Game Development

at YoYo Games

Mark Overmars

Who Am I

• Full professor at Utrecht University

– Responsible for Game Technology program

• Creator of GameMaker

– First as hobby, later as company

• Co-owner of YoYo Games

– Responsible for developer

relations

• Co-owner of Qlvr

– Utrecht company

– Develops educational apps

2

What is YoYo Games

• Company located in Dundee, Scotland

– 15 employees

– Small office in Utrecht

• Sandy Duncan, CEO

– Former head of Xbox Europe

• Privately funded

– www.yoyogames.com

3

What is YoYo Games

• Development uses GameMaker, so we control our own development tool

• Through GameMaker we can easily add additional features

• Publishing demonstrates the quality and possibilities of GameMaker

• Publishing provides a service for the users of GameMaker

4

GameMaker•Tool for very rapid game

development

•Deployments on many platforms

GameMaker•Tool for very rapid game

development

•Deployments on many platforms

Developer/Publisher•In-house and with independent

developers

•iOS, Android, PSP, Symbian,

Facebook

Developer/Publisher•In-house and with independent

developers

•iOS, Android, PSP, Symbian,

Facebook

GameMaker

• Lite/Standard Edition

– Create games for Windows

– Primarily used by amateurs, in education and in indie scene

– Downloaded 5,000 times per day

– Used in thousands of schools

• HTML5

– Available since September

– First full-blown game-development environment for HTML5

– Focus on professionals and serious amateurs

5

GameMaker

• Studio Edition, early 2012– Export to Windows, Mac, iOS,

Android, Symbian, HTML5, …

– Already used in-house

– Easy FaceBook integration

– Integrated services for developers• Ads, payments, social, cloud, …

– Focus on professional developer

6

Publishing

• Commercial games created with GameMaker– iPhone, iPad, PSP, Symbian,

Facebook, …

• 15 games in one year– 3-4 week production time

– They Need to be Fed, PolluShot, Simply Solitaire, Super Snake, …

– Featured by Apple/Google

7

8

Concept

Document

Vertical Slice

Beta version

Final Product

Game IdeaDemographicUSPsConcept Art

PrototypesBasic GameplayFirst In-game ArtFirst Levels

Full GameplayLevel DesignMenu ScreensFinal Art

DebuggingPlay TestingTuning

MarketingMonitoringUpdates

Ditch

Ditch

Game Idea

• Getting an idea is NOT difficult

– Executing it is

• Look at successful games

– 80% of top iOS and Android games are 2D

– Why is Angry Birds such a big success?

• Check game review sites

• Think commercially

– If you make a commercial game

9

What type of game?

• Demographics

– Age group

– Male/female

– Casual or hardcore

• Me too, but better

– Originality is overrated, but don’t be a copycat

– Find the key elements of a game and use them of

as the basis of your game

• Example: Angry Birds

10

Mobile Game Design Tips

• Brief playing times

• Slow learning curve

• Integrated tutorial/help

• Collecting stuff

• Enough content (> 2 hours)

• Good single player mode

11

Controls

• Controls should be natural

• Controls should be easy to remember

• Buttons are boring

– But sometimes the most effective

• Tilt is fun, but frustrating

12

Social Features

• Online highscore lists

– Harder than it might seem

• Achievements

– Make it possible to brag about them

• Involve friends

– To help you play

• Multiplayer

13

Concept Document

• 4-5 pages

• Title, genre, demographics, platforms

• Story, setting

• Main features, Unique Selling Points

• Concept art

• Team and planning

14

Concept Document

• Let other people read it

• Listen to criticism

• If people don’t get it, ditch it

• Don’t start implementing earlier

• Maintain it when the game changes

15

Prototypes

• Determine the greatest risks in your design– Are the controls natural?

– Does it run on the hardware?

– Can the tools construct the game?

• Build a prototype that reduces those risks– This is NOT a version of the game

– It does not need to be software

– Use a RAD tool

• Test the prototype

• Adapt the design

• Repeat until all risks are gone– Throw away the prototype

16

Build through Iterations

• Make sure you have a working version very

early on in the process

• In each iteration add some elements or

delete some

– Prioritize your features

• Test after each iteration

• Start with placeholder assets and replace

these later

– Avoid making useless assets

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Vertical Slice

• Basic game play is in place

• One or more playable levels are ready

• Art for those is close to final

• No need for menu screens, tutorials, etc.

• Test with potential players

• Listen to them

• Ditch when it is not as much fun as you thought

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Build the game

• Continue to use an iterative process

• Maintain a game design document

– Overview of features, file formats, etc.

• Implement features you need in the level

design

– Don’t do level design at the end!

• Create menu screens

– Your game is as good as your worst screen

19

Beta

• Should be feature complete

• Should be playable without instructions

– Integrated tutorial

• All menu screens are there

– Options, achievements, level selection, …

• All in-game art is close to final

20

Testing

• Debugging

– Check for bugs

– Try anything ridiculous

– Can partially be done by yourself if you can put

yourself in the right mode

– If people think it is a bug, it is a bug

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Game Play Testing– Is the learning curve correct

(FLOW)

– Are the tutorial levels clear

– Do people understand the controls

– Do they like the visuals and the sound and music

– Do they understand how to solve the puzzles

– Are all levels doable

• You cannot do this yourself

• It takes more time than you think

• Take all comments serious and tune the levels

22

Final Product

• Test the final product for a few days

• If you make a change, restart that process

• Don’t rely on updates

– You have only one chance for a first impression

– Also test updates carefully

23

Marketing

• A game will only sell when people see it

– Name (e.g. Bygår)

– Icon

– Screenshots

• Twitter, blog, viral tools

• Create updates with

more content

• Self publishing is difficult

24

Business Model

• Paid game

– Low price, many sales required

– Works poorly on Android

• Ad supported

– Only works when people play a game for a long period of time

– Only when they have time to see the ads

• Freemium

– Conversion rate is low (1-2%)

– Carefully select the free part

25

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Concept

Document

Vertical Slice

Beta version

Final Product

Game IdeaDemographicUSPsConcept Art

PrototypesBasic GameplayFirst In-game ArtFirst Levels

Full GameplayLevel DesignMenu ScreensFinal Art

DebuggingPlay TestingTuning

MarketingMonitoringUpdates

Ditch

Ditch