Social games: dreams or reality
Greetings to all habrazhiteli.
For over a year, I constantly read almost all posts on Habré, now I decided to write my own, because For over six years, I have been developing in various areas, including the development of games for social networks.
I will begin with the questions I asked myself at the initial stage and will try to answer in detail.
')
1. The main idea - is it true?
2. What is better than flash or iframe?
3. What does need to start the development?
4. What methods of promotion are the most effective and how should I plan my marketing activities?
5. Should I attract investors or publishers?
6. Well, and most importantly, the payback period of the project and the possible profit, what can it be?
Conducting a constant analysis of applications, using the website http://www.appdata.ru/, I can say that miracles do not happen, or rather they happen, but very rarely, so rarely that you shouldn’t rely on them, especially for novice developers. This was my first mistake when developing my game. I thought that the idea of ​​the game is unique (it really was unique), the game mechanics are just super, the main thing now is to draw a good interface, write the engine, publish it on facebook and vKontakte and start collecting millions. I was greatly mistaken and my mistake, though reluctantly, but acknowledged.
Do not count on the fact that only an idea can bring a million, but if this happens, then believe me that you are lucky or you are lucky enough, so a good idea is very good, but this is only a small part of what was planned. project implementation.
Publishers such as Creara or iJet are able to push through almost any application and earn a certain amount of money, even if the idea and mechanics of the application are not new.
If we are talking about games, then surely the flash is better, because java scripts can’t make such effects and animations like on flash technologies. Our game was originally implemented on scripts and it turned out something like a game site. The logged in user clearly did not understand what to do and where to click. Moreover, one of the most important and difficult tasks in the development of social games is a wizard, if you could not keep the user for the first 20-30 seconds, he will leave and never return, and this is the task of the wizard, i.e. The wizard should not only explain to the user where to click and what is located, but it should also be very interesting.
Scripts are very difficult to implement a full wizard, because in the wizard, it is desirable to darken certain zones, animate prompting arrows, pop-up windows, etc. In the flash this is done very simply and quickly. Using scripts we also encountered the problem of pop-up windows, since there are many of them in the game and depending on the action of one window, another should appear, then we often had problems with their successive opening and opening in general.
You also need to remember that the script application should open for most users, because in fact, this is a regular website, but there are risks that in the application itself, which pages or functionality may not be fully loaded and not fully loaded (which can make the user very angry, because he is in the game process), but in flash applications the risk of something underloading is much lower, because the main functionality is already sewn into the flash drive itself, but there is another risk - the application may not start at all if the user does not have a flash player or an old version of the flash player.
So, if you are developing the game, it is better to use flash, again, depending on the game genre, but in most cases flash is irreplaceable, but if you are not developing other games, but some other application, such as evaluating a friend’s photo, then java scripts can be done.
By the way, now our game is fully translated to flash after a bad experience with the java script, it turned out
that it is much faster, cheaper and more efficient.
To develop flash games for social networks, you will need at least 3 people: a server programmer (php, python, etc.), a flash programmer (AC3 - usually flash programmers can do simple animation) and an illustrator, and there’s Someone who will administer all this work and assign tasks.
6 people took part in our game, namely, a designer-interface part, an illustrator, a server programmer, a flash programmer, an arranger and a manager. The Flash programmer was also engaged in linking the game to social networks, using their methods and API.
I have more than a dozen of my own sites, and the total attendance is more than 50,000 unique visitors per day. All resources are Russian-speaking. Thought this was enough to reach a critical mass of users. My calculation was very simple, add a colorful flash banner to your sites and even if 3% will go over the banner, then it is 1,500 people per day, which will attract additional users, because social factor in the game is present. Everything turned out to be not quite as I had supposed - Google Analytics was of course installed, of course there were transitions to the application itself (even more than I expected), but the user had to be logged on to vkontakte to get into the game itself. The result is that about 5-7% of users who logged in from the site passed through authorization and installed the application, so for social games banner ads on external sites are generally ineffective, but of course if this is not a freebie, as in my case.
You can make a certain conclusion “Advertising is effective only within the Contact”. Having tried all possible methods of promotion within the Contact, I can say with confidence that the most effective and convenient advertising is advertising for the Contact itself, of course, if you do not want to exchange banners with other publishers. Contact advertising has surprisingly turned out to be cheaper even than customized promotion of groups and applications.
I think that is definitely worth it, the main thing is that the publishers themselves should like your game. Do not be greedy, give 50% of your share to the publisher, and believe me they will pour you so much traffic that you never even dreamed of, but this is not the main thing, and most importantly they will analyze yours and give you good advice on monetization, virality and usability. etc., and it is much more expensive than just money.
As for net investors or as it is fashionable now to say venture capitalists, they can only give money and nothing more, this option can be applied if you are 100% sure of the success of your game and you simply don’t have enough money to promote. Net investors usually take no more than 20%. This case is applicable only if you receive $ 110 in profits for $ 100 of money spent on advertising, but this is extremely rare and is directly related to monetization.
Do not think that if a game has one million installations, then developers earn one million dollars. This is not at all the case. Only isolated cases earn such money, on the VKontakte social network, I assume no more than a dozen of such games, although I could be wrong. With an average monetization and with 100,000 installations per month, you can count on income of about $ 2,000 to $ 3,000 (publisher's estimate), and now subtract costs for game support, hosting, advertising, etc.
When drawing up a financial plan, do not try to deceive yourself; rather, on the contrary, you can safely divide all revenues by 2, and expenses are specially exaggerated within reasonable limits.
For over a year, I constantly read almost all posts on Habré, now I decided to write my own, because For over six years, I have been developing in various areas, including the development of games for social networks.
I will begin with the questions I asked myself at the initial stage and will try to answer in detail.
')
1. The main idea - is it true?
2. What is better than flash or iframe?
3. What does need to start the development?
4. What methods of promotion are the most effective and how should I plan my marketing activities?
5. Should I attract investors or publishers?
6. Well, and most importantly, the payback period of the project and the possible profit, what can it be?
1. The main idea - is it true?
Conducting a constant analysis of applications, using the website http://www.appdata.ru/, I can say that miracles do not happen, or rather they happen, but very rarely, so rarely that you shouldn’t rely on them, especially for novice developers. This was my first mistake when developing my game. I thought that the idea of ​​the game is unique (it really was unique), the game mechanics are just super, the main thing now is to draw a good interface, write the engine, publish it on facebook and vKontakte and start collecting millions. I was greatly mistaken and my mistake, though reluctantly, but acknowledged.
Do not count on the fact that only an idea can bring a million, but if this happens, then believe me that you are lucky or you are lucky enough, so a good idea is very good, but this is only a small part of what was planned. project implementation.
Publishers such as Creara or iJet are able to push through almost any application and earn a certain amount of money, even if the idea and mechanics of the application are not new.
2. What is better than flash or iframe?
If we are talking about games, then surely the flash is better, because java scripts can’t make such effects and animations like on flash technologies. Our game was originally implemented on scripts and it turned out something like a game site. The logged in user clearly did not understand what to do and where to click. Moreover, one of the most important and difficult tasks in the development of social games is a wizard, if you could not keep the user for the first 20-30 seconds, he will leave and never return, and this is the task of the wizard, i.e. The wizard should not only explain to the user where to click and what is located, but it should also be very interesting.
Scripts are very difficult to implement a full wizard, because in the wizard, it is desirable to darken certain zones, animate prompting arrows, pop-up windows, etc. In the flash this is done very simply and quickly. Using scripts we also encountered the problem of pop-up windows, since there are many of them in the game and depending on the action of one window, another should appear, then we often had problems with their successive opening and opening in general.
You also need to remember that the script application should open for most users, because in fact, this is a regular website, but there are risks that in the application itself, which pages or functionality may not be fully loaded and not fully loaded (which can make the user very angry, because he is in the game process), but in flash applications the risk of something underloading is much lower, because the main functionality is already sewn into the flash drive itself, but there is another risk - the application may not start at all if the user does not have a flash player or an old version of the flash player.
So, if you are developing the game, it is better to use flash, again, depending on the game genre, but in most cases flash is irreplaceable, but if you are not developing other games, but some other application, such as evaluating a friend’s photo, then java scripts can be done.
By the way, now our game is fully translated to flash after a bad experience with the java script, it turned out
that it is much faster, cheaper and more efficient.
3. Who does need to start development?
To develop flash games for social networks, you will need at least 3 people: a server programmer (php, python, etc.), a flash programmer (AC3 - usually flash programmers can do simple animation) and an illustrator, and there’s Someone who will administer all this work and assign tasks.
6 people took part in our game, namely, a designer-interface part, an illustrator, a server programmer, a flash programmer, an arranger and a manager. The Flash programmer was also engaged in linking the game to social networks, using their methods and API.
4. What are the most effective methods of promotion?
I have more than a dozen of my own sites, and the total attendance is more than 50,000 unique visitors per day. All resources are Russian-speaking. Thought this was enough to reach a critical mass of users. My calculation was very simple, add a colorful flash banner to your sites and even if 3% will go over the banner, then it is 1,500 people per day, which will attract additional users, because social factor in the game is present. Everything turned out to be not quite as I had supposed - Google Analytics was of course installed, of course there were transitions to the application itself (even more than I expected), but the user had to be logged on to vkontakte to get into the game itself. The result is that about 5-7% of users who logged in from the site passed through authorization and installed the application, so for social games banner ads on external sites are generally ineffective, but of course if this is not a freebie, as in my case.
You can make a certain conclusion “Advertising is effective only within the Contact”. Having tried all possible methods of promotion within the Contact, I can say with confidence that the most effective and convenient advertising is advertising for the Contact itself, of course, if you do not want to exchange banners with other publishers. Contact advertising has surprisingly turned out to be cheaper even than customized promotion of groups and applications.
5. Should I attract investors or publishers?
I think that is definitely worth it, the main thing is that the publishers themselves should like your game. Do not be greedy, give 50% of your share to the publisher, and believe me they will pour you so much traffic that you never even dreamed of, but this is not the main thing, and most importantly they will analyze yours and give you good advice on monetization, virality and usability. etc., and it is much more expensive than just money.
As for net investors or as it is fashionable now to say venture capitalists, they can only give money and nothing more, this option can be applied if you are 100% sure of the success of your game and you simply don’t have enough money to promote. Net investors usually take no more than 20%. This case is applicable only if you receive $ 110 in profits for $ 100 of money spent on advertising, but this is extremely rare and is directly related to monetization.
6. Well, and most importantly, the payback period of the project and the possible profit, what can it be?
Do not think that if a game has one million installations, then developers earn one million dollars. This is not at all the case. Only isolated cases earn such money, on the VKontakte social network, I assume no more than a dozen of such games, although I could be wrong. With an average monetization and with 100,000 installations per month, you can count on income of about $ 2,000 to $ 3,000 (publisher's estimate), and now subtract costs for game support, hosting, advertising, etc.
When drawing up a financial plan, do not try to deceive yourself; rather, on the contrary, you can safely divide all revenues by 2, and expenses are specially exaggerated within reasonable limits.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/125517/
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