A keynote I held at the 2013 Shared Gems Game Design Seminar in Helsinki, Finland, on May 7 (http://sharedgems.fi/info-in-english/). ---- Indie startups often focus all their efforts into making their first game an awesome one, and that is good. However, often they also don't plan the basics first: channel, platform, genre choice based on target group, business model, and so on. The things that should steer game development from the very beginning. This simple checklist, gleaned from the experiences of our Finnish indie Cute Attack and our first game Captain Clumsy, might help other indie startups plan their effort and focus better, thus increasing there chances of success in the overcrowded App markets.

1. It's a Jungle Out There!
How a simple 10 point plan can
help you launch your indie mobile
game and live to tell the tale

2. Bio

3. I am...
● Giuliano Cremaschi
● Italian
● Born 1970
● Major in English Literature
● In Finland from 2003
● In gaming and online business from 2003,
previously in pen&paper RPGs, comic book
publishing
● In a relationship; has a 3 year old Finnish-
Italian child

4. 10 years in the gaming business
1.5 y - Eco-rangers, deceased
MMOG startup (Creative Director)
6 years - Habbo, 5 jobs, latest
Creative Director
1.5 y, Crytek, Gface F2P platform
(Creative Director)
1 y Cute Attack, F2P mobile
action/arcade (CEO/Lead Designer)

5. February 2012 to now

6. Captain Clumsy
● F2P piratical falling arcade game for iOS and Android
● iOS launched April 10
● 75k installs, Apple featuring, updated 2 times

7. Going indie mobile?

8. ● The App market is still growing strong
● Finland is a hub of mobile gaming
● Easier to develop and still good quality
● Tablet market still untapped
● Mid-core target group still partly untapped
● More target demographics will open up
● There already are awesome games to
inspire us to do even better!
Do it!

9. Wow, that feels great!

10. 99% of the time, though...

11. Financially, the result is often...

12. ...or this

13. Welcome to the
Mobile Gaming Market

14. Why so deadly
● Overcrowding
● Poor discoverability
● App Stores are old fashioned (poor Search)
● Lack of personalized recommendations
● Lack of an Amazon-style curating community
● Editorial choices (Featuring) make or break games
● Way too many games!
● Cloners! Cloners! Cloners!
Platform specific threats
● Rigid rules, slow updating (iOS)
● Harder to monetize, device fragmentation (Android)

15. Am I doomed?

16. Don't despair, comrade!
There's a solution!

17. Instead of starting your
game development with
an awesome feature list...

18. ...make a plan first,
mes amis.

19. 10 questions that can
help you plan your game
and achieve success...

20. ...if you tackle them
as EARLY as
possible, clearly.

21. 1. What Channel?
iOS
Android
Both?
Others?
TIPS: Forget the "Others", they don't
matter (yet).
Android = can be harder to monetize
Discard iOS at your peril

22. 2. What Platform?
Smartphone
Tablet
Both
TIPS: If possible, plan for both! Tablets, especially iPads,
monetize well. Ask Supercell!

23. 3. What Genre?
Strategy
Action/Adv
Arcade
Social
Puzzle/Match 3
Etc etc
TIPS: Choose a genre the Team CAN do. Choose a genre you're
HAPPY with. Also, some genres make less money than others,
and there's nothing you can do about it.

24. 4. What Target Group?
Children
Pre-teens
Teens
Middle-age
Male/Female
GeoAdults
Older
TIPS: choose target demographics that suit your genre and
artists. Other, more sophisticated segmentation can be
performed (habits, objectives, etc)

25. 5. What Business Model?
Paid
Premium
Paid + IAPs
Advertising
F2P (IAPs)
F2P + Ads
TIPS: F2P can make tons of money. Or near to nothing. Pure
Paid is hard without a Publisher or without being Featured.
THE BUSINESS MODEL IS PART OF THE GAME
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, ESPECIALLY WITH F2P!

26. 6. What Tech?
Commercial game engine
Custom game engine
TIPS: consider Custom if it's almost ready, performant and
easy to use. If not, go commercial.

27. 7. Publisher?
Yes
No
TIPS? Focus on the concrete
things offered on the contract.
NEVER sign right away, always
negotiate.
NEVER, ever give your IP away.
(And they will ask.)

28. 8. The 2-3 key analytics?
Installs
Retention
Conversion
Sales
LCV
TIPS: Some games rely on analytics more than others. Way
more. (Social, strategy, F2P in general.)
Loyalty

29. 9. Quality Ads?
Personalized interstitial frames
Incentivized video
Game session recording
TIPS: Quality ads do not damage the user experience. You
just have to implement them well. Check out Chartboost,
Applifier and Flurry, for example.

30. 10. Marketing and PR?
Studio brand & Site
Game Trailer
Social Media
Review Sites
Contacts (Apple,
Google, etc)
Direct Deals and
Cross Promos
Bought installs
Free App Apps,
price drops, etc
TIPS: 0-budget Marketing and PR can be awesome. We got
Featured by Apple by (probably) working hard on our contacts.
And by having a good game, of course!

31. Did YOU tackle these with Captain
Clumsy?
1. Channel? Android first, then iOS
2. Platform? Phone first, then tablet
3. Genre? 3D Arcade with physics
4. Target? Children to adults
5. Business? F2P with IAPs and Advertising
6. Tech? Proprietary game engine
7. Publisher? Android global, iOS in Turkey
8. Analytics? Retention and Conversion
9. Ads? Custom frames and incentivized video
10. Mktg & PR? Every angle is covered
Blimey, you
morons!

32. The price of our mistakes
● *Takes a deep breath*
A game that was designed as F2P a bit too late and
with not enough research, that doesn't yet monetize
well enough with IAPs, with Android rights given
away for 2 years (which prevent also new iOS
publishing deals), children-friendly but too hard for
children, with a two-weeks delay with the iPad
version after the Apple Featuring started, and with
retention in need of improvement
● Update after update, we're handling these, but having a
strategy would have helped enormously.

33. So, get ready to tackle
the 10 questions and
survive the jungle!

34. THANK YOU, MATEYS, AND
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR GAMES!

35. About us
Giuliano
giuliano@cuteattack.com
@gcremaschi
Cute Attack*
cuteattack.com
@cuteattackgames
www.facebook.com/cuteattackgames
* N.B.: The link to this and Benjamin Block's presentation,
plus other materials, from tomorrow onwards on our FB
page and Twitter feed