Game startups need various competencies to succeed, including skills in areas like analytics, design, programming, marketing, and business thinking. What competencies are required has changed over time with increases in competition, quality standards, and the rise of mobile and free-to-play games. Startups can develop competencies through activities like networking, hiring talent, taking short courses, game jams, and internships or projects with real-world clients. Universities could help by offering applied, project-based curricula taught by industry professionals, covering topics such as programming, design, business, analytics, and game production.

1. Game Startup Competences
Martin Sillaots
Tallinn University
13 May 2014

2. What competences game startups
need to be a successful?
How they have changed?
How to achieve them?

3. 14 Mentors
7 Startups
21 together

4. Success
What does it mean to be a successful
game startup?

5. Independent, Investment, Last, Money,
People like, People play, Potential,
Profitable, Published, Repeat, Scale up, Value, Vision,
Well known, You like what you
do,

6. Skills
What startups need to be successful?

7. Analytics, Art, Attract investors, Attract publishers,
Business thinking, Communication,
Design, Discoverability, Financial
management, IP management, Management,
Marketing, Monetization,
Networking, Pitching,
Programming, Publishing, Reaching, Selling, Team
management, Understanding market

8. Abilities
What startups need to be successful?

9. Able to grow, Able to learn, Considering, Creative,
Enterprising, Flexible, Passionate,
Persistence, Pragmatic, Self-honesty, Talented

10. What has changed?
Past

11. Competition is harder,
Free to play, Freemium,
Game as a service, Game projects are bigger,
Harder to find talents, Mobile platforms are evolving, Need to
manage and understand your user base, New distribution
channels, Publishing techniques are better accessible, Quality
standards are higher, Self publishing is harder, User
acquisition more expensive,
Younger entrepreneurs

12. What will change?
Future

13. Android fragmentation, Bigger teams, Closed customer
communities, Consolidation, Cross media, Cross
platform, Crowd sourcing, Different business models for
app stores, Digest the free to play, Google Glass,
Integrated business and game design, Investing in teams, not on
games, IP value is recognized by banks, Market for companies,
More difficult to hire people, More flexibility, More
fragmented market, More powerful
mobile devices, Moving from mobile to PC,
Network of apps, New mechanisms for discovering
games, New payment models, Oculus Rift, Paid application
revenue will drop, Premium games become as a design object,
Smart watches, Windows phone

14. How to achieve?
Those competences

15. Be open, Company culture, by Doing,
Dunno, Hire and outsource, Network, Read,
Short time courses, Social events, Soft launch,
University, Vendors

16. University?
How to organize the study?

17. Applied, Case studies, Companies, Experts
and Coaching, Learn by doing, Make and
publish, Multi-curricular course design, Social events, Game
jams, Playing and analyzing games, Project
problem and team based, Real world clients,
Specialization, Story based, Teach programming instead of
philosophy, Teachers should have one foot in the industry

18. University?
What subjects should belong to the
curriculum?

19. 3D Modeling, Analytics, Art, Business,
Design, Digital design, Documenting, Finances, Game as a
service, Gamification, History of games, Incubator programs, Leadership,
Marketing, Math for games, Monetizing, Production,
Programming, Psychology, QA, Real time graphics, Sales,
Sound, Team building, Unity C#, UX

20. Questionnaire
http://goo.gl/0cnJsl

21. The End
Martin Sillaots
martinsillaots@gmail.com