on a positive note and what many of us expected didn't come to fruition. When we launched holozing, hive was doing rather well, at the same time bitcoin and eth were starting to reach new all time highs, etc, and surely hive would follow, but little did we know it wouldn't. Not only wouldn't it follow but it decided to stay where it was for the longest time and then start dipping lower.
I didn't wanna be the guy who lowers the fees of contributions because that's a slippery slope either to degraded performance/moral or to people losing interest, so for the longest time I've been trying to carry the difference with my own finances and then eventually ask some help from the DHF.
Let me tell you, it's not been fun. :D especially as someone who's a "hive maxi" and has all of his eggs in one basket and barely has spent any time even looking at other ecosystems/projects in the last 4-5 years.
I'm stubborn usually, I don't like to let projects die and I try to be flexible with them so they can still bring some value over time to participants or the ecosystem. That's not saying zing is close to dying, but I've went way above and beyond to make sure it survives. But that's had a cost.
Honestly, I don't even really know where to begin with this post, there's so many factors involved that I'm not really sure where to begin nor everything I ought to mention.
Point is, hiring people from the outside they do rely on usd and don't really care if your main currency is doing badly or if the investment is shrinking. Not to mention my own earnings barely being able to cover anything over time as so much of my value kept getting locked up in my project.
I was aware that this is going to be a longterm play, I just didn't expect it to eat up so much of my other longterm play; hive.
Crazy to think that early on I thought maybe I could even earn some hive from the project for my contributions, think the amount I've "paid myself" has been a total of 6k hive when I thought we were doing good and things would turn around soon.
As I mentioned in a previous post, however, things aren't as doom and gloom anymore, but the tail to paying off debt we've accrued over time has gotten very long at current evaluations. For instance holozing only earns roughly 2k hive per week at the moment which is roughly $80, so maybe you can imagine the situation a bit better that way. Purchases of alpha vials have dried up as well which is understandable, like I'm not trying to blame anyone in this situation. I've built and planned out distribution and things myself and tried to keep them as fair as possible, rather than prioratizing my own investment and the game's launch and success. Maybe I've been too biased because Hive is my real "marriage" if you will and zing was just our baby, differently compared to house of the dragon episode 1, I wouldn't risk my marriage if the pregnancy was causing complications.
Today I can announce that there's only $250 left to pay artists from the holozing debt as some of the last artworks came in that we needed for part of the game. Other than that, rest of payments are a bit less "GIVE MONEY NOW OR ELSE". But there are still some outstanding debts, $2k to gamedev who hasn't worked much on anything since we started using Claude, cause we couldn't afford him anymore + we figured maybe we can do it ourselves from now on (and to a large degree I believe we can) and lastly $4k outstanding debt for HAF NFTs (half of the cost) we had someone else pay off as we focused on paying for development of the game.
How long is it going to take for the project to amess $6,250 with $80/week in earnings? :D roughly 1.5 years + maybe some interest will be due as well.
I reckon a lot of projects/ideas/other are kind of in limbo at the moment awaiting hive to do a bit better, but that's kind of also a reason I think we ought to use the DHF during these times because development/adoption out there isn't stopping, if we stop completely then we're just going to become more and more forgotten, I fear.
This isn't me trying to sneak in a new proposal for our game, I'm not sure when the best time would be to push that out but I doubt it is now. Web3 gaming doesn't have a great reputation currently with so many multimillion $ "companies" gtting shut down these last couplen years in that sector. While we've tried to stand out both as a web3 and web2 game, I don't think we're too much in a rush to the gate. Better to take it slow and make sure what we release is polished and works well.
Currently a big hurdle has been our animator being located somewhere where things are not going so good for the country yet little of it is mentioned in the news because the country doing it to them basically controls the news. I wish for a better outcome soon there, not just for the sake of our game but for the suffering of the people the current situation is causing. For the game however, we're not really in a position currently to look for alternatives so it's kind of a waiting game there but we hope it won't hold us back in terms of testing and it shouldn't.
is there a game yet? how do i play? ive been hanging in the staking area for like 5 years, its just a scam and no game?
It's kind of rough to read comments like these from time to time. While I do understand these are uninformed people who probably haven't looked into the project or hive for that matters in a long time, nor do they probably understand my own position, it still is a bit triggering.
Either way, dunno what there is to say or do at this point in time, I'm kind of at my limits in terms of how much more value I can spend on this project, but I'm not giving up. I'll continue to experiment with some games and start launching some more games into testable alpha/beta here soon, people can either play them or not, they won't be for everyone. Eventually I'll get back to the main game when I see there's an ending to the missing animations and 3d.
It just feels a bit nicer now to almost be out of the woods in terms of "outsider debt" and that we aren't taking on any more things that cost for a while, hopefully things turn around for hive to help us get out of debt from our more patient supporters and that we can start looking forward with having things to play and do in the ecosystem rather than just waiting around and hoping things fall into place if we just throw money at it.
It’s been great that you’ve constantly kept us updated on both the ups and downs, as well as all the work being done. At least we know someone is doing something and that things are still moving even while Hive isn’t. I can only imagine the struggles you’ve had trying to keep everything going in the current situation. I think people understand that debt and delays happen and those who genuinely care about the project and the space should also understand the position you’re in. Let’s hope Hive picks up and gives you and the project some breathing room. You’ve put a huge amount of effort into this, so keep going. People who care will continue to support you. 🙂
Great to get a little inside perspective right from the source.
You are kinda like a venture capitalist with the added investment of your time and operations duties. The current value of the token and state of things on a larger scale should not be a mystery to anyone. Sucks to see how that effects a project like @holozing but totally understandable.
If it can be parked in its current form and kicked back into action when conditions are more favourable, that makes sense and should to others. Haters still gonna hate though and developing your skills to not internalize that and handle it with diplomacy is a worthwhile endeavour too.
Worthwhile things are almost never easy to do. Many of us stay silent but we have your back.
I am sorry that you are in such situation. At the same time this makes me really glad that I don't have anyone working for me. Art sales may be super rare. And so far they may only cover a small part of my tools/ materials cost. But at least I don't need to worry about debts or paying my employees. So that is blessing in itself.
Funnily enough if I would be insanely rich(like big time millionaire) I would want to invest into creating game based on one of my favorite animes. But even in that case I would only contribute the money and the idea for the project. And moral support of course. I can't even imagine how hard it would be having to invest not only resources but also do part of game creation myself. So you have really taken a huge task upon yourself. I wish you more success and less stress in the future.
I believe that creating something worth creating usualy takes time. And even huge companies take years and years to make games. So I expecting you and your(I assume) relatively small team to create game quickly and for it to be good at the same time seems rather stupid or at very least shortsighted.
Myeah, it also got overly complex which is my fault and then all other complexities to avoid cheating/botting/farming which is still not fleshed out yet fully. For instance even for holozing.com/wilds we already got cheaters appearing on the alpha even if we put in place some precautions to avoid it, it's just a battle that never ends cause they always find ways to cheat.
Building things takes a lot of grit, especially when markets go crazy and that results in personal sacrifices. Most people (me included) only see the front-end product and never realize the personal financial risk, mental toll, or the complex logistics happening behind the scenes just to keep things moving.
It is completely valid to feel exhausted by that disconnect, but clearing out debt and finding resourceful ways to keep creating shows real commitment. Respect! Please, take things step by step and protect your own well-being. Rooting for you @acidyo and for a steady progress.
Appreciate it!
glad you are getting closer to debt free. i still have hope for Holozing, and most of that is based on your aforementioned stubborness to keep it alive. full power to you and being sticky stubborn...i relate.
as to DHF. im not oposed to spending for the right projects, i just want to see a full culture change in the expectations of any funded project. the black hole spending frenzy needs to end. we should all look at the stakeholder perspective. its not about the feels anymore. its about the "show me the metrics" the kpi´s, the road to selfsustaining profit making. the regular reporting.
the days of treating the DHF like a VC piggy bank need to be well in our rear view as a community
heh I was gonna make a post about the AI subs today but just couldn't find the energy to, maybe there's a curse
i'll try again tomorrow, it's only founding roughly $1300/month atm
It's a shame hive price is so low, a debt is a debt and has to be repaid... The only suggestion I can give is to think to start using ai for animations and art, as much as I appreciate human artists, if it's too costly and prevent the game to be finished, ai is the way
Nah, if our artwork is noticed being AI it'll be a project that's dead on arrival everywhere, that part I wanna keep human, but we can experiment with non-permanent artwork for like ads or memes, etc, or borders, achievements, and things like that where it's not the center of attention
You aren't stubborn. You are brave bcz you aren't loosing hope like many others did.
O boi, your world marriage will be mad at you if they know 😂 - just a joke, I knew that it's difficult to choose between marriage & child but Acidyo, You are brave & intelligent to create exit & pathways from problem.
meh, not that intelligent, I'm sure everything could've been ran better by many others, but I tried making it fair at least so that we have the advantages on our side even if things take longer or unexpected turns, very few will be able to compete against a project that's launched and been funded the way ours has.
You are better & intelligent bcz you are running multiple projects at bigger level & they are still running an doing good. Never loose hope in anything even projects or worldly matters bcz we are human, we have created many shortcuts for many things.
I really hope hive recovers eventually, or at least stops falling. I'm just not sure what would need to change for that to happen. Hive is awesome, but but it kinda seems like everything is sucking right now which feels very fud to say.
What kind of animations are you needing and what program were they using?
While my skills might not be what the person you hired was I might be able to do some stuff for you and would happily be paid in alpha vails or other holozing goodies if you want to hire me? I've been learning to use Spine for my own work. (obviously I won't be offended if you don't want to "hire" me.)
They've been using blender mostly, it's 3d animations of our creatures and still a few healers needing to be generated as well.
Haha, while that sounds enticing, we don't just generate vials/tokens out of "nothing" so you'd have to just wait for people to either buy vials or delegate more hp to us to compensate you with hive. 😅 We've kinda been adamant about that haha
Haven't heard of spine! We could chat more about it if you like, we got quite lucky with a user here on hive being interested in it and basically learning it while we were trying to develop the game haha, she was able to do animations and the mesh and everything as well.
ah, yeah I don't have any proficiency with 3d animation. Or 3-d digital sculpting. Unless you count my really derpy clay creations I did years ago. Is all the offical artwork done via 3-d sculpting or are some just 2-d drawings? And if 2-drawings are a thing than I'd be more than happy to be commissioned there and paid when possible if a 2-d artist would help you at all. If/when you'd like to talk about it feel free to hit me up on discord my user name there is kylinvdm
And not paying in token/s vials is a good call.
I was playing wilds and I cannot get over how cute Woolio is. If it ever gets to a point where you're selling physical merch a plushi of them would be awesome. It's also kinda really inspired some fan art ideas.
Spine's used for a lot of video game animation. It's really powerful and allows for a lot of cool stuff, but it's 2d rigged stuff so very different from blender. Ounce I've made a little more headway with my own stuff I'll be writing/posting about it.
We've put a stop to generating more creatures from 2d for now as it started getting expensive, one thing we're lucky is that we managed to keep the same artist for over 2 years there which is great for consistency. While the healer artist was different and had to leave early on to pursue other things.
Woolio was my idea :D sunny cloud with its evolution being thunder clouds ^^
haha yeah, we've had a lot of ideas over the years, physical collection/tcg cards, sticker books, coloring books, all kinds of merch but we wanted the game out so there'd be something to do other than just generate art (which we love, but others may be like "okay but what else is there that I as a non-artist can do). So it's all on a stall right now along with many projects surrounding it, many near completion just needing that last right touch to get past the finishing line.
If you wanna create art for fun based on the creatures there's some #resources in our discord for references and please do post in the community, we're still actively curating it and placing some of our fav picks (or our 1 curator's fav picks that's still with us) in https://holozing.com/fanart
If however you think you can match the illustrations and drawing style of the original artist, we may be looking for more creatures in the near future (if the artist continues to ghost us as he started to recently xD)
Ohh maybe I'll make it a personal challenge to try to draw in the same style as the official stuff. I'll def be checking out the resources in discord for that. I think a cute but somewhat technical challenge is exactly what I need right now. Heard of Woolio with a healer chasing one as it jumps over a wall is the sort of thoughts I'm happening and grinning at.
haha :D
yeah no need to stress, any artwork is welcomed! when you feel ready for the challenge go ahead!
Everything in its time, everything has its time, the time to shine will come in the meantime the most important thing is to get out of debt, calm, little by little, sometimes there are things that escape our hands
ahww man. Now I feel bad for asking about the status about the game once in a while. But it's really cool to get to see what's happening behind the scene. The effort put in sounds tremendous.
Glad to hear you're almost debt free.
nah that's perfectly fine! it's only a bit hurtful when people call it a scam or whatnot after everything I've put into it without even considering effort/hours xD
Things won't turn around for Hive because the elite isn't interested in it - really. We had a proposal by @mantequilla-soft aimed at burning some of the DHF funds and it didn't receive support from the Hive elite.
What I think might do well, is a burn proposal with long fuse f.e. - someone with good community standing like @gtg, @howo or you, would receive some funds from DHF that would be put into pools on @magi.network and after certain period it would be burnt or put back into the DHF.
Current proposals (apart from the return proposal and HBD stabilizer) are directly hurting Hive price and Hive economy because they bring Hive price down and give no measurable effects.
Take your time, and relax, but let's keep working. You have big projects here on Hive and ScrobbleLife Comment Rewarder. OCDs are signs of success; the rest will follow.
And if we have to wait, we wait, and if it works out, great, and if not, something better will come along.
Cheer up!