some sums - making mistakes in mobile game development
TRANSCRIPT
Some SumsMaking mistakes in indie game development
Taner Baubecco-founder Chillaptic Studio
About meGames 101
Chillaptic StudioThe Master Plan
Some SumsDev diary
Results7 lessons we (re)learned
New rulesCurrent game
Co-founder Chillaptic Studio
7 years in games design (ex-Ubisoft ex-King)
Taner Baubec
Games 101Mobile games ≠ Apps
Different shopping behaviorGames = Entertainment
Fun is about…Learning, overcoming challenges, feeling good
Interesting choices (risk vs. reward)
Game termsGameplay, game feel, playtest, difficulty curve
Chillaptic Studio
TeamA game designer
A game programmer And a game artist.
GoalsPresent: Become sustainable ASAP.
Future: Games that impact the player’s thinking on life topics.
Make tiny games fast
Learn from failures
Repeat until sustainable
Gradually increase the scale of games
The Master Plan
Some Sums
Scope:• Planned duration: 1 month• Learn publishing• Test marketing channels:
• Press emails, forums, facebook gamedev groups, reddit, twitter #indiedev #gamedev• Fail was very expected and very welcomed
Game idea: • “Numbers are falling! Catch them in a cup to make sums!” • Apple was featuring math games at the time
Dev Diary: Month 1Week 1: Good prototype, proved to have good potential
Weeks 2 and 3: Playtesting showed it wasn’t working for 50%, so we tried to...• Explain the game through UI - bad sign• Balance difficulty to match everyone’s level of skill - bad sign• Added power-ups - good call
Week 4: Signs of a problematic concept• Difficulty curve to skill-up players as they progress - hard task• Continued solving problems because there’s good potential - falling in love
Dev Diary: Month 2Iterate, iterate, iterate• After still working on difficulty balancing, found a balance.• Better graphics• Gameplay mostly the same (tried different operators, didn’t work)
Organize (~ 1 week)• Legal: founded company, accountant, papers.
• Setup domain, hosting, email accounts, etc.
• Slack: awesome, still use it.
• Trello: tried, then quit. Excel is better for us.
Dev Diary: Month 3Soft Launch: Android, 5 countries, 200 Downloads (mostly friends)• Tiny infinite gameplay with random numbers.• No monetization yet (Ads + IAPs)
Results: Again good feedback about the game, but…• Everyone wanted more (elements of retention).• Didn’t feel rewarding enough.
Decisions• Change the format (menu flow, game objectives), make it level based (level
objectives) - bad • Add more production value: graphics, animations in game, in menus, sound effects -
good• We started believing more and more in the game - bad• Integrate Mopub ads, 2 weeks lost emailing support - bad
Dev Diary: Month 4Waking up
• Game concept doesn’t scale well to the new format• Overextended our goals• Lost focus (reach, retention, revenue) to passion• December + January = 1 month
Closing mind• Tried to promote iOS beta, failed, found out people simply don’t care.• Contacted by publisher but didn’t go through (repetitive gameplay)• Added some level obstacles for variety - 2 days work - good
The end• Self-Published on Appstore and Google play - submission process and store pages• Promotion: press, bloggers, vloggers, forums• Buy $50 facebook ads• Acknowledge failure• Had honest retrospective, drew conclusions
Break• Took 1 week-off
New plan• Re-evaluated our goals and strategy
Dev Diary: Month 5
Results
• 3000 store views (Appstore and Google Play)
• 500 downloads in total• 10$ • 4+ months to make, turned dead in a
week• Non-reusable creative work• Most of analytics data is irelevant with so
few users.
Bad Good• Deadlines are sacred. Killing projects, too.• Re-usable technology• 3rd parties (ad networks, analytics)• Better aware of our weaknesses and
constraints: • Time• Marketing • Publishing• Analytics (it’s good to have data,
though)• Big conclusion: We need publishers for
now
7 lessons we (re)learned
1. Have a good plan. Focus on one thing only. Take decisions based on it.2. Be a tyrant about objectives and deadlines – assassinate the baby as soon as it’s messing with
your plan.3. Perfect means “good enough”.4. Two things about feedback we always need to remember:
A. Friends - not a good choice. If necessary, extra care.B. Take feedback that helps you implement the plan, not the one that changes the plan.
1. Plan breaks. Avoid guilt. We all need them.
2. Outsource weaknesses.3. Don’t feel good about working hard. Feel bad. Work smarter instead.
New Rules
2 weeks dev-time for a game
Validate proto in 4th day
Track max. 2 things on the screen
Don’t explain the game through UI
Work on game feel early on - WIP
Don’t do marketing, find a publisher. - TO DO
Current game
2 weeks dev-time for a game - (1 week break)
Validate proto in 4th day - DONE
Track max. 2 things on the screen - DONE
Don’t explain the game through UI - DONE
Work on game feel early on - WIP
Don’t do marketing, find a publisher. - TO DO
Thank you!Contact
Chillaptic Studiowww.chillaptic.com
www.facebook.com/chillapticwww.twitter.com/chillaptic
To play Some Sums, visit our website.