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When zero budget really means zero... or less

My plans for 2016 included to get myself a new PSU (or a refurbished one) and reach the 8Gb, which seems to be the rule for game requirements lately. More RAM also helps heavy engines like Unreal, and maybe Unity3D would get some benefit from the extra memory. Then my phone broke and I had to take all the saved money, and a bit more, to get a new one. Took me a year and some good luck to save it.

Now I found that I also need an Xbox controller. I already have a joystick (was a gift, didnt paid for it), which I promissed myself that I would never sell or trade, after selling my first one in a really low price. Of course, there is no way that I can buy the controller, same as there is no way I can have the PSU and RAM I need. At least, not until I sell my next book, probably delayed until 2018 (by the way, in case you are interested, my first novel is in Amazon, buy it and support a game developer!).

The problem with zero budget development in Cuba is that it is really zero budget. If you dont have a PC, you will not have it. If you have it, then dont expect further investments, unless you have some extra income (serious income). This is mostly because all operations here are made with cash, there are no credit cards you can use to spread the hit through several months (if that is what credit card do, as I said, never used one). And people needs money (thats a common problem in all the world), so, finding somebody willing to work for free or some vague promisse of a future share is not easy.

As we dont produce or assemble technology, most computer parts are imported. Again, the government barely sells a few computer parts, so the demand is covered by people that can travel often and bypass Custom taxes. They charge an extra, of course, as any importer company would do, making technology expensive, but (and this weird) technology here is cheaper than Brasil or Venezuela). Thats why I try to buy directly in USA, through a friend. But he usually comes to Cuba once in a year or less, which means that I cant buy at good price very often.

Ok, I got it: Im totally fucked. If this is not a message from the Universe telling me "invest your time in something else", dont know what it is. But fuck the Universe, I will keep writing and making videogames. With zero budget... or less.

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