44. Eric Vaughn “Sigvatr” Michał Marcinkowski “MM” James Kojac “Synsynth” Ryan Rawdon “FliesLikeABrick” Ruben Kostucki “Pepito” Engine I design Grafika I design Dźwięk I muzyka Administrator Sprzedaż I marketing
45. Chris Tolliday “Gheft” Nick Cooper “EnEsCe” Bastian Suter “Sable” Lee Bradley “Elephant Hunter” Anna Zajaczkowski “Anna” Narzędzia Programowanie Soldat Anti-Hacker System Web designer Narzędzia
Hi, My name is Michał Marcinkowski and I make computer games. I will talk now about a little game I made called Soldat. How I made it and what happened. Next I'll tell you about my plans for the future. Then I'll tell you about the business side of making games, specifically how much you can earn and what is the future of games as I see it. Finally I'll tell you what I learned through these years.
There was a game called Liero.
There was a game called Liero.
There was a game called Liero.
There was a game called Liero.
Two players sat next to each other on one computer and played against each other as little battle worms. The game was fast, tons of blood, lots of weapons, it was extremely fun and addictive. We played this game for the entire duration of high school. I never learned anything else on computer science classes other than how to play this game. I wanted to make a game like this.
But why limit yourself to 2 players? Why not have the entire class play against each other. Or why not have the entire WORLD compete against each other over the internet? Thousands of people playing simultaneously.
So this idea became...
Soldat
The motto of Soldat is “if it bleeds we can kill it”. It's about little soldiers fighting against each other.
Fast action, shooting, explosions,
Blood, teamplay, competivness,
fun
The game was launched in 2002 without any marketing and quickly grew. This year we had at least 0.5 millions players downloading this game.
The game was launched in 2002 without any marketing and quickly grew. This year we had at least 0.5 millions players downloading this game.
My dream was to have the whole world playing this. And it happened. The game was featured in all gaming website, magazines, cover CDs, it's been on TV in Poland and UK.
My dream was to have the whole world playing this. And it happened. The game was featured in all gaming website, magazines, cover CDs, it's been on TV in Poland and UK.
My dream was to have the whole world playing this. And it happened. The game was featured in all gaming website, magazines, cover CDs, it's been on TV in Poland and UK.
An interesting thing I didn't predict was that on top of the game grew a community of players.
And these players not only play the game but make modifications for the game and tools.
For example an astro-galactic Soldat.
Tools for gathering killing statistics.
A tool for making and modifying maps.
Soldat comics and much much more.
People organize LAN parties, which are not typical parties but a gathering of people that sit in one room and play games. And also world-wide or local tournaments.
If you look closely there is a girl there.
2 years ago I was at a fan meeting in Poznan. We got to meet each other in reality, played Soldat, talked and had some good times.
These are my people.
That woman played my game too...
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
What about the business side. You're probably wondering how much money do I make on this. I am not the best example, because my game is FREE. But I do sell upgrades for the game and I make some money out of it. My income varies from 1000$ to 3000$ + whatever I make on selling T-Shirts and google ads, which is quite good if you see that I have virtually no spendings on the company. I have colleagues that also make games and I know they make at least 100,000$ a year, for example Cliff creator of the game Democracy. This market has at least a million dollar potential in my opinion and there are many ways to do this.
Soldat gathered some attention, not only from regular player but from players with ambition and talent. And a few of these people said, hey you're cool I want to create games with you. And they e-mailed me and we started working with each. Soon we created a group, which we called...
The TD is not a typical game company. We are a team of visionares planning to dominate the world with quality entertainment.
I'll use a metal band analogy to explain what my idea is. A metal band is a gathering of a few talented individuals that want to create something of value. They go into a recording studio make an album, this takes them about a year, and then go on tour which takes them another year.
It's the same with us. But instead we gather to make great games. This is my team. The funny thing is I only met one person from this list in reality. The rest is located around the world and we communicate only through Internet. Sigvatr is from Australia, he's my partner, very famous person btw. Ryan, he's from Chicago, he's our server administrator. Ruben is trying to get us money by talking with advertisers and investors. He's staying in the UK right now.
There are other people connected with us. EneScE from Australia, he's maintaining the whole Soldat code right now. Sable from Germany fights hackers. Elephant Hunter from US does my websites. Anna, yes she's a girl, does map tools for Soldat.
Just like a metal band we have groupies.
Lets call them players:) I want all our games to be free. And we'll make money by different means.
The majority doesn't pay any money. They play the game and make it popular. This is how I do advertising. Players advertise the game itself.
But there is a small group of loyal fans that support us by paying money.
For the money they get a more advanced version of the game.
They get a lot of benefits for paying. For example access to rankings, higher resolution etc.
Just like bands we also sell merchandise.
T-shirts, cds, albums, printed documents
There is of course a big potential in advertising. Soldat is not only a game, a website and an internet forum. But it is an entire platfrom for advertising. If you want your product to be associated with something fun, addictive and exciting – this is your solution.
This is how an ad for an energy drink looks like inside the game where the server game browser is.
What are we doing?
We are doing 3 new games right now. Link-Dead which is aspiring to be a work of art in game design.
Berserker which is realistic fighting game.
Hunter-Killer which is a top-secret project, an idea that was never done before.
We're making a social community website where all players will gather in one place, exchange ideas on forums, meet for tournaments, see rankings and statistics.
What are the problems with making games?
Well there are only problems.
Maybe I'll tell you what I learned. I started making this game alone 5 years ago and I am not that person today.
I learned how to build teams over the internet. How to build communities. How to gather people around an idea and let them do things for you. I learned how to meet demands of 1000's of people. Set a goal and then meet it. I learned how to deal with evil people like hackers that try to destroy your project and rob you of your money. All of this I didn't learn from books I had to trust my guts. The power is within you.
So you want to make computer games? In the beginning I didn't have anything but an interest in making computer games. I didn't expect to make something popular. I didn't have plans to make money or make a living out of this. It all happened unexpectedly. I had to really think on my feet. This was one of the most important things. Nothing will prepare you for reality. You must face it every day with a fresh mind.
It's not all fun and games. There will be problems and you'll have to face them. If you want to do anything meaningful in life you WILL encounter obstacles. You must be willing to push through these obstacles, with all of your focus, all your intelligence, all your heart. Making games is one of the most difficult endeavors a man can put himself into. It requires knowledge and skills of engineering, programming, art, painting, music, and you have to combine that, and make it play and be fun. You must have extreme problem solving skills, creativity, emotional intelligence (because you must feel how the game will be played), social intelligence (because you must know what people want). But the reward for doing this is that all other problems in life seem very simple in comparison. Problems like the meaning of life or what do women want are funny at most.
If you want to create something of value, make it a game or any other kind of creative project, maybe a startup, a website or a new company. Maybe you just want to make a 1000000$ dollars. You must a have a grand purpose. In my opinion money is not enough of motivation to make you work on your own project for 2 years every days. There are easier ways of getting that money and you'll fall for it. I think you must really LOVE what you are doing. Not only the end result, but the actual work itself, the things you do everyday, minute after minute. Find your purpose, what you would love doing and then pursue it. I want to make the best game ever, ever created. Why? Because it's fun, cause games make people happy. If 1 million people play my game and laugh 10 times. That's 10 million laughs. And that energy, they bring it back to me. And that makes ME happy. It's wonderful.
