Stats [Fred(22)]

• Level 22 in life• From planet Earth, sector Estonia• 24/7 designer for 4 years– Work– Hobbies– Fun

• Personal motivation – development• Deals in Mobile, web, print + UI & UX

What are serious games?

• Game designed for simulations of real life• Games designed for solving a problem• Games, which main purpose is to train or

educate• Don’t have to be entertaining– But can be

Examples 1/3

• HabitRPG

Examples 2/3

• Fitocracy

Example 3/3

• FingerFolk

Whats the agenda?

• Let’s find a problem• Let’s find the perfect team• Let’s polish the idea and assign works• Let’s have a quick meeting• Let’s solve the problem• Let’s market the game• Let’s monetize the game• Let’s enjoy the game

Achievement unlocked!„5 minutes with Fred“

• Awards:– 50 experience points– You get to hear him talk more– New quest unlocked: „How to start making a

game?“

HOW DOES FRED START MAKING HIS GAMES?Unintended capslock

The idea

• Before making games figure out your motivation. Why do you want to make games?

• To make a serious game you need:– A problem which needs solving– To know what you want to offer to the player– A vision that compels the listener– To know the platform on which you will develop– Understand the problem which needs solving

The Idea 2

Once you have your idea figured out, it’s time to polish it.• Ask yourself a lot of questions• Pitch to your friends and let them ask a lot of

questions

• A well polished idea can be explained in two sentences. A perfect idea can be explained in one.

The idea 3

• Fred, I don’t have an idea but I still want to make a game – Join a hackaton • Garage48• Game Jam• 1 Game a Month• Ludum Dare• Etc

The idea 4

• Why should I join a Hackaton?– This brings together a team of professionals to

achieve something big together.– Mentors are there to mentor you– Ideas get better, inspiration flows– Looks great in your CV (- & LinkedIn )– Motivates you

OKAY! I have an idea!

• Time to find our team members.• We need:– A big mean boss (project manager)– Game design paladin– Design agent– Programming wizards

– Additional roles depending on the game.

Team 2

• Telltale-type games and their teams• Some roles are replaceable or covered by others

( the lone programmer )

• You can skip some people in your team but something has to be sacrificed in return.

• The most important thing about choosing teammates – trust your guts not your brain !!

Idea? Check.Team? Check.

Next..• Brainstorming– Don’t filter anything– Write down everything– Limited time or see when the team starts to settle

down– Example

– Sort the keywords into 2

MustHave, NiceToHave

• MustHave– Everything your game cannot exist without– Programming & Game design– Main goal should be reflected here. If it is getting

money, write down monetization.

MustHave, NiceToHave

• NiceToHave– Details which would could be in the game but are

not necessary for the game to function– Very important for serious games – they do not

have to be entertaining, so think twice before adding stuff to MustHave

– Most of the artsy parts (but not all)

Example board

Example Board

• Color coded• Wishlist

What do i do with the 2 lists now?

What to do with lists:

Prioritize them and start from the top

If you are in a time critical situation, remove half and then remove some more. Then prioritize them. This is the very core of the game!

Quick meetings

• Quick stand-up meetings can help boost the teams motivation and work– Project manager goes through everybodys DONE

and TODO lists– Productivity boost. Noone wants to say „I kind of

didn’t do anything for the past 7 days..“– At least 1 meeting a week

Tips

• Paired programming• Ballmer peak• Let people take tasks rather than assign tasks to

people randomly• 1 minute of planning saves you ten minutes of

work• Know your market and your strengths,

advantages• Everybody in the team should see the results

Tips 2

• Ask questions. Lots of them. Because people will ask questions. Lots of them.

• Make your Google Play or iStore icon attractive

Congratulations!

Ideally you have everything you need to complete the smaller-scale game for now.

Marketing the game

• Market through your role without cash– Programmers – developing blog– Marketers – social media – Public relations – forums, gaming sites– Rich people - VGMarket provides research and

consulting services for game developers, including surveys, play tests, market research, and mock reviews

Marketing the game

• Should you have an investor– Market through ads in other games & google

targeted ads.– Learn how the games in the marketplace are

getting to the top

Let’s play a game

• I will show you 4 games. Can you guess which game was the most successful?

MyWheel

• Team:– 1 Project manager– 1 Questionaire designer– 1 Artist– 4 Programmers

– 48 hours

• Team: – 1 Game Designer / dancer– 2 Project managers– 2 Artists– 1 Programmer– 2 Marketing guys

– 48 hours

Color ninja

• Team:– 1 Game Designer– 1 Game Designer/Artist– 1 Artist– 2 Programmers– 2 Marketing gurus

– Time: 48 hours

Game Master

• http://youtu.be/dGzNYZahA7s

• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/554392007/game-master-play-create-and-share-adventures-on-th

• Time: 1.5 years

Answer:

They were all successful in their own way

Color Ninja – Most moneyFingerFolk – in national TV

MyWheel – Top 40 in AjujahtGame Master – lots of experience

Monetizing

• Empathy cards for your client & investor

Monetizing 2

Investors value four things in my experience.

1) The team2) The idea3) The transparency between communications4) Success

Monetizing 3

• If you have a really cool idea and have already started with it, join an accelerator!

Make a game you would play yourself.