We love tycoon games and simulations in Germany and the market is big compared to other countries in Europe. So an early localization is always a good idea. imho
Yeah you can outsource translations to fans too, Matt Roszak does that and gets like 10 translations for free on his games (just gives them a free copy)
Really wish he mentioned the total unit sales of 1849, not seeing actual data on a multi year long venture (savings into game development) is rather important. The biggest hint we got with regards to this is when he said, "if we didn't have the extra sales from Android or iOS then we wouldn't have continued to make indy games" or some shit along those lines. Data like that is objectively important for people who see their selves in a relatively similar frame of reference (just graduated with Marketing degree). Some of the smaller marketing tid bits (ie: just talk to everyone approach) is something I figured and was assured by, but mentioning the fruits of said investment is relatively important. The strongest knowledge learned here not found in other GDC talks is with regards to the pros/cons of game expo's, which I hadn't thought of before. Regardless, the content that we got was a worthwhile read. Thanks
Honestly you can make your own game in a week if you find a game engine that best suits you, though that would be a "first game" and not something you'd sell just yet.
That composer should not have been doing some shameless self promoting. The guys is like "if you have any questions about my game you can ask them and ill try my best to answer them" and shes like" so im a composer and if any of you want some music for your game ill be staying in this room" you can also see how the whole crowd looks back at her like wtf are you doing XD
Coming back to this comment 3 years later. I will say I was a bit harsh about the composer. It’s really hard for musicians to make money and to make a living off it almost impractical for a majority of musicians. While I still think it was wrong for the composer to self promote like that, it was likely just out of desperation to make a living off of something she loves.
@@gengar807 Haha honestly, you don't see this self reflection on youtube everyday. That said, I totally agree with you on how dicey and dry that field, as far as opportunities are concerned. And yes, shameless self promotion is never a good look. But when I saw that, I thought to myself "things must be very bad if she felt compelled to out herself like that". I pray I'm never in that position, or anyone is for that matter.
Almost 4 years later and I'm still working on my game, but it is a 100% solo endeavor. Thought about hiring an artist due to the amount of animations but I'm in no rush and I do enjoy it. Good talk but most of this has been covered in other talks I've watched.
spydergs07 Get your point. But I, personally would feel terrible about going through such a low point and having my wife witness it much less carry even a small part of that shit. Just feels wrong.
Translation for most men saying: "my wife would support me if I decided to quit my job to do what I want" --> "My wife earns decent money and would support me FINANCIALLY when I'll quit my job. Also there's a high probability I'm a selfish person"
We'll dependent on the woman... If she can't stand to be married with a broke, antisocial man who doesn't even talk to her or even comes out of his room anynore and he becomes paler and weaker day after day, then I say... good none should be married to such a miserable excuse of a man :p If she can tho... Then she... probably forgot that she has a man... so yeah.
- he's like the bootleg version of a bad impression of a poor's man Tim Schafer? - Did he get lost on his way to a TED talk and ended up on the GDC by mistake? - did he learn humor from a pewpewdie 101 humor course for youtubers? now these comments and most of the ones in this page from other users are funny. The Presentation wasn't at all and it doesn't have to be. Again, GDC isn't TED talks.
Nice Video, I realized at the end of your presentation I met you at Pax West 2016 and played project Highrise. Bought the game after and loved it. It was a little odd to do a simulation game demo at pax, but loved the idea of scheduling a time to play that you did.
The response from the Reddit mod was immature and stupid, but it's not surprising as most forum mods act like they are some kind of gatekeeper. I guess living in a basement kind of make some people vindictive and they need a way to lash out. I'm almost certain people would choose cancer than be friends with forum mods.
Very nice talk, here is the video layout.. ======================= 02:08 Talk outline 02:24 Section One - Preparation 04:47 Butchery features 07:00 Section two: Self-Marketing 07:40 Building community 09:43 Press outreach + PR 14:43 Section three: Self-Publishing 18:15 The revenue summary 20:45 The tale of the tail 25:30 Q&A ======================================================= We are yolostudiogame - an indie game studio with two members. We are seriously learning about the game industry. So we tweet a GDC video summary every Tuesday. Happy making game, everyone!
As someone who is developing a game totally unfunded, this is helpful, thanks! I'm convinced keeping the actual game secret until it's really ready to show is the best way to go about it, so I'm sadly stuck working with no one to talk to, or about my game with. @_@ I thinks channel may be one of my new best friends!
I wish it was simple for me. I had to become a care giver I stopped making music and didn't even get to start the basic. Anyone I know wouldn't do this so 😔
@@phee3D I ended up leaving the game development field despite making a fair amount of progress on the game, as i was no longer financially able to handle it.
!Disclaimer - these are just my notes, that I want to keep under the video. I encourage You to watch it from start to end. I also might have missed some of the important information! Lessons Learned from this video: * avoid mentioning other games in your elevator pitch. * game media is a key - rock, paper, shotgun; pocket gamer; polygon; depends on your game * important youtubers * indie game stand is good for the early stages of the game, the community is nice * the steam community has too high expectations * have different selling points for different platforms * ads are communication, don't just say - "come and play!"
Lots of great small points, but holy crap does their studio have great leadership. People who actually want to plan, are creative in using social media and smaller avenues, and who have connections.
I don't know why this happens, but I've encountered it in the film world too, and it's only composers. No one else is ever pushy like that. Just composers. No idea why.
Just wanted to write about this. My god this was so pathethic... she could have put a question at least... start your question by "I'm a composer bla bla". gizas...
I think the #1 justification you can give for a differential pricing between PC and Mobile is the relative size of the install bases. Steam reportedly has 95 million MAU, while there are reportedly 728 million iphones in use today and 2.5 billion android phones. Yes, the game might cost 1/10 the price, but the size of the potential audience is much larger.
@@zissler1 a) No need to be so aggro about it b) He wanted to emphasise that they knew flash very well and did so by claiming they could operate it under adverse conditions. Giving multiple examples for the same condition does not aid his point. Could have instead said something like: "eyes closed, one handed and drunk."
It may have taken him 12 months to develop, but what he doesn't tell you is that he spent like 4 years saving to start. So, it's more like how to do it in 5+ years. Unless you're blessed enough to have a large amount of cash already.
you could also do it as a part time job work on it for 2 years instead of 1, and that way you don't need to save up for 4 years (maybe just 1 as a safety check) but I don't really know how efficent or tiring that is.
I also thought this was poorly communicated. It sounds like they tried to plug their game in a general subreddit and a mod kept deleting their stuff and was too busy to tell them why. My best guess is the speaker honestly doesn't understand how reddit works and didn't want to go deeper.
In most subreddits, self-promotion posts get deleted instantly, to maintain the quality and trust of the subreddit. The users do not want to be sold to. So check the rules before posting.
Steam shows 140 reviews for this game. I 'assume' 1 in 10 puts their review on the steam. That means 1400 people bought his game on steam. The game's price is about $ 17. This means the game made 140*10*17 = $ 23,800 on Steam so far (after about 3 years). On Android, there are 636 review on their game and the game costs $ 6.5 that means the android game has made 636*10* $6.5 = $ 41,340 The same formula for app store gives us 80*10*5= $4000. So the rough estimate is that they made $23,800 + $41,340+ $4000 = 69,140 $ which is unbelievably low! Even if 1 in 100 leaves a review then it means they made $690,140 in 3 years. Start considering the cost of renting in San Francisco and other costs and also consider that 4 people made this game then it seems that the game was a failure financially. Where am I wrong?
Wow...from steam spy, I can say my initial assumption about percentage of players who leave a review was totally wrong. I assumed 1 in 10 leaves a review but from steam spy it seems roughly that one in 150 leaves a review!
Good content. Thanks for sharing. Germans love simulation games, as far as I can tell - this type of game has quite a history in our country. So you did really well with your decision targeting german players with i18n.
@MXSKED ACE Not everyone can do everything. Few can. Whether you want to make and bake your own cake or buy pre-made cake. Nothing stupid about either way. But when you make your own cake you learn a skill. Few people value skills.
What are some ways to get featured on mobile? Besides the good quality of the game, is it just luck? Can developers do anything to get one's game featured on appstore?
Simple question, I know nobody wants to share. Was it worth it? Should you have kept your day job and work part-time? Did your profit exceed your old job salary?
WTF!? What's wrong with u people? She's looking to develop a game with other people who'd like to do the same, hence she's turning heads 'cause everybody who can make a game can't necessarily make music and needs a composer. The sonorities of a game is so important, and to work with someone who shares the passion for making soundtracks for games and enjoys making games period is super awesome. The only music, literally, I listen to is video game OSTs, which is made by brilliantl people like this woman. I wish her the best.
When I was developing I used SWAG and didn't even know it. When my boss asked how long something would take, I made a guess, doubled it and that's what I told my boss. I was right most of the time... No idea why that worked...
Игорь Санду 70% of their profit was pc, they were on 3 platforms and they made $300,000 on steam, 4 people 1 year, even if steam was 100% of pc profit they still made about 400,000, $100000 each for a years work, typical game dev salary but they got to make their own game without a boss, not bad I would say.
Don't forget to take out steams cut and also apple and googles cut for mobile so that 100,000 is more like 70,000. Their second game seems to be doing much better with one of their trailers saying over 70,000 sales. so taking 70,000 at 20 dollars that's 1.4 million and steam takes 30% if I remember correctly so they are left with 980,000 split 4 ways(if its still just 4 of them) is 245,000 each which is great for them. steamspy is showing closer to 200,000 sales which is fantastic for them if that number is right.
The artists were contractors, so they were paid a flat rate. Most of the money is split 2-ways. I'm sure they reinvested part of it back into their company, though.
Great point about not going to investors if you can help it. It's likely you'll build the game they want - it's investment not cookie cutter clones we're looking for on our own Project Ardent.
lol at the composer rudely plugging herself during your conference!!! :( What a world. It's all about having a good developing crew already in place. I haven't played 1849 yet because I'm working hard to produce my own game, but I'm sure my path will not be the same. You did give out some very helpful advice and thanks for that.
you say getting that extra 40% market exposure on mobile is the difference between making a second game and not, but isn't there a significant cost to porting games including not just code but assets too? I assume then the margin is there but...
Yeah, but it was a 'Hey, you like the Fallout series?' Here's a mobile game for an on the go fix. It initially wasn't as good as it is now. The wasteland quests are the best addition, IMO at least. Since it wasn't that great in the beginning, why would someone waste time playing it in PC or console when that meant not playing Fallout 4 (New Vegas for me)? Once it got good, it only made to offer it on Windows as an App. You have to keep in mind now Touch Screen laptops and desktop monitors are common and it is much easier to port from Mobile to PC because you don't have to take away features, so why not port when you can and have another revenue stream.
It's amazing to me how when you pick some video about game development off your TH-cam suggestions, and the developer says "hey this is the game we made," it is somehow REALLY REALLY EXCITING to realise you have totally bought and played that game. It doesn't really matter if you liked it (according to Steam, I played it for 51 minutes, which suggests I was not THAT big a fan). Or even if you remember it; I mean come on, I buy upwards of a hundred games a year, I can't remember all of them. What matters is that you are in some way CONNECTED to this person on the stage, so their entire talk is in turn connected to you and becomes more relevant for no rational reason at all. Kind of the way I immediately like this developer more because he's Italian. Does that really matter? No. But my dad's Italian, so "I'm like your dad" matters for some reason.
Post about your game on one subreddit, get tons of likes and interest and people complimenting your game... Post about your game on another subreddit and get people telling you to screw off and advertise elsewhere. What amazes me is when indie game subreddits ban people from advertising their game... like if any place should understand the struggle indie developers face in getting their game out there, it should be indie game subreddits.
24:43 Yeah guys, make a french version of your games. Why ? I'm a Canadian developer, we have a couple government help to push game development here and so far it works. Montreal is one of the places where big games are made. But canada also speaks french, meaning a lot of those government help come at the condition of a french translation. That' all cool for french Canadians, but it also means French from France are used to have their game translated in french, so they play games in french. Not having a french translation can mean the french wont by your game at all. Think of it like buying a game not in english, you probably wont buy it.
Do you know if you could tell me the information of the woman who was said to be a composer? I might have use for that in a bit of time (Yes I realize that was rude to do in the middle of questioning, however it may prove useful if need be)
@@city__lights WTF!? What's wrong with u people? She's looking to develop a game with other people who'd like to do the same, hence she's turning heads 'cause everybody who can make a game can't necessarily make music and needs a composer. The sonorities of a game is so important, and to work with someone who shares the passion for making soundtracks for games and enjoys making games period is super awesome. The only music, literally, I listen to is video game OSTs, which is made by brilliantl people like this woman. I wish her the best.
Personality rn I have no reason to make it monitized the only way I'm going to price it is if it blows up of it does blow up I will charge 5.99 for dlc with a extra 40 missions my goal is to start making it soon maybe this year or next year but it's pretty ambitious for a first game
WTF!? What's wrong with u people? She's looking to develop a game with other people who'd like to do the same, hence she's turning heads 'cause everybody who can make a game can't necessarily make music and needs a composer. The sonorities of a game is so important, and to work with someone who shares the passion for making soundtracks for games and enjoys making games period is super awesome. The only music, literally, I listen to is video game OSTs, which is made by brilliantl people like this woman. I wish her the best.
We love tycoon games and simulations in Germany and the market is big compared to other countries in Europe. So an early localization is always a good idea. imho
Yeah you can outsource translations to fans too, Matt Roszak does that and gets like 10 translations for free on his games (just gives them a free copy)
Trust me the meme is real we know
Amazing talk, learned a ton, will be rewatching it again when we are closer to our first release to remind myself about some of the topics. Thanks!
Game Soup hey, it's game soup!
Oh hey - it's the dudes
Game Soup what game are you guys launching?
Really wish he mentioned the total unit sales of 1849, not seeing actual data on a multi year long venture (savings into game development) is rather important. The biggest hint we got with regards to this is when he said, "if we didn't have the extra sales from Android or iOS then we wouldn't have continued to make indy games" or some shit along those lines.
Data like that is objectively important for people who see their selves in a relatively similar frame of reference (just graduated with Marketing degree). Some of the smaller marketing tid bits (ie: just talk to everyone approach) is something I figured and was assured by, but mentioning the fruits of said investment is relatively important. The strongest knowledge learned here not found in other GDC talks is with regards to the pros/cons of game expo's, which I hadn't thought of before.
Regardless, the content that we got was a worthwhile read. Thanks
*****
I actually went to that site, went to the wrong area for searching, it had the following steam numbers: Owners: 22,410 ± 3,933
@Nub93 net or gross?
I have 5 dollars and can type "hello world" to command prompt. How long will it take me to make a game?
Honestly you can make your own game in a week if you find a game engine that best suits you, though that would be a "first game" and not something you'd sell just yet.
Anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 decades.. start cracking
a few weeks for a text adventure :)
In Notepad:
@echo off
echo Hello world!
pause
Save as a .bat file
That's very true man
I'm gonna go buy his game just to pay him for this great talk - plus it looks fun.
Years later, this is an inspiration. Thanks a lot for this!
His sip of water is the stock gulp sound from every game you can drink in.
23:15 for the curious (assuming you meant this one on this 2 year old comment lol)
@@GiraffeFlavored thanks!
just stumbled across this GDC channel...loving it. another great video.
That composer should not have been doing some shameless self promoting. The guys is like "if you have any questions about my game you can ask them and ill try my best to answer them" and shes like" so im a composer and if any of you want some music for your game ill be staying in this room" you can also see how the whole crowd looks back at her like wtf are you doing XD
Eh, never judge too harshly. You never know what difficult circumstances people might be dealing with.
@@SylversVolpe Shit I honestly forgot about this comment, but yeah you could be right.
@@gengar807 Im a composer, wanna make games anyone? :^)
Coming back to this comment 3 years later. I will say I was a bit harsh about the composer. It’s really hard for musicians to make money and to make a living off it almost impractical for a majority of musicians. While I still think it was wrong for the composer to self promote like that, it was likely just out of desperation to make a living off of something she loves.
@@gengar807 Haha honestly, you don't see this self reflection on youtube everyday. That said, I totally agree with you on how dicey and dry that field, as far as opportunities are concerned. And yes, shameless self promotion is never a good look. But when I saw that, I thought to myself "things must be very bad if she felt compelled to out herself like that".
I pray I'm never in that position, or anyone is for that matter.
I appreciated this talk, very concrete and actionable advice. Thank you.
numgun Going through all the GDC talks too? I'm having a great time with these
Almost 4 years later and I'm still working on my game, but it is a 100% solo endeavor. Thought about hiring an artist due to the amount of animations but I'm in no rush and I do enjoy it. Good talk but most of this has been covered in other talks I've watched.
Anything to show me so far? We are doing a similar thing, and I know some good ways to get sustainable artists for your work ;)
What kind of artists? I actually would love to help out with environment/character/prop concept designs if you’re still looking for people. Lol
So? Where are you after 2-3 years? Any success?
@@QueenElizabeth1sth Thought you were a fake EA channel then I saw the 8 subs and realized it's real. Was doing alright until the world went sideways.
@@LtVax27 personally I have no idea who are those 8 people. I wish you luck and durability to survive everything, that 2020 has already brought to us)
Very solid talk covering a lot of interesting topics. Nice one :D
how to get divorce in 12 months and marry
your computer
Was thinking about it tho. But need to live with my in-laws to save money.
A good spouse would be behind you all the way.
My wife wouldn't leave me if I decided to quit my job and go full time on my game development.
spydergs07 Get your point. But I, personally would feel terrible about going through such a low point and having my wife witness it much less carry even a small part of that shit. Just feels wrong.
Translation for most men saying: "my wife would support me if I decided to quit my job to do what I want"
--> "My wife earns decent money and would support me FINANCIALLY when I'll quit my job. Also there's a high probability I'm a selfish person"
We'll dependent on the woman... If she can't stand to be married with a broke, antisocial man who doesn't even talk to her or even comes out of his room anynore and he becomes paler and weaker day after day, then I say... good none should be married to such a miserable excuse of a man :p
If she can tho... Then she... probably forgot that she has a man... so yeah.
Tough crowd, he was a pretty good and funny talker... ;P
game maniacs, probably tried to press some key combinations to send emojis
- he's like the bootleg version of a bad impression of a poor's man Tim Schafer?
- Did he get lost on his way to a TED talk and ended up on the GDC by mistake?
- did he learn humor from a pewpewdie 101 humor course for youtubers?
now these comments and most of the ones in this page from other users are funny. The Presentation wasn't at all and it doesn't have to be. Again, GDC isn't TED talks.
maybe there was no mics taking them, only taking him.
No! He’s a very bad presenter. Cringy jokes, constant “humm-ing”, drinking into sentences, dancing behind the laptop, just painful to watch and listen
I felt the same - really good speaker and speaks from personal experience, as opposed to a massive script. I laughed.... behind my computer.
Nice Video, I realized at the end of your presentation I met you at Pax West 2016 and played project Highrise. Bought the game after and loved it. It was a little odd to do a simulation game demo at pax, but loved the idea of scheduling a time to play that you did.
The response from the Reddit mod was immature and stupid, but it's not surprising as most forum mods act like they are some kind of gatekeeper. I guess living in a basement kind of make some people vindictive and they need a way to lash out. I'm almost certain people would choose cancer than be friends with forum mods.
For all we know he was posting on a subreddit that was still under construction.
majority of reddit mods are 15
Terrific talk, a lot to learn as an indie.
"Are you ready for Lodes of Fun??" [sips water]
I laughed
huhuhuh. loads. man loads.
Haha, I read this comment the same time Matthew said it. It was creepy for a moment.
"bad" puns are always the best
It's an AWESOME pun. Fuck you all.
Sparky0350 that happens to me alpt
Wow, the end was priceless! I just found out you guys developed Project Highrise, one of the most played games on my steam account! Cheers! :D
Very nice talk, here is the video layout..
=======================
02:08 Talk outline
02:24 Section One - Preparation
04:47 Butchery features
07:00 Section two: Self-Marketing
07:40 Building community
09:43 Press outreach + PR
14:43 Section three: Self-Publishing
18:15 The revenue summary
20:45 The tale of the tail
25:30 Q&A
=======================================================
We are yolostudiogame - an indie game studio with two members.
We are seriously learning about the game industry.
So we tweet a GDC video summary every Tuesday.
Happy making game, everyone!
I like these post-mortems. Thank you.
As someone who is developing a game totally unfunded, this is helpful, thanks!
I'm convinced keeping the actual game secret until it's really ready to show is the best way to go about it, so I'm sadly stuck working with no one to talk to, or about my game with. @_@ I thinks channel may be one of my new best friends!
I wish it was simple for me. I had to become a care giver I stopped making music and didn't even get to start the basic. Anyone I know wouldn't do this so 😔
How'd it go? Did your opinion about keeping your game a secret change?
@@phee3D I ended up leaving the game development field despite making a fair amount of progress on the game, as i was no longer financially able to handle it.
!Disclaimer - these are just my notes, that I want to keep under the video. I encourage You to watch it from start to end. I also might have missed some of the important information!
Lessons Learned from this video:
* avoid mentioning other games in your elevator pitch.
* game media is a key - rock, paper, shotgun; pocket gamer; polygon; depends on your game
* important youtubers
* indie game stand is good for the early stages of the game, the community is nice
* the steam community has too high expectations
* have different selling points for different platforms
* ads are communication, don't just say - "come and play!"
Lots of great small points, but holy crap does their studio have great leadership. People who actually want to plan, are creative in using social media and smaller avenues, and who have connections.
26:40 Seriously?
Jim Giant IKR
Pretty weird
Nerds reaching out
I don't know why this happens, but I've encountered it in the film world too, and it's only composers. No one else is ever pushy like that. Just composers. No idea why.
@@sleepingdogpro Desperation.
That composer hahaha it probably was so cringy.
talk about shameless self promotion lol
Felt nauseous at that part...
Just wanted to write about this. My god this was so pathethic... she could have put a question at least... start your question by "I'm a composer bla bla". gizas...
And she couldn't even compose a question..
Imagine how nice would it be to work with her!
I think the #1 justification you can give for a differential pricing between PC and Mobile is the relative size of the install bases. Steam reportedly has 95 million MAU, while there are reportedly 728 million iphones in use today and 2.5 billion android phones. Yes, the game might cost 1/10 the price, but the size of the potential audience is much larger.
The size of the real audience won't be sufficiently larger to justify the price drop.
"We knew how to use Flash with our eyes closed, blindfolded, in the dark"
Triple redundancy eye closing.
In a cave. At night.
@@zissler1
a) No need to be so aggro about it
b) He wanted to emphasise that they knew flash very well and did so by claiming they could operate it under adverse conditions. Giving multiple examples for the same condition does not aid his point. Could have instead said something like: "eyes closed, one handed and drunk."
@@danielschroedinger2090
1. It's just a joke, no need to be so aggro about it.
2. I prefer number dot over letter bracket listing, or just none.
@@ultimaxkom8728
I Was it a joke? I don't think so.
II The comment by zissler, that I was referring to doesn't show up for me anymore. Was it deleted?
@@danielschroedinger2090
α Don't you overthink?
β More things should be deleted
It may have taken him 12 months to develop, but what he doesn't tell you is that he spent like 4 years saving to start. So, it's more like how to do it in 5+ years. Unless you're blessed enough to have a large amount of cash already.
Well, he kinda did say that.
you could also do it as a part time job work on it for 2 years instead of 1, and that way you don't need to save up for 4 years (maybe just 1 as a safety check) but I don't really know how efficent or tiring that is.
Great talk! Did watch it twice - once before and again after starting to work on a serious project - and I earned valuable things twice :)
Amazing talk! very informative. Thank you very much! :)
I don't get the reddit "not now" response. What was happening??
Exactly.
Not now.
I also thought this was poorly communicated. It sounds like they tried to plug their game in a general subreddit and a mod kept deleting their stuff and was too busy to tell them why. My best guess is the speaker honestly doesn't understand how reddit works and didn't want to go deeper.
@@TheDJLiquify How does "reddit work", genuine question because I also get shutdown for sharing (promoting) my work on Reddit. XD
In most subreddits, self-promotion posts get deleted instantly, to maintain the quality and trust of the subreddit. The users do not want to be sold to. So check the rules before posting.
I seem to keep looping back around and end up watching this talk about every 6 months. Which I'm okay with, good talk.
How much people were working on the game?
Email him and let us know :p
I mailed him :D Two programmers and additionally two artists - 4 people :3
Steam shows 140 reviews for this game. I 'assume' 1 in 10 puts their review on the steam. That means 1400 people bought his game on steam. The game's price is about $ 17. This means the game made 140*10*17 = $ 23,800 on Steam so far (after about 3 years). On Android, there are 636 review on their game and the game costs $ 6.5 that means the android game has made 636*10* $6.5 = $ 41,340
The same formula for app store gives us 80*10*5= $4000. So the rough estimate is that they made $23,800 + $41,340+ $4000 = 69,140 $ which is unbelievably low! Even if 1 in 100 leaves a review then it means they made $690,140 in 3 years. Start considering the cost of renting in San Francisco and other costs and also consider that 4 people made this game then it seems that the game was a failure financially. Where am I wrong?
Why don't you look at steam spy for data?
Wow...from steam spy, I can say my initial assumption about percentage of players who leave a review was totally wrong. I assumed 1 in 10 leaves a review but from steam spy it seems roughly that one in 150 leaves a review!
About to release a VR game and this has some stuff i didnt know that i wish i did when i released my last mobile game. Cheers for this gdc
I was laughing most of the time. Dont get why the audience was so solemn.
Good content. Thanks for sharing. Germans love simulation games, as far as I can tell - this type of game has quite a history in our country. So you did really well with your decision targeting german players with i18n.
for total beginners this really helpful insight
To add here. 5:27 if you are solo developer. Stop building your own game engine. It will take more time than what your savings can afford to till.
@MXSKED ACE Not everyone can do everything. Few can. Whether you want to make and bake your own cake or buy pre-made cake. Nothing stupid about either way. But when you make your own cake you learn a skill. Few people value skills.
I'm a game music composer, but I intend to learn more about the "game world" in general. Keep it up, everyone!
👏👏👏
Great talk! Thank you, puts a lot of things in prospective
Is the miner rotoscoped from that guy in princess mononoke or are they only vaguely similar?
Love the composer plugging herself in the Q&A wtf hahaha
What are some ways to get featured on mobile? Besides the good quality of the game, is it just luck? Can developers do anything to get one's game featured on appstore?
Simple question, I know nobody wants to share. Was it worth it? Should you have kept your day job and work part-time? Did your profit exceed your old job salary?
What's really cool is that their next game Project Highrise appears to have been a decent sized hit!
26:41 Hey! Great talk guys! Anyone have work for me? I'll be here!
WTF!? What's wrong with u people? She's looking to develop a game with other people who'd like to do the same, hence she's turning heads 'cause everybody who can make a game can't necessarily make music and needs a composer. The sonorities of a game is so important, and to work with someone who shares the passion for making soundtracks for games and enjoys making games period is super awesome. The only music, literally, I listen to is video game OSTs, which is made by brilliantl people like this woman. I wish her the best.
Of course this game sells in Germany, 1849 looks really similar to Anno 1404, which is a popular game made there.
When I was developing I used SWAG and didn't even know it. When my boss asked how long something would take, I made a guess, doubled it and that's what I told my boss. I was right most of the time... No idea why that worked...
Can't believe there's a game that features my hometown of Placerville. Purchased.
I dont usually rate videos, but this one was fantastic.
Indie Game Stand is gone, kaput, finito! Does anyone know if there are any good alternatives to Indie Game Stand for beta/greenlight distribution?
What a journey you have to take to become a game dev. Great talk
You could add games they are talking about, their studios too, into description.
Amazingly helpful talk. Love this!!
That composer, I hope nobody talked to her after that.
Yeah, wtf
I did! I was there! She was actually really hot
The Brotherhood uhhhhh....k
@@ChapterMasterADO What has her looks to do with the way she acts?
@@Valvex_ hot girls are used to getting things for granted
16 minutes in.. great talk so far
Oh the project highrise devs. I wrote a college paper my senior year of college on how that game taught its users how to play it.
@15:25 Is there anyone here that can e-mail this part to Microsoft?!?! They need to hear this so badly....
Awesome, we will share it on our social media if you won't mind!
What was he trying to say with the “not now” thing
So, what did it actually earn?
enough for them to make a second game. so, probably a decent enough profit.
Игорь Санду 70% of their profit was pc, they were on 3 platforms and they made $300,000 on steam, 4 people 1 year, even if steam was 100% of pc profit they still made about 400,000, $100000 each for a years work, typical game dev salary but they got to make their own game without a boss, not bad I would say.
Not bad. I agree )
Don't forget to take out steams cut and also apple and googles cut for mobile so that 100,000 is more like 70,000. Their second game seems to be doing much better with one of their trailers saying over 70,000 sales. so taking 70,000 at 20 dollars that's 1.4 million and steam takes 30% if I remember correctly so they are left with 980,000 split 4 ways(if its still just 4 of them) is 245,000 each which is great for them. steamspy is showing closer to 200,000 sales which is fantastic for them if that number is right.
The artists were contractors, so they were paid a flat rate. Most of the money is split 2-ways. I'm sure they reinvested part of it back into their company, though.
Is TIGForums still useful?
Your 12 months is my eternity
Great point about not going to investors if you can help it. It's likely you'll build the game they want - it's investment not cookie cutter clones we're looking for on our own Project Ardent.
Not until the end... Project Highrise that I was playing!? Wow! To me, those are really great (and seem the sales are good too). Congratulations!
lol at the composer rudely plugging herself during your conference!!! :( What a world. It's all about having a good developing crew already in place. I haven't played 1849 yet because I'm working hard to produce my own game, but I'm sure my path will not be the same. You did give out some very helpful advice and thanks for that.
Why not 360p?
God bless. The technical part of programming is so taxing
you say getting that extra 40% market exposure on mobile is the difference between making a second game and not, but isn't there a significant cost to porting games including not just code but assets too? I assume then the margin is there but...
excellent video.
But wasn't Fallout Shelter on Mobile first than PC?
Yeah, but it was a 'Hey, you like the Fallout series?' Here's a mobile game for an on the go fix. It initially wasn't as good as it is now. The wasteland quests are the best addition, IMO at least. Since it wasn't that great in the beginning, why would someone waste time playing it in PC or console when that meant not playing Fallout 4 (New Vegas for me)? Once it got good, it only made to offer it on Windows as an App. You have to keep in mind now Touch Screen laptops and desktop monitors are common and it is much easier to port from Mobile to PC because you don't have to take away features, so why not port when you can and have another revenue stream.
It's amazing to me how when you pick some video about game development off your TH-cam suggestions, and the developer says "hey this is the game we made," it is somehow REALLY REALLY EXCITING to realise you have totally bought and played that game.
It doesn't really matter if you liked it (according to Steam, I played it for 51 minutes, which suggests I was not THAT big a fan). Or even if you remember it; I mean come on, I buy upwards of a hundred games a year, I can't remember all of them. What matters is that you are in some way CONNECTED to this person on the stage, so their entire talk is in turn connected to you and becomes more relevant for no rational reason at all.
Kind of the way I immediately like this developer more because he's Italian. Does that really matter? No. But my dad's Italian, so "I'm like your dad" matters for some reason.
Wow. Those guys are the Project highrise guys?? That's cool. Had no idea they made it.
I've never heard anyone explain Reddit better in my life.
Post about your game on one subreddit, get tons of likes and interest and people complimenting your game... Post about your game on another subreddit and get people telling you to screw off and advertise elsewhere.
What amazes me is when indie game subreddits ban people from advertising their game... like if any place should understand the struggle indie developers face in getting their game out there, it should be indie game subreddits.
Awesome Seminar, a lot of great info ......Thanks
24:43 Yeah guys, make a french version of your games. Why ? I'm a Canadian developer, we have a couple government help to push game development here and so far it works. Montreal is one of the places where big games are made. But canada also speaks french, meaning a lot of those government help come at the condition of a french translation. That' all cool for french Canadians, but it also means French from France are used to have their game translated in french, so they play games in french. Not having a french translation can mean the french wont by your game at all.
Think of it like buying a game not in english, you probably wont buy it.
at 25:03 is when I 100% knew to trust these guys cause I already had project highrise and I love it!
The 1849 game isn't compatible with Android 8.0 for some reason.
Very informative. Thank you!
Do you know if you could tell me the information of the woman who was said to be a composer? I might have use for that in a bit of time (Yes I realize that was rude to do in the middle of questioning, however it may prove useful if need be)
Check Soundcloud, you will find tons of composers there who would even share their music for free!
@@city__lights WTF!? What's wrong with u people? She's looking to develop a game with other people who'd like to do the same, hence she's turning heads 'cause everybody who can make a game can't necessarily make music and needs a composer. The sonorities of a game is so important, and to work with someone who shares the passion for making soundtracks for games and enjoys making games period is super awesome. The only music, literally, I listen to is video game OSTs, which is made by brilliantl people like this woman. I wish her the best.
Step 1) Own a house!
Me: *Laughing in Millennial*
He said they already had to pay a mortgage
People in germany love these type of simulations, look at settlers and anno
Concise and informative ;)!
Great talk! :)
So how money revenue did this game generate?
50 bux
thanks man. great talk
How to make and publish a game in a year: have connections and pay people to do the legal shit
Congratulations on your successful #1!
Thank you, this was really good
so no one will talk about that composer ad
Really helpful talk.
i love this guy.
Project Highrise is mad addicting though. Sim Tower for the new generation.
How many people is “we” . Keeps referencing this but without context it’s hard to imagine the amount of money saved and how much work it took
Personality rn I have no reason to make it monitized the only way I'm going to price it is if it blows up of it does blow up I will charge 5.99 for dlc with a extra 40 missions my goal is to start making it soon maybe this year or next year but it's pretty ambitious for a first game
Suddenly he has a team with his story? How long is it going to take me to make an indi game???
That composer almost ruined my day lol
lost my lunch
WTF!? What's wrong with u people? She's looking to develop a game with other people who'd like to do the same, hence she's turning heads 'cause everybody who can make a game can't necessarily make music and needs a composer. The sonorities of a game is so important, and to work with someone who shares the passion for making soundtracks for games and enjoys making games period is super awesome. The only music, literally, I listen to is video game OSTs, which is made by brilliantl people like this woman. I wish her the best.
Totally superb video ! Amazingly brilliant info's .. Thanks :)
looking back it made me feel hopeful, but my game tanked. :(
I fookin' love Tigsource!