How to become an indie. What are the tools, the platforms, the upsides and downsides and other advices.

1. How to be
An Indie
Mohammad Shaker
Founder, Strong Emotions
Wikilogia Talk, April 2015
Stories, Marketing, and other Advices
@ZGTRShaker

2. Before Indies
Publicher
Ubisoft
EA
Activition
…

3. Before Indies
Publicher
Retailer
Ubisoft
EA
Activition
…

4. Who’s Indie
The Rise of Indies, 2005+

5. Platforms

6. Platforms
Mobile: iOS, Android/ WindowsPhone, BlackBerry
Stand-alone: Xbox, PS4, PS Vita

7. iOS
Android

8. iOS
Android
100$
Per year
25$
lifetime

9. iOS
Android
Quality User
+
Quality User
-

10. iOS
Android
Rights
+
Rights
-

11. iOS
Android
Native Apps
Objective-C, Swift
Native Apps
Java

12. iOS
Android
Third Party
Engines / Frameworks

13. iOS
Android
Built-in
Leaderboard, Achievement, Localization, etc.

14. Google Developer Console
https://console.developers.google.com/

15. Apple Developer Account
https://unityads.unity3d.com/

16. iOS
Android
Free Apps
+

17. iOS
Android
Paid Apps
+
Paid Apps
-

18. https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/112622?hl=en
iOS
Android
70/30
You receive 70% of the payment. The remaining 30% goes
to the distribution partner and operating fees.
The

19. http://www.statista.com/statistics/283753/apple-app-store-global-category-revenue-share-per-business-model/
6.1%
of revenue came from paid-for gaming
apps without in-app purchases, ONLY, on iOS.

20. Advertisment
(Ads)

21. Advertisment
(Ads)
# Clicks
# Views
# Purchases
# Quality Users
# View/ Click Curves

22. iOS
Android
Apple Ads Engine
Google Ads Engine

23. Admob
https://www.google.com/admob/

24. UnityAds
https://unityads.unity3d.com/

25. Crossy Road: Watch a Video, Earn a Gift / 1 million in 1 month
https://unityads.unity3d.com/

26. In-App Purchaes

27. Soomla
http://soom.la/

28. Publishing

29. Alpha/Beta Testing / Roles / Selected Users for Feedback are all available in the Developer Console
iOS and Android

30. iOS
Android
Publishing
- (time)
Publishing
+ (time)

31. Marketing Your
Game

32. Differentiate your self.
Why the costumer buy urs?
Mark Cuban, Shark Tank!

33. Monopoly.
this is not a game.
Book: Zero to One, Peter Thiel, Co-founder of PayPal!

34. Monopoly.
Avoid competition as much as possible.
Book: Zero to One, Peter Thiel, Co-founder of PayPal!

35. DON'T listen to the costumer,
he doesn't know what he wants
Steve Jobs, Apple / Sociology of Malcom Gladwel!

36. Social Media
.,!?

37. Linked in, Professional Wesbite, etc.

38. Don’t EVER think
That your first game will be a hit.

39. Get Paid More than Once.
In-App Purchaces?

40. Market before you publish.

41. Your product is unique.
Not all rules follow.

42. Monument Valley
in Numbers
http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers

43. Ustwo Team

45. http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers

46. http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers

47. http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers

48. Indie
Best Practices
& Stories

49. Minecraft

50. Notch

51. Limbo

52. Limbo
VVVVV

53. VVVVV

54. Spelunky

55. DEREK YU

56. Meat Boy

57. Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes
Team Meat

58. Fez

59. Phil Fish

60. Ridiculous Fishing

61. Ridiculous Fishing
Rami Ismail
Vlambeer

62. Threes

63. Crossy Road: 1 million in 1 month

64. Matthew Hall and Andrew Sum
Hipster Whale!

65. Did You
Catch Something
?

66. Did You
Catch Something
?
• All are young.
• Not all of them are 2 or 2+. One-man can do it.
• They did millions* of games before their success.

67. Did You
Catch Something
?
• All are young.
• Not all of them are 2 or 2+. One-man can do it.
• They did millions* of games before their success.

68. Did You
Catch Something
?
• All are young.
• Not all of them are 2 or 2+. One-man can do it.
• They did millions* of games before their hit/success.
* the number is negotiable!

69. Starting
a Business

70. First, Aim for a Company
not an idea.
Book: Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, Jim Collins!

71. Don’t go for a Co-Founder,
at first.
The sins while starting a business.!

72. Team Up with Best People.
If non exsits, don’t team up at all!
Book: Good to Great, Jim Collins!

73. Two-Pizza Teams
If the team needs more than two pizzas to make a meal, it’s too big.
Book: Lean UX. Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience/ Amazon, Jeoff Bezos!

74. Don’t Plan
so far into the future, everything gonna change.
Book: Rework, 37Signals!

75. When in doubt
go with your Gut
Video: Steve Jobs, Stanford Speech.!

76. Be in your flow,
Don’t be in their flow.
Book: Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi!

77. Business is different to what you’ve study.
50$ million last year in sales?

78. Business is different to what you’ve study.
50$ million last year in sales? This means nothing!

79. Don’t worry about the past.
Just focus on the future.

80. Don’t ever waste time with
wasters.

81. Know when to quit.

82. When you fail.
Do sth different. Move on.

83. Starting a Game.
Being an Indie.

84. The Most Brutal Business in the
WORLD.
Mark Cuban, Shark Tank!

85. No one knows who you are.
And no one cares.. Sorry.

86. Prototype, Prototype, Prototype
Quick-access your ideas.
Agile Software Engineering!

87. SyncSeven Prototype in 4 hours

88. Part of Ropossum. Research Paper Idea and Implementation in 8 hours
Nominated for Best Paper Award, Denmark, EvoStar 2015

89. Design for the 5 senses
Jinsop Lee: Design for all 5 senses | Talk Video | TED.com!

90. Angry Birds: Eye, Touch

91. SyncSeven: Eye, Ear, Touch

92. You don’t always need a designer.

93. Thomas was alone
Paid, Unity3d

94. Flappy Birds
±50K a day

95. NEXT
Play Alpha: www.mohammadshaker.com/next.html

96. Don’t go with first thought/solution

97. Move the boxes on screen?

98. So Be clever.
and Use the Camera.

99. Simplicity is cool.

100. Flappy Birds

101. Dots

102. Simplicity is not always the key
in games.

105. Keep UI to minimum.
Remove (don’t add) features.
Book: Rework, 37Signals!

106. Need Settings in SyncSeven?

107. Insure 3-click rule.
Access any feature in the app within 3 clicks.
HCI / Yahoo Mobile Apps!

108. 3-click rules in SyncSeven

109. Represent what's happening in
the backend.

110. Loading.

111. Loading.
Not good all the time.

112. Authenticating with server..
This is better.

113. Retrieving your data..
This is better.

114. Signing you in..
This is better.

115. Visualizations, Faster Progress Bars. http://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/Research/ProgressBars2

116. Visualizations, Faster Progress Bars. http://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/Research/ProgressBars2
-
+

117. Test it early.
Refine early.

118. Your Years Studying
in a University
IS NOT FOR STUDY, ONLY

119. Schools kill creativity.
Book: The Element, Ken Robinson!
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en!

120. You only have one life.
Have a Goal.
Book: Steve Jobs, Isaacson!

121. Doing Something unimportant well
does not make it important.
Book: The 4-hour work week, Tim Ferriss!

122. Requiring a lot of time
does not make a task important.
Book: The 4-hour work week, Tim Ferriss!

123. Do ur work yle u r @ uni.

124. Don’t Underestimate Yourself
Don’t Overestimate the Opponents

125. Don't wait till it's perfect
Don't wait till you’re perfect
The sins while starting a business.!

126. DON’T WAIT.
Uni is the last thing you should rely on.

127. Manage time? You don’t have time for everything.
Know what you love now.

128. Learn on demand.
Don’t listen to x or y or z for what to learn/do.

129. Stop Planning
Just START
The sins while starting a business.!

130. Man Up!
Seriously!

131. ‫معي‬ ‫تزبط‬ ‫عم‬ ‫مش‬

132. Be harsh.
Don’t make loose businesships.

133. 1-man team?
No Problem.

134. In Syria?
Stop Nagging!

135. Take Rest.
Only when you deserve it.

136. Have your own beliefs,
Have your own ideas.

137. Always carry sth to write.
Ideas come from nowhere, anytime.

138. “Some people like driving the long way home.”
People like what they want to like.
Movie: Margin Call

139. Good is the worst enemy to Great
Movie: Whiplash, 2014
Book: Good to Great, Jim Collins

140. Wanna DO?
What do you

141. Industry
• Ubisoft
• EA
• Activition
• ..etc

142. Research
• ITU Copenhagen, Denmark
• UoM, Msida, Malta
• NEU, USA
• NYU, Newyork, USA
• University of Essex, London, Goldsmith, UK
• Germany, UK, USA

143. Startup

144. Indie
• Yourself

145. Read.

146. The book that changed my life.
Book: Steve Jobs, Isaacson.!

147. Lean it. Make it Agile.
Book: The Lean Startup, Eric Ries!

148. Don’t overthink the future. Be in the NOW.
Book: Rework, 37Signals!

149. Start from nowhere.
Book: Zero to One, Peter Thiel!

150. Built it for future.
Book: Built to Last, Jim Collins!

151. Have a dream, no matter what.
Book: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg!

152. "Stickness"
Book: Made to Stick, Chip Heath, Dan Heath!

153. Books: Any book for Malcom Gladwell!

154. A good book to start for Malcom Gladwell!

155. Books: Any book for Dan Ariely!

156. Ludum Dare
ludumdare.com

157. Watch: Indie Game The Movie

158. @ZGTRShaker
www.mohammadshaker.com

159. Thx.