The history of the creation of a startup for the development of mobile games
Last May, I decided to create a startup for the development of social and mobile games. A year later, we can say that the adventure was a success and tell a little about the experience.
')
It was not my first startup, before this was an invested company for developing social games as a CEO, as well as various small team projects. And before that was the experience of developing and launching fairly large MMO projects. In short, there were no illusions about game development. Although in spite of this, many mistakes were subsequently made.
The initial motive for creating a new company was the desire to break out of the Moscow office bustle, and to fully switch to freelance indie development. To assemble a small but very effective team of self-motivated like-minded people who receive mostly% of the profits. And of course, a great creative freedom, which the truth also needs to be earned. My personal ideal is the 37 Signals company philosophy, but you need to recognize it is not easy to follow.
Based on past experience - it was decided to abandon investments and publishers. Yes, there are less profits at the exit, but in general it is more difficult, but with a small team, this is quite a reasonable way. Let's say for the average investor a profit of $ 100k per month is the norm, although at the same time marketing costs are quite decent. For us, $ 20k per month is enough without serious investment in marketing.
In total, to all this flew - it was invested about $ 40k. Part of past savings, part of the loan. However, the bank does not climb into my business, does not ask for 200% ROI, and does not dream of bringing the company to an IPO as a result. So if there is confidence and sufficient experience - in my opinion this is the best way of development, if the goal is independence.
Later there were attempts to contact publishers for a number of reasons, but each of them essentially wanted to standardize the game, to impersonalize it. Plus from the experience of colleagues - the publisher is far from always willing to endure and wait for the finalization of the game, if suddenly it does not take off very well by itself. For novice developers, the publisher is a good helper, allowing you to avoid a lot of rakes and bring everything to mind.
The main disadvantage of such a scheme is the debts, which, truthfully, are potentially good . Not once did I give the last money to pay for the work of outsourcers and refused good job offers for the sake of my startup. And thank God that the project justifies the hopes and gives sufficient income to repay debts. But one must be aware of the risk of a completely different scenario and be prepared for responsibility. Although the worst thing for me personally is to return to hired work and become an office hamster again.
As the main project, it was decided to take the farm with the elements of adventure. Basically, because there was already a successful experience of launching games with similar mechanics, and also because the games in this genre are selling well. And already with the profit it will be possible to completely afford more creative freedom, and do something without donation.
Initially, the project was called Celestials, but as a result, the name Airworld was adopted. And by the way, in the original version, the dragon was not the key chip (there were fears that the game would be considered a clone), instead it was planned for various flying things (boats, airships, flying frigates). However, for marketing reasons, it was decided to abandon this venture, everyone loves dragons :)
Of course, Unity3D was chosen for development, in my opinion, this is the best solution for creating games today.
In fact, the game was created and developed to this day by 2 people. Actually, I and one wonderful multi-armed artist. It is true that it was not immediately possible to find her, but I am very glad that we are cooperating. Because beautiful and high-quality content is the key to success in any game. For her efforts, she receives a% of profit, it is completely necessary to say that it’s deserved.
Outsourcing - voice acting, interfaces, 3D models and animations. As in all these areas - the load is relatively small and periodic.
With a larger team, the game would be made faster. For example, in the past, as a PM startup, I assembled a team of 5 people without experience in fact and after 3 months we started the game in the first social network (and this is with the server part). Now, in addition to direct development, I have to do game design, localization, market marketing, testing, and even support. And it would be much simpler and easier for me if it was done by hired employees. Sometimes it really exhausts. But at the same time, so much more interesting.
The birthday of a startup can be considered May 2012th year. And only a year later, a developed project on Android was launched. The reasons for this were many.
Immediately at the start, exactly 3 months was lost due to the fact that artists constantly let me down. And proven, with whom previously worked on social games. Apparently at that moment the stars were wrong. The first artists merged into Thailand after a month of expectations, the second artist did some of the work (after six months it turned out that he had a lung cut out), the third one demanded radical changes in the game world (as the volatile islands were not new to him). In general, only the fall was finally found a suitable person.
Probably it would be better to make a prototype before the start of a new business and to determine exactly with the team members. When working remotely, even people tested in battle can be brought in, and it would be better to calculate them as soon as possible.
Also, at first it was planned to launch the game in social networks. And all the summer of 2012, I selflessly worked on creating a full-fledged and flexible server engine (PHP + Redis + JS). But in the fall, the market situation had clearly changed, and even later Flash support was lost in Unity3D (for which the stake was). However, now the engine called Crown Engine can be downloaded and used for free. It is flexible, extensible and all that. But since we do not use it, it is no longer developing, at least for now.
As a result, I do not regret that we did not begin to fasten the server part to the mobile version of the game. This is the beauty of mobile games - it’s not necessary there, at least at the start (and later it’s not a problem to fasten it). And the rejection of the server part can significantly reduce the time and budget of the project. The golden time of social games has already passed, and the mobile gaming market is much bigger and more interesting.
On Habré, not a little was said about idealism. He also did not pass me by. Initially, I did not just make a game on Unity3D, but created a universal framework, on the basis of which it was possible to quickly and easily make such projects. And I think in many ways I managed it.
But despite the fact that, as a result, the framework came in handy to my colleagues and we outsourced one large project on this basis (more on that later) - it was not worth spending time on it. Be it on the basis of a hardcode - it was possible to reduce more than one month of development. And then calmly put everything in order, already getting the first money from sales.
The first couple of months I managed to work at home (after all, this experience was already, before that, freelance 2 years). But after a while I began to turn into some kind of vegetable. Plus it was difficult to explain to the son why the father is sitting nearby, but he cannot play with him. In general, after a while, it was decided to rent an office not far from home. In the past, a startup we rented an office in the center of Moscow per 100 sq. M. In this, I decided to enter as a toilet-paper businessman and took a workplace in one of the offices in South Butovo.
The office was 15 minutes away, no traffic jams and the zombie metro. But the creativity of this "office" brought to zero. From the window every now and then the courtyards of old women could be heard, all kinds of computer equipment was lying around and I was constantly distracted from the work of the local inhabitants. All this is demotivating. I think a place to develop games should be more creative and positive (unless of course you are creating another zombie apocalypse).
Never start a startup in the late spring and especially in the summer. Nobody wants to work, because this is the holiday season. And I myself in the heat had to make efforts to force myself to move. Autumn and winter are much better suited for this. I started a previous startup in the winter and this allowed me to concentrate fully on my work.
And last summer my daughter was born. And contrary to my own expectations - I hardly managed to maintain a balance between work and family. Often this led to excessive stress, as it was necessary to help his wife cope with two children. In addition, the growing debts do not add optimism, and more than once in the eyes of my wife, I looked like that crazy Russian businessman who stakes on a business that is obviously going to burn.
Nevertheless, it was the spouse who always believed in me and helped me cope with all sorts of difficulties. It is clear that I am doing business out of personal interest, but also in many respects for the sake of the family in order to provide them with a better future. Before you create your business - it would be good to coordinate this with your family, you should not selfishly consider this a personal matter. Because if the spouse is in a depression, it will negate any of your creative endeavors.
At a certain point I decided that there was no point in staying in Moscow (after 7 years of living there). And it was decided to move to Irkutsk, closer to relatives. Plus it was not enough. No longer had to stand in traffic jams, breathe smog and all that. Near Baikal and Sayan. Relatives help with the children, thanks to which the whole family became happier, and I had more time to work. Housing in the province is cheaper, as is the office. For the same money as in Moscow, I rented a workplace - here I managed to rent an office in the best business center of the city overlooking the bay.
But I did not take into account the fact that, nevertheless, many affairs are solved through Moscow. Be it business partners or just travel abroad for holidays. And most of the contractors live in the western part of Russia and often have to stay up late at night to solve certain issues. The local cadres require decent salaries, in the absence of the necessary experience and personal qualities. And it was especially depressing to miss already some interesting conferences, I really begin to feel in exile, aside from the industry. In general, in this regard, it now seems the golden mean of Novosibirsk, in which we will probably move in the near future. Although California also looks good in the long run ^^.
By the new year, the money was very tight, and the project was not yet ready for release. As a result, it was decided to outsource the project that would be developed on the basis of our Mage Framework. The idea as a whole looked reasonable and it would be cool to eventually launch 2, and not just one project (did you also remember the hares?).
Specially for this project additional people were involved (mostly just transferred from part-time to full-time). The customer paid all development + gave royalties. I delegated the code to programmers, and I myself worked as a PM. And at first, everything was generally good.
But despite the fact that initially it seemed possible to have 2 projects - as a result, their release dates were close, and at the critical moment there was not enough time and energy for both projects. As a result, development control has been weakened. And when the time came for the release - I looked inside and was horrified by how it was done. Despite the fact that the programmer was sitting with me in the office before the release and as it should be, he pretended that everything was under control.
As a result, I let the customer down, but he was not ready to make compromises and decided to refuse to cooperate. At the exit, this led to the fact that most of the wage arrears fell on me. Due to the fact that the profit from our project had already appeared by that moment, the problem was solved. But relations with contractors and the customer were spoiled. The key here was the fact that it was impossible to trust the development of the project to unproven programmers, and if you really trust, then control is better. And in general, if it is decided to be indie - you need to be it to the end, and not be sprayed on third-party projects.
It is difficult to describe the feelings that you feel at the time of release. They are often forced to move forward. This is very cool when players write reviews and you see how many players play in what you created. And the first 2 weeks after launch always take place in zombie mode. Almost every 5 minutes, press F5 and look at the statistics. In general, this all goes pretty quickly and motivates just to continue working on the game. When you read player reviews, comment on them, respond to letters of support, you always want to release another update as soon as possible, making the players happy with the innovations. Although of course you have to look for a middle ground between fan and monetization.
Before the launch of the main project - another small one was launched (it was a social game port) in order to carry out a reconnaissance, so to speak. As a result, the expectations were met and we scored 350,000 registrations in 3 months with almost zero marketing. Now the audience continues to grow and gives sufficient income for the company to develop further.
At certain moments, I still thought of attracting investments (and proposals were also received more than once) in order to make life easier for myself. And even thought about selling the company. But when the moment of truth came, he nevertheless decided to give up and, in spite of the difficulties, finish the job.
In the end, I have no regrets and am very glad that I chose the path indie. Now we are gradually inviting new people to the team in order to improve the pace of development and the quality of the company's work. The profit from the first project continues to grow, we are preparing to launch on the Samsung Store, Windows Phone and of course iOS (which, as an evil thing, now has problems due to hacking). The main thing is not to give up and clearly understand what you want, but without mistakes - it is impossible to achieve the desired.
If it is interesting - in subsequent articles I am ready to talk about the experience of launching and promoting on various mobile platforms, as well as in more detail about the development of the project itself (code, game design, etc.).
')
Prerequisites for creating a new startup
It was not my first startup, before this was an invested company for developing social games as a CEO, as well as various small team projects. And before that was the experience of developing and launching fairly large MMO projects. In short, there were no illusions about game development. Although in spite of this, many mistakes were subsequently made.
The initial motive for creating a new company was the desire to break out of the Moscow office bustle, and to fully switch to freelance indie development. To assemble a small but very effective team of self-motivated like-minded people who receive mostly% of the profits. And of course, a great creative freedom, which the truth also needs to be earned. My personal ideal is the 37 Signals company philosophy, but you need to recognize it is not easy to follow.
Investment or independence?
Based on past experience - it was decided to abandon investments and publishers. Yes, there are less profits at the exit, but in general it is more difficult, but with a small team, this is quite a reasonable way. Let's say for the average investor a profit of $ 100k per month is the norm, although at the same time marketing costs are quite decent. For us, $ 20k per month is enough without serious investment in marketing.
In total, to all this flew - it was invested about $ 40k. Part of past savings, part of the loan. However, the bank does not climb into my business, does not ask for 200% ROI, and does not dream of bringing the company to an IPO as a result. So if there is confidence and sufficient experience - in my opinion this is the best way of development, if the goal is independence.
Later there were attempts to contact publishers for a number of reasons, but each of them essentially wanted to standardize the game, to impersonalize it. Plus from the experience of colleagues - the publisher is far from always willing to endure and wait for the finalization of the game, if suddenly it does not take off very well by itself. For novice developers, the publisher is a good helper, allowing you to avoid a lot of rakes and bring everything to mind.
The main disadvantage of such a scheme is the debts, which, truthfully, are potentially good . Not once did I give the last money to pay for the work of outsourcers and refused good job offers for the sake of my startup. And thank God that the project justifies the hopes and gives sufficient income to repay debts. But one must be aware of the risk of a completely different scenario and be prepared for responsibility. Although the worst thing for me personally is to return to hired work and become an office hamster again.
Project selection
As the main project, it was decided to take the farm with the elements of adventure. Basically, because there was already a successful experience of launching games with similar mechanics, and also because the games in this genre are selling well. And already with the profit it will be possible to completely afford more creative freedom, and do something without donation.
Initially, the project was called Celestials, but as a result, the name Airworld was adopted. And by the way, in the original version, the dragon was not the key chip (there were fears that the game would be considered a clone), instead it was planned for various flying things (boats, airships, flying frigates). However, for marketing reasons, it was decided to abandon this venture, everyone loves dragons :)
Of course, Unity3D was chosen for development, in my opinion, this is the best solution for creating games today.
Team
In fact, the game was created and developed to this day by 2 people. Actually, I and one wonderful multi-armed artist. It is true that it was not immediately possible to find her, but I am very glad that we are cooperating. Because beautiful and high-quality content is the key to success in any game. For her efforts, she receives a% of profit, it is completely necessary to say that it’s deserved.
Outsourcing - voice acting, interfaces, 3D models and animations. As in all these areas - the load is relatively small and periodic.
With a larger team, the game would be made faster. For example, in the past, as a PM startup, I assembled a team of 5 people without experience in fact and after 3 months we started the game in the first social network (and this is with the server part). Now, in addition to direct development, I have to do game design, localization, market marketing, testing, and even support. And it would be much simpler and easier for me if it was done by hired employees. Sometimes it really exhausts. But at the same time, so much more interesting.
Bug work
The birthday of a startup can be considered May 2012th year. And only a year later, a developed project on Android was launched. The reasons for this were many.
Problems with the team
Immediately at the start, exactly 3 months was lost due to the fact that artists constantly let me down. And proven, with whom previously worked on social games. Apparently at that moment the stars were wrong. The first artists merged into Thailand after a month of expectations, the second artist did some of the work (after six months it turned out that he had a lung cut out), the third one demanded radical changes in the game world (as the volatile islands were not new to him). In general, only the fall was finally found a suitable person.
Probably it would be better to make a prototype before the start of a new business and to determine exactly with the team members. When working remotely, even people tested in battle can be brought in, and it would be better to calculate them as soon as possible.
Social networks
Also, at first it was planned to launch the game in social networks. And all the summer of 2012, I selflessly worked on creating a full-fledged and flexible server engine (PHP + Redis + JS). But in the fall, the market situation had clearly changed, and even later Flash support was lost in Unity3D (for which the stake was). However, now the engine called Crown Engine can be downloaded and used for free. It is flexible, extensible and all that. But since we do not use it, it is no longer developing, at least for now.
As a result, I do not regret that we did not begin to fasten the server part to the mobile version of the game. This is the beauty of mobile games - it’s not necessary there, at least at the start (and later it’s not a problem to fasten it). And the rejection of the server part can significantly reduce the time and budget of the project. The golden time of social games has already passed, and the mobile gaming market is much bigger and more interesting.
Idealism
On Habré, not a little was said about idealism. He also did not pass me by. Initially, I did not just make a game on Unity3D, but created a universal framework, on the basis of which it was possible to quickly and easily make such projects. And I think in many ways I managed it.
But despite the fact that, as a result, the framework came in handy to my colleagues and we outsourced one large project on this basis (more on that later) - it was not worth spending time on it. Be it on the basis of a hardcode - it was possible to reduce more than one month of development. And then calmly put everything in order, already getting the first money from sales.
From apartment to office
The first couple of months I managed to work at home (after all, this experience was already, before that, freelance 2 years). But after a while I began to turn into some kind of vegetable. Plus it was difficult to explain to the son why the father is sitting nearby, but he cannot play with him. In general, after a while, it was decided to rent an office not far from home. In the past, a startup we rented an office in the center of Moscow per 100 sq. M. In this, I decided to enter as a toilet-paper businessman and took a workplace in one of the offices in South Butovo.
The office was 15 minutes away, no traffic jams and the zombie metro. But the creativity of this "office" brought to zero. From the window every now and then the courtyards of old women could be heard, all kinds of computer equipment was lying around and I was constantly distracted from the work of the local inhabitants. All this is demotivating. I think a place to develop games should be more creative and positive (unless of course you are creating another zombie apocalypse).
Hot season
Never start a startup in the late spring and especially in the summer. Nobody wants to work, because this is the holiday season. And I myself in the heat had to make efforts to force myself to move. Autumn and winter are much better suited for this. I started a previous startup in the winter and this allowed me to concentrate fully on my work.
Family matter
And last summer my daughter was born. And contrary to my own expectations - I hardly managed to maintain a balance between work and family. Often this led to excessive stress, as it was necessary to help his wife cope with two children. In addition, the growing debts do not add optimism, and more than once in the eyes of my wife, I looked like that crazy Russian businessman who stakes on a business that is obviously going to burn.
Nevertheless, it was the spouse who always believed in me and helped me cope with all sorts of difficulties. It is clear that I am doing business out of personal interest, but also in many respects for the sake of the family in order to provide them with a better future. Before you create your business - it would be good to coordinate this with your family, you should not selfishly consider this a personal matter. Because if the spouse is in a depression, it will negate any of your creative endeavors.
Moving from Moscow
At a certain point I decided that there was no point in staying in Moscow (after 7 years of living there). And it was decided to move to Irkutsk, closer to relatives. Plus it was not enough. No longer had to stand in traffic jams, breathe smog and all that. Near Baikal and Sayan. Relatives help with the children, thanks to which the whole family became happier, and I had more time to work. Housing in the province is cheaper, as is the office. For the same money as in Moscow, I rented a workplace - here I managed to rent an office in the best business center of the city overlooking the bay.
But I did not take into account the fact that, nevertheless, many affairs are solved through Moscow. Be it business partners or just travel abroad for holidays. And most of the contractors live in the western part of Russia and often have to stay up late at night to solve certain issues. The local cadres require decent salaries, in the absence of the necessary experience and personal qualities. And it was especially depressing to miss already some interesting conferences, I really begin to feel in exile, aside from the industry. In general, in this regard, it now seems the golden mean of Novosibirsk, in which we will probably move in the near future. Although California also looks good in the long run ^^.
Custom development
By the new year, the money was very tight, and the project was not yet ready for release. As a result, it was decided to outsource the project that would be developed on the basis of our Mage Framework. The idea as a whole looked reasonable and it would be cool to eventually launch 2, and not just one project (did you also remember the hares?).
Specially for this project additional people were involved (mostly just transferred from part-time to full-time). The customer paid all development + gave royalties. I delegated the code to programmers, and I myself worked as a PM. And at first, everything was generally good.
But despite the fact that initially it seemed possible to have 2 projects - as a result, their release dates were close, and at the critical moment there was not enough time and energy for both projects. As a result, development control has been weakened. And when the time came for the release - I looked inside and was horrified by how it was done. Despite the fact that the programmer was sitting with me in the office before the release and as it should be, he pretended that everything was under control.
As a result, I let the customer down, but he was not ready to make compromises and decided to refuse to cooperate. At the exit, this led to the fact that most of the wage arrears fell on me. Due to the fact that the profit from our project had already appeared by that moment, the problem was solved. But relations with contractors and the customer were spoiled. The key here was the fact that it was impossible to trust the development of the project to unproven programmers, and if you really trust, then control is better. And in general, if it is decided to be indie - you need to be it to the end, and not be sprayed on third-party projects.
Moment of truth
It is difficult to describe the feelings that you feel at the time of release. They are often forced to move forward. This is very cool when players write reviews and you see how many players play in what you created. And the first 2 weeks after launch always take place in zombie mode. Almost every 5 minutes, press F5 and look at the statistics. In general, this all goes pretty quickly and motivates just to continue working on the game. When you read player reviews, comment on them, respond to letters of support, you always want to release another update as soon as possible, making the players happy with the innovations. Although of course you have to look for a middle ground between fan and monetization.
Before the launch of the main project - another small one was launched (it was a social game port) in order to carry out a reconnaissance, so to speak. As a result, the expectations were met and we scored 350,000 registrations in 3 months with almost zero marketing. Now the audience continues to grow and gives sufficient income for the company to develop further.
What's next?
At certain moments, I still thought of attracting investments (and proposals were also received more than once) in order to make life easier for myself. And even thought about selling the company. But when the moment of truth came, he nevertheless decided to give up and, in spite of the difficulties, finish the job.
In the end, I have no regrets and am very glad that I chose the path indie. Now we are gradually inviting new people to the team in order to improve the pace of development and the quality of the company's work. The profit from the first project continues to grow, we are preparing to launch on the Samsung Store, Windows Phone and of course iOS (which, as an evil thing, now has problems due to hacking). The main thing is not to give up and clearly understand what you want, but without mistakes - it is impossible to achieve the desired.
If it is interesting - in subsequent articles I am ready to talk about the experience of launching and promoting on various mobile platforms, as well as in more detail about the development of the project itself (code, game design, etc.).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/188978/
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