Another boring, boring story about the first independent project
I study full-time at the Polytech, I still study at the evening and I program for one company. It is assumed that the future is already painted: I’m finishing my studies, I’m already working at my company to the full and immersed in the standard life of a developer. Three years later, I would have had the idea of a startup, and I would have made it long, lonely evenings, hoping for world fame or (realizing the unreality of it) simply extra money. Something like this.
But I had a girlfriend who changed everything cool when she asked what I was waiting for.
As a result, I continue to learn and work - but I already have my own project. Own, you see! The feelings are as if I had just become a dad (although I can’t even imagine how it happens at all).
')
It all started at the end of 2011, when my friends and I went to celebrate the New Year to the country, and of course, we took a couple of board games with us. One of them was Alias, who just went with a bang. It turned out that explaining the words to a not very sober head and speed is very funny. I was just developing iOS software for some time, and for some reason I immediately wanted to make an application out of this desktop. Well, you know, it all comes to mind to make an application, but usually these stories do not end with anything good.
I counted on the fingers. It seems not difficult, and most importantly - convenient! No need to take with you a set of cards, the phone is always with you. While I was thinking about it, my friend, who brought the game, said: “Listen, I’d like to make an application on it. I think it would be sold. ” And then I fired up.
Further, there could be a boring development history for iOS, of which there are probably hundreds, but everything went a little more fun. For a start, I looked at Appstor and looked at what transfers of board games to the application are. I was very struck by the monopoly: it would seem, transfer it as it is - and play, but no, there are a lot of effects and very competent multiplayer. There was still a lot of games, and for many it was clear that in reality they are more interesting because of the physical components. But the idea with Alias did not give rest: he was definitely not tied to the cards, they even interfere a little!
I reflexed and thought for almost half a year. Probably, it wouldn’t have ended with anything if my girlfriend Liza wouldn’t say: “What are you talking about! Write to Mosigra, maybe they will like the idea! ”.
I wrote. Really nowhere, on info @, without even knowing who and why I am writing. As it turned out later, it was also by, because Alias is made by a Finnish company, and the license for it is in no way related to Mosigra (they just carry and sell on the net). Why Mosigra? Because I read their posts on Habré, plus I just didn’t understand how the market works. Well, in general, I was on the Invasion, where they had a tent with games, which was remembered by the fact that everyone was smiling. In general, just took and wrote.
In theory, I should have been shot back at the “make my way through the secretary” stage or gently send a bit later when I talked about Alias with big eyes. Within two days, no one answered, and I thought that everything, nothing will come of it. I think there was no way to write somewhere else.
As it turned out, the letter was still forwarded to Milfgard (he keeps the Mosigra blog on Habré), but he was on the road. On the second day, he called back and said that nothing would come of it, because the idea to publish Alias was a failure in advance, if it was done, then under a world license. What is mildly unrealistic. Mosigra has several dozen of its licenses for work in the CIS, plus there is a friendly publisher Magellan, who makes his games with the ability to work around the world. And he offered to look at his games, suddenly like that. It seems like it was polite "goodbye, it was very nice, but nothing interesting."
It all happened in the summer, so I thought that it would just work out to meet the New Year. And chose Ruff - a game of beer with crazy tasks. The beauty was that with the simplest gameplay (showed the user a card, accepted or rejected), she had excellent recognition and was exactly suitable as a potential hit. An important reason was the graphics of the game, which was directly created for the phone screen: I was not ready to draw and hire a designer.
There was nothing like that at Appstore, and it looks like I was going to open a new category. Ruff then still not snapped up like hotcakes (the game itself came out just like a couple of months), but sales showed that it was going well. Probably, just because no one then knew that by the New Year the paper version would become a bestseller, they gave me the opportunity to work with it. Lucky a second time.
But before any work began, Sergei offered to meet. And he said that he would come to St. Petersburg in a couple of days on business, it would be possible to cross. It is clear that he was interested to look at me and assess the seriousness of intentions. I tried to put myself in his place and decided to write a detailed plan of how the development will go to discuss each item. The first question at the meeting was exactly: “Is there a plan of work?” - and then I got out my three-page document. I think if it were not, the meeting would have gone far from the way I would like.
To my surprise, there were no questions about who I am and what I do outside of iOS: I showed my portfolio, talked about how I would work on the project and that's it. About the fact that I am a student, in Mosigre they learned, it seems, only after a couple of months. This is unusual: I proved that I can do the task, but everything else was irrelevant. Despite the fact that during interviews, some of my fellow students literally shook the soul with questions not related to the case.
So, Sergey put one simple condition: you can work, but at any time Mosigra can roll up the project if something in the application does not like it, because it will not give away bad goods under its own brand. Even before the release, and without explanation. I agreed immediately.
It turned out to be a surprise that I had a complete mess about marketing. That is, I thought this: laid out the project, showed it to friends - and, behold, it is already for sale. Mosigra had the experience of launching two of its gaming applications, and it turned out that this problem just disappears. True, Crocodile and Danetki are free applications, and although they went to the top for almost a week each, with the paid version the situation could change.
As a result, my friend hryamzik and I discussed all the basic points and started writing. There were no papers yet, it was assumed that it would be necessary to at least make a prototype before signing. We set a deadline for ourselves - by the beginning of December, we will fill it in for verification.
We started with a prototype, without design. And this was our main mistake in the development. When the design came, it turned out that almost everything had to be redone. I think many of you know this feeling when all you did was wasted. Enthusiasm - zero. And in the end, we still did not have time for the new year.
There were a couple more features: in the original paper version of the mechanic: there are tasks at the level “Name 6 car brands on M”, “Say a toast with difficult words”, “Identify everyone at the table with eyes closed, touch”, “Scroll around yourself 10 times "," Go provocative SMS ", there are bonuses for completing tasks, there are points. The first problem was in bonuses: they are accumulating on the players' hand, and in the interface it was very difficult to show. I thought that people would play, just passing the iPhone in a circle: with bonuses it turned out a lot of unnecessary movements. As a result, they had to just throw. The second problem was the tasks of the level “keep quiet the whole circle”, which is also unclear how to control. There were only a few of them, and I also removed them, after consulting with the developers of Magellan. By the way, they understood very well the concept of “sharpening” mechanics for different environments - I was afraid that they would be hard pressed and would not let anything change at all.
By this point, it became clear that the deadlines had been broken due to rework and rethinking of mechanics. Immediately we set new ones for ourselves - February 23. But the New Year's holidays made themselves felt, and we almost overdue this date, making out different papers.
The initial conditions were:
This required a license agreement to transfer to me the rights to use company logos, game content, and so on. As a result, when I saw the document, honestly, I was a little confused. It was about the size of a good licensing agreement and was very scary. Plus, it was necessary to register the company and go through a bunch of formalities, which also strained.
I asked if there was an easier option: he quickly found it. A new version suggested that I was making a game, and Magellan would deduct royalties to me as an author. In this case, I give the finished product, but do not give the code. All this with a bunch of details of who and what is doing exactly - but already on quite understandable rails of the same contract that Magellan signs with the authors of board games. It turned out to be much shorter and much more understandable.
In January, everything was 95% complete. But it took a lot of time to finish off the little things. You can never underestimate the small amendments that have yet to be done, they spent a lot of time and effort.
I then looked at the finished application and thought: “It would be cool to make voice acting cards, sending SMS for tasks directly in the address book” and so on. But they decided to launch the basic version: if not ideal, but with the basic functionality of the game.
On February 19, we finished the beta tests and sent it to Appstor, indicating that we really had to put it out as quickly as possible, because February 23 is almost like Christmas, but only for communists who drink the national ruff. Apple moderators met us and checked the application in an expedited manner.
Last night it appeared in the store, and at first I was wildly frightened: the search for the query “ruff” did not work. Like, I forgot to specify a synonym with "e", that is, no one in life would have found us, since typing it on the keyboard of an iPhone is a difficult task for a regular user. Especially on Friday night when the app should have been bought. It was relieved when it turned out that indexing was going on there with a delay. A couple of hours earned.
Long argued on the price. I rummaged all the articles on Habré about the launch of applications, and decided to stop at the “1 dollar now or 3 in a week” scheme. So now it costs 33 rubles, and will soon be more expensive. By the way, a paper box costs 550 rubles, but in the Mosigre they think that the application simply cannot kill sales of the desktop, but on the contrary, it will work as an additional advertisement.
Yesterday, Mosigra sent out a newsletter to its customers, sent out press releases (we already have several publications) - and we took off for the day in TOP-40 paid applications.
For me, this is a very unusual experience. In fact, I had an idea that wouldn’t end with nothing if it were not for Lisa. If I began to find out what and how it works in the market, I would have convinced myself that I would not be able to publish Alias. If I had been afraid of the conditions “we will curtail the project at any moment,” nothing would have happened either. I just took it and did it. And now I have a project with which I worked in my free time - and even if it does not take off, it will be a good experience.
In general, I'm sorry, I’m a little worried about the fate of the application and because of this topic (Milfgard said that for such a frank advertisement the habrijets would just bury me two meters into the ground, but still gave an invite), and just I have an exam in 2 hours and 30 minutes for which I did not prepare well.
And sorry for such a long sheet.
But I had a girlfriend who changed everything cool when she asked what I was waiting for.
As a result, I continue to learn and work - but I already have my own project. Own, you see! The feelings are as if I had just become a dad (although I can’t even imagine how it happens at all).
')
It all started at the end of 2011, when my friends and I went to celebrate the New Year to the country, and of course, we took a couple of board games with us. One of them was Alias, who just went with a bang. It turned out that explaining the words to a not very sober head and speed is very funny. I was just developing iOS software for some time, and for some reason I immediately wanted to make an application out of this desktop. Well, you know, it all comes to mind to make an application, but usually these stories do not end with anything good.
I counted on the fingers. It seems not difficult, and most importantly - convenient! No need to take with you a set of cards, the phone is always with you. While I was thinking about it, my friend, who brought the game, said: “Listen, I’d like to make an application on it. I think it would be sold. ” And then I fired up.
Further, there could be a boring development history for iOS, of which there are probably hundreds, but everything went a little more fun. For a start, I looked at Appstor and looked at what transfers of board games to the application are. I was very struck by the monopoly: it would seem, transfer it as it is - and play, but no, there are a lot of effects and very competent multiplayer. There was still a lot of games, and for many it was clear that in reality they are more interesting because of the physical components. But the idea with Alias did not give rest: he was definitely not tied to the cards, they even interfere a little!
I reflexed and thought for almost half a year. Probably, it wouldn’t have ended with anything if my girlfriend Liza wouldn’t say: “What are you talking about! Write to Mosigra, maybe they will like the idea! ”.
I wrote. Really nowhere, on info @, without even knowing who and why I am writing. As it turned out later, it was also by, because Alias is made by a Finnish company, and the license for it is in no way related to Mosigra (they just carry and sell on the net). Why Mosigra? Because I read their posts on Habré, plus I just didn’t understand how the market works. Well, in general, I was on the Invasion, where they had a tent with games, which was remembered by the fact that everyone was smiling. In general, just took and wrote.
In theory, I should have been shot back at the “make my way through the secretary” stage or gently send a bit later when I talked about Alias with big eyes. Within two days, no one answered, and I thought that everything, nothing will come of it. I think there was no way to write somewhere else.
As it turned out, the letter was still forwarded to Milfgard (he keeps the Mosigra blog on Habré), but he was on the road. On the second day, he called back and said that nothing would come of it, because the idea to publish Alias was a failure in advance, if it was done, then under a world license. What is mildly unrealistic. Mosigra has several dozen of its licenses for work in the CIS, plus there is a friendly publisher Magellan, who makes his games with the ability to work around the world. And he offered to look at his games, suddenly like that. It seems like it was polite "goodbye, it was very nice, but nothing interesting."
It all happened in the summer, so I thought that it would just work out to meet the New Year. And chose Ruff - a game of beer with crazy tasks. The beauty was that with the simplest gameplay (showed the user a card, accepted or rejected), she had excellent recognition and was exactly suitable as a potential hit. An important reason was the graphics of the game, which was directly created for the phone screen: I was not ready to draw and hire a designer.
There was nothing like that at Appstore, and it looks like I was going to open a new category. Ruff then still not snapped up like hotcakes (the game itself came out just like a couple of months), but sales showed that it was going well. Probably, just because no one then knew that by the New Year the paper version would become a bestseller, they gave me the opportunity to work with it. Lucky a second time.
But before any work began, Sergei offered to meet. And he said that he would come to St. Petersburg in a couple of days on business, it would be possible to cross. It is clear that he was interested to look at me and assess the seriousness of intentions. I tried to put myself in his place and decided to write a detailed plan of how the development will go to discuss each item. The first question at the meeting was exactly: “Is there a plan of work?” - and then I got out my three-page document. I think if it were not, the meeting would have gone far from the way I would like.
To my surprise, there were no questions about who I am and what I do outside of iOS: I showed my portfolio, talked about how I would work on the project and that's it. About the fact that I am a student, in Mosigre they learned, it seems, only after a couple of months. This is unusual: I proved that I can do the task, but everything else was irrelevant. Despite the fact that during interviews, some of my fellow students literally shook the soul with questions not related to the case.
So, Sergey put one simple condition: you can work, but at any time Mosigra can roll up the project if something in the application does not like it, because it will not give away bad goods under its own brand. Even before the release, and without explanation. I agreed immediately.
It turned out to be a surprise that I had a complete mess about marketing. That is, I thought this: laid out the project, showed it to friends - and, behold, it is already for sale. Mosigra had the experience of launching two of its gaming applications, and it turned out that this problem just disappears. True, Crocodile and Danetki are free applications, and although they went to the top for almost a week each, with the paid version the situation could change.
As a result, my friend hryamzik and I discussed all the basic points and started writing. There were no papers yet, it was assumed that it would be necessary to at least make a prototype before signing. We set a deadline for ourselves - by the beginning of December, we will fill it in for verification.
We started with a prototype, without design. And this was our main mistake in the development. When the design came, it turned out that almost everything had to be redone. I think many of you know this feeling when all you did was wasted. Enthusiasm - zero. And in the end, we still did not have time for the new year.
There were a couple more features: in the original paper version of the mechanic: there are tasks at the level “Name 6 car brands on M”, “Say a toast with difficult words”, “Identify everyone at the table with eyes closed, touch”, “Scroll around yourself 10 times "," Go provocative SMS ", there are bonuses for completing tasks, there are points. The first problem was in bonuses: they are accumulating on the players' hand, and in the interface it was very difficult to show. I thought that people would play, just passing the iPhone in a circle: with bonuses it turned out a lot of unnecessary movements. As a result, they had to just throw. The second problem was the tasks of the level “keep quiet the whole circle”, which is also unclear how to control. There were only a few of them, and I also removed them, after consulting with the developers of Magellan. By the way, they understood very well the concept of “sharpening” mechanics for different environments - I was afraid that they would be hard pressed and would not let anything change at all.
By this point, it became clear that the deadlines had been broken due to rework and rethinking of mechanics. Immediately we set new ones for ourselves - February 23. But the New Year's holidays made themselves felt, and we almost overdue this date, making out different papers.
The initial conditions were:
- I make the game, all the code is mine.
- Magellan gives the right to use mechanics, content and design Ruff.
- I sell the game from my account and make payments to Magellan.
- However, I have the right to set the price only in the specified range.
This required a license agreement to transfer to me the rights to use company logos, game content, and so on. As a result, when I saw the document, honestly, I was a little confused. It was about the size of a good licensing agreement and was very scary. Plus, it was necessary to register the company and go through a bunch of formalities, which also strained.
I asked if there was an easier option: he quickly found it. A new version suggested that I was making a game, and Magellan would deduct royalties to me as an author. In this case, I give the finished product, but do not give the code. All this with a bunch of details of who and what is doing exactly - but already on quite understandable rails of the same contract that Magellan signs with the authors of board games. It turned out to be much shorter and much more understandable.
In January, everything was 95% complete. But it took a lot of time to finish off the little things. You can never underestimate the small amendments that have yet to be done, they spent a lot of time and effort.
I then looked at the finished application and thought: “It would be cool to make voice acting cards, sending SMS for tasks directly in the address book” and so on. But they decided to launch the basic version: if not ideal, but with the basic functionality of the game.
On February 19, we finished the beta tests and sent it to Appstor, indicating that we really had to put it out as quickly as possible, because February 23 is almost like Christmas, but only for communists who drink the national ruff. Apple moderators met us and checked the application in an expedited manner.
Last night it appeared in the store, and at first I was wildly frightened: the search for the query “ruff” did not work. Like, I forgot to specify a synonym with "e", that is, no one in life would have found us, since typing it on the keyboard of an iPhone is a difficult task for a regular user. Especially on Friday night when the app should have been bought. It was relieved when it turned out that indexing was going on there with a delay. A couple of hours earned.
Long argued on the price. I rummaged all the articles on Habré about the launch of applications, and decided to stop at the “1 dollar now or 3 in a week” scheme. So now it costs 33 rubles, and will soon be more expensive. By the way, a paper box costs 550 rubles, but in the Mosigre they think that the application simply cannot kill sales of the desktop, but on the contrary, it will work as an additional advertisement.
Yesterday, Mosigra sent out a newsletter to its customers, sent out press releases (we already have several publications) - and we took off for the day in TOP-40 paid applications.
For me, this is a very unusual experience. In fact, I had an idea that wouldn’t end with nothing if it were not for Lisa. If I began to find out what and how it works in the market, I would have convinced myself that I would not be able to publish Alias. If I had been afraid of the conditions “we will curtail the project at any moment,” nothing would have happened either. I just took it and did it. And now I have a project with which I worked in my free time - and even if it does not take off, it will be a good experience.
In general, I'm sorry, I’m a little worried about the fate of the application and because of this topic (Milfgard said that for such a frank advertisement the habrijets would just bury me two meters into the ground, but still gave an invite), and just I have an exam in 2 hours and 30 minutes for which I did not prepare well.
And sorry for such a long sheet.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/170313/
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