Postmortem: "Spellcreepers"

NeoBird GmbH & Co. KGCross-Plattform Game Development

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13.09.13

Postmortem: Spellcreepers

Content Overview

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- Introduction NeoBird Company & Spellcreepers game.

- Spellcreepers on www.spielaffe.de - How did we get it there?

- Dramatis personae: Portal owners, App-Stores, Publishers, Media & the like.

- Spellcreepers on the move and changing – Timeline from March to August.

- Spellcreepers close combat: Finalizing the release.

- Overview: Feedbacks & changes, Affiliate-topics

- Learnings & Checklist

http://www.spielaffe.de/

About NeoBird


NeoBird was founded in Dec. 2012 by Martin Schiele, former CEO of qforge GmbH. - qforge GmbH spearheaded the development of F2P-multiplayer-games for Spil Games B.V. Check games at www.qplaygames.de (property of Spil Games B.V.).

- qforge GmbH built 40 casual multiplayer games, SPIL still distributes these to more than 150 million monthly Unique Visitors.

- NeoBird´s team consists of eight specialists in interaction design, coding and project management. Visit us at: www.neobird.de

Company is based in Nuremberg, Germany.

More NeoBird:www.facebook.com/NeoBirdSoftwww.facebook.com/NeoBirdGames

www.twitter.com/NeoBirdSoft

http://www.qplaygames.de/

http://www.neobird.de/

About Spellcreepers 1

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- Experience exciting puzzle battles with Spellcreepers on web and mobile devices.

- Features: Strategic gameplay, single player mode and cross-platform PvP battles.

- Check the current version at: www.spellcreepers.com

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http://www.spellcreepers.com/

About Spellcreepers 2

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- Monetization features: Unlockable creatures, buy bonus keys to gain additional gold & XP.

- Adaptability: Fast customization to specific affiliate requirements (e.g. API, tracking, payment).

- Update-strategy: Concept for additional content / enhanced monetization available.

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The question:


How did we get here?

Prelude: Dramatis personae 1


- Short overview and characterization of entities you will come across while setting out to bring your game to the players – no matter if it is for fame, money or both.

- Online gaming portals (also referred to as „Affiliates“) - These come in roughly two versions: 1. Aggregators: Rapid fire, fast submission procedure, virtually no rev-share, zero bargaining 2. Premiums: proprietary API/SDK, selective submission procedure, rev-share-models, open

for bargaining, face-to-face contact required.

- Publishers: Get them! Benefits: marketing invest, rev-shares, (recoupable) advance payment, tracking & payment-solutions, good market overview & insights. Needed: endurance for prolonged bargaining procedures, being prepared for adaptation and update-requests.

- Media: Engage them! Go for the smaller ones first. Generally swamped, many „pay to promote“-schemes, small success rate but worthy feedback and basic noise.

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- Learnings & Checklist

Prelude: Dramatis personae 2



- AppStores: make yourself aquainted early on, check potential publishers influence.

- (other) Developers: Befriend them and exchange! Too many of them in all size and shapes. Major ones and runners-up turn into publishers currently.

- Traffic boosters: Lot´s of pay-per-traffic-models, heavily connected.

- Agents: Possible door-openers for foreign markets (LATAM, SEA, MENA)

- The Big Ones: MS/Ouya/Yahoo etc. - Storm them at resonable intervals.

Prelude: Dramatis personae conclusion



- Conclusion: Get aquainted with all players in the f2p-ecosystem. Analyze LinkedIn & Co. Lookout for contests, funding, Appstore data. Get at least a daily newsletter (e.g.Newsslash)

- General advice: → Who dares wins → Act professionally → Setbacks are a part of it → This is an everchanging environment (reg. People, reach, strategies)

Spellcreepers Timeline February-April


What happened when? Which changes were applied?

Timeline:

- February / March: Initial gameplay & setting idea, production, name-finding

- Mid of April: Initial contact with Kaisergames (portal owner spielaffe.de)

- End of April: Silent rollout to small German f2p-portals ( www.spielesite.com ) Reachout to various other German and international f2p portals

Spellcreepers Status:→ Barebone version / Embedding Code only (as server-connection is multiplayer-requirement)

http://www.spielesite.com/

Spellcreepers Timeline May-June



Timeline:

- Beginning of May: Decision for singleplayer-Seeder, first round of improvements. Kaisergames declines SC Multiplayer due to fb-login-requirement

- May to June: Rollout of Spellcreepers-Singleplayer to various portals ( Kongregate, Mochimedia etc.)

- Beginning of June: Kaisergames declines Spellcreepers Singleplayer as too promotional.

Spellcreepers Status:→ Spellcreepers single-player-mode, interweaving of characters, ingame tutorial added.→ preparation of Spellcreepers-Singleplayer mobile versions (iOS/Android)

Spellcreepers Timeline July-August

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Timeline:

- Beginning of July: Release of Spellcreepers Singleplayer to GooglePlay / AppStore. Press-release and submission for review to various int. Media-sites.

- Mid of July: New approach to Kaisergames (single-mode, updates & API-Integration) Detailed overview → next slide

- Mid of August: Release of improved & adopted Spellcreepers on www.spielaffe.de

Spellcreepers Status:→ Major overhaul: Merging of SP & MP-mode, Spellcreepers-levels & character screen, Rage-Attack-Feature, Exhaust-Feature, Switch from energy-system to bonus-treasure-system. → API-adaptation, switch to PayPal (from fb-coins)

IndieOutpost Presentation

http://www.spielaffe.de/

Spellcreepers Release finalization (detailed)


This one should be easy – shouldn´t it?

Timeline:- 11. Juli: Integration for spielaffe.de begins ( terms of deal / remove chat / whitelist site )- 22. Juli: Standard SSO-connection / friends features completed / Paypal integrated Request for Spellcreepers implementation of spielaffe-dev-server.- 23. Juli: Kaisergames Gameteam feedback – bloodless „vs“ needed- 29. Juli: Spellcreepers implemented on spielaffe-dev-server. - 6. August: Topic – Play as guest (unregistered / no progress safe); play registered (+progress)- 7. August: Kaisergames tec-dept. confirms successful implementation- 13. August: Still waiting for final test-round on behalf of Kaisergames... Last minute change request (remove fb-Spike-link)- 14. August: Release on spielaffe.de → Impossible to play as guest :-(- 15. August: Change to intended guest or registered setting (on the fly).

Examples: How feedback results in changes


Feedback is crucial. Take it from everywhere, weigh it against your vision and act accordingly.

Examples:„We played endlessly“ (Kaisergames feedback)Result: Changes to random distribution, playfield size.

„What are the coins for?“ (Kongregate feedback on Singleplayer version / Web)„No real ending“

„Eager to play the multiplayer“ (Touchmyapps feedback on Singleplayer version / Mobile)„Gold is useless“ Result: Changes as seen in current multiplayer version.

„How does this energy thing work?“ (various sources, player comments and team members)Result: Switch to keys & treasure-chest system.

Overview: Likely topics with Affiliates


If you negotiate with an potential affiliate these are some of the more likely topics:

→ Embedding code vs. Swf

→ Your Login/payment-method vs. Their login/payment methods

→ Gamescreen size & MB-size of swf-file.

→ Revenue share model ( reg. Preroll-ads, midroll-ads, ingame-ads, ingame monetization) & promotion and positioning

General advice: Be open – Listen & learn – Adopt.

No-go: „There will be no iOS-version, because I hate Apple“

Overview: Learnings & Checklist


Learnings: → Define targets (platform, genre, audience) early and focus. → Keep your game scalable (e.g. for updates) → Take feedback seriously

Checklist:

→ In the beginning: Define platform(s), gameplay, USPs – be able to answer all of this: http://www.makethegame.de/gfx/download/checkliste.pdf

→ Pitching publishers: - Core-Gameplay-Demo - UI-Demo (photoshopped) - Graphics style (Target Mock-ups) → Rollout-Material: Key visual, thumbs, video, descriptions (for business, player, press etc.)

http://www.makethegame.de/gfx/download/checkliste.pdf

Thanks for your attention!


Go for it!

Contact


Florian BrichDirector Business DevelopmentDirect: +49 (0)911 309 209-8Email: [email protected]: florian.brichFlorian on LinkedIn

NeoBird GmbH & Co. KGSüdwestpark 37-4190449 NürnbergGERMANYOffice: +49 (0)911 309 209-7Website, Facebook, Twitter

Please contact us for prices, service fees, terms and conditions or any other question.

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/e/fpf/134193301

http://www.neobird.de/

http://www.facebook.com/NeoBirdSoft

https://twitter.com/NeoBirdSoft

Postmortem: "Spellcreepers"

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Transcript of Postmortem: "Spellcreepers"