2. MARKETING OBJECTIVES
• To increase awareness for our game,“Snake Escape”.
• To gain good reputation for our development teamTrinity
Game Studios.
• To help create more revenue from the game to help create
more games in the future.
• To create a decent fan base and audience for our game.
3. THE 4 P’S OF MARKETING
Product, Price, Place and Promotion
4. WHAT IS MY PRODUCT?
• My Product is the video game
“Snake Escape”, a game my group
and I made using the program
Gamesalad.
• The game is to be available on
iPhone and can also be played via a
web browser.
• The game falls under the horror/
puzzle game genre category.
5. ABOUT SNAKE ESCAPE
• It is a top-down, puzzle/horror game set in a snake enclosure.
• Jimmy, the playable character, is a little boy who has gotten
himself trapped within the enclosure along with many deadly
snakes.
• Left with only a lantern to light his way, he must find the key
to unlock the door that will take him to freedom.
• The game is split into 10 levels/rooms, each room progressing
in difficulty and complexity.
8. SHOULD SNAKE ESCAPE BE
FREE-TO-PLAY?
I had the decision as to whether I should make our game free-
to-play but would have the inclusion of banner ads on the top/
bottom of the screen (basic way of making revenue for free-to-
play games), or if it should be a paid game, competitively priced.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to each option,
and so I thought it would be best to ask my target audience
what they would prefer.
9. TARGET AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
“I would pay a small price if it meant that
there would be no annoying adverts you
tend to get with mobile games as
accidentally touching them and getting
redirected can be frustrating” - Beth F
“Mobile games don’t exactly cost much,
and so i’d rather pay a small price straight
up than bother with banner ads distracting
me from the game” - Mel R
“It might be difficult to sell your game at a
price if no one has heard of it, so i’d say
make it free-to-play” - Josh M
“I have no problem paying a small price if
the game is enjoyable to play” - Jacob F
“ Indie developers sometimes make free
games to get more people to play their
games, but as long as the game is fun, I
have no issue with buying it” - James B
10. WHAT IS A COMPETITIVE
PRICE?
Looking at Puzzle games from
the App Store, prices range
from £0.69 up to £3.00.
Seeing as Snake Escape is not
an AAA title that plenty of
people have heard of, I would
price my game to compete,
meaning £0.69 is probably the
ideal price to sell my game at.
12. AGE RATING
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Drugs (4+): No drugs are seen, used or encouraged in Snake Escape.
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Copycat Behaviour (4+): No anti-social behaviour or any negative behaviour which would be
encouraged or copied in Snake Escape.
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Language (4+):There is no abusive or offensive language present in Snake Escape.
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Nudity (4+): No nudity is present within Snake Escape.
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Sex (4+): No sexual nature is present within Snake Escape.
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Threat (12+): Music and sound effects are scary and can cause anxiousness, limited field of view and
dark, eerie maze can be frightening and scary for the player.
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Violence (9+):The character (Jimmy) flashes as though he is hurt when in contact with a snake or a
plant. Loss of player’s life (present on the life bar) may be deemed violent.
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Snake Escape’s Overall Rating: 9+
14. PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS
The promotional products that I have decided to design and use in
my marketing plan:
• App Icon (In-direct Advertising)
• Poster (Direct Advertising)
• T-shirt (Promotion)
• Sticker Collection (Direct Advertising)
• Twitter Page (In-Direct Advertising)
These product’s design process and final designs will be shown in detail later on in the slideshow
18. TYPES OF GAMERS
The majority of gamers playing Snake Escape will be explorers, as the main concept of the game is to
explore the area in search of the key and the exit, and so gamers who like to explore will mostly
enjoy the game.The next biggest segment is Achievers.With challenges, time limits and awards
implemented in the game, achievers would enjoy playing the game.A small percentage of killers may
also play the game as an implemented leader board of fastest time completing levels may entice
killers to play the game.There are virtually no social aspects to the game and so socialisers may not
feel the need to play the game.
20. BETATESTING
I beta tested the game to a group of 15 people aged 10-24, 15 people aged 25-30 and 15 people aged 30-40.This
was to be able to conclusively narrow down the aged group of my target market.
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Q: Do you think this game fits the age group you fall into?
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Q:Would you buy this game?
Age Group Yes No
10-24 14 Votes 1 Votes
25-30 4 Votes 11 Votes
30-40 2 Votes 13 Votes
Age Group Yes No
10-24 12 Votes 3 Votes
25-30 4 Votes 11 Votes
30-40 2 Votes 13 Votes
21. WHAT APP MARKETPLACE IS
BEST?
There are 3 main mobile app markets, the
App Store (iOS), the Play Store (Android)
and Windows Store (Windows). Our aim is
to get as many people playing our game,
whilst also trying to make enough revenue
to support our marketing campaign. From
statistics found on the Forbes article below,
Apple’s App Store does not have as many
users as android, but it generates more
revenue per app with much more revenue
paid to developers.This confirms our choice
to create the game for iOS devices and to
sell it on the App Store.
source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlouis/2013/08/10/how-much-do-average-apps-make/
22. My market research suggested
that more people download
and play more free games
than paid, which isn’t usual,
however from the feedback I
received from my target
audience, more people would
rather pay a small amount
than to have banner ads in-
game.
25. 5 CHARACTERISTICS
THAT HELP MAKE AN APP ICON SUCCESSFUL
1. Use complementary or suitable colours.
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2. Include assets from the game.
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3.Add a 3D effect to the icon.
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4. Make the game genre known from the icon.
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5. Keep the icon clean and understandable even at a small size.
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30. ROUGH ICONS FEEDBACK
“I like the snake’s head icon, I think that the
close up of the snake’s head would work in
identifying the game.” - Beth F
“I quite like the “S” icon logo, simple but
effective.Also the snake icon also works
well.” - Jacob F
“I like the close up of the lantern, as it is an
iconic part of your game. I would avoid the
“Snake Escape” icon as I think it would be
hard to read what it says when the icon is
small on a phone.” - Mel R
“I think that if you developed the snake’s
head icon further, you could come up with a
great icon design.” - James B
32. APP ICON DESIGN
• Here is the finished vector, I
now need feedback on the
design.
33. DRAFT FEEDBACK
“I really like the idea of the flame being
also the snake head.All I would say is to
add colour as black and white doesn’t work
well in my opinion.” - Beth F
“Unique idea using the snake head/flame,
really like it.Would definitely add some
colour, possibly orange and red to show it is
a flame?” - Jacob F
“I would suggest adding colour, also maybe
add something to the background as the
whole icon isn't very interesting, but the
vector art is good.” - Mel R
“Add colour and I think this will be a really
good app icon, everything else about it is
good.” - James B
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39. T-SHIRT DESIGN IDEA
• Here is the design I came up
with. It uses the vector art
from the app icon as I feel
that it would be more
beneficial to advertise the
icon on the t-shirt.
40. T-SHIRT FEEDBACK
“The t-shirt design looks really good, as it is
the app icon for the game, fans will
recognise the shirt straight away, which is
good as fans will only buy/wear the shirt.
The black and white colours work nicely
but maybe you could try adding colour to
the design? Even though it looks good
already, adding colour may make the t-
shirt even better. Other than that, the t-
shirt is looking good.” - Jacob F
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43. UPDATEDT-SHIRT FEEDBACK
“The added colour really makes the t-shirt
stand out a lot more, I think it really looks
nice. I think you should stick to the colours
you have chosen as they are the same
colours you used on your app icon, which
helps link all of your designs together and
makes it easy for people to identify Snake
Escape as a brand. I think the overall logo
design is really great.” - Jacob F
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47. DRAFT STICKER DESIGNS
• Here are my initial ideas. I
decided to use some of the
assets from the game as I
feel that these represent the
game’s identity and work
really well as stickers.
Note:The black boxing around the stickers is there to show the white borders of the stickers.
48. STICKERS FEEDBACK
“I think that the stickers would work well in
promoting the game, but only if they were
stuck all in the same place.There isn’t any
link between the snake and the Jimmy
character, not even colours. For the sticker
campaign to really be successful, the
stickers need to be linked with each other
in some way so that people know that the
stickers are characters from the same
game” - Jacob F
49. STICKER DESIGN CHANGES
From the feedback I received on my
sticker designs, these changes needed
to be made:
• Keep the stickers the same colours
to create a link between them.
• Use the snake’s skin pattern on the
Jimmy sticker to add even more of
an obvious link between the two
stickers.
51. UPDATEDT-SHIRT FEEDBACK
“I think that the stickers look really great,
the added snake pattern on the character’s
shirt helps unify the stickers together.The
logo sticker looks fine as it is, but maybe try
to add the dark red colour found on the
other stickers somewhere to link them
altogether even more? This may not work
however but I would give it a try.Also,
maybe add the logo to the character’s shirt
to make it clear he is apart of the Snake
Escape game?” - Dave H
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57. DRAFT POSTER DESIGN
• Here are my draft poster
design. I included the
information that is required
on a poster, such as where it
is available.
58. DRAFT DESIGN FEEDBACK
“I like the fact that you have included a
number of the game assets on the poster to
create a link with the characters and the
game title. I like the position of Jimmy behind
the plant, but I think the snake needs to be
moved somewhere else as it looks like
everything is crammed into one corner of the
poster. Instead of the “Search the App Store”
text, you could possibly use a QR code
instead to direct people to download your
game? Also, maybe add small screenshots of
the gameplay to show what the game looks
like when playing?” - Mel R
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59. STICKER DESIGN CHANGES
From the feedback on the poster,
these were the key changes I needed
to make:
- Add a QR for easy accessibility to
the game on the App Store.
- De-clutter the bottom right corner
by moving/removing the snake.
- Add screenshots of the gameplay
to give a the viewer a better idea of
what the game is like.
61. DRAFT DESIGN FEEDBACK
“I definitely like this design more than the
last one.The poster seems a lot less cluttered
in the bottom right corner of the poster and
the use of the QR code and the screenshots
like I suggested work really well. I think it
looks a lot better laid-out and I like the fact
you have made the character and plant
more darker” - Mel R
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63. TWITTER PAGE
I created aTwitter page for the game for extra
advertisement. Interacting with video game
related twitter accounts could lead to receiving
retweets from them, which opens us up to a
whole audience of gamers who follow these
accounts.
It also allows us to interact with any fans we
may pick up throughout our marketing
campaign and can be a platform that we can
use to host competitions for such fans.
66. WHY ISTIMING IMPORTANT?
Timing can be essential as to whether an app or a mobile game
is successful or not. If you release the game at the wrong time, it
can quickly get buried on the App Store by high-budget games.
The timing and placement of your marketing can also affect how
well a game does. If you promote the game in the wrong area at
the wrong time, the marketing campaign may completely fail.
67. 2014 EVENT CALENDAR
Here is a calendar labelled
with all of the major gaming
events and conferences
coming up in 2014.
68. 17TH JULY 2014
• MyTwitter campaign
officially starts.This will
include using theTwitter
page to promote the game
and to gain a decent
following. Competitions can
also be held via the page to
create more attention.
• Interacting with other indie
developers and game
relatedTwitter accounts can
really be an effective way of
gaining a following fast.
When these Accounts
retweet you, all of their
gamer following we be able
to see it.
Around one month before Gamescom
69. 13TH - 17TH AUGUST 2014
• Gamescom will be a great
opportunity to expose the game to
a large number of hardcore gamers.
• Gamescom is where my marketing
assets will first be used.
• This is probably the most important
event within the marketing schedule.
Gamescom
70. PLAN OF ACTION
• I will stick the Snake Escape
stickers around the
surrounding areas to create
curiosity between the
gamers travelling to the
event.
71. • I will then use large stickers
of the Snake and randomly
place them around the
event.This will create more
curiosity, especially for the
gamers who saw the
stickers whilst travelling in
to the event.
• The snake’s random
locations could also act as
a stunt, that “Snakes have
escaped” which ties into
the game.
72. • There will then be posters
directing people to our
booth that we will run,
where people can look at
the game in more detail,
win the t-shirt and so on.
• The posters will be all
around the event, not just
at the booth.
73. 28TH AUGUST 2014
Two weeks after the marketing
campaign at Gamescom has
ended, the game would be
released on the App Store.Two
weeks should be enough time
for any indie game blogs or
websites to write reviews, and
also it isn’t too long that gamers
forget about the game after
Gamescom.
Game Release Date
75. HOW WILL I MONITOR MY
SUCCESS?
• I will monitor theTwitter
account, seeing how many
followers I gain over the
marketing campaign.This can
also tell me what parts of
my plan worked the best (if I
gain loads of followers on
15th August, this tells me my
Gamescom marketing
campaign is succeeding).
• I can monitor followers and
retweets, and get updated
charts and graphs by using
services such as retweet.co.uk
76. HOW WILL I MONITOR MY
SUCCESS?
• Order numbers for t-shirts can also
indicate how well the marketing plan
has done as if I have to order more t-
shirts, the game must be well received
and that people are interested in the
game.
• I will also monitor the comments
section of blogs who write articles
about the game, to get a better
understanding of how well the game
has been received.
• The number of app downloads is
probably the most direct way of
measuring how well my marketing
campaign worked.This can be
monitored by services such as
appfigures
79. POTENTIAL CHANGESTO MY
MARKETING PLAN
I received client feedback on my marketing plan to determine if
they felt it was a good one or not.
80.
81. POTENTIAL CHANGES -
SMARTTARGETS
• The first possible change mentioned was
the fact that I should be more specific
with my marketing aims (SMARTTargets).
• This means that I should work out, say
how many new followers I should gain
over a period of time, or the amount of t-
shirts I should ship over the duration of
Gamescom in order to consider the
marketing campaign a success.
82. POTENTIAL CHANGES - MAKE
TARGET AUDIENCE MORE SPECIFIC
• Secondly, my client suggested that I should make my
target audience more specific.
• At the moment, my target age group is 10-24 year
olds, which in fairness is a huge age gap. Marketing a
product for a 10 year old would be a lot different
from marketing a product for a 24 year old.
• 10-15 year olds would rely on parents to pay for paid
games such as Snake Escape, whilst 16-24 year old
most probably have a job and so can pay for the game
themselves.
• This means that I should either market my game for
the parents (35+) of the 10-15 year old group, or for
16-24 year olds themselves. Due to the game’s art
style, I would probably choose to market at 10-15
year olds, meaning I may need to revise some of my
designs in order for them to be fit for purpose.
10-24 Year Olds
10-15 Year Olds 16-24 Year Olds
83. POTENTIAL CHANGES - APP LOGO
ANDT-SHIRT DESIGN
• The next potential change I could make
would be the app icon and the t-shirt design.
• This is because these designs do not
necessarily fit with the game’s art style, along
with the stickers and the poster design.The
logo may convey the game to be different
than it actually is, my client even suggested
that the logo looks a bit like a core FPS logo,
such as Call of Duty: Ghosts logo, than a
puzzle/horror game.
• Also, as my target audience would now be
10-15 year olds, maybe a logo more “kiddie-
friendly” would be more appropriate?
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84. POTENTIAL CHANGES - IDENTIFY
ACTUAL BLOGS + WHENTO CONTACT
THEM
• The last feedback I received from my client was
that I should include specific blogs/review sites
in my marketing plan that I would contact and
at what point of my marketing schedule I would
contact them.
• I would include sites such as Indie Game
Reviewer, IndieLove and Indie Game Mag in the
list of blogs and sites that I would contact about
a potential article/review being written.
• I would contact them before Gamescom, and
maybe even at the event as representatives
from these sites usually go to these events.This
would give them enough time to write and
publish their reviews before the game is
released.
