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A solo-built idle RPG turns a small community of incremental-game fans into a $13K-a-month mobile business.
$150K+ in the past year · peaked near $18K/month · 50,000+ downloads · 3,500–4,000 MAU · $0 ad spend · ~$500/month costs
“I never would have believed that only a few hundred active users could generate over 100,000 in revenue each year.” A niche idle RPG with 500–600 daily players and $4.99–$9.99 purchases cleared the $10K-a-month bar Ken set for quitting Meta.
Fewer bars = easier, cheaper, or faster for an AI-assisted solo builder. Editorial judgments based on the case details.
Ken built Harpagia, a text-based idle RPG, after roughly 12 years in big tech, including engineering roles at Amazon and Meta. He had not written code for more than four years when he began experimenting with AI tools in 2024. A small card game helped him relearn the process of shipping; Harpagia became the larger bet. He launched it while still employed, then spent the early months improving the game without marketing. A few days after launch, a player paid $10, giving Ken his first sale. He made about $150 in the first month and $1,500 in total sales by the end of the second. Six months after launch, a Reddit post brought the game to thousands of players and monthly revenue rose from roughly $1,000 to $10,000. Ken left Meta that month, after setting $10,000 monthly revenue as his threshold. Further Reddit posts pushed revenue to a peak of roughly $18,000 a month. He reports about $13,000 average monthly revenue over the past year, more than $150,000 in total for that year, 50,000+ downloads, $0 ad spend, and about $500 in monthly operating expenses. The game centers on incremental progression: players train skills, fight monsters, collect loot, and return to claim progress earned while away.
Ken began with a product for a community he already understood: fans of incremental games and RuneScape-style progression. He launched Harpagia before it was polished and let a small group of players find it.
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Data credibility: Ken, the founder, reports the revenue, downloads, active users, conversion, expenses, and zero ad spend in a Starter Story interview. No third-party financial records or store dashboard verification is cited. The conversion denominator is not specified, and the expense figure does not state whether platform fees, taxes, or founder compensation are included.
Harpagia’s first sale arrived a few days into launch: a player spent $10 on the early alpha. Ken described it as validation that someone valued what he had built enough to pay.
The growth loop connected Reddit discussion to product improvement. Ken says nearly every Reddit post brought a significant jump in new players, and the posts that generated the most discussion often performed best, including critical ones.
Harpagia grew slowly for months because Ken did not market it. He kept working on the game while holding a full-time role, treating early development as a chance to learn and ship rather than expecting immediate income.
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