defiant development- morgan jaffit: ngdc 2012
TRANSCRIPT
About
• Former Irrational Games, Relic, Pandemic• Founded Defiant in 2010 from the best of
Pandemic Australia • Defiant is a small team (12) focused on
developing mobile titles• Entirely self-funded
Two Years of Development
• Our strategy – Make great games– Find homes for talent
• Rocket Bunnies• Warco• Augmented Reality
Now
• Published Ski Safari on April 26th
• 500k units at 99c in 3 weeks
• Heroes Call released 31st May• 500k users in opening week• F2P, Diablo-style
Ski Safari Success
• The first game from that group of developers was Rocket Bunnies
• Rocket Bunnies was hugely educational– Reached a wide audience– Had high ratings– Very positive fan response– Made no money!– Actually a hardcore game in casual clothing
Change in Thinking
• Ski Safari is a casual game in casual clothing• Ski Safari began as one of a series of
prototypes• Core mechanic was fun from day 1• Continued to push the theme• Ultra polished – finished November 2011,
released in April 2012
Heroes Call
• Core game in core clothing• We’re a 12 person team, so we can make
games that smaller groups can’t• Staking out “Best in Class” in an emerging
market (F2P, tablet/mobile, core) • Playing to our strengths – speed and polish
How?
• How do we end up with such a wide scope of games (mobile casual, mobile core, augmented reality, journalism simulator)?
• How do we keep the wheels turning?• How do we work with the local indie
community?
Why?
• Our goals when we set up :– Harness the talent in Brisbane– Make only good things– Keep learning, and building from our learning– Keep talent close– Pay a fair wage for fair work
The Defiant Model
• Contract work funds our own projects– Find a niche! Augmented Reality has been good
for us, because we can excel there • Free office space and advice for local
developers== Scalable development team
Success
• Ski Safari would not have happened at a traditional developer
• Gives us huge visibility and drives to the launch of Heroes Call
• Additional freedom for the owners (and revenue for us)
• We are stronger together, and can make bigger bets
