Date post: | 18-Jan-2017 |
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Entertainment & Humor |
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The ‘Pre-Mortem’
www.slideshare.net/VGVisionary
Quick Disclaimer
Nothing in this talk is new, but we just don’t talk about it often
enough!
Who is Data Realms?This is a talk byVlad Micu
Business development manager at Data RealmsData Realms has
23 folks (mostly contractors) in 10 countries on 4 continents
Previously created
Now working on
+14 other amazing developers <3
@DataRealms
Cortex Command
Table of contents• Planetoid Pioneers background
story
• Slow-cooking Planetoid Pioneers
• ‘Alexander Brucing’ it
• Marketing
• Early Access launch and beyond
Pros and Cons• Unexpected organic
modding community
• Incredibly fun to watch
• Lot’s of lessons learned on game design
• Resulting in extended shelf life, HR talent pool and more vision for next game
• Suffered from initial missing PR strategy and unclear messaging.
• No online multiplayer
• Lack of community management
• Unclear messaging
Slow-cooking games approach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xNppjXeamo
• Less stress
• Taking the time for ideas
• Bigger scope
• Better team– Activity changes
Harnessing a Contributor community
• Amazing talent pool
• Hired from them
• Built the ‘Pioneer Program’ to increase community infrastructure
• Admitting and embracing the creativity of our audience.
User Generated Content is everywhere
• YouTube & Twitch
• Fan Art & Fan Fiction
• Modding
• In-Game Assets
Players vs. Makers dynamic
Setting a stage for UGC
No such thing as an overnight success
Alexander Bruce on Antichamber’s ‘Overnight Success’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOlcB-
JxkFw
• Cortex Command: 10 years
• Antichamber: 7 Years
• Rocket League: 7 years
• Stardew Valley: 6 years
‘Alexander Brucing’ it
PR: Tipping odds in your favor
• Planting seeds
• Be remembered/recognized
• Social proof
• Finding champions
Events attended 2015•May 20th-22nd - Nordic Game Conference in Malmo, Sweden•May 26th - Creative Coasts Festival in Karlshamm, Sweden•June 21th-23rd - Dreamhack Summer in Jonkoping, Sweden•August 26th - September 6th - PAX Prime & available for meetings in Seattle, USA•September 10th - 12th - BIC Festival in Busan, Korea•September 14th - 20th - EGES Summit in Mallorca, Spain•September 24th- 27th - Eurogamer Expo in Birmingham, UK•September 28th - Google Playtime in London, UK•September 29th-30th - INDIGO 2015 in Utrecht, Netherlands•October 2nd - 12th Brasil Game Show in Sao Paolo, Brasil•October 15th - 19th - Poznan Game Arena & Game Industry Conference in Poznan, Poland•October 28th – 2nd - Game Connection Europe in Paris, France•November 3rd - 8th - Mastering the Game WIPO conference in Krakow, Poland•November 10th - 17th - GStar in Busan, South Korea•November 17th - 22nd - Game Summit 2015 by Digiworld in Montpellier, France •November 22nd - 10th - Finland•November 26th - 30th - Game Developer Sessions in Prague, Czech Republic•December 16th - 19th - Deutsche Entwicklerpreis in Cologne, Germany•December 27th - January 5th - Munich, Germany 2016•January 14-19 - Barcelona, Spain •January 26-31 - Taipei Game Show in Taipei, Taiwan •February 5-12 - Winter Nights in Helsinki, Finland•February 16-21 - DICE Summit 2016 in Las Vegas, USA •March 10-21 - Meetings in San Francico, GDC San Francisco and Silicon Valley in San Francisco, USA•April 22-24 - PAX East 2016 in Boston, USA •April 28-30 – IndieCade East 2016 in New York, USA•May 11th – Games First in Helsinki, Finland•May 16-17 Digital Dragons in Krakow, Poland •May 18-20 - Nordic Game in Malmo, Sweden
Event budget overview
Our Total Marketing Investment: Approx. 100.000 euros
Event Total ExpensesGamescom 2015 € 4,328.92PAX Prime 2015 € 4,594.51Busan BIC 2015 € 1,360.20EGX 2015 € 4,802.54Brasil Game Show 2015 € 2,905.77PAX East € 10.000,00 (Approx)Poznan Game Arena 2015 € 1,366.63Taipei Game Show € 1,096.48AMAZE & QV 2016 € 714.43
Happy companies Total ExpensesUber € 1,304.31KLM € 4,594.51Fedex € 1,864.09Our merch guy Bart € 5,000.00 (Approx)
Merchandise Total ExpensesT-shirts € 3,000.00 (Approx)Steam key cards € 1200.00 (Approx)Promotional material € 12,000.00
Unexpectedly winning awards
Have a launch signup option
http://thumpergame.com/
E-Mail Marketing
• Still strongest marketing
• 6 months or older is ‘stale’
• Spend significant time on your message
• Activate your community on launch-day!www.mailchimp.com
Test #1: not bad
Test #2: filtering quality
Test #3: Let’s do this
Discord for community
www.discord.com
Make GIFS, not war!
www.discord.com
Early Acces Strategy:
Inspired by Vlambeer’s approach to Nuclear Throne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-3VFOWrgpU
Managing expectations• Higher price and NO
discounts during Early Access
• Filtering out the right people
• Tackle Steam Forums with elaborate answers that educate community
• Find and praise community heroes
Our biggest hurdles• Less game, more
engine & editing tools
• Hard to explain
• Not pick up & play
• CC Legacy
• Early Access reputation
A Personal moment: Imposter Syndrome
http://www.polygon.com/features/2016//10776792/imposter-syndrome-game-
developers-who-feel-like-frauds
The #1 Skill is still Resilience
The Fins have ‘Sisu’ (perseverance)
Don’t Forget!
https://software.intel.com/sites/campaigns/levelup2016/
Summary: Be as ‘Triple I’ as you can
• Success doesn’t come overnight
• Slowcooking helps for extra time, attention and new ideas
• Events have layered benefits
• Start PR/Marketing early
• Track your spending, marketing and data
• GIFs!
• Community is your #1 currency
• Early Access is tough
• Dare to be different
Contact me
• @vgvisionary
• Mail me at [email protected]
• Slides: www.slideshare.net/VGVisionary
#imlonely
Check out Planetoid Pioneers on Early
Access!
Thanks!
Questions?
Let’s talk more outside!