Developing a game for several platforms: post-mortem Cat Quest

In the crowded market of indie games, it is becoming more and more difficult for developers to make money. Therefore, it is all the more justified to release the game on as many platforms as possible for maximum profit growth.

Our company The Gentlebros (@TheGentlebros) has developed a small game called Cat Quest . It was published about six months ago (how time flies!) For Switch , on Steam , PS4 and on mobile devices !


We decided to share our experience on the release of one game on several platforms and talk about what we did right, and what a terrible mistake!

It all starts from the beginning.

Even in the early stages of development, we knew that we wanted to release Cat Quest on as many platforms as possible. It was very important, because in this case it was necessary to take into account the design of the game.
')
Take control for example. On consoles, players use controllers. On a PC, they can play with a keyboard / mouse or controller. On mobiles, the vast majority of players use the touch screen (although there are MFI controllers).

Therefore, the game must take into account all these control schemes. If you have already developed your game for the controller and want to port it to mobile devices at the last minute, then you will have a lot of problems, and you will most likely not be able to create a game that seems to be “native” on mobile.

The solution is that every mechanic, every design choice, every graphic resource is at the same time relevant for all platforms. I will not lie - to achieve this is very difficult; Because of this, you will have to give up many great ideas, but in the end players will appreciate your efforts and will be grateful.

We coped with this imperfectly, but for example, let's look at the system of magic from Cat Quest. At first, our magic system had a mechanic targeting the enemy. The player could aim the spell at the enemy and fire the fireball at him. It worked well on PCs and consoles, because there you can aim at an enemy using a keyboard or controller and just press a button. But on mobile devices it was not so simple. It should be noted, it was possible , but it was not so easy .

We wanted to find something that seemed intuitive and performed with the push of a single button, so we changed the design of the magic system. We made each spell attack in a very specific way. Flamepurr inflicts AOE on all surrounding enemies. Lightnyan hits lightning enemies to the left and right, etc. Thanks to this, we simultaneously got rid of the need to heal enemies, simplified the magic system and created something rather unique.

Are players on mobile devices, PCs and consoles very different?

This question arose in our development process. Are the players on mobile devices and consoles completely different? If we tweak the design for mobile players, will the game console seem too casual, and vice versa?

Yes and no.

We do not take into account management (about which we have already spoken), but talk about the total complexity and sophistication of systems and design methodologies. In general, yes, console / PC players like games to be a bit more difficult / deeper, and mobile players are playing on the go, and they want a game that can be played for five minutes.

Why don't we try to please them at the same time?

In other words - to find a middle ground.

We decided that if the game is exciting , then there is a chance that people will like it regardless of whether they play on the console or on the phone. In the end, we are all human, the only difference is in the structure and environment in which we play.

Take for example the mobile player. As mentioned above, they prefer what you can play for a brief gaming session. The beauty lies in the fact that console and PC-players also do not mind it. Just instead of short sessions they will play for a long time.

Hint: adjust the design of the game for short sessions, but make sure that these sessions can be connected for a long time.

Another interesting lesson is that you can make systems complex if you can teach them a good player. Mobile players are not more stupid than the console, right? The only difference is in the circumstances in which they play.

Imagine that you have five minutes waiting for the bus, so you want to play a little. If the game shows you a huge wall of text that will teach you new mechanics, then it will quickly turn you away from the game!

The problem is not too complicated mechanics, but the fact that you are too lazy to train the player. Try to create a better tutorial that allows you to embed a lesson in the gameplay itself. You not only can better train the player, but also improve the game as a whole.

Hint: this is not a system too complex, but learning is lame!

We assign the price of the game

So let's first clarify the following: we do not say that this is impossible, but if you plan to publish your game both on mobile and on consoles / PC, then you should think about creating the same monetization model. Under the monetization model, we mean the choice between a paid game and a free to play game!

The design of f2p games and paid games is so different that it will be very difficult to find a balance between these two models. It should be said that this is possible, and we have seen how other developers succeed in this, but if you can make your life easier ... then why not?

Hint: if you are doing a multiplatform game, then try to keep the same monetization.

So, having dealt with this, I will assume that you have chosen a premium model (premium) (as we did), so let's talk about pricing. Usually, most indie games on Steam and on consoles cost from about $ 14.99 to $ 19.99, but on a mobile platform, the price ranges from $ 2.99 to $ 4.99. If you are not releasing Final Fantasy, the price above $ 4.99 will be quite risky, especially for a relatively little-known brand.

So, we come to the problem: how to choose the price of the game, if the difference between PC and mobile is so great? Very simple: set a different price. (Cat Quest costs $ 12.99 on consoles / PC and $ 4.99 on mobile)

Yes, you will definitely meet with the negative (there are always dissatisfied), but you will have a lot of players who made a double purchase, because they liked your game.

We have fans who bought and loved the game on mobile, so when the Switch version came out, they immediately bought it to play on the big screen TV.

However, you still need to give players on consoles / PC additional benefits (to justify the difference in prices). Additional graphics bonuses come into play here.

Hint: do not be afraid to assign different prices to your game. Price depends on the platform.

Preparation and release of the game on multiple platforms

So, already in the development process and you are thinking about release. This will probably be the most important part, so don't miss anything. Basically, the tips will be for premium games, but some can be applied to f2p.

Basic Universal Rule

Whether it is a traditional paid game or an f2p game, you need to start building a community and fan base six months before release. Many developers fall into the trap of "we just get out and pray for success," but this is similar to a lottery game.

There are many ways to create a community. As for us, we have posted various posts on the forums, on Facebook and on Twitter. We regularly updated them to acquaint readers with new features of the game and involve fans in the development process. Today a very popular resource is Discord and we see. that many other developers also use it to communicate with their fanbase.

The idea is that you need to create a database of fans who will support the game during the first release. The initial push is very important, it will help you get into the rating tables, which in turn will allow more people to see your game.

You should also start distributing codes to observers at least two weeks before the release from the embargo before the release day. You will give the media enough time to play and write about your game, and ensure the simultaneous release of reviews so that they make a loud noise. However, attracting media attention is a completely different story.

We now turn to tips for individual platforms ...

iOS and Android

At the earliest stages, try to get in touch with Apple and Google. There are no reliable ways to do this, but we met our contacts on game shows (through personal contacts, TGS, GDC, etc.), and have since worked with them. When your game becomes playable and presentable enough, show it to them and get feedback as soon as possible.

In addition to obtaining very high quality, valuable information, this allows us to build good relationships with platform owners so that when they release a game, they are more likely to recommend it.

On mobile platforms, success or failure of the game depends heavily on these recommendations, so be sure to do it!

Steam

To be honest, Steam is quite risky. I will not lie - this is a very heavy platform. If you're lucky, you will create your own community and it will support you when you release the game. You need this initial push to get on the Top Sellers list (we needed several thousand sales on the first day for this). If you get there, half the battle is won, because a lot more people will see your game.

Console

This is a cross between mobile and Steam. Work closely with the owners of the platforms and if you are lucky, they will put you on the list of recommended on the main page. Nintendo gave us a very good preview on the Nindies list, and the initial push of our fans helped Cat Quest also get into the Switch sales leaders list. The point is that the game got to the main page and saw as many eyes as possible. But, of course, easier said than done!

Sony also gave us a lot of support, and since Cat Quest was localized in Thai, it helped to show demo games at various road shows in Asia (thanks, Sony!).

What could be done better

Keep equality mechanic

Because of the touch control, we decided to abandon the possibility of making rolls on mobile devices. We could not come up with a good way to implement them through sensory control, it seemed to us that any solution was too clumsy or required to completely rethink the entire control scheme. Moreover, at events and testing, no one told us that the game needed tackles.

In the end, we decided that it would be best to remove the tackles from the mobile game and change the balance of the game only for mobile devices (yes, in fact, we balanced the game twice!).

What we did not foresee is the partial intersection of players on different platforms. People who played on PC / consoles and bought the game again for a mobile device asked us how to make a roll. Some even asked to return the money, because in the mobile version they lacked this mechanics. It was rather unpleasant, and we had to address this problem more actively in the early stages of development.

MFI gamepad support is very important.

Only after the release of the game, we learned about the existence of MFI-controllers for mobile. Since our game could be played with a gamepad on a PC / console, many people asked if this could be achieved on mobile. But since we didn’t even know about MFI controllers, the answer was no!

Many people told us that they would buy the game only if it supported MFI controllers, although we convinced them that the game works well on the touchscreen. By this I want to show how important such an aspect is at the current stage of development of mobile gaming. Yes, of course, your game is still perfectly played on the touch screen (because most players will play it this way), but in the future we are going to give MFI support a much higher priority (and you should do the same!).

It is necessary to improve the balance of information transfer between different platforms.

Since we were more familiar with the mobile platform, then, naturally, it was more convenient for us and we were more visible in this area. Therefore, the main part of information about Cat Quest appeared on sites dedicated to mobile devices. I think that is why many people began to consider Cat Quest a mobile game (despite the fact that the game first came out on Steam!), And therefore PC-players began to refuse it as a “slop port from mobile phones”.

This continued, until more articles began to appear, more streams were passed and more laudatory reviews were published, after which we managed to get rid of this delusion. We don’t know exactly how much damage it did, because on the other hand we received a lot of love on the mobile platform (which gave us more than a third of the total income!). No one knows how everything would turn out otherwise.

However, after communicating with many other developers, we began to understand the general direction of thought: first release on PC / consoles to earn prestige, and after a few months release the game on mobile. We are still not sure how it will work, because simultaneous release worked well for us - everybody talked about it in the week of release of the game! What would you prefer - an explosion in the press or barely noticeable splashes?

I think in the future we will try to use a more balanced approach. We will make it obvious that the game comes out on all platforms and that it will be awesome everywhere. It will be much more difficult and can make the message vague, but maybe we will write another post-mortem when we learn about it!

Last thoughts

As a result, we are very pleased with what happened to the Cat Quest! We may not have earned all the possible money, but for a team of three people this is a very good result! Plus, we have the best fan group in the world that any developer can dream of! Thank you for that!

In addition, the game allowed us to travel the world, attending events and receiving awards! In just one year, we visited Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and even the DICE Awards in Las Vegas (where I personally met many of my childhood heroes from the gaming industry! I also saw Neil Drakman [comment trans.: Scriptwriter, programmer, creative director and vice president of Naughty Dog] , but was so stunned that he forgot to say hello!).

It was an amazing adventure: if you look back, before the release of Cat Quest, we all ran out of money and we did not think that the game would be successful at all! But now people from Ubisoft, Blizzard and even Square Enix write to us how they liked Cat Quest! Funny how amazing life can be!