Presentation at Ohio Game Developer Expo

1. We create compelling gameplay experiences!

2. FreshGames
•
Based in Columbus, Ohio - Self-Funded
•
Est. 2002 - PC & Flash > 2011 Pivoted to Mobile
•
Employees - 8
•
Development Studio - Poland - 3
•
Publish/Develop
•
15 PC/Mac/Flash
•
10 iOS/Android

3. HOW TO NOT GET
F*’D
MAKING MOBILE
GAMES

4. I N S I D E R S T R AT E G I E S
F O R C R E AT I N G
SUCCESSFUL
MOBILE GAMES

5. WHY DO WE LIKE MAKING MOBILE GAMES?

6. MOBILE
T H E # 1 G A M I N G P L AT F O R M
IN THE WORLD

7. N E V E R B E F O R E H AV E
YOU HAD SUCH
MASSIVE
REACH
WOW took 10 years to scale to
10 Million Users.
Draw Something - 6 weeks to
scale to 50 Million Users.

8. GROWTH & REACH
Mobile games market to double in size by 2016 - $24 Billion
3
6 7.2
BILLION
BILLION
BILLION
Internet
Users
Mobile Phone
Users
Global
Population

9. M O B I L E G A M E R S TAT S
Player Profiles
• 48% female / 52% male
• 55% don’t spend money on games
• 40% between 33-50
• YOY Highest growth 50+,
148% casual

10. A P P S T O R E S TAT S
Apple and Google Play, 2013
By Download
Games
By Revenue
Games
By Revenue
Games
38% 73% 88%
Top 100
Grossing
Top 100
Grossing
94% 98%
FREE
FREE

11. IT’S
COMPETITIVE
• Over 1.3 Million Apps - 38% games
• 261,000 Publishers
• 180/710 daily being uploaded
• 80% don’t break even
• 60% Zombie apps -
No updates, less than 10 reviews

12. V E RY
L U C R AT I V E
• Candy Crush -
$890,000 daily iOS
• Puzzles & Dragons -
$2M daily in Japan

14. GETTING TO THE TOP
Daily iOS Ranks for All Apps
GROSSING
TOP
FREE
installs
installs
10 = $77K+
50 = $15K+
100 = $10K+
10 = 75K+
50 = 23K+
100 = 15K+
10 = 11K+
50 = 2K
100 = 1.1K
TOP
TOP
PAID

15. N O W T H AT Y O U ’ R E E X C I T E D …
HERE’S REALITY…

16. If you have little or no
experience making
mobile games you WILL
make $ mistakes!

17. SECRET
F O R C R E AT I N G H I T G A M E S

18. SUCCESS FORMULA
FOR MOBILE GAMES
GAMEPLAY
+
Compulsion
Loops
=
Retention
MONETIZATION
=
Free2play
$
SOCIAL
=
Virality

19. L E T ’ S S TA R T AT T H E B E G I N N I N G …

20. GAME
IDEA

21. BE UN!QUE
• Don’t just copy other games. Be inspired, but innovate.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel, just make it rounder.
• Surprise and delight users.
!

22. KILLER THEME
Who is your TARGET AUDIENCE?
• Demographic determines
design direction
• Great theme & awesome art
attract users to download
• Play top-grossing games to see
what ideas are working

23. M O N E T I Z AT I O N
MAKIN’ MONEY
• PAID: $.99 - Very hard to market unless it’s
a brand, featured, or a non-game app.

24. M O N E T I Z AT I O N
• FREE/ADS: Easy to release, very hard to make
real money unless you’re driving millions of users,
or doing direct deals with advertisers.
• FREEMIUM: Great way to start. Lite version with
pay wall for completion or additional levels.

25. M O N E T I Z AT I O N
• F2P: Optimal way to make money. Open ended
monetization. Consumables, Power-Ups.

26. GAME
DESIGN

27. Establish a clear, welldefined path from the
beginning.
It’s hard to go back after
you release.

28. GAME NAME
W H AT I T I S , W H AT I T D O E S
Candy Crush, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Infinity Blade
• Search net for availability
• USPTO Trademark search
• Run ads on Facebook. Do
AB testing to validate name.
• Register it with App Store.

29. BITE-SIZED
E N T E R TA I N M E N T
• User must have a
• CSR Racing
• Candy Crush
• Deer Hunter 2014
meaningful FUN
experience within
1-3 minutes.
• Engage and entertain

30. SOCIAL
Understand the FB Open Graph API
• Strong virality reduces paid user acquisition
• Gifting, Sharing, Posting
• Grinders never pay,
but they will ask their
friends for help.
• 80-90% don’t pay, use
them to make money
> < Friends

31. USER
EXPERIENCE
• UI/UX - Simple Navigation
• On boarding to the game
intuitive with no instructions
• Takes a lot of time polishing

32. COMPULSION
LOOPS
What keeps a user coming back day after day

33. CORE LOOPS
The Psychology of Addictive Gameplay
PHASE 1
•
Challenging, not frustrating
•
Difficulty curve slowly ramps up
•
Slowly depletes hearts/energy - player feels good : )
PHASE 2
•
Wait 1/2 hour for hearts/energy recharge - tire of waiting
•
Game gets progressively harder - need to buy

34. CORE LOOPS
USE
BUY
PL
E
TE
D
Wait
RE
QU
ES
T
Play
DE
EARN

35. OPTIMIZE WITH
A N A LY T I C S
The days of shipping and waving goodbye are OVER.
• TOP games are data driven
• Understand user funnels
• Know key conversions - Flurry
Acquisition
Retention
Monetization
ARPU - $.05 - Retention - 35% Conversion rates - 2-5%

37. ICON DESIGN
• First impressions are important
• May take 10 - 100 iterations to get it right
• Test on iPhone to see how it looks

38. APP STORE
User Flow > Icon, # Ratings, Screens, Reviews, Copy
• Great copy grabs attention
• 2 sentences above the fold important
• Spend time crafting short, exciting copy
• Screen caps tell the story
Show gameplay
screen first.
Awesome
screenshots
Callout
copy

39. APP STORE
O P T I M I Z AT I O N ( A S O )
• Can increase sales 1-3%
monthly at no cost
• Research Competitors
• Optimize each update
• Can only change search
Key search words are
very important.
words with each new
update on iOS

40. SOFT RELEASE
• Test before you broad release
• Australia, New Zealand, Canada: 1-2 months
• Small user acquisition of $500 - $1000

41. GO VIRAL
• People talking about your
Advertising
Promos (web)
22%
Online WoM
23%
App Store
21%
game is the cheapest way to
get your game downloaded.
• Create a sharable moment
Traditional
WoM
34%
in-game.
• Candy Crush: 1-3 minute
cascades
• 4 Pics One Word: Facebook
post asking for help
The Impact of
word-of-mouth
on game discovery

42. Need we say more?

43. G E T F E AT U R E D
Make great games, feature tech from Apple, Google
• Make contact and build relationships.
Create short, compelling pitch kit.
• 1-2 minute video showcasing
the best of the gameplay
• Sell sheet with screen caps,
description and important
features
• DRAMATIC download lift - 1000%+/-
Weekly feature valued at $100,000

44. PR
Reach out to the top 6 sites
Pocket Gamer, 148apps, GameZebo, SlidetoPlay,
Touch Arcade, Inside Mobile Games
Press Pitch:
• Create 1-page, talking points, screen caps and video
• Will not propel game sales, good for cred in iTunes copy
+
• Make a cool video 15-30 sec to post & have reposted
• YouTube video reviewers with high views
• Create Facebook Fan Page

45. USER ACQUISITION
Acquiring users through mobile ad networks
• Banner ads, video ads, interstitial, takeovers
• CPC - $.01 - $.04 - banner / video
• CPI - $.50 - $2.50+ banner / video
• CPA - $1.50+
• Promotion networks for burst campaigns - 10k-50k dls
• Cross-promotion = FREE, but need traffic to swap

46. BE READY TO
ADAPT
• Mobile moves fast, keep
ahead of the curve.
• Stay current with
monetization tactics.
• Smart ones who take
intelligent risks are the
ones who succeed!

47. G E T T I N G S TA R T E D
B E S T 3 R D PA R T Y S E R V I C E S
M O N E T I Z AT I O N
A P P S T O R E D ATA
A N A LY T I C S
A P P I C O N A U T O M AT I O N
VIDEO AD NETWORKS
ASO
VIDEO CAPTURE
BANNER AD NETWORKS
PROMOTION NETWORK
Appoday
A P P S T O R E L O C A L I Z AT I O N
OneSky
App translation made easy

48. Awesome GAME insight Blogs
Deconstructor of Fun
http://www.deconstructoroffun.com/
!
Dr. Serkan Toto
Need help when designing a game?
We’ve created a step by step form to
guide you along.
!
Download here!
http://tinyurl.com/k49gura
http://www.serkantoto.com/
!
QUARTERVIEW
http://quarterview.com/
!
GameAnalytics
http://www.gameanalytics.com/
!
GAMESbrief
http://www.gamesbrief.com

49. S U M M A RY
for success
Addictive Compulsion Loops
F2P Monetization
Compelling Social Hooks
+
Polish, Polish, Polish

50. THANKS
…and now you won’t get f*’d : )

51. QUESTIONS ?
Stephan Smith
email to steve
www.freshgames.com