Pyxelation.com

Pyxelation.com (formerly known as TileGamer) is a web site where game players and game creators congregate. All Pyxelation games use Python as their scripting language. All game players must install the Silverlight plug-in (from Microsoft) enabling them to play Pyxelation games in their web browsers. The business model is that Pyxelation members pay $30/year for the privilege of playing games with more than 2 players, and they also get the custom IDE (game editor), which is called the Pyxelator. Non-members (casual users) can only play games for one or two players, and must use their own Python IDE to create their games.

I intend to write a business plan for Pyxelation.com and submit it to Arvin, my boss. Suppose Pyxelation.com surpasses BYOND (a competitor), and at any given time there are 15,000 users, out of which 20 percent are members. So income from subscription fees would be 3000 x 30 = $90,000/year. All casual users would be required [no, this should be voluntary] to fill out a marketing survey at the beginning of their 4th visit to Pyxelation.com. This survey would enable the ads displayed to game players to more closely target the interests of the casual users (increasing the no. of revenue-generating click-throughs). Let's say the advertising revenue for each casual user is $5/year. Then the total advertising revenue is 12,000 x 5 = $60,000. So the gross annual income of Pyxelation is $150,000.

Basically Pyxelation.com would have 3 employees: one full-time Chinese web programmer, the webmaster, and the manager. I would be the webmaster, and would receive royalties of 10 percent of the gross income. I would also work closely with the web programmer to develop, in C#, the Pyxelator game editor. I'm not sure what Chinese web programmers are paid; let's say it's $25,000/year. APROM (my employer) would own Pyxelation.com, and let's say Arvin pays himself 10 percent of the gross income as compensation for managing this business. Let's say it costs $1000/month to host Pyxelation.com on dedicated servers. So the annual expenses would be $15,000 to pay my royalties, $25,000 for the web programmer, $15,000 for Arvin's time, and $12,000 for the servers, totaling $67,000. That's less than half the total income, so Pyxelation has the potential to be profitable.

I won't submit a business plan to Arvin until the development of Pyxelation is further along. Also I must first make a copy of the TileGamer-documentation web site and update it for Pyxelation and its Python scripting language. Tomorrow I'm going to upgrade my home computer from Windows XP to Windows Vista. I'm also going to buy a book called "IronPython in Action" to learn more about Python for .NET (IronPython) and Silverlight. If Arvin approves my business plan and hires a Chinese web programmer for Pyxelation development, I'm hoping that he'll take me along on one of his trips to China. I have never been outside of Canada or the U.S. (except to Tijuana, Mexico when I was 8 years old, for a day trip while visiting relatives in Los Angeles).

Maybe the numbers I have come up with above are a little over-optimistic. I'll have to wait and see what Arvin thinks. I think I will go back to bed and try and get some shut-eye. Tomorrow I agreed to help my brother work on his roof (he is a carpenter). I must email this post to my sister and her ex-partner. Monday it's Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's place (no turkey, as his partner is a vegetarian). Tuesday I might work on the Pyxelation web site, at APROM. Arvin gets back from China on Sunday. I haven't been very busy at work lately; Arvin will remedy that. Busier days ahead (hopefully including heavy-duty Pyxelation development), that's for sure.