the indie game developer survival guide
DESCRIPTION
Can an indie survive in the mobile world? It may look like games for mobile is a paradise for indie developers, but truth is that it is quite hard to be noticed among the swarm of apps. In this presentation, Raul shares the tips & tricks he has learned about how to survive as a mobile indie game developer for the past 3 years, including a post-mortem of all the games of The Pill Tree and also a post-mortem of The Pill Tree as a company.TRANSCRIPT
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The (Mobile) Environment
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The Mobile Advantages
Huge amount of potential customersSimple distribution channels
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The Mobile Problem
Lack of dedicated, quality channels(aka Discoverability sucks)
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Apps != Games
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Surviving is tough
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Survival Tip #0
Lower your expenses
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Do not rely on overnight success stories
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Advantages of being indie
Quick to reactPersonal touch
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Competing with AAA
Quick to reactPersonal touch
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Fun
Visually Appealing
Works (no crashes or freezes)
Players know about it
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Don't reinvent the wheel
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Don't try to do everything alone
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Know your Players
Measure EVERYTHING
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Single Player Multiplayer
Freemium
Free2Play
?
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Objective
Figure out the market ASAP
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Single Player Advantage
Easier to build
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Premium Advantages
Easier to buildSimpler to monetize
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Chalk Ball
2-3 months of developmentSingle Player
Freemium10K/200K downloads
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Chalk Ball Graphs
2011030020110500201107002011090020111110201201102012031020120510201207102012091020121110201301102013032020130520201307200
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
Current User Installs
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Current User Installs
20110410201106102011081020111010201112202012022020120420201206302012083020121100201301002013031020130510201307200
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
100000
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Success: Survival costs covered
Failure: Did not got enough traction
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Fact
90% of the dowloads while Featured
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Objective
Get more downloads and traction
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Free2Play Advantages
Easier for people to try it out“Better” monetization
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SpaceCat
4-6 months of developmentSingle Player
Free2Play1.5M downloads
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Chalk Ball Graph
20110620 20110820 20111020 20111220 20120210 20120410 20120610 20120810 20121000 20121130 20130130 20130330 20130520 201307200
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
450000
500000
Current User Installs
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Less than 10K players bought the DLC
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The ARPU was under 0.01$
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Success: 1.5M downloads
Failure: Absurdly low income
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Implementing In-App billing is difficult
It is on the same level of complexity of creating a fun game
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Fact
Chalk Ball income > SpaceCat income
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Fact
We got “popular” thanks to SpaceCat
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Objective
Make the game I wanted to make
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Multiplayer Advantages
Better word of mouthMore engaging
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Codemon
Almost 8 months of development(First version after 4-5 months)
7 people involvedAlmost 50K downloads
Never featured by Google
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Codemon graphs
20120430201206002012071020120810201209202012102020121130201301002013021020130320201304202013053020130700201308100
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
Current User Installs
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Success: Great user retention
Failure: Not enough downloads
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Be prepared
Someone will try to cheat
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Fact
Even for a completely Free gameit is hard to get downloads
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Fact
Codemon ARPU >> SpaceCat ARPU
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Still working on improving Codemon ARPU
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Are these the future?
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Fact
I make more money freelancing one monththan with my most successful game in one year
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Apps != Games
MTG Tracker makes more money per dayThan any of The Pill Tree games (now long tail) per month
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Survival Tips Recap
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Survival Tip #1
Make the game you want to make
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Survival Tip #2
Small projects, ship early
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Survival Tip #3
Build a relationship with blog editors
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Survival Tip #4
Go for Single Player, Premium games
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Survival Tip #5
Measure EVERYTHING!
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Survival Tip #6
For updates, define objectives first
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Questions?