Talk overview
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My background
Ways I tried to start
Bootstrapping - Zen of Sudoku
Building and selling your casual game
The next phase
Definitions
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Core - “hardcore” games
Casual - “games for everyone”
Portal – Web site that sells games
Bootstrapping – Building yourself
Ichthyology - Scientific study of fishes
Painted frogfish
Antennarius pictus
Caveats
• This is just my experience
• Talk proposal 6 months ago
• I'm not saying this is the best way
– ...and I'm not sure I would do this again
– Knowledge is power
• Casual getting more competitive
• Read the IGDA Casual Games whitepaper
– http://www.igda.org/casual
Myself
• Charlie Cleveland
– Game Director, Unknown Worlds
Entertainment (founded 2001)
– San Francisco start-up with roots in core
– Two full-time founders, 5-10 distributed
collaborators
– Our goal: unite the world through play
Natural Selection
• Wanted to make real-time strategy/firstperson shooter hybrid
– Marines vs. Aliens online team game
• Released as “total conversion” on Half-life
engine in 2002
– Distributed team of 10, 18 months to v1.0
– 65,000 lines of C++
– Budget = $30,000 U.S.
• Played for 1.5+ billion player-minutes
• Plan to build IP and establish reputation
• Money will come somehow
Natural Selection
Play movie
What went right?
• Built good IP
• Learned how to make online RTS/FPS
• Learned how to hire and run a distributed
team
• Player donations ($22k/year)
What didn't
• Pretty much everything after release
• Supported game for years instead of
figuring out how to grow business
• Thought it would be easy to:
– Get investors
– Hire team
– Make a game
– Make $
Starting through investment
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First thing I tried, thought it was slam-dunk
Takes about a minimum of six months
Hard to convince
Most expensive way to get $
Investors never say “no”
Things not to say to investors
• “Our team is mostly college kids in other
time zones”
• “Why would I want to sell the company?”
• “Profit isn't our goal – we want to unite the
world.”
Bootstrapping through
contracting
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Gearbox, Demiurge, etc. did it
Need a team
Good business development
Other people's projects
Can pigeon-hole you
Got one game deal: 39% metacritic
Realization
“If you don't get what you want, it is a sure
sign that you did not seriously want it.”
- Rudyard Kipling
Making games
• Our talent/passion is making our own
games
– ...not pitching
– ...business plans
– ...working on other boring games
– ...convincing others to let you
Bootstrapping
"Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at
a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand."
Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881)
• Most game companies of yesteryear were
able to bootstrap - casual approximates
yesteryear
• You won't need team, contacts, much
business development
• Not just for “trivial” or “small” companies
Sony's vision
• In 1945 Japan:
– “To establish a place of work where engineers
can feel the joy of technological innovation,
be aware of their mission to society, and work
to their heart's content.”
– “To apply advanced technology to the life of
the general public.”
– “To pursue dynamic activities in technology
and production for the reconstruction of
Japan and the elevation of the nation's
culture.”
First product
Rice cooker
Bootstrapping Rule #1:
Cash flow, not profit
• Cash flow
– Aim for short development cycle
– Short payment terms (45 days)
– Recurring revenue
– Piggy-back on product/service with large
install base if possible
– Retail takes too long
Profit
• Profit – good, but cash flow better
– Building audience
– Market share
– Branding
– Infrastructure
– Contract negotiation
Bootstrapping Rule #2:
Don't plan, do
• Doors open and close, business models
shift, opportunities come and go
• Can't predict success
• You have nothing to lose
• Games (should be) small and quick
• So start building
Zen of Sudoku
• Designed to be the
most accessible
Sudoku
• Relaxing – no game
timer, no game end
• Teaches you all
aspects of game
• Print and play
unlimited puzzles
Zen of Sudoku demo
Show movie
Zen of Sudoku resources
• 22,000 lines of C++
• Used the Popcap framework
• 10 months development (design/code)
– Started selling beta after 5 months
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Part-time artist (5 hours/week)
Part-time musician (20 hours total)
Part-time sound fx (15 hours total
Talent free or paid on back-end
Zen Distribution
• Demoed to distributors at Casuality 2006
• Since have signed
– Steam
– Oberon
– Shockwave
– Garage Games
– Retail (Best Buy Target, Walmart, CompUSA)
Zen sales data
Monthly cash flow
12000
11000
10000
9000
8000
Retail
Portals
zenofsudoku.com
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
06 06
06 06 06
07 07 07
07 07
07
07 07 07
07 07 07
Actual Projected
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What went right?
• Cash flow
• Backup plan
– Next game will be better
• Some happy customers
• Great @ Sudoku
• Closer to my Dad
What didn't
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Not that much cash flow
Sudoku theme
Money slower than expected
Development longer than expected
Audience factors out of your control
– Your game may not sell depending on other
games you can't plan on
Design parameters
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Most important decision you will make
Familiar, but with a twist
Include “progress” elements
Theme
Accessibility - mouse buttons, keyboard
Software rendering
Choosing a project
Technology
• Popcap engine is great
– Free
– Simple (36,000 lines C++)
– Software rendering support
– Good community support
– User-interface code tedious
– Portals used to it
– Requires BASS license of ~$200
– Windows/download only
– http://developer.popcap.com
Flash/Zinc
• Flash/Zinc very promising
– Development time down to ~3 months
– For games without a lot of action/redraw
– Probably still need to program
– Free Mac/Flash versions
– Flash Pro 8 + Zinc = $1,000
– http://www.multidmedia.com/
Build options
• Make sure it's easy to build versions for
portals
– Different intro/logo screens
– Make easy to remove external URLs
Distribution
• Main approaches
– Shop game to every portal yourself
– Shop game to portal who will then shop for
you
– Sell game/IP outright
– License source for re-branding
• Don't take exclusive distribution deals
• More the better
• ~25-50% royalties + ad revenue
Distribution methods
• Easy to get deals!
• Casuality
– Next one is July 17th-19th in Seattle
– http://www.casualconnect.org/
• Minna Mingle
• Sending game via e-mail works too
What have you achieved?
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Your own company and IP
QA process
Customers!
A team that can work together
Valuable game knowledge
Cash flow...solvency?
Possibility of a hit
Now what?
• Make a sequel, or a new casual game
– You know the technology, process, workflow
– You understand casual much better
– You have contacts, partners
– You can negotiate better royalties
– Mac, palm, iPod...but real work
Natural Selection 2
• Making Natural Selection 2 on Half-life 2
engine
• For digital distribution on Steam
• Will probably come back to “casual” in
some form
• The lessons learned are applicable to
“core” games (pacing, attention, learning
curve, theme)
Takeaway
• Not sure if this is a success story or not
– I bet my 2nd casual game would sell 2x and
be done in 4-6 months
• Keep development time down
– Less chance of competitors clogging up distro
– Less time to cash flow
– Use Flash
• Take bigger risk
More takeaway
• It's not just about money
– Ability to design fun game with constraints
– Assembled a team and learned to run it
– Intellectual property
– Business development experience
• Once you can do something small at very
high quality, you can scale it up
Questions?
• Please fill out your evaluation forms
• [email protected]
• Presentation will be available at:
http://www.unknownworlds.com/blog
• ...and good luck!
Appendix
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IGDA Casual Games white paper (2006)
Art of the Start – Guy Kawasaki
The Bootstrapper's Bible – Seth Godin
Bootstrapping in the age of blockbuster budgets – Al Reed, GDC
2006
Built to Last – James Collins, Jerry Porras
Micro-ISV – Bob Walsh
Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
Angel Financing – Gerald A. Benjamin + Joel B. Margulis
The Experience Economy – B. Pine and James Gilmore