I have been asked I few times regarding my income (i.e. game sales) and what I am doing all the time. Basically, as some of you know, “Noble Master Games is a single member company, it’s more or less me doing most of the work. I spend about 10-12h/day including weekends (sometimes I take a day off) developing games, programming, fixing bugs, marketing, talking to customers, keeping up-to-date with latest tech, contributing to open source projects, coordinating with contractors, paying bills, accounting, maintaining servers, posting in forums and so forth. I generally contract out all the artwork, music, translations and modding out if I can. I have a few great artists, musician and modders I work with. I couldn’t do it without them!
So now, how much did I make in 2012 (in US Dollars) based on my taxes filed?
Please note the Gross Income refers to all income (about 99.5% game sales) over all games and platforms (see below). I don’t have any other income. The Expenses include to a large part contract payments for art & graphics, music, translations and modding. A large portion of it is used too for hosting fees/internet, marketing, accounting/financial transaction fees, hardware (e.g. devices for testing), software (e.g. Photoshop), developer fees (e.g. Apple), business fees, phone/fax and smaller office expenses (e.g. paper, stamps & the like), personal retirement payments and health insurance. A small portion has been used to fund open source projects or sponsor tournaments (e.g. Age of Conquest).
So basically this leaves me with a total of about $36,246 for personal expenses such as food, rent, utilities, transportation, personal entertainment and such, i.e. my personal income. To be fair, the Expenses includes about 40% of my rent and my utility bill as I am able to deduct it from taxes but the rest has to come off from the $36,246.
Based off my actual income, I can make more money working for a company, for example Google, than working for myself, so why am I doing it? First of all it is to a big part “fun” to have your own company and develop games. Also, there is no boss to report to. Although I spend a lot of time working, I can choose freely when I want to take a break. So no, I am not complaining. I am not poor but I am also not bathing in Champagne. I wish I could afford to hire 1 or 2 people full-time to work together with as things can get lonely at times. Generally, it’s difficult to say if I am able to continue doing this in the future as it the actual income is little bit low to sustain over a longer period of time. Also, it doesn’t look like sales will increase this year unless I am able to complete a new game soon. Demise of Nations is planned for release towards the end of this year.
If you like strategy games and you like to see more of it, please don’t pirate but support the following games.
Age of Conquest: a medieval Risk-like turn-based strategy game (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS). Includes ONLINE multiplayer.
Tropical/Desert Stormfront: a modern real-time strategy game (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS). Includes multiplayer via LAN/internet
Demise of Nations: in the making. Follow my twitter feed @noblemaster for latest updates.
Please note, you are not only supporting me, but you also support all the people I work with (which I prefer to pay decent so they don’t have to starve) including Antony Hager (Artist), Nick Lee (Artist, previous), Sean Beeson (Music) amongst many others. Also, you indirectly support 3rd party companies which products and services I purchase (software, hardware, internet services). You also support Open Source projects, namely libGDX and LWJGL, two excellent projects amongst many others out there.
Feel free to comment or ask questions! Thanks, Christoph, a.k.a noblemaster.
After throwing around a few ideas internally last year, Noble Master Games have decided to develop a hexagon turn-based strategy game. It will take place during the Roman Era on a large map of Europe featuring many factions from that time. The game will include several single player scenarios and campaigns. Demise of Nations: Rome will support a wide array of operating systems including PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The game is planned to be released later this year in 2013.
Demise of Nations: Factions
Demise of Nations: Rome will contain over 30 factions, each having their own uniquely created banner to distinguish them from each other, much like the ones shown above. Confirmed factions include, Armenia, Britannia, Carthage, Dacia, Egypt, Gaul, Germania, Greek Cities, House of Brutii, House of Julii, House of Scipii, Macedon, Numidia, Parthia, Pontus, Rebels, Scythia, Seleucid Empire, Senate SPQR, Spain, and Thrace.
In later era scenarios and campaigns, other factions will appear, Alemanni, Berbers, Bergundii, Celts, Eastern Roman Empire, Franks, Goths, Huns, Lombardi, Roxolani, Sarmatians, Sassanids, Saxons, Slavs, Vandals, and Western Roman Empire. Below is an early alpha screenshot of the game.
Demise of Nations: Alpha Screenshot
Please contact us if you would like to be part of the beta-testing team.
As of today, Tropical and Desert Stormfront have finally been released on iOS. The games use the excellent libgdx framework which made porting from Desktop/Android to iOS a breeze.
Tropical Stormfront and Desert Stormfront are the first ever libgdx games to be released on the iOS platform. The games can be played on all iOS touch-screen devices including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad mini. The games work both on retina and non-retina screens.
I wasn’t able to find a good currency implementation over enums in Java, so here is my own. The table contains all the currencies of ISO 4217 as of November 1, 2012. The currencies are mapped to their corresponding countries. And yes, this is Public Domain. Feel free to steal the code and modify it in any ways you please.
For the countries, please use the excellent implementation of all the country codes by Takahiko Kawasaki. You need to do a rename from “Country” to “CountryCode” if you use Takahiko’s implementation :)
Desert Stormfront is finally released! Desert Stormfront is a real-time strategy game inspired by the turn-based “Classic Empire” wargame by Walter Bright. Units and structures are modeled after the original following a rock-paper-scissors system. Unit movement is in real-time similar to the classic “Command & Conquer” albeit simplified aiming at a game that is easy to learn but difficult to master.
Desert Stormfront takes place in present-time Middle East. The player assumes command of the Western coalition and fights real-time battles for control of cities and oil fields in Iran, Iraq, Saudia Arabia and Afghanistan. Maps are based on real-world locations in the Middle East. The story is fictional (as of this writing). The game supports cross-platform multiplayer matches over LAN and internet including co-op multiplayer.
Key Features:
Real-Time Strategy (RTS) in the Middle East
Single Player and Multiplayer (over the LAN and Internet)
30 Campaign Missions incl. Scoring/Rating
Random Map Generator + Skirmish Maps
Modes: Attack, Defense, Capture the Flag & Convoy Missions
Release Date: Sept. 26, 2012
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Android
Available: via game’s website (PC, Mac, Linux) and Google Play (Android)
Desert Stormfront Screenshot 1
Desert Stormfront Screenshot 2
Desert Stormfront Screenshot 3
Comments Off on Desert Stormfront released on PC, Mac, Linux & Android
Although tiicoon (pronounced: /taɪˈkuːn/) is currently abandoned, I figured it would be nice to create a trailer. Arvid Wessman (Arvid Wessman Productions) did all the art. I did all the programming. Both art & programming are about 50% done.
Comments Off on tiicoon – Multiplayer City Simulation – Narrated Demo
I managed to acquire a code signing certificate in .pfx format from Comodo. There are a couple solutions in the internet suggesting to download jetty or install OpenSSL to convert the .pfx to a Java Keystore (.jks). However, the solution is much simpler and only requires the keytool included in the Java Development Kit. The whole procedure requires 2 steps and allows creation of a custom alias for the Java Keystore.
For Step 1, we need to find the alias stored in the .pfx file. Copy your key file (e.g. keyfile.pfx) into the same folder as the Java keytool. Then run the following command in the console to create a listing of all the certificates in your keyfile.
Look for “Alias name:” in the outputted keyfile.txt. Your alias name should be called something like the following: “company name llc’s comodo ca limited id“.
For Step 2, we convert the keyfile.pfx to a Java Keystore. Make sure you enter the [PFX ALIAS] exactly as found in Step 1. The [JKS ALIAS] can be freely chosen and is your Java Keystore alias.
I am currently trying to wrap development of Desert Stormfront. Nick sent in all the graphics a while ago. It’s all integrated and ready to go. Travis is currently working out the 30 campaign missions planned. Will hopefully be done by the end of the month and ready for beta-testing. Contact me via email (“Beta-Testing”) if you are interested in becoming a beta-tester for the game (Android, PC, Mac or Linux). Testing involves play-testing the 30 campaign missions (no technical testing required). No money paid, but you’ll receive a copy of the game for free and will have your name in the game credits.
Here is the lowdown for the game:
Real-Time Strategy (RTS) in the Middle East (desert)
single player & multiplayer
30 Single Player Campaign missions
Random Skirmish scenario generator
Factions: USA, England, France, Italy, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan plus a rebel faction.
Team-Play (included in multiplayer too)
17 mobile units including: Humvees, Tanks, Artillery, 4×4, Mechanic, Trucks, Fighter Plane, Helicopter, Gunboat, Submarine, Cruiser, Aircraft Carrier, Super-Hovercraft.
4 land structures: Base Station, Shipyard, Airfield, Oilfield
Occupy oilfields to receive income.
Fog of War
High Score & Playing Statistics
…and obviously Music and Sound FX
Release is planned for end of September/beginning of October. Below are some current alpha screenshots.
Desert Stormfront: Screenshot 1 (Alpha)
Desert Stormfront: Screenshot 2 (Alpha)
Desert Stormfront: Screenshot 3 (Alpha)
Desert Stormfront: Screenshot 4 (Alpha)
Comments Off on Desert Stormfront – Alpha Screenshots
Nick & me just spent a few hours alpha-testing the new multiplayer port for Tropical Stormfront. We have fixed all the bugs, so it’s running all smoothly over both LAN and internet. Nick beat me a few times, so it wasn’t going so well for me in that sense :-D
Next on the list is a beta-test 3 vs. 3 or even 4 vs. 4 (2 teams). Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux & Android. Open dates are next week Tuesday-Thursday, March 27.-29., from 09:00-17:00 (1h) next week. We will conduct a conference call via Skype (voice) while we play. I’ll host the Skype call. Someone in the group will host the game. Please enter your availability in the Doodle Poll and email me at contact [at] noblemaster.com to participate. I’ll send the download link & Skype call information.
It’s first-come first-server – Register early!!!
Comments Off on Tropical Stormfront: Multiplayer BETA-Test!
