I help run a site called Doodle Or Die (http://doodleordie.com), which is very similar to DrawQuest. Much like them; we barely cover our costs. But we've largely automated away most human effort so that we can keep the site going for our community while we figure out a brighter future for it.
While our game is similar; I think the way we have approached it from the business standpoint is more realistic. We fully bootstrapped it ourselves and never put ourselves in a position where it had to make money. All of the people working on it still have day jobs. We see Doodle or Die as a great side project that we will continue to work on and maybe we will get it enough traction to attract a buyer. As much as we want it to be the next DrawSomething we knew that it would be a hard road towards that and therefore we were never holding our breath.
There is something to be said for going out and taking the bigger risk like DrawQuest did. But I think we have all agreed to save our bigger risks for bigger opportunities (i.e. we are all working at successful startups outside of Doodle Or Die that have a much better future). We never took the risk; and that's why you don't see us writing a blog about our failure. With all that being said we welcome DrawQuest users to try out Doodle Or Die.
That's a nice site, have come across it before and had a couple laughs.
I too took an interest in this thread because of involvment with a product that shares some similarities (http://www.freeriderhd.com/).
Unfortunately one thing is likely, it won't become the next draw something if it is being tackled as a side project and not full time.
I commend you guys for bootstrapping it but if you aren't in a situation where you have to make money from it that removes a big motivator for success or even failure for that matter and you just end up waiting on or hoping for better days ahead which likely won't come without some hard dedicated work.
Awesome work you have done there with Free Rider. I think I can play that for hours.
It is true that dedication is necessary when doing a startup. But I guess my point is that we must prioritize our dedication. So far, the other startups we are currently working for have a much higher chance of success than the really fun drawing game we created.
When evaluating a startup you must look at how big the thing can be if everything goes perfect. It is obvious moot saw that with 4chan. And I think there was a good opportunity there with Canvas. But with DrawQuest I think the opportunity was smaller and therefore a different model of dedication (which he seems to be moving towards) might be more appropriate. Every week I want to start programming on a new idea that pops into my head; and many times I do. But prioritizing which of those stay as thoughts in my head, side projects, or companies is something I am always evaluating. Given what Doodle Or Die is and what it can be; I think a bootstrapped side project approach was best. DrawQuest would be a great side project success story if it stayed that way. But then again, it probably would have not even been as successful as it was without the dedication he put forth in a full-time way.
In short, I have concluded that I know nothing and that we are both right. I guess the choice of which way to go depends a lot on the person and the circumstances around them. I think I put on my Captain Hindsight (http://doodleordie.com/c/1qLInbnKCE) goggles for a second there.
One thing I would add, without going into DrawQuest too deeply, it looks to be a decent app to kick off a portfolio of apps and not be the sole provider for $3-million in funding.
While our game is similar; I think the way we have approached it from the business standpoint is more realistic. We fully bootstrapped it ourselves and never put ourselves in a position where it had to make money. All of the people working on it still have day jobs. We see Doodle or Die as a great side project that we will continue to work on and maybe we will get it enough traction to attract a buyer. As much as we want it to be the next DrawSomething we knew that it would be a hard road towards that and therefore we were never holding our breath.
There is something to be said for going out and taking the bigger risk like DrawQuest did. But I think we have all agreed to save our bigger risks for bigger opportunities (i.e. we are all working at successful startups outside of Doodle Or Die that have a much better future). We never took the risk; and that's why you don't see us writing a blog about our failure. With all that being said we welcome DrawQuest users to try out Doodle Or Die.