From Idea to Income

How to be successful at independent games

Who is this guy?

Daniel MenardCo-founder and CEO

Big Action Mega Fight!

First Cohort

Founded

Creative Expression

No Limitations

Innovation

•Creative expression•No limitations• Innovation•Push the industry forward

The Indie Dream

•Entrepreneurship first

•Probably won’t make you rich

•~90% of new companies fail

The Indie Reality

Crowded Market

•Failure is part of the game

•Passion alone isn’t enough

•Releasing is only half the battle

The Indie Reality

FinancingScope / TimeRight projectRight market

HiringManagement

Your Battlefields

•Puzzle-platformer

Party of Sin

•Puzzle-platformer

• Local coop

Party of Sin

•Puzzle-platformer

• Local coop

• Steam release

Party of Sin

•Puzzle-platformer

• Local coop

• Steam release

•Originally meant for consoles

Party of Sin

• Team of ~8•Working remotely•Revenue share deal•Kickstarter

Party of Sin

•3.5 years•Part time• I quit my job in

April 2012•Released in

December 2012

Party of Sin

•Decent reviews

•Massive Steam sales

•Profitable over time (~1 year)

What we thought would happen

•Mixed reviews

•Marketing and store placement not great

•Mediocre sales

•98% piracy

What actually happened

My career is over!

It’s okay to failIt is a necessary step toward success

Most important lesson

• From Toyota

•Ask “Why?” at least 5 times

•Get to the root cause

Five Whys

•Honest picture of our game and process

•Mistakes we would never make again

•Crankshaft Games Code of Conduct

The great postmortem

• Is this going to be your hobby or your career?

• Party of Sin started as a hobby

•Must be accountable to your players

•Constantly learning

Professionalism

•Be clear on how you will make money

•Pricing is complicated

•Keep in mind the expectations of anyone giving you

money

Business Model

•Hire talented people you will trust

Build a solid team

•Hire talented people you will trust

Build a solid team

Hire people when you know they’re the one

•Hire talented people you will trust

•Good teams don’t need managers

Build a solid team

•Hire talented people you will trust

•Good teams don’t need managers

•Give everyone a stake

Build a solid team

•Hire talented people you will trust

•Good teams don’t need managers

•Give everyone a stake

•Generalists

Build a solid team

Breadth

Depth

•Keep an open mind

• Share creative freedom, it will be good for you

• Party of Sin was too centralized

• Take feedback as an opportunity to learn

•Acknowledge your weaknesses

Leave your ego at the door

• Sustainable Development

Work-Life Balance

• Sustainable Development

• Eliminate crunch and burnout

Work-Life Balance

• Sustainable Development

• Eliminate crunch and burnout

•Give people control over how they contribute

Work-Life Balance

• Sustainable Development

• Eliminate crunch

•Give people control over how they contribute

•Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance

•Common pitfall: put everything you think is cool in your first game

•Don’t fall in love with your project

•What if you were paying someone?

•Don’t build an engine unless you sell engines

Mind your time / scope

• Think beyond just one project

•Have a unifying vision

•Most studios will not display it publicly

• It’s important to stick out

Studio Thinking

• You will be defined by the games you make

•How you make those games is more important

• Your first few will be bad

• Focus on the process

•Build your company culture

Hit Driven Business

• Incubator program for mobile indie games in Montreal• Funding for 9 months•Mentorship from industry experts

Execution Labs

Artist

Programmer

Designer

Programmer

Programmer

Team Catalyst

Analytics

MarketingMonetization

Support Resouces

Mentorship

•Amazing Network• Feedback all

through the process

•Shared experience

•Leadership / vision coaching

•Someone on your side

How Incubators Can Help

•Nurture your team

•Be ready to learn

• Speak out, give feedback

• Think as a company, not a product

• Evolve your process

•Mind the schedule

Make the best of incubator

• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries• Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank• Valve Handbook for New Employees• Ideas per Second by Nathan Marts (GDC 2013)• http://mashable.com/2013/02/28/indie-game-statistics/• http://indiegames.com/2013/04/the_8_keys_to_indie_success.html• http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasSteinke/20130415/19048

4/Reponse_to_quot8_keys_to_indie_successquot.php

References

Thank You!

www.doublestalliongames.com@dblstallion