it's a long way to the top...if you want to be an indie flash dev by david scott & paul...
DESCRIPTION
David Scott and Paul Preece, co-founders of KIXEYE (formerly Casual Collective), talk about their approach to making games and how they make sure they get a return on their investment.TRANSCRIPT
A Long Way To The If You Want To Be An Indie Flash Dev
The big fella: David Scott The balding guy: Paul Preece
Tweet questions with #KIXEYE Raise your hand to interrupt us (or just shout)
INTERACTIVE!
We made the first ever flash Tower Defense game
We made Desktop Tower Defense!
Last year we grew from 12 to 120 people We have the most popular RTS game on FB 1.5mm+ people play our games each day
Design Increasing your chances of success Execution
Iterating on what works Profit!
Mo money, mo games
Matching Theme to Game Play
Design The Correct Theme
Design The Correct Theme
Crush The Castle (April 28th, 2009) Angry Birds (Dec 11th, 2009)
Matching Theme to Game Mechanics
Going from Casual to Hardcore Design An example from our past
Design An example from our past War Commander
Minimizing drop-‐off What you should I measure?
Tutorial no-‐load, drop, completion rates Retention
Design Nailing the first session
The sales pitch
Design Nailing the first session
Design Nailing the first session
Crappy prototype > amazing design document Build on the prototype making sure each layer feels right Create a vertical slice
How changes in one area impact another See the bigger picture Accept nothing less than a fun experience
Release early
Execution Iterate, Iterate, Iterate
Engage eager play testers (mind demographic)
Seek & Listen to critical feedback aggregate it, ignore outliers be objective, do not take it personally
Removing a broken feature is still progress
Execution Keep What Works
Once the game is solid move on to other non-‐code areas Think about 'force multipliers'
New user experience Localization Website with area for fans, additional content/levels Marketing
Execution Focus & Priority
Do not cap spend!
Revenue Top Tip
Good Speeding up time Customization Revenge!
Bad Customization
Revenue What Works (for us)
What is it? It is the buying of players
Crazy! Why would you buy players?
As soon as avg LTV > avg CPI What is LTV & CPI?
LTV is Life Time Value CPI is Cost Per Install
Revenue Marketing
Science bit (using example numbers) $2.00 LTV $1.00 CPI 10,000 paid installs = $10,000 profit!
Revenue Marketing
Pay attention to Buying the right players Margin between LTV and CPI Diminishing returns as you scale up
Revenue Marketing
TL;DR
Prepare to take many shots on goal Synergize theme, mechanics, player expectations Focus on your first session Get an end-‐to-‐end slice working Listen to feedback and be ruthless!
Leverage the power of marketing
www.KIXEYE.com/jobs Creative:
UI / UX DESIGNER ART DIRECTOR GAME DESIGNER
Engineering: 2D/3D GAME ENGINEER SENIOR GAMES ENGINEER SENIOR PHP ENGINEER LEAD FLASH ENGINEER GAMES FLASH ENGINEER ANALYTICS ENGINEER PHP ENGINEER SENIOR SERVER ENGINEER SERVER ENGINEER SYSTEMS ENGINEER
Product: TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGER ASSOCIATE PRODUCT MANAGER EXECUTIVE PRODUCER PRODUCT MANAGER SENIOR DATA ANALYST
Full health, dental, and vision insurance (100% paid by the company) Tax-‐free commuter passes Relocation packages Employee stock program Gym pass to Equinox Located within 4 blocks of both BART & Muni Stocked kitchen & catered lunches twice a week Paid vacation Bright new office space and gaming lounge You get to work with Paul and Dave EVERY DAY!