The Definitive Guide To Game Development Success Authored by Daniel Doan & Raghav Mathur — Edited by Thomas Espinoza
© Black Shell Media, LLC — Second Edition Section 1: Getting Started
Are You Good Enough To Make The Next Hit? ...... 4 How To Quit Your Day Job And Make Video Games ...... 7
What Not To Do When Starting Out...... 10 Game Development is a Business too...... 12
Section 2: Making Your Game
Why Your Brilliant Game Idea Is Absolutely Worthless ...... 14 Getting Through the Game Development Process ...... 17
Supercharging Your Game Development Career...... 22 Why Other Game Developers are Your Friends...... 26
Section 3: Shipping, Publishing and Marketing
6 Useful Tips To Help You Ship Your Indie Game...... 29 Getting Your Game Past Greenlight on Steam...... 32
Game Developers Need to Eat, Too! ...... 35 Game Publishers, Why They Matter...... 36
How To Get Your Press Emails Noticed By Gaming Sites ...... 38
Effective Ways to Get Your Indie Game Noticed...... 41
Conclusion ...... 43
Preface
At Black Shell Media, we know that getting started in Indie Game development can be exciting; after all it is a large transition to go from humble gamer to a developer who is selling their own games. We understand that process and we’ve even gone through it ourselves. Over the years we have published a multitude of articles in order to help others wanting to make that same journey, but finally we have collected our most popular articles in one place in order to create this E-Book, The Definitive Guide To Game Development Success.
Indie Development is not for everyone, but for those who plan on sticking through all of the bumps and bruises, we intend to give you a head start and make things a little easier.
You can find plenty of information out there on how to make it in the video game development industry, but the truth of the matter is a lot of stuff out there just will not work. We wanted to show you the best ways to truly elevate your game development career. Many of these points may seem like common knowledge, but trust us common … knowledge is not always common practice.
Enjoy the read, and best of luck on your game development journey!
Section 1: Getting Started
Are you good enough?
Indie game development is a land of opportunity. The potential to acquire fancy cars, designer suits, mansions in California, and live a life of luxury is always there. Almost anything you think of, the potential to obtain it exists.
Anyone can start developing a game and open up a business. The internet and revolutions in development software have broken down so many of the barriers to game development, making it very simple and inexpensive to start working and set up shop. Unfortunately, the journey from coding Hello World to making a six figure paycheck is a long one indeed. Anyone can make a game, but it takes dedication, experience, and discipline to turn it into a massive success.
Before you step into the wonderful world of game design there are a few truths that you need to come to terms with.
As is the case with any business, you are going to feel uncomfortable. The most successful game developers actively practice feeling uncomfortable on a daily basis. Growth always happens well outside of our comfort zones. When diving into this volatile industry, you will be pushed to do something new very often. A lot of people prefer a level of certainty in their day-to-day, but if you are unable to push through the discomfort, you will not be able to stand out. If certainty is a necessity, then this lifestyle is not for you.
Is this really for you?
This is not a 9am to 5pm job. This is a lifestyle. There is no denying the freedom that comes with having a work schedule which does not revolve around sitting for 8 hours in a cubicle every day, but a lot of people forget about the amount of work required to turn something from a simple vision into a tangible product or video game. If you love holidays or long vacations, you might need to rethink your plans. Small development teams often have only one or two people in the studios, which makes it very difficult to take time off or to have a proper vacation without work piling up. It is definitely not impossible by any means, but becoming your boss also means that you never truly have time “off”.
You must also be confident and know that you will bring your best. Being amazing at what you do is essential if you want to succeed, but confidence is a large factor as well. Successful game developers are both confident in their ability to deliver a great game, as well as confident that their long term goals will be met as well. Part of this path to success is making sure that your outreach is on point.
In addition, you need to be able to market yourself. Game developers need to understand how to make connections, both for themselves and for others. The success of your indie game studio relies heavily on reaching an audience. Awesome games will not sell themselves. There are too many great games that are being marketed properly to allow other indie games to be spread via word-of-mouth. Unless your indie game accomplishes something so revolutionary that it comes out of nowhere and amazes everyone (highly unlikely), you frankly will not get the downloads (and sales) you need.
A weekly paycheck will be thing of the past At least when you first start. When … starting your new development venture, a paycheck is absolutely not a given. Individuals who start successful game development studios tend to be willing to work for free, out of the passion they have for their project. If you are not in a stable enough position to do that, going all in to start making games probably is not for you. Focus on making sure you are able to survive first. It remains absolutely true that you could reap insane rewards from your game venture, but that probably will not happen in the first few years. You definitely need to be willing and able to make sacrifices up front to reach your goals.
Should you quit your day job?
Game development is messy. The road to success is paved with disillusionment and disappointment. The much more common path of game development looks a bit like this: You realize that you have many game ideas in your head that you can translate onto the screen using code or any number of game development tools. You then get down to work, investing your blood, sweat, tears, time, energy, and money into creating this oh-so-amazing game for the world, to be played by eager gamers all across the globe.
This takes much longer than you initially expect, and most people give up and move onto something else before project completion. If you manage to tough it out though, by the time it is finished, you have probably invested months or even years to make it into what it needs to be. You then polish it as best as you know how, prepare a short video and some screenshots, then finally flick the switch and make it live! It is finally released and nothing happens. Crickets and tumbleweeds as far as the eye can see. … A few of your friends will probably play it, and your parents will coddle you with pleasantries, but that is the end of that.
Not knowing what could have gone wrong, you frantically search for the marketing strategy that you missed, the secret to make your game known to the masses. You end up utterly confused. There are all of these unbelievable stories of game developers making hundreds of thousands of dollars in their basement but again and again you … find yourself somehow left out of the party.
When all has been said and done, you feel defeated disappointed, and deeply frustrated. The game you have worked so hard to build has been played by less people than you can count on your hands. No impact was made, no money was earned, and a great deal of time and energy has gone down the drain. It turns out that just creating a game and listing it for sale online is not enough; people need to actually know about your game. Your start panicking and google “how to market an indie game” only to try out different strategies with little to no success. The unfortunate truth is, the vast majority of new game developers sell less than 50 copies of their games.
If this sounds like a nightmare scenario to you, you are not alone. Fortunately, this can be completely avoided. There is a better and easier way, getting your audience first then focusing on growing it out as soon as possible.
Put your audience first at all times. With an audience, the entire creation and marketing process looks completely different. For starters, you will be able to obtain real-time feedback. If you give them the options, people will happily play test levels, give feedback on ideas, and even serve as sounding boards for entire drafts of the game. They know you, love what you do, and their feedback will help you guarantee that you create a future hit.
Your audience will mentally purchase the game before you create it. Without an audience, you have very little choice but to blindly create a game and hope for the best. This is not only extremely risky, but incredibly time consuming and expensive. The real beauty of building an audience of followers is that they can help you advertise much more effectively than if you were to just purchase a few paid ads and call it a day.
To be clear, what I am talking about is not building an audience overnight. Dustin Moskovitz, the co-founder of Facebook was asked in an interview about what it felt like to be to be part of Facebook’s overnight success. He replied with something similar to this: “If by ‘overnight success’ you mean staying up and coding all night, every night for six years straight- then it felt really tiring and stressful.” The journey will be tough, but with an audience behind you to offer feedback that you desperately need, you just might make it. Focus on your audience, and the rest will take care of itself.
What mistakes should I avoid?
There are many mistakes indie developers make when they first open the doors of their indie studio: being overstaffed/understaffed, underestimating how many different ‘hats’ you will have to wear at your studio, etc. Yet, there are mistakes you need to absolutely avoid right out of the gate. Below are a few that are not only worth avoiding, but that must be avoided if you want to start your brand new venture on the right foot.
Onboarding all of your friends: The aspiring indie dev loves making games, their friends love playing games, what could go wrong? Unfortunately, there is a difference between being a fan of gaming and being passionate about developing them.
Furthermore, there is a difference between knowing what makes a game great and actually ‘knowing.’ It may seem fun to hire one’s friends to make games with them for a living, and if they actually have a proven track record of tinkering around with game design, then great! But actually creating a startup around the idea that a group of friends can develop games every day and actually make a living doing it? It can be incredibly reckless.
In short, if you are serious about starting an indie studio, you may be tempted to hire your friends. Unless they are actually the best candidates for the job, avoid the temptation and hire professionals who are actually qualified.
Neglecting written agreements: Whether you hire your friends or other professionals you will need written agreements. What happens if your indie game becomes profitable beyond your team’s wildest dreams? Does everyone get a fair cut? What if a few of you cannot agree on the direction of the indie game? What happens then?
Moreover, who's actually in control of a game’s IP? You are not just creating a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, you are creating a legitimate product that could be fruitful. Think about it: what would happen if Notch had created Minecraft with a group of friends without a legitimate agreement? It could have been disastrous!
Rocket Lawyer has a great write-up on business partnership agreements and the questions that must be answered in every agreement. Follow the advice in the post, and you will have an airtight agreement that will protect every facet of your new indie studio.
Skimping on outreach: Marketing is vital to your success. We have talked with a lot of indie developers who say to me that they will figure out the marketing details later as the game is being developed. While that is not a very good plan, some even go so far as to say they think that the game will be so good, word-of-mouth will spread the good news about the game. That is an even worse plan.
Drew Williams, co-author of the book Feeding the Startup Beast suggests spending 10 to 20 percent of your desired gross revenue on marketing when starting out. “As you become a more established business,” says Williams, “that drops to 5 percent to 10 percent of gross revenue, and for the largest businesses it is typically 5 percent or a bit less.”
The success of your indie game relies heavily on marketing. Awesome games do not sell themselves. Word of mouth is unreliable and inconsistent, both are qualities which are not good for your game. Your game will not be any worse for having to rely on traditional advertising, but it will be more successful.
Is this really a sustainable business?
Know your numbers: To make a living from indie games, you will have to start running your own business. There is no way around it. If this idea scares you, or you find it largely uninteresting, then get yourself a commercially-minded but creatively-sympathetic business partner immediately. In addition, you should try and get a hold of a good business accountant (hard to find!) and read up on the laws of running a starting a company. Get your paperwork done, and file as a company.
After you get your business up and running, this is where we come back to numbers. You must have a good web analytics package on your website: this is the single most useful piece of marketing advice anyone has ever given me. Without this, you will not know why your game is selling or not selling. Google Analytics is immensely powerful and free: I highly recommend it.
Know your potential: Up next are sales projections. How much money can your indie game make? Well, we’ve now seen that a statistically insignificant percentage of indie games can sell over a million copies! More sanely, Amnesia, an indie game from a developer with an existing fanbase, which features graphics approaching AAA quality has managed to sell nearly 200,000 units. Other indies are delighted when their games break 10,000 or 20,000 units. Industry veteran Simon Carless has some rather interesting sales stats on every platform here, breaking it down very elegantly. You will want to use this data in conjunction with your market research to figure out how many sales your game is capable of.
Know your opportunities: Persistence is the most important trait you will need as an indie developer. You will need to make mistakes, learn from them, then carry on anyway. You have to love doing this in order to do it at all: that is precisely why the indie games scene is one of the best places to be in this cruel world! Also, indie developers are banding together and collaborating at an ever increasing rate. Look at some of the cross-marketing in games like Super Meat Boy, or projects like Cliffski’s ShowMeTheGames.com. Getting actively involved with the indie games community can really benefit your work and open up new doors.
Know your payment model: Think of your payment model as part of your game design. Have some food for thought: free-to-play games incorporating virtual goods offer the highest possible ceiling in terms of revenue on PC and Mac right now. They allow customers who love the game to pay more than average, and they also capture small amounts of revenue from players at the other end of the scale, who otherwise might not buy a “full version” of the game. However, just because something has the highest ceiling does not mean that’s where you should aim: it may simply not be suitable for the type of game you want to make. Remember, we are still in the “Anyone Who Wants to Make a Game” category here; you are doing this because you have something you want to create, not because you want to make the most money possible. So, it is crucial to know that traditional “pay-once” titles are still very viable for individuals and small companies.
Know your value: If you do go down the pay-once route, we would urge you to look into DLC and ways of offering more value to customers who truly love your game. Pay-once arguably offers more opportunity for immersion and scope than free-to-play, so you may well gain some very passionate fans who would love to get hold of more content. It is also more customer-friendly: you do not have to keep badgering people to give you money every five seconds. That could lead to a more meaningful relationship with your customers and relates back to a key point we talked about earlier- building an audience.
Section 2: Making Your Game
Is my game idea really worthless?
Ideas represent one tiny percentage of your game. They are not the core, only a spark— “A source of motivation to make you sit down and work in front of your computer.” -Lach, Co-Founder of Berzerk Studio
Your game idea is terrible. However, everyone’s game ideas are terrible, so that is perfectly okay. Stop wasting your time needlessly hoarding your game ideas, or waste hours of your life writing 100 pages of design documents. Just sit down, start working on your game, and learn from the process.
A game is simply just not playable until it is made, and thus is inherently worthless in its design document form. No matter how carefully crafted your documentation may be, there are a myriad of reasons why your brilliant idea can fail when it comes to execution. Some of these possible reasons could be lack of technical skill, not enough budget, time constraints, lack of personal motivation, poorly thought out game mechanics, or a host of other issues that you will undoubtedly run into when you actually begin the development pipeline.
A game developer’s goal is to design a satisfying game experience, and even assuming the most basic mechanics possible, the execution of this design can be derailed at many points in the development cycle. The designer must convey their idea to the rest of the team, a team filled with people who will have many different ideas regarding what is and is not feasible within the given scope of the project. A design document does not hold a candle to the months and years of hard work required to complete a game, no matter how intricately designed the document is.
Games ship only thanks to the effort put in by the entire development team, not because of ideas.
Shipping a game involves navigating through an ungodly amount of programming and debugging work, insane hours of refining art, writing, quality assurance, music production, voice acting, trailer production, dealing with countless man-hours of marketing, and figuring out the logistics of running a synchronized skeleton crew. The game idea? Sure it can be used as a catalyst to get the work done, but the actual development process will more often than not shred apart the initial idea, as the logistics behind creating and releasing a game that is fun and polished will interfere with the design documentation that was written before the actual development process.
The notion that a game idea is valuable and must be cherished before the prototype stage is amazingly out of touch with the oftentimes grueling development process. Many fledgling game designers have a similar notion of: “I have this amazing idea. It is absolutely brilliant and will sell hundreds of thousands of copies and make me rich. I want to onboard a team to make this game for me with a revenue share model. I am scared that people may steal my game idea and get rich off of it.”
The honest truth? No one will ever steal your game idea. You don’t need to worry about your precious game idea ever being stolen because even if someone did take it, they’d still have to spend countless hours building it, fine tuning its gameplay, figure out a path to market it, then spend countless more hours polishing it to the point where it’s suitable for release. By the time this happens, it would most likely be dramatically different than the initial idea, as it is inherently impossible to design a complete and perfect game on paper without putting in the hours and getting into the meat and potatoes of development.
Do not misunderstand, without game ideas we would not have video games. However, the game idea itself is a microscopic part of the entire game development process, and should be treated as such. Focus on actually making your game, not just coming up with ideas.
How do I survive the development process?
You just called up your programmer buddy, your artist cousin, your uncle who makes chiptunes in his attic, and your neighbor who works marketing. You are all sitting there in your garage, super excited to start your first indie game. But do you really know what you are attempting? Every day, hundreds of indie game projects begin and end. You don’t want to be one of the many failed studios out there. Keep an eye out for these ten easy to spot mistakes that you should try and avoid to guarantee the success of your studio!
Overcrowding your team: You have probably heard the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth.” It might seem like a good idea to have a huge variety of people on your team, but in reality it can cause many complications. How do you allocate tasks? Do you really want to micromanage all these people? What if a teammate gets jealous? How do you take everyone’s opinion into account? Are you going to share equity? It is much better to stick to a small, competent team. Look at the hugely successful indie studio Vlambeer. They are comprised of only two guys at their core, and they have created masterpieces like Nuclear Throne. Could they have done it with a lot more people all working at once? Probably not as easily.
Keeping your project a secret: As Dr. Strangelove once said, “What is the point of a secret weapon if you do not tell the world?” The whole point of creating games is for people to play them. So why spend hour after hour slaving away to create an awesome, polished product if nobody knows about it? Many indie developers think that they should keep their games hidden away until they are deemed “presentable enough.” Bad idea. Start growing your fanbase as soon as you start working! When we started our work on SanctuaryRPG, we started sharing builds on our subreddit community pretty much as soon as the game became playable! It was hugely beneficial for us to have a willing audience of people to get feedback and ideas from. Games become successful through community-building, so get started ASAP!
Dreaming too big: There is one word that will rule your life as soon as you get into the world of development: scope. These five letters put together dictate how much time and energy will go into your project, how polished it will be, how much money you will spend on it, and so much more. Put simply, the scope of the project is how large or small it is. Are you making a tiny flash game, or are you developing the next Final Fantasy installment? Know your scope from the beginning, and be wary of scaling up or down without considering all the factors involved. If you are about to dive into your first project, do not expect to end up with something on par with League of Legends or Runescape. Start slowly, and eventually you could make something huge!
Reinventing the wheel: Powerful tools like GameMaker: Studio and Unity3D exist for a reason—to make your life simple. Why spend months and months toiling away on a game engine when you could have built upon something that was already out there? You’re probably thinking “but it must look so amateur to use pre-existing engines. They’re so basic!” Ever heard of the game Hotline Miami? Risk of Rain? Overture? Those hit titles—along with many many more—were made in GameMaker. These software suites and engines are very versatile and while some may be basic when you start off, they give you the potential to make something huge and dynamic. Not accepting feedback: One major piece of advice for aspiring game devs? Have people playtest your game. Spend half an hour identifying your target demographic, find a bunch of friends who fit the bill, plop them in front of a computer, and see what they think about your game! It is crucial to get feedback at every step to make sure that you are heading in the right direction. Developers always need to be thinking about what their audience will enjoy. Some people believe that you should make the game that you love and ignore what the public thinks, but I beg to differ. If you want your game to sell and become a viral hit, the public needs to appreciate it. Make sure to incorporate your audience’s feedback into your project!
Trying to do it all: Find me a single game developer who codes, draws, 3D models, rigs animations, composes, voice acts, sings, markets, edits video, and designs, and I shall crown them the lord of the indie game world. Two words: core competencies. The key to success is doing what you do best and outsourcing the rest. A lot of developers hesitate at the prospect of things like hiring a PR firm or commissioning art. If you spend your time divided between being the CEO, CMO, COO, CTO, CFO, and CLO of your studio, you will never get anything done, and the work you get done will be subpar. Know when to outsource work to freelancers or teammates, and your life will be much easier. You will have more fun focusing on what you are good at, and things will come together much more quickly. Be careful though; keep Mistake 1 in mind! P.S.—if looking for people to outsource your work to, check out Fiverr or Reddit’s /r/gamedevclassifieds and /r/slavelabour! These sites are great for finding adept assistance without hurting your wallet.
Neglecting to take breaks: If you work yourself to death, nothing good will come of it. Your health will deteriorate, you will be unhappy, you will not enjoy your project, and life will be miserable. Many indie developers are so intent on getting their game finished that they forget their priorities. Remember: you have a life outside of development. It seems obvious but it is true: do not forget to take breaks! They can lower your stress levels, keep your brain working efficiently, and help you stay focused. Plus, spending time away from your project lets you see things from an outsider’s eye. You might implement a feature on Friday night, take Saturday off to watch movies and sleep (highly recommended!!!), then come back to work Sunday and realize how silly your idea was.
Forgetting to stay organized: There is a reason services like Trello, Dropbox, and Google Apps For Business were created. Use them! They are all very easy to set up, streamlined and optimized for teamwork, and will save you so much time and energy. This goes back to Mistake 4; do not try and create your own systems when what you need already exists! Some might cost you a little bit (Google Apps is $5 per person per month, not too bad) but trust me, once you start using them you will not be able to stop. If you remain organized and on top of your to-do list, game development will be a cakewalk.
Getting intimidated by the workload: Lists, lists, lists. You know why it seems like you have a million things to do? Because you have a million and one things to do. It is hard to sugarcoat the fact that making a game requires a lot of work and learning (that is why services like Start Game Dev exist!) However, once you sit down and work through what needs to be done in a systematic, logical manner, the task will not seem so daunting. Many developers get overwhelmed and try juggling everything at once, but all it takes is some lists, priorities, a can-do attitude, and focus, and anything is possible.
Giving Up: Do not quit. It is trite but true. Do not be the guy with 50 prototypes and no finished product. Be the guy with the game that you can be proud to show off to all of your friends. There is nothing more exciting than watching the guy you are sitting next to on the bus playing your game on his phone. Game development is more than just making a game. The learning experience you can get by following the process through to completion is amazing and worth the struggle. It is easy to give up when things are tough, but you need to treat every failure as a learning opportunity and not feel like it is the end of the road when you hit a roadblock. Remember, only through adversity does real growth happen.
How can I maximize my career potential?
Be around the right people: Surround yourself with the type of people you want to become. If your friends are the type of people who are not motivated to be successful, then they will bring you down. It is like how the saying goes. You show me your friends, and I will show you your future. When you are around people who are successful and are constantly pushing themselves, you will begin to embody those same traits that will make you successful. You need to shape your environment so that you aren’t fight people who don’t want to change and grow. Surround yourself with others that will make growing the natural thing to do.
Spend money wisely: You can make a ton of money off of your first venture. The accomplishment of being success is a great feeling. You will want to reward yourself with a lavish vacation. You will bring some friends, and proceeded to blow most of the money. Less than a year later you are two steps back from where you started. You are now broke and moving back in with your parents. Do not do that! Keep on working so that you are continually growing. Invest in yourself and your business.
Originality is not as important as you think: Henry Ford did not invent the car! He was just the best at manufacturing them for the everyday person. For every great game idea you have, you should assume that 100 other people have had the same idea. You should assume they are already working on it too. Ideas do not matter. What matters is execution. A lot of people are proud of themselves for coming up with a novel idea. But the most successful games in history were rarely new ideas. Angry Birds was not a new idea, Flappy Bird was not a new idea, Diablo was not a new idea. These games simply executed far better than anyone else.
Do not read all day if you are not willing to execute: This one is a bit controversial, but it must be said. Only read when you need a specific solution to a problem. Spending days, weeks, or even months just reading about game development will not get your game from concept to completion. Read about game development when you are stuck. That reading becomes a lot more interesting when you have a specific problem to solve. Many people use reading as a procrastination tool; instead of doing, they are always reading. Instead, focus on reading with purpose, and don’t forget to apply what you’ve learned more often than mere theorycrafting.
It will take many sacrifices: There is no such thing as overnight success. Sacrifices must be made to get your game off the ground. You will need to work on it every day. We respect practicality. You have to pay your bills. You have obligations to your family. Instead of binge watching a season of House of Cards, why don’t you put in the work? That is hours of watching a season you will never get back. Why not work on something that you can look back on with pride?
It is not about the profit: It is about value and values. Make what you personally value. You will never tire of game development. In fact, you will look forward to it! If you optimize the value your games projects. The money will happen as a side-effect. Sometimes you must eat a chunk of money to create greater long-term value. If you are just in it for the bottom line, you will never be willing to do this. All of the money making shortcuts will either destroy your long-term brand or will put you back in a position of being chained to something you do not care about. If you love what you do, and you are investing countless hours into your game development venture, then having a bunch of money sitting around to buy useless material goods won’t matter.
Get people who support your cause: Let us get straight to it. How much work does it take to really make it? Take a look at this. If you are able to get 100 people to give you $100 each year, you can make enough money to support the basic game development lifestyle of ramen and caffeine. With that being said, getting those 100 true fans does take work. A lot of work, and a lot more dedication. You will need to continue to prove why you deserve their attention. Do you think you can get 100 true fans? We think so. The odds are ever in your favor in the internet age.
Networking is king: Networking is the bread and butter of life. You have to network if you want to grow personally and professionally. Yes, it is still a great way to get new clients and/or job offers. But in the game development world, it is useful to see what’s working in other game development careers. It is a good way to learn and then apply what works. If you do not know where to start, reach out to people who you admire. It is likely they will know of other game developers you can network with. If it feels like work, you are doing it wrong: There is this saying that everyone has heard at least once in their life. Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. There is also the way in which to live your life. You can choose to make money to do what you love. Or you can do what you love to make money. Which way do you want to live? We do what we love to make money. If you are doing what you hate, please stop. Take a good look at where you are heading. Before you know it you can be 10, 15, or 20 years into a career. Trust us you do not want to be that deep into a career and realize that you are not happy doing what you are doing.
Treat your customers extremely well: They are the only reason you are here in the first place. Treat them with the utmost respect. Reply to their emails promptly, and answer their questions earnestly. Do not be afraid to give. You need to give value to your customers. Without them it will be hard to stay in business.
How do I leverage my connections?
A common tip for most aspiring entrepreneurs is to know your competition and stay one step ahead of them. It’s a cat-eat-cat world out there. However, in the world of independent game development, this kind of cutthroat mentality will lead you to lose out on many opportunities for success.
In the gaming world, people will gladly buy games from different developers, so you need not worry much about “losing customers” to other games. Here are 5 reasons you should encourage other developers’ work and embrace competition from other developers. Do not miss cross promotion opportunities: The game development world runs on the principle of getting your game noticed. And what better way to get noticed than to piggyback on someone else coming into the spotlight? Don’t hesitate to contact other developers doing similar things and offer cross promotion opportunities. A simple message is all you need. “Hey, I see your game X is similar to my game Y! I’d love to share X with my fan base in exchange for you sharing Y across yours! I think our fans would love being able to enjoy other games like the ones they’ve been playing.” These kind of messages can work wonders, especially when it comes to Kickstarter or Greenlight. Plus, you get to meet some cool developers!
Get juicy feedback from others: Nobody knows more about making games than someone who is making games. It is always a good idea to reach out to developers and ask for feedback on your project, no matter how big or small the project or the developer is! Most developers wouldn’t mind taking a little while out of their day to give you a hand. The good part about giving feedback and checking out new projects is that it could inspire you to create or improve something for your own work! Game development should always be a collaborative process. If I had not asked other developers for feedback along the way, I would never have been able to publish games on Steam and maintain fantastic friendships and professional connections with talented developers.
Avoid getting caught up in negativity: When you view those around you as competition, you inadvertently foster a kind of hostility or aggression towards them and their brand. While you may have the best of intentions, if you keep trying to get “better” than other games in the market, eventually one of four things will happen. One, they notice and get mad, possibly leading to a lawsuit regarding copyright infringement. Two, the press notice and give you flak for being a “copycat.” Three, the public notices, and your fans view you as a sellout trying to steal ideas. Or four, your game starts to look so different from what you had in mind initially that you are no longer making your own game, but rather a clone of someone else’s. Stay creative and have a calm mind, and do not see game development as a race to create the “best game.” Make the game you want to make.
Do not pass up networking opportunities: The word “networking” is thrown around as a buzzword in the professional world, so I will keep this brief. Developers work closely with people that you might need to get in touch with—composers, marketers, trailer guys, web designers, and more. If you need contacts, asking another developer where they got X, Y, or Z done is an easy way to find reputable people with experience. Sharing contacts also generates goodwill amongst developers, and keeps talented contractors in business!
Forge rewarding friendships: All it takes is 5 minutes on reddit’s /r/gamedev forum to discern that developers are friendly people willing to help others. If you start painting this picture of your “competition” in your mind, you lose the ability to make wonderful, thriving connections with skilled masterminds in your field. It is not even about making games—it is about making friends! Relationships mean a lot in a world as dynamic as game development, so make and cherish them.
Section 3: Publishing, Marketing, and Shipping
How do I ship my first game?
There is a widespread problem with indie developers embarking alone onto projects that have massive scope without having the means to support their efforts. Enthusiasm alone cannot take something to its completion, especially when you are dealing with something as ambitious as the development of a complex game. Before embarking on anything of scope or difficulty, it is important to know the following:
Have a clear outcome: Developing games is a long and arduous process. It is important to know what you want to achieve from the game you are working on. Many times we see young developers wanting to develop the next game that everyone talks about. That is all well and good. However, how do you accomplish this? Well it is quite simple. You need to know where you want to end up. If you do not do this you could be a year into developing some game that does not even make sense, or might not even be a game.
Make a realistic assessment: Once you have a clear and specific outcome, you will need to take an inward look. Do you have the skills and resources to accomplish this outcome? Do you need to learn how to use a certain game engine? Are you able to put in the work day in and day out? Do you need to recruit other people to help with the execution of the game development?
Have reliable support resources: You are going to be in front of a monitor for many hours. Everyone gets overworked at some point. You will need a way to replenish your energy and maintain a balance in your life. Some ways that you can do this is by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and maintaining consistent sleeping hours. You will be happy you maintained a balance when the hours get grueling.
Talk with other game developers: Networking with other game developers has two key benefits. First you get to talk about the problems you are dealing with. Many times there is someone who has come to that hurdle before and found a solution. You can also bounce off concepts and ideas to see how effective they are. Second, knowing that there are others just like you doing what you love and overcoming challenges is very motivating.
Be extremely patient: Developing a game takes a lot of time and energy. There are days you simply do not feel like doing it. You will have setbacks. The key is to understand you need to get back up and figure it out. Some people think they will do it when they are motivated. This is flawed thinking. You do it and the motivation will come.
Produce quality work: When embarking on this quest to build your own game you must produce quality. It is far better to execute a game that has a specific goal that provides value to the player than it does to create a large game with lots of features that provides no real value to the player. Do small things in a great way and the gamer community will reward you for your efforts.
How do I get onto Steam?
No matter how you look at it, Steam’s reach is beyond compare. The platform boasts millions of active players, and if you happen to get your game on the platform, you are in for a good time. The awesome people at Steam have been generous enough to offer the Greenlight service, which bridges the gap between developing a game and selling to the masses. However, before throwing your game into the ring, there are a few things that you will need to know.
Most games on Greenlight are either absolutely terrible, or not polished or professional enough to even warrant a hint of consideration for players. RPG Maker games with stock sprites, mobile games, and games with rudimentary graphics are always immediately shunned by the Greenlight voting community. Here are a list of several do’s and don’ts that’ll help keep your game’s greenlight campaign stand out from the rest of the mediocrity on Greenlight.
DO: Utilize the immense power of social media It may go without saying, but at the very least, your landing page, Twitter account, and Facebook account should be set up and grown organically months before you launch your Greenlight campaign. This way, you can leverage your fan base in order to get the traction that you require to drive voters to your page.
DO: Produce a video that shows off the best aspects of your game You have to make people care about your game, and you only have a limited time to do so. Let the gameplay speak for itself. Feel free to add neat transitions, voiceovers, and other neat video production magic that will make your game stand out. Not very good with Sony Vegas? Use Windows Movie Maker!
DO: Run a marketing campaign alongside your game’s Greenlight debut While Steam Greenlight does drive a fair amount of traffic on its own, nothing beats a well executed marketing campaign. Reach out to your marketing friends in the industry, purchase paid advertising on networks such as Facebook and Twitter, send out press releases or hire someone to do it for you.
DON’T: Use terrible programmer art and justify its usage Your trailer and screenshots should be representative of what the final product will look like. There is nothing more hideous than a game that looks like it was slapped together in MS Paint. Would Braid have been even remotely as successful if it had been shipped with programmer art? Not a chance. If you can not draw to save your life, find an artist or use a sprite pack!
DON’T: Bore your potential fans with walls of dull description text The very first few lines should be a very well written and succinct summary of your game. Start with a bit of backstory, followed by one engaging gameplay feature. Then, finish up with a strong selling point. After this summary should be a bulleted list of the game’s core features, and don’t forget to link to your social media networks.
DON’T: Submit your game before the core gameplay loop is complete If your product is just a cube running around a flat plane with nothing exciting going on, you probably should not be releasing it quite yet. If you show the public a sub-par game, you will receive sub-par results. As rule, try to get one level of your game extremely polished before even considering putting it on Greenlight and embarrassing yourself.
How do I stay alive while pursuing my dreams?
Back when video games sold for a bit more money, game developers were better able to offer better customer support. These days, with value of games eroding at an alarming rate, developers have had to make up for the lost revenue by trying to get a price point to attract as many customers as possible. However, the increase in number of players mixed with lower total revenues means that game developers have gotten a bit jaded. It has become increasingly difficult to continue treating customers as individuals rather than just another number.
If you are not pricing the game at its true value then you will attract a different breed of customers. For example, you think of a service such as one that creates logos for indie game studios. They could price it out really cheap to get more customers, but the expectation will not be the same as one that charges a moderate to a high price point. Would you go for the cheaper option? You might be tempted at first, but let us think this through a little further
What type of customers does that lower price point attract? A lower price point means a lower commitment needs to be made in buying the game. The cheaper things are, the more people take them for granted. A cheap price point can lead to an influx of consumers who lack any sort of investment. As such there is added benefit to pricing your product at its appropriate value. You are able to provide a valuable product for customers who actually care about the product, instead of individuals who want everything for nothing.
Price is only an issue in the absence of value: Set your game’s selling price according to how much you would pay for that game if you were in a customer’s shoes, and not a penny less. You can always drive sales by having discounts, but if you set your game’s initial price too low, you are doing yourself a disservice by making it seem like your work is absolutely worthless.
Why should I work with a publisher?
“Making video games and getting them to hundreds or thousands or millions of people is hard.” -Daniel Jacobson, creator of Dungeons of Dredmor
As of 2015, video games are part of an estimated $111 billion dollar industry. To get in on the action, you must have a great game, and that game has to be sold successfully. As mentioned before, creating a game might not be easy, but the barrier to entry has been lowered significantly. Unfortunately, that also makes it much harder to stand out. Developers are in the business of making and selling games, and the time spent on selling a game is time that is not spent creating a game. Here are just some of the reasons how you can take advantage of a game publisher to help you reach your game development goals.
They make your life much easier: There are a lot of things that a publisher can do to make your life as a game developer much easier, some of which include bringing your game to a wider audience or getting your game on a specific platform without the fuss of traditional petitioning, as some publishers even have connections with distribution portals to expedite the process greatly. You are not creating content if you are dealing with taxes or negotiating with Valve for Steam access. This is where the modern indie game publisher comes in. They are able to take care of the business aspect of game development, freeing you up to be creative and focused on the things that matter most to you: developing a great gaming experience.
Utilize their marketing resources: Publishers can be very flexible in what they can offer, and can even be viable for indie development. If you have a team that is totally amazing and all you need is promotion, they will more than likely end up taking a smaller portion of revenue then they would if you needed quality assurance support or help on the development side. Most publishers usually have a very modular approach to how their revenue sharing arrangement works.
Leverage their industry connections: There is also a lot of value in the knowledge of what it takes to ship a game and the level of polish needed to stand out in the crowded marketplace. You have to deal with platform holders, make sure you are keeping the necessary records, and even get a rating for your game depending on the platform. This is stuff you can learn, and plenty of developers have, but there is value in paying or offering up a modest portion of your revenue to have them handle it for you. A publisher proves their worth not just by doing paperwork, but by delivering massive sales and success that just would not be possible without the value that they bring to the table. They may be willing to pay for promotion, marketing, help with taxes, or to help get you into shows such as PAX which can be a ticket to a successful launch. If you are successful, publishers will be successful, as such they will do their utmost to support you.
Steal their precious knowledge: A reputable publisher worth their salt knows their way around what it takes to market a game to ensure that the world knows about it as well as how to make that process run smoothly. Working with a reliable publisher can be a large help to the success of your game, as their invaluable experience will lead you down a path of infinite knowledge.
How can I get journalists to cover my game?
While we advise hiring professional help, we understand that sometimes you might want to get things done yourself. If you decide you want to learn how to market and publish your own game, then you are going to be spending a lot of time sending emails. Presentation is key, and learning how to properly format a press email can have a drastic effect on those who receive your emails.
STEP 1: THE SUBJECT LINE
The subject line is one of the more important elements of a press email. Keep it to the point, direct, and without fluff. Describe your game briefly and share the key event that you are writing about (game launch, trailer launch, Greenlight launch, Kickstarter, etc.) so the person receiving the email knows what is going on right off the bat. If you are providing a download key (WHICH IS A MUST) mention it briefly if you can do so without rendering the subject too long.
Bad subject line: Hey there editor! I’m Daniel, and I’ve been developing my game for the past year. I’d appreciate any coverage.
Good subject line: After 1 year in development, Awesome Game Title launches on Steam, Desura, and GoG. Download key inside.
Stay direct, clear, and concise. The details come later.
STEP 2: THE TL;DR
All you need to write a clear, direct press email is this. You need to accomplish a few things here without getting wordy or convoluted. The following block—which I call the TL;DR (Too long; didn’t read) is what will get press easy access to cover your game. It’s similar to a mini fact sheet for your game.
Slap on a download key and a small screenshot just after this, and you are good to go! The press get all the information they need in an easy to read list and can access more if they keep on reading until they get to …
STEP 3: THE CONDENSED PRESS KIT
Put a quick horizontal line or other separator in your message and start this next section. This area is optional but can make life easier for the reviewer. After they read the TL;DR and if they want more information, they can scroll down and should be able to find …
● A slightly longer description (250 words max) ● Features list (bullet points, 3-7 features recommended) ● 2-4 press mentions from other sites ● 3-5 screenshots ● Social media, website, download, campaign links ● Trailer link ● Press kit link
Having this information laid out so the reviewer has as little work as possible to do is key to getting your game reviewed. This way they can read on and cull whatever they need directly from your email instead of having to search for it on your website, online or in a press kit.
How do I get my game noticed?
While marketing and publishing are your best bet for getting your game noticed, you might not always have the budget for those kinds of services; especially starting out. Because of this it is useful to be able to know basic promotion avenues, and there are a lot to consider.
Which channels should you use? How do you use each channel? Will this journey be worth it? Will anyone even care? To answer the first question, you need to use all of them. Whatever you do, do not get overwhelmed. Once you take time to learn how to optimize the process it will become second nature. Here are a few effective ways to get your indie game noticed:
● Facebook ○ Join groups, post relevant content in those groups. Participate in #screenshotsaturday. ● Twitter ○ Grow your Twitter fanbase. Post often. Use relevant hashtags. Participate in #screenshotsaturday. ● Reddit ○ Create a subreddit. Participate in game development threads. Join the Screenshot Saturday thread in /r/gamedev. ● IndieDB ○ Make consistent updates about your game. Keep doing it ad infinitum. ● Newspapers ○ Local newspapers can be keen on picking up stories of fledgling game developers. ● Games Press ○ Contact individual authors. If they think their readers will enjoy what you are doing, they might run an article. ● Forums ○ Go forth and join these communities as soon as possible. Share politely. ● Friends ○ Word of mouth is always very powerful in spreading information on what you are doing. ● Youtube ○ Give YouTubers a free key in exchange for a preview or honest review of your game.
With each of these channels, there is one word to keep in mind: Engagement. You need to engage with the users on each platform. You want to be on the forefront of their mind. By engaging you are developing relationships with your potential users, and relationships are more valuable than customers. They will be more likely to purchase future products with a good relationship and a great product. The time you invest to engage will not be wasted.
If you are still feeling too overwhelmed, or would just rather focus on development and leave game promotion out of your daily workflow, you can always partner up with someone who can take care of it for you.
Word of caution: For channels such as Reddit and forums you need to be careful to how you present yourself. No one likes seeing advertisement or spam. If you are caught “spamming” your account could be banned from the site. You have to be creative! Try and get a conversation going and try and steer it to your product.
How do I keep this up?
You are tired and miserable. You have just stayed up until 5AM trying to figure out why your build keeps crashing. The last thing you want to do is continue working on your game. You are barely making any progress, and struggling to stay focused. You are on the verge of giving up and calling it quits.
We have all been there.
However, you now have something that others do not; the knowledge and tools at your disposal to start making and shipping your very own indie game! With the knowledge you possess, you can finish your game, just hang in there.
“Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.” – Thomas Edison, an awesome guy.
“What separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs.
“Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.” – Guy Kawasaki, founder of AllTop.
“Pay attention to what people need and what has not been done.” – Russell Simmons.
“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.
Make no mistake, the hardest part is still ahead. Games are made with discipline, dedication, and effort. However with the contents of this E-Book, you can at least avoid some of the pitfalls along the way! Once your game is finished, you will be one step ahead of your competition, and have an understanding of how to sell your game.
If you have any further questions or are looking for a publisher, feel free to contact us over at www.BlackShellMedia.com or via email: [email protected]. We also regularly update our blog with game development articles to further augment your game development knowledge, and do our best to keep engaged with our readers. Feel free to drop us a line even just to say hello and share your project.
Best of luck on your game development journey!