The document discusses various paths for monetizing an inheritance, including saving it, investing it, or starting a business. It then focuses on starting a game business, covering topics like traditional vs. self-publishing, working with publishers, contract negotiations, and self-publishing considerations. The overall document provides guidance on strategically planning and executing different approaches to bringing a video game to market.
Best Fiends Design and Monetization AuditTony Gowland
An audit on the design & monetisation methods used in the mobile free to play (f2p) game Best Fiends.
Seriously is a company formed from a bit of a mobile gaming dream team. A couple of months ago when Best Fiends, their first game, had just released I predicted that although it's very polished & fun to play, it would not break in to the top 100 grossing. So I thought I should probably go back and check to see if my fortune telling skills need work or not.
Was I right? Find out!
Did you enjoy this audit? Find my design & monetization audit on Rovio's racing game Angry Birds Go! in the "More From User" links on the right of the browser window or here
http://slideshare.net/FreakyZoid/angry-birdsgo
Would you like your game to benefit from an audit by an experienced designer? Whether it's already on the marketplace, in or approaching soft launch, or even just an initial concept, every title can be improved with a fresh pair of eyes.
I can work to whatever level your game is ready for, from high level product scoping, to deep diving the numbers on a specific feature.
Email tony@ant-workshop.com
There’s something incredibly powerful about the deep long-lasting engagement that Kickstarter built into their platform. You find yourself coming back again and again - and getting better at something you care about. You’re deeply engaged.
That’s the power of Game Thinking. Learn how to harness Game Thinking for YOUR product at Game Thinking Live http://gamethinkinglive.com. Learn how leading-edge companies like Slack, AirBnB, Happify, Kickstarter build deep engagement into their products and services.
http://gamethinkinglive.com
Three Powerful Ideas to help investors make smart decisionsAmy Jo Kim
Have you ever been confused by conflicting advice from your stakeholders & colleagues? Do you fall for the siren song of seductive mockups? Learn how to navigate these challenges and spot the signs of a team that's headed for product/market fit.
Do you want to learn how to attract the right people into your community - and get input from the RIGHT hot-core Superfans? This talk will teach you how.
Best Fiends Design and Monetization AuditTony Gowland
An audit on the design & monetisation methods used in the mobile free to play (f2p) game Best Fiends.
Seriously is a company formed from a bit of a mobile gaming dream team. A couple of months ago when Best Fiends, their first game, had just released I predicted that although it's very polished & fun to play, it would not break in to the top 100 grossing. So I thought I should probably go back and check to see if my fortune telling skills need work or not.
Was I right? Find out!
Did you enjoy this audit? Find my design & monetization audit on Rovio's racing game Angry Birds Go! in the "More From User" links on the right of the browser window or here
http://slideshare.net/FreakyZoid/angry-birdsgo
Would you like your game to benefit from an audit by an experienced designer? Whether it's already on the marketplace, in or approaching soft launch, or even just an initial concept, every title can be improved with a fresh pair of eyes.
I can work to whatever level your game is ready for, from high level product scoping, to deep diving the numbers on a specific feature.
Email tony@ant-workshop.com
There’s something incredibly powerful about the deep long-lasting engagement that Kickstarter built into their platform. You find yourself coming back again and again - and getting better at something you care about. You’re deeply engaged.
That’s the power of Game Thinking. Learn how to harness Game Thinking for YOUR product at Game Thinking Live http://gamethinkinglive.com. Learn how leading-edge companies like Slack, AirBnB, Happify, Kickstarter build deep engagement into their products and services.
http://gamethinkinglive.com
Three Powerful Ideas to help investors make smart decisionsAmy Jo Kim
Have you ever been confused by conflicting advice from your stakeholders & colleagues? Do you fall for the siren song of seductive mockups? Learn how to navigate these challenges and spot the signs of a team that's headed for product/market fit.
Do you want to learn how to attract the right people into your community - and get input from the RIGHT hot-core Superfans? This talk will teach you how.
The Game Thinking Roadmap: a PMs path to masteryAmy Jo Kim
Have you ever wondered if you're building the right MVP, and testing it on the right customers? Are you eager to avoid "leaky bucket syndrome" and drive long-term engagement? Would you like a roadmap for what to build, what to test, and who to test it on throughout your product development process? Level-up your PM skills with Game Thinking -- a design system and product roadmap for building products your customers will return to, again and again. You'll get a powerful framework, actionable tips, and a chance to apply these ideas to your own project.
How to drive user engagement like Slack, Snapchat & KickstarterAmy Jo Kim
How do breakthrough products keep pulling new customers in - while re-engaging the ones they already have? It’s not with tricks & external rewards, that’s for sure. Discover how Slack, Kickstarter, and Snapchat reduce churn and drive deep, game-like engagement by creating a coherent path to mastery and deploying engaged triggers to light the way.
A brief talk I gave at a recent mobile game development meetup on analyzing the mobile app stores to find repeatable patterns of success. Includes analysis of Charts, Genres, Themes, Control schemes, play duration, engagement, intrinsic motivation, and more.
The 3 most common mistakes smart entrepreneurs make building their MVPAmy Jo Kim
In this information-packed webinar you'll discover the most common and costly MVP mistakes that cripple promising startups. You’ll also learn how to avoid these mistakes, and super-charge your path to product/market fit with Game Thinking. Taught by Amy Jo Kim, CEO of Shufflebrain, this training session covers:
- How coaching 50+ design teams worldwide revealed huge, costly blunfers in common MVP practices
- How leading startups like Slack use game thinking – NOT gamification – to avoid these mistakes and build products that people love
- How our Getting2Alpha system has helped dozens of entrepreneurs build the right MVP and find product/market fit
- Why the CEO of fast-growing startup Pley called Getting2Alpha ‘an invaluable investment’ after using it to go from idea to MVP in 5 weeks
Successful innovations reach a mainstream audience—but they never start off that way. That’s the paradox of innovation that most entrepreneurs fail to embrace - at their peril.
That’s where Game Thinking comes in. Game Thinking is a step-by-step system for accelerating innovation and crafting products that people love…and keep loving. In Game Thinking, you empower your customers to get better at something they care about — like playing an instrument or leading a team. Come to this fast-paced training and equip yourself with the tools you need to create your next breakout hit.
Three massive mistakes that smart entrepreneurs makeAmy Jo Kim
Wanna find out the common and costly mistakes that cause smart innovators to stumble? Learn about the TAM myth, the siren song of seductive mockups, and the rush to build EXACTLY the wrong MVP - and find out what to do instead.
Game Thinking - The Business of Gaming (Gamification)Stephen Gay
Companies can leverage game thinking (gamification) to delight customers, increase usage and achieve business goals. The following deck is an overview of my research on the topic of gamification and game thinking. Enjoy!
Turbo-charge your product with Game Thinking - Lean Startup Conference 2015Amy Jo Kim
It’s easier than ever to create a new, innovative product, game, app or service. But most innovative projects never take off and reach their intended audience. What differentiates the ones that DO? What do teams who create genre-defining hits do differently? In this talk, you’ll learn 5 early design hacks that will help you find and delight your aspirational audience – illustrated with front-line stories from eBay, Ultima Online, The Sims, Rock Band, Covet Fashion, Happify and Pley. You’ll come away with a smarter approach to early product design – and 5 practical, actionable hacks that will increase your odds of success.
VRX 3 Design Leadership Strategies for Better VRNicole Lazzaro
For VR to succeed where it failed 20 years ago requires overcoming more psychological, physiological, and gameplay challenges than all previous game platform transitions combined. Even more important than reducing judder and motion sickness is delivering the design leadership that inspire teams to innovate and deliver on the VR/AR promise. Simply cloning last generation mechanics to next generation hardware feels about as good as a transparent D-pad on an iPhone game. We believe that VR/AR is the ultimate entertainment platform combining the emotion of movies with the participation of games. To get there require Design Leadership not management. Based on XEODesign’s year and a half of research true VR/AR experiences must exceed 36 design benchmarks to succeed. This talk covers the first three.
Slack is a runaway hit — and everyone wants to figure out why. Slack lacks the outer trappings of a game — instead it pulls you along by unfolding new opportunities as your skills grow stronger. Learn how Slack’s Core Learning Loop drives a simple, compelling daily habit; why a single-player on-boarding bot creates a game-like experience; and why Slack’s early development practices created a strong foundation for rapid growth.
Learn 6 easy growth hacks that will boost your mobile game's retention.
Caroline Lee, the Community Developer @polljoy shows you how some easy to duplicate hacks that you can apply to your strategy and dramatically improve your app's retention. Prevent your users from leaving your mobile game and app and
boost your retention.
More more marketing hacks and tips for app developers, visit polljoy's blog : https://blog.polljoy.com
And if you are looking for an in-app rating prompts service to boost your 5 star ratings and your revenue, check www.polljoy.com.
Definitive Guide To Funding Your Video Game MasterpieceJames Gwertzman
Originally presented at the 2007 Casual Connect conference, this presentation delivers a quick tour through all the various funding mechanisms available to start-up video game studios to get their games funded.
The Game Thinking Roadmap: a PMs path to masteryAmy Jo Kim
Have you ever wondered if you're building the right MVP, and testing it on the right customers? Are you eager to avoid "leaky bucket syndrome" and drive long-term engagement? Would you like a roadmap for what to build, what to test, and who to test it on throughout your product development process? Level-up your PM skills with Game Thinking -- a design system and product roadmap for building products your customers will return to, again and again. You'll get a powerful framework, actionable tips, and a chance to apply these ideas to your own project.
How to drive user engagement like Slack, Snapchat & KickstarterAmy Jo Kim
How do breakthrough products keep pulling new customers in - while re-engaging the ones they already have? It’s not with tricks & external rewards, that’s for sure. Discover how Slack, Kickstarter, and Snapchat reduce churn and drive deep, game-like engagement by creating a coherent path to mastery and deploying engaged triggers to light the way.
A brief talk I gave at a recent mobile game development meetup on analyzing the mobile app stores to find repeatable patterns of success. Includes analysis of Charts, Genres, Themes, Control schemes, play duration, engagement, intrinsic motivation, and more.
The 3 most common mistakes smart entrepreneurs make building their MVPAmy Jo Kim
In this information-packed webinar you'll discover the most common and costly MVP mistakes that cripple promising startups. You’ll also learn how to avoid these mistakes, and super-charge your path to product/market fit with Game Thinking. Taught by Amy Jo Kim, CEO of Shufflebrain, this training session covers:
- How coaching 50+ design teams worldwide revealed huge, costly blunfers in common MVP practices
- How leading startups like Slack use game thinking – NOT gamification – to avoid these mistakes and build products that people love
- How our Getting2Alpha system has helped dozens of entrepreneurs build the right MVP and find product/market fit
- Why the CEO of fast-growing startup Pley called Getting2Alpha ‘an invaluable investment’ after using it to go from idea to MVP in 5 weeks
Successful innovations reach a mainstream audience—but they never start off that way. That’s the paradox of innovation that most entrepreneurs fail to embrace - at their peril.
That’s where Game Thinking comes in. Game Thinking is a step-by-step system for accelerating innovation and crafting products that people love…and keep loving. In Game Thinking, you empower your customers to get better at something they care about — like playing an instrument or leading a team. Come to this fast-paced training and equip yourself with the tools you need to create your next breakout hit.
Three massive mistakes that smart entrepreneurs makeAmy Jo Kim
Wanna find out the common and costly mistakes that cause smart innovators to stumble? Learn about the TAM myth, the siren song of seductive mockups, and the rush to build EXACTLY the wrong MVP - and find out what to do instead.
Game Thinking - The Business of Gaming (Gamification)Stephen Gay
Companies can leverage game thinking (gamification) to delight customers, increase usage and achieve business goals. The following deck is an overview of my research on the topic of gamification and game thinking. Enjoy!
Turbo-charge your product with Game Thinking - Lean Startup Conference 2015Amy Jo Kim
It’s easier than ever to create a new, innovative product, game, app or service. But most innovative projects never take off and reach their intended audience. What differentiates the ones that DO? What do teams who create genre-defining hits do differently? In this talk, you’ll learn 5 early design hacks that will help you find and delight your aspirational audience – illustrated with front-line stories from eBay, Ultima Online, The Sims, Rock Band, Covet Fashion, Happify and Pley. You’ll come away with a smarter approach to early product design – and 5 practical, actionable hacks that will increase your odds of success.
VRX 3 Design Leadership Strategies for Better VRNicole Lazzaro
For VR to succeed where it failed 20 years ago requires overcoming more psychological, physiological, and gameplay challenges than all previous game platform transitions combined. Even more important than reducing judder and motion sickness is delivering the design leadership that inspire teams to innovate and deliver on the VR/AR promise. Simply cloning last generation mechanics to next generation hardware feels about as good as a transparent D-pad on an iPhone game. We believe that VR/AR is the ultimate entertainment platform combining the emotion of movies with the participation of games. To get there require Design Leadership not management. Based on XEODesign’s year and a half of research true VR/AR experiences must exceed 36 design benchmarks to succeed. This talk covers the first three.
Slack is a runaway hit — and everyone wants to figure out why. Slack lacks the outer trappings of a game — instead it pulls you along by unfolding new opportunities as your skills grow stronger. Learn how Slack’s Core Learning Loop drives a simple, compelling daily habit; why a single-player on-boarding bot creates a game-like experience; and why Slack’s early development practices created a strong foundation for rapid growth.
Learn 6 easy growth hacks that will boost your mobile game's retention.
Caroline Lee, the Community Developer @polljoy shows you how some easy to duplicate hacks that you can apply to your strategy and dramatically improve your app's retention. Prevent your users from leaving your mobile game and app and
boost your retention.
More more marketing hacks and tips for app developers, visit polljoy's blog : https://blog.polljoy.com
And if you are looking for an in-app rating prompts service to boost your 5 star ratings and your revenue, check www.polljoy.com.
Definitive Guide To Funding Your Video Game MasterpieceJames Gwertzman
Originally presented at the 2007 Casual Connect conference, this presentation delivers a quick tour through all the various funding mechanisms available to start-up video game studios to get their games funded.
Why Game Publishing is Broken and how We Can Fix It TogetherYaniv Nizan
Game publishing evolved long ago when they were a necessity. Digital publishers of today are offering game dev tools, insights and user profiling that are mainly based on their size. If small game developers would apply a "shared economy" approach to game publishing we have a chance of creating together, better tools, more insights and bigger success for anyone involved.
Brazil's mobile gaming market is booming, and we can help you get the most out of it.
From product analysis to customer acquisition and marketing funding, Leela is the first Mobile Game Publisher focused in Brazil, formed by a team of industry veterans and backed up by Gazeus, Brazil's biggest social/mobile game developer.
Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM) is the world’s leading mobile security and tool provider as we are currently ranked as the largest mobile application developer in the world. Serving more than 567 million mobile monthly active users (MAUs) by the end of September 2015, our core products and services include Clean Master, Battery Doctor, CM Security, CM Launcher.
As 74% of our mobile MAUs are overseas users outside of China, we seek for further expansion in the international market by concentrating on English users. We therefore want to incorporate high quality news content into our mobile apps in the U.S as the way to enhance the overall user experience for overseas users. At present, we are interested in extending our range of news content and would appreciate any possible cooperation with your company in terms of licensing our uses of your company’s news content in our products and services.
Mobile Game Go-to-Market case study presented by ex-CEO of Com2us USA, a leading mobile game company having offices in Silicon Valley, Korea, China and Japan.
This presentation is part of my talk at NASSCOM GDC where I was explaining if you actually need a publisher or is your pitch good enough to get a publisher. Once you have an answer to this question, you need to hunt a publisher and convince him to publish your stuff, this is quite a challenging and competitive task. Main topics covered were:
Why do you need a publisher?
Do you think publisher will publish your game?
How to approach publishers?
Treat them as your business partner
First impression is the last impression
Publisher submission is a project
Be a good listener
Communication is the key
lines and between the lines…decoding a contract
What if your project is rejected
This presentation covers tips and tricks for game developers and covers a little bit of everything for both work for hire developers, as well as those creating their own IP.
Doing Things That Don't Scale - Counter intuitive marketing for startups...Almog Koren
Counter intuitive marketing for startups...
After closing down Scoreoid now having some free time, I enrolled startup class. Part of the reading was Paul’s Graham’s do things that don’t scale.
I realized what I did for Scoreoid in the being was exactly this, and it really works….
Games Invest: Pitch your company, not your productGAMESbrief
Investors are falling over themselves to invest in games, but UK games companies are failing to get their money. The reason? Too many companies pitch products, not companies.
In this talk, I explain the different stages of a compy, what investors look for and the biggest mistakes that I have seen startups making when talking to investors.
Ten dos and don'ts for TV companies making gamesNicholas Lovell
At the Edinburgh Television Festival 2010, I was asked to tell television producers and commissioners how to make television formats work with computer games.
This is what I said.
7 Years of Independent Publishing | Dieter SchoellerJessica Tams
Delivered at Casual Connect Europe 2016
This talk will briefly summarize the lessons learned over the last seven years when it comes to publishing independent games, collaborating with young studios and successfully bringing their games to market. Having built up all pillars of distribution, from dinosaur retail business to Steam to mobile to digital console, we will share an insight into best practices and the biggest failures encountered along this path through concrete case studies and subjective insights.
This is a guide for game funding presented during ]the MICA conference in Buenos Aires on October 6, 2017. It includes info on the different types of funding, funding sources for games and game studios, as well as presentations that will help present game studios and their games for studio funding and project funding opportunities.
Summary:
You know the game you want to make but how do you talk about it? Not with your peers and friends, but with investors and publishers. In this session, we’ll discover the art of pitching, why it’s useful, and how to structure it so you feel prepared in front of a publisher.
Presenter Bio:
Kumsal Obuz is a self-taught veteran web developer with more than 15 years of experience. After several years of preparation, he started his own game studio, Viroid Games, in August 2020. He also authored a game development book that covers Blender and Godot Engine for Packt Publishing.
Context:
This is a talk I often give at game development Meetups and conferences. I see that many indie developers suffer from the most basic aspects of pitching their creation to people who have the power to part way with money.
Trade shows won't help you achieve all of your marketing and business objectives. But they are an important milestone to getting there. A win on the trade show floor can reverberate throughout all your marketing efforts.
Here are seven tips to help your brand score points, win customers and be awesome:
1, Define your strategy for getting to the next level
2. Earn points by playing to win
3. Understand your arsenal and bring the right equipment
4. Know the rules
5. The game begins when you start playing
6. The game doesn't stop when the whistle blows
7. Refine your strategy to advance to the next level
Honest Reviews of Tim Han LMA Course Program.pptxtimhan337
Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
Embracing GenAI - A Strategic ImperativePeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
3. We’re Suddenly Millionaires
Our rich Uncle Bim left us $2M (USD)!
We can save it
Risk?
Reward?
We can invest it
Risk?
Reward?
We can start a business
Risk?
Reward?
4. Let’s Make A Game!
The Four P’s
Product
Price
Promotion
Place
11. Do Your Research!
Read Gamasutra daily
Follow developer blogs
Connect with movers and shakers on
social media
Talk to retailers at brick-and-mortar stores
Visit industry meet-ups, conventions and
trade shows
14. Studio vs. Publisher
A game studio developers video games that
are marketed and sold by a game publisher.
15. Game Developer (Studio)
Design
Programming
Art
Audio
Project Management
Testing
Business Development (Sales)
16. Game Publisher
Product Development
Legal
Finance
Marketing
Sales
Quality Assurance
Operations
Technical Support
Customer Service
Community Management
17. Most of All – Publishers are the Bank
Have the most money at risk
Cost of development
Cost of marketing
Cost of inventory
They reap a most of the
rewards.
18. Publisher Pros and Cons
Pros
Keep your equity
Money for development
Focus on project
Cons
Likely loss of IP
Less flexibility to change direction
Funding project, not company
19. Let’s Say You Decide To Use A
Publisher
What factors would you consider in deciding
which publisher to sign with?
20. Choosing A Publisher
Suitability of their portfolio and fanbase
Ability to promote and publish your game
Working relationship with other developers
Number of games they are publishing
Publishing articles written by their staff
21. World-Wide or Country-by-Country
Model?
World-Wide
Strong brand recognition of big publisher
Budget for marketing and shelf-space
Can finance games at early stages
Simplicity of contacts and communication
May overlook some territories
22. World-Wide or Country-by-Country
Model?
Country-by-Country
Larger pool of publishers to choose from
More difficult to distribute in US and UK
Negotiations happen more quickly
Less risk of project being canceled
Higher royalty rates
More focused marketing campaigns
More attention to your game in general
23. Pitching To A Publisher
Publishers are not interested
in ideas.
Publishers are not interested
in documents.
Publishers want to see a
prototype!
24. Tips For A Successful Pitch
Get In The Door
Design The Pitch
Assume Their Point Of View
Know All The Details
Be Organized
Rehearse
Be Passionate!!!
Show You Are Serious
Exude Confidence [but not Cockiness]
Be Flexible
Get Them To Own It
Follow Up
Jesse Schell
25. More Tips
Give everyone a role
Have your laptop ready to go
Have a preloaded video ready
Talk about your game, not yourself
Talk money honestly
29. Types Of Development Contracts
Work for Hire
Early Stage
Completion Funding
Pick-Up Deal
Let’s take a closer look at each!
30. Work-for-Hire Contracts
Publisher brings the developer a concept,
property or franchise and the developer creates
the game based on the publisher’s guidelines.
Great for establishing reputation
Usually requires a smaller staff
Least amount of negotiating power for
developer
Flat fee, but reliable form of revenue
No retained rights to developer
31. Early Stage Development Deal
Developer pitches a publisher on a game that
they want to make and gets funding from the
publisher to create the game.
Reserved for teams with solid track record
Requires detailed GDD and tech demo
Advances against royalties
Developer retains certain rights
32. Completion Funding
Developer creates a game on its own dime and then
at some stage in the development process brings the
concept to a publisher that finances the rest of the
game.
Good balance of creative freedom and negotiating
power
Requires demo showing complete playability and
unique selling points
Advances against royalties
Developer retains certain rights
33. Pick Up Deal
Developer completes the game with its own
money and then sells the essentially complete
game to a publisher.
Gold master date is near
Strongest negotiating position for developers
Country-by-country or world-wide model
Advances against royalties
Developer retains most rights
35. Advances
Never paid in one lump sum
Too risky
Bad for cash flow
Paid out over a series of “milestones”
36. Milestones
Typically paid against “deliverables”
Signed Contract
Documents (GDD, TDD, Schedule)
First Playable (Will it work? Will it be fun?)
Alpha (feature complete)
Beta (asset complete)
Gold Master (publisher approved to sell)
Source Code & Assets
37. Milestones
Production milestones (such as Alpha and
Beta) are typically defined by:
Features: Degree of completeness
Assets: Percent final
Bugs: Number and severity allowable
38. Royalty
Percentage of every sale
Up-front money is an “advance” on future
royalties
Advance must be “earned out” before true
royalties are paid
39. Royalty
Factors determining royalty:
Number of logos on box
Net receipts (deductions for credits and
refunds for return)
Additional expenses:
Cost of Goods
Insurance
Shipping
Witholding taxes from foreign countries
40. Stupid Developer Trick
“I’ll cover all my costs with the advance and
wait for profits when the royalties come.”
MOST GAMES NEVER EARN OUT (make
a profit).
41. Royalty Protection
Ways to protect your royalty:
Escalating royalties based on sales
Separate royalty for sublicensed distribution
Royalty reports with units manufactured, units
sold, and wholesale price
Limit copies publisher can give away for free
Contract provision for auditing publisher’s
books
43. Other Contract Provisions
Definition of market coverage
Minimum marketing budget
Developer logo placement
Engine and common code rights
Ancillary rights
Secondary platform and sequel rights
46. Step 2: Talk
Strike up a conversation to build rapport
Ask about the issues
Show some trust to get some in return
Face and Honor Societies require far more
nuanced and risky negotiation strategies
47. Step 3: Offers And Counter-Offers
The first person to make an offer, loses.
If you are made an offer, take time before
making a counter offer
Take lots of notes
User counter-offers to triangulate
sensitivities
If you need to walk, walk
48. Step 4: Things You Should NEVER Do
Enter a negotiation you’re not willing to walk away
from
Negotiate one issue at a time
Negotiate for the sake of negotiating
Make open-ended offer
Make an offer you don’t actually like
Give up your IP or shares of your company
Rescind or modify an offer after it’s been accepted
Lie
Threaten
49. Remember
A negotiation is a
starting point, not the
end game.
The best deal is the one
that gives you the most
value while also making
your counterpart happy.
50. Group Quest
Put together a pitch for your game.
Prepare a 10-minute demo of your prototype
Use a laptop
Have back-up materials ready just in case
Give everyone a role
Rehearse first
Be prepared for a Q&A
53. Setting Up Your Business
Hire a lawyer to establish it as a legitimate
business.
Hire an accountant or business consultant
Fund the company, not a game
Set goals and deadlines for evaluations
Manage by the numbers, not the guts
55. Developing Your Game
You can’t make AAA games, but avoid “one-
off” games that are too simplistic.
Even with simple games, have
Meaningful progress over time
Social features
Frequent updates
56. Launching Global
A global launch does not mean just one
launch:
Different platforms
Different distributors
Different languages
Maximize your access points to customers!
57. Launching Global
World use of languages:
English: 4.70%
Spanish: 6.15%
Mandarin: 14.4%
Don’t forget to localize marketing materials as
well as your product!
58. Going Global
Country considerations:
No prohibition on advertising or data collection
Use standard digital stores
Are emerging markets
Examples:
Germany
Spain
Portugal
Japan
Russia
59. Managing Your Business
Be an entrepreneur
Prepare for failure; aim for sustainability
After launching, just don’t sit back and
check the bank account
Build a long-term relationship with players
60. Time Until “Independent
Sustainability”
Kitfox Games:
Leaving last job and finding company: 5 months
Montreal startup accelerator (at minimum wage): 9 months
Financial sustainability (Kickstarter and grant): 3 months
Spryfox Games (11 games total):
3 profitable games
4 break-even games
5 unprofitable games
5 (or 20) unfinished prototypes
63. 5 Biggest Mistakes Made By Indies
1. Lack of product positioning
2. Lack of benchmarking for trends and
competitors
3. Underestimating the value of media
content
4. Inadequate press kits
5. Failure to create community buzz
66. Doing Your Own Marketing
The personal approach can work well
The amount of time and effort can add up!
67. Hire Outside Specialist
Freelancers and mini-agencies and big
firms, oh my!
Some focus on PR, others on advertising,
or a mix
Consider best fit for your budget!
68. Adding Marketing Person To Team
Advantages:
Press likes to speak directly to team
More connected to your mission and
projects
Quicker response to communications
69. Adding Marketing Person To Team
Options:
Bring on a part-timer early on
Or give duties to someone on team with
good communications skills
Set up a general email account so different
team members can respond
70. Away Mission
Determine the best way to get your game
published.
List 3 advantages of traditional publishing
List 3 advantages of self-publishing
Explain which is better for your game and
why
Editor's Notes
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information — the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning: originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and display the content for the same.
Stakeholder (corporate), a person, group, organization, or system who affects or can be affected by an organization's actions.
Game developer Stakeholders:
Studio Head
Technical Director
Lead Programmer
Art Director
Design Director
Business Development Manager (Sales)
Game Publisher Stakeholders:
Marketing
Product Development
International divisions
CFO (Chief Financial Officer)
Sales
EastmentKodak is looking for an advertising firm to create an ad campaign for their new slide projector, which they call “The Wheel”. They come to listen to Don Draper’s pitch for why Sterling Cooper should handle the campaign by explaining how his ad agency would pitch the product to customers.
(Asset complete = All Assets represented)
(Feature complete = All Assets + Working + Free of bugs)
(Asset complete = All Assets represented)
(Feature complete = All Assets + Working + Free of bugs)
One column for you and your counter part, one row per issue, and a row each for BATNA (Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement), reservation price, and target price. For each issue, identify the position, interest, and priority respective to each party.. The planning doc is like your script for the negotiation. You will need to improvise and adapt, but your planning doc is your guiding light:
Don’t rush right into numbers, offers, and battles of wits. Ask about your counterpart’s personal life. Ask how business is going. Most business negotiations are conducted by people who don’t know each other. Integrative negotiations, like relationships, are built on trust. Getting everyone in the room relaxed and in a cooperative mindset can make it much easier to collaborate on creating deals that work for everyone.
Ask your counterpart why she wants to make a deal? How would a deal like this fit into her company’s strategy or current activities? Ask how your company can help or support that strategy. What pain points is her company currently experiencing? What’s the mood at the company? Ask about the individual issues. Ask why one issue is important to her. Or why Issue A is more important to her than Issue B. How do these issues play into her company’s strategy?
Don’t be afraid to reveal information of your own. In fact, if your counterpart is tight-lipped, you may need to offer some tidbits to trigger a norm of reciprocity and get her to reveal something in return. If your counterpart is tight-lipped, you may need to offer some tidbits to trigger a norm of reciprocity and get her to reveal something in return.
If your counterpart makes the first move, take your time. Review the offer, match it against your planning document. Use the offer to try to suss out what’s important to your counterpart. Then draft a counter-offer
Take lots of notes and track the progress of counter-offers. You can use your counterpart’s offers to try and triangulate his sensitivities. If he yields a lot on one issue, but barely budges on another, its a safe bet that the latter is the high priority issue for him.
You can use your counterpart’s offers to try and triangulate his sensitivities. If he yields a lot on one issue, but barely budges on another, its a safe bet that the latter is the high priority issue for him.
When you’ve hit your limit (either in terms of patience or reservation price), don’t be afraid to indicate that your next offer is final. You don’t need to be hostile about it, just plainspoken. And if you say it’s your final offer, stick to it, although it is okay to let your counterpart make one final counter-offer in return.
But you shouldn’t simply go for whatever language is most spoken in the world – the size of the market also matters. When determining your localization strategy, you should pay attention to market revenue being generated from paid apps, IAPs and advertising revshare – they will show you where the money lies.
Looking at these parameters you could focus on Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian markets, as they turn out to be the strongest ones. Numbers from App Annie and Newzoo also confirm this theory. It’s worth watching the GDC talk about Expeditions: Conquistador from Logic Artists to see how they did it. You must be wondering why I decided not to include China in the list. The land of the rising sun is a huge market, but also one which is too hard to chew, once bitten. It can be insanely difficult to have any decent app penetration in the country without a Shanghai / Beijing office, and unless you have some unfair advantage, such as a partner in the country or something along those lines, my advice is to steer clear.
The mission of an indie team should be survive to its first game and make a sustainable business in the long term to improve quality of the products step-by-step, putting a creative factory in place to stay in the long term.
Dustin Moskovitz, the co-founder of Facebook was asked in an interview about what it felt like to be to be part of Facebook’s overnight success. He replied with something similar to this: “If by ‘overnight success’ you mean staying up and coding all night, every night for six years straight then it felt really tiring and stressful.”