2. • M. Peter Engelbrite
• 35+ years experience
• Games I’ve created: Maggots, Heaven,
Brain Rot, Christian Founders 3D Adventure, Red White
& Blue, WordZip, Mastermind, Tilebag, One Nation
Under God, Christian Founders, Godspeed 3D,
Scripture Solitaire, Captain Bible, Bible Builder, Todd’s
Adventures in Slime World, Gates of Zendocon,
Barbarian Bodyguard, The Games Summer Edition,
Uneven Parallel Bars, BMX, Hackysack, California
Games, Surfing, Ski Jump, Hotdog Ski, Luge, Bobsled,
Pommel Horse, Stuffing the Briefcase, Cascade PC,
Cascade Genesis, Music Processor, Music Video Kit,
Mailman, Grape Vines, Asteroid Miner, Mouse Hockey,
Reversai, Network Chess
3. • “Indie” Game Developer
• Single person developer
• 3D Gardens of Oz
• Slimeworld 3D
4. A farming game where you get to walk
around in your farm.
6. • Game Designer
• Engine Developer
• Programmer
• Level Designer
• 2D Artist
• 3D Modeling
• Texture Artist
• Shader Designer
• Animator
• Voice Actor
• Musician
• Utility Developer
• Story Writing
• Information Technology
• Tester
• Publicist
• Community Manager
• Server Programmer
• Marketing
• Customer Service
7. Position Average Yearly Salary (2011)
Programming $92,962
Art & Animation $75,780
Game Design $73,386
Production $88,544
Audio $83,182
Testing $47,910
Business $102,160
8. • “Big” Development Company
– Specialist among hundreds
– Regular Pay
– No ownership
• “Indie” (Independent) Game Development
– You and your partners work together for yourselves
– You get paid eventually if successful
– Potentially $Millions, more probably little or nothing
• Contract Game Development
– You get paid lump sum to create part of a project
– No ownership
– Work in spare time
9. Game Cost To Develop
Star Wars Old Republic $200 Million
Destiny $140 Million
Defiance $80 Million
Average Game $1-2 Million
Medium Mobile Game $150,0000
Flappy Bird Pocket Change
10. • Entertainment
– Fun
• Educational Games
– Teach
• Serious Games
– Corporate / Government Simulations
11. • PC / Mac
– Steam
• Android
– Google Play
• iPhone / iPad (iOS)
– Apple Store
• Web
– Lots of places
• Consoles
– Xbox, PlayStation , Wii
This Changes All The Time!
12. • Don’t copy existing game
• You can’t compete with $80 Million
• Inventive
• Something people haven’t seen before
• Understand your customer
• Great depth
13. • Paid (iPhone, Steam)
– Few downloads, but profit for each
• Freemium (iPhone, Android)
– Lots of downloads, very few people pay
• Ads (iPhone, Android)
– The video ads are paying pretty well – about 1
cent per view. Forget anything else.
• Downloadable Content
– After your game has some success
14. • Clash of Clans + Hay Day - $5 Million per day!
• Flappy Bird - $50 Thousand per day
Total Income Per Individual (iPhone)
• 25% < $100
• 25% $1,000 to $10,000
• 22% $10,000 to $100,000
• 12% $100,000 to $1,000,000
• 4% > $1,000,000
Average: $165,000
15. Think of what you learn in school as the
building blocks for what YOU want to do.
• Math: Algebra, Linear Algebra (advanced Matrix)
• Programming: C, C++, JavaScript, PHP, C#...
• Science: Physics
• Language: Storys, Game Proposals, Contract Negotiation,
Assignments for sub-contractors
16. • You need a computer and Internet
• Get your feet wet
– Gamemaker: Studio
– GameSalad
• More serious Game Engines (still free…)
– Unity 3D
– Unreal Engine
18. • Virtual Reality
– VR Goggles
– Big companies are spending $Billions on this
• Augmented Reality
– Look through a screen to see computer
graphics in the real world where your are.
• Holodecks?
