From Research Lab to Commercial Product

Overview

• How it all started

• The games we’re making

• Demo of ARTé – Mecenas

• The business of making games

Background

Live Action

CG Features

Disclosure

• Not fully to market

• Based on our own experience with 2 games:

• ARTé – Art History

• Variant - Calculus

Why make a game?

• Full context of Art history couldn’t be covered in survey class

Why make a game?

• High number of students drop out or switch out of Calculus

Our Lab – LIVE Lab

• 20 high end PC’s

• PS3, PS4, XBOX 360, XBOX1, WiiU

• Software: Unity, Unreal, CryEngine,

Phaser, Game Maker, Houdini, Maya,

Adobe Creative & Production suite

• Artists, programmers, designers

Starting a Game

1. Assembling the team

1. SME, Instructional Designer, Game Expert

2. Student Learning Objectives (SLO)

3. Assessment of SLO’s

4. Requirements – online, mobile, multi-

player/single player

Starting a Game

5. Ideation

6. Proof of concept – paper prototype,

board game, card game

7. Prototype – electronic version of

first playable

8. Demo – vertical slice of game (full

graphics, playable, testable)

Research

IdeatePrototype

Test

Demo – ARTé: Mecenas

Does the game work?

Testing for learning outcomes

Testing for entertainment/fun value

- LIVE lab

- Classroom

- FSU (Study)

Does anybody else care?

• Market testing

• Classroom testing

Teachers

Students

They Care – Now What?

Is it a full game?

• Sound

• Cut scenes

• QA

• Back end

• Support

How to create a full game?

• Do we have the talent?

• Where can we get the talent?

• Can we contract it out?

• How much is it going to cost?

• How much time does it take to finish?

We need a studio!

• Who owns the IP?

• Do we want full control?

• Can our lab deliver a full product?

• Who can be strategic partners?

Setting up our own studio

• Building a business plan

• Identifying the right employees

• Finding advisors

• Getting it off the ground

Design and develop high quality interactive learning experiences that are backed up by

research!

Funding the studio

• Using our own money

• Friends & Family

• Kickstarter? (overhead of keeping hundreds of ‘investors’ informed

• Angel funding

• VC funding

• Grants (SBIR)

$

Business Model

• Ideation• Design• Proof of

Concept

LIVE Lab

• Prototype• Testing• Evaluation

LIVE Lab • Product Development

• Sales & Distribution

Triseum

• Marketing• Sales• Support

Publisher

Self Publishing

• Can we go it alone?

• Google Play, iTunes, Windows store, Steam

• How about Marketing?

• Do we need a sales team?

Working with a publisher

• What is our expertise?

• Do we want to spend time and

money on publishing or developing?

• Choosing our partner

What do we want from the partnership?

Creating a sustainable business

• 1 game does not make a sound business

• Long lead times for R&D

• People – Products – Profit

Questions?

manink@arch.tamu.edu