Miscellany Studios A video game studio with a simple focus: classic game design for a new generation 1 Table of Contents I What is Miscellany Studios? 5 The Problem 6 The Solution 11 About “DC3” 12 Market Research Results Part I: Financial Analytics 17 Market Research Results Part II: Consumer Taste Analytics 21 Market Research Survey Conclusions 24 Survey Feedback 27 Financial Information Part I: Revenue Streams 28 Expenses 31 2 Table of Contents II About the Company 32 Company Overview 33 Market Analysis 34 Competitive Landscape 35 Direct Competitors 36 Indirect Competitors 38 Competitive Advantage 39 Business Marketing and Growth 40 Assumptions 41 Marketing 42 3 Table of Contents III Growth Plan: Year 1 44 Growth Plan: Years 2 & 3 45 Growth Plan: Year 4 and Beyond 46 About Miscellany Studios 48 Miscellany Studios Team 49 The Miscellany Studios Story 52 Executive Summary 53 Contact 55 4 ● Miscellany Studios is a game studio that has one goal in mind: to create great games that offer fresh takes on classic design sensibilities ● Our first game in development is “DC3” (working title), a spiritual successor to the Dark Cloud series. 5 The Problem 6 The Problem ● In the early 2000s, there was a wealth of unique niche games for consoles like the PlayStation 2 and GameCube ● In particular, a great deal of innovation was happening in the roleplaying game genre, culminating in genre-blending hits like Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2, a series known for mixing dungeon-crawling action gameplay with city-building that impacted the game’s world in profound ways ● Though these games sold well (the Dark Cloud series has sold over 2,000,000 copies) and have a dedicated fan base, industry professionals moved on to other trends 7 The Problem ● Nowadays, the AAA RPG market is dominated by games like FromSoftware’s Dark Souls as well as titles from western developers like Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3. ● Despite the incredible quality of some of these games, there is a still a demand for a revival of classic series like Dark Cloud 8 The Problem ● The Dark Cloud fanbase is growing and anticipation for another game in the series is mounting ● Fans have taken to writing petitions asking developer Level-5 and publisher Sony to make a sequel ● Every E3, gamers on Reddit and across the internet expect an announcement of new entry in the series for the PlayStation 4-- but to this day Sony has been silent about the game 9 The Problem ● In 2017, Gears for Breakfast released A Hat in Time to tremendous critical acclaim ● The game was made on the blueprint of classics like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, but logically expanded on the formula and added new elements to ensure that players had a fresh experience ● A little over a year after its release, the game has sold over 1,000,000 copies, proving that retro game revivals have a place in today’s fiercely competitive indie game market 10 Our Solution 11 “DC3” - a Dark Cloud spiritual successor that will bring the original’s classic and beloved gameplay into the modern era 12 DC3 Features ● A Complex Storytelling Approach: Understanding that nuanced storytelling is in demand now more than ever in video games, our studio is taking time to craft an emotionally compelling story that will touch on universally appealing themes like overcoming loss and growing up in spite of resistance to doing so ● Our game will take place in a modern setting ○ We are taking story cues from Shigesato Itoi’s 2006 masterpiece Mother 3, which many have considered to be a thematically complex literary masterwork 13 DC3 Features ● Real Time Action-RPG Combat: A skill-based battle system with a high degree of difficulty and a wide variety of weapons to use. ● Miscellany Studios is taking cues from the Devil May Cry series, which is known for its fast-paced and rewarding combat system ● Our goal is to include frenetic, complex, and rewarding combat that stays true to the spirit of Dark Cloud while greatly expanding on its simple systems 14 DC3 Features ● Procedural Dungeon-Crawling: Dungeons, much like the original Dark Cloud series, will be procedurally-generated ● The core gameplay will revolve around traversing dungeons, fighting enemies, and collecting materials to use in the city-building portion of the game ● Dark Cloud’s dungeons, while extremely fun, sometimes lacked variety ● We are planning on employing an algorithm that allows for greater diversity with regard to scenery and enemies in dungeons 15 DC3 Features ● The game will employ a colorful cel-shaded art-style for a timeless look ● In this respect, We are heavily inspired by Nintendo’s 2002 masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker ● Through its heavily-stylized graphics, the game remains beautiful despite decades of advancement in technology ● Like The Wind Waker, our emphasis will be on bright, vibrant colors, a minimalist approach to models, and a cel-shaded aesthetic that will lend itself to a more cartoony look 16 Market Research Results Part I: Financial Analytics 17 Market Research Results ● We conducted a digital survey in April consisting of 41 questions ● The survey was deployed via video game groups on Facebook and game development sections of Reddit ● Recorded 395 reponses after weeding out spam ● Out of 395 respondents, 384 had indicated that they play video games-- meaning that 384 responses were useful. ● Received helpful information regarding demographics, price-point, and preferences for various game elements 18 Market Research Results ● An overwhelming majority of survey respondents were male (~89%), mostly in the age range of 17-26 (~74%) ● The majority of respondents indicated that they were interested in video games for the PC (~83%), Nintendo Switch (~64%), and Playstation 4 (~45%) ● Not surprisingly, around 40% of respondents play video games on mobile platforms ● ~60% of respondents spend most of their time playing games on PC, with ~32% spending most of that time with the Nintendo Switch, and ~22% with the PS4 19 Market Research Results ● Most survey respondents buy games digitally (~86%), with just about half buying from brick-and-mortar, and a little more than a third (~37%) buying online through retailers like Amazon. ● Among digital retailers, about 90% of respondents feel that Steam is the best digital storefront ● Most respondents (~92%) play indie games and about half (~52%) have spent money on an indie game in the past year ● Around 52% of respondents spent between $11-20 on their last indie game purchase, and about 83% prefer pay-to-play games with no microtransactions 20 Market Research Results Part II: Consumer Taste Analytics 21 Market Research Results II ● Of the respondents, about 89% are interested in RPGs. ~80% are interested in action games, and around 85% indicated an interest in adventure games ● Our survey shows that an interest in single-player games is alive-and-well, with ⅘ of respondents answering that they “really enjoy” single-player games ● More than ⅔ (~69%) enjoy cartoony graphics in video games, with ~72% indicating that they enjoy colorful graphics 22 Market Research Results II ● ~77% of respondents enjoy the gameplay style of Nintendo exclusives over Sony exclusives ● Around 54% of respondents indicated that they played and enjoyed A Hat in Time or similar revival games ● About 26% had heard of Dark Cloud ● 64.1% of survey respondents were interested in DC3 based on our description of the game 23 What does this all mean? 24 Market Research Survey Conclusions ● Through careful analysis of the responses to financial questions on our survey, we have gained a lot of insight into an ideal price structure for DC3 ● The game will launch on Steam and the Nintendo eShop ● It will cost $19.99 with no additional transactions ● A mobile aspect is being considered at this time ● Questions about demographic will improve our approach to marketing 25 Market Research Survey Conclusions ● The questions regarding game preferences are being heavily factored into development ● The warm reception to the game’s concept validated that there is interest in this type of title ● Given the preference toward Nintendo exclusives over Sony, we are structuring our game more in line with Nintendo philosophies (more emphasis on gameplay and less on a cinematic quality) ● Questions about genre and graphical style reassured that our vision is in line with what players would like to see ● A plethora of other responses to other questions on the form gave helpful data to our development team 26 Survey Feedback ● In addition to data collected from our questions, we received a number of positive responses from our “additional feedback” field at the end of our survey ● Along with well-wishes, many respondents provided their email addresses and offered to become beta testers ● “Although RPGs aren’t my normal go-to, it does sound interesting. Ones that [include] actual playable combat, like Zelda-style fighting, do feel a lot better to play than point-and-click RPGs. best of luck on your game” ● “If you're making a Dark Cloud 3 in a similar art style I want to be first in line to buy a copy because you are doing the work of the gods.” ● “Good luck with the development of your game. [I didn’t] know about Dark Cloud and that game does look interesting and might give it a look and follow you guys later on.” 27 Financial Information Part I: Revenue Streams 28 Primary Revenue ● One-Time Game Purchase ○ As per the results of our survey, people overwhelmingly prefer paying once for a game, as opposed to the popular “games as a service” model ○ To further increase