The Game Design Dojo Podcast

Get more done in less time for lone wolf developers, hobbyists, large teams, and everything in between. Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #026

In this expansive episode Brian and Ike discuss the dream, tech, design, best practices, and market strategies of virtual reality for game developers. Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #025

In this first Metroidvania discussion Brian and Ike define the popular gameplay style, discuss its history, cite game examples, and explore player motivations. Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #024

How to use the "Lean Startup" method for game development. A discussion and exploration of how and when to use it for your projects. Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #023

An exploration on using physics as the core mechanic as opposed to just a supporting simulation system. Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #022

Brian and Ike dive deep into different ways to monitize your games, and how to tie your monitization strategy with your brand. Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #021

In this episode, Brian and Ike dive into puzzles and how to implement them in your game design. They compare games using puzzles as their main gameplay or as a feature thrown into the gameplay. They'll also discuss how they go about using puzzles in their own games. So, enjoy! Today's Developer Diary Brian has starting using Notepad ++ instead of MonoDevelop and Unity Visual Studio because it's so light and fast. It's a totally free, tiny little program that he changed all the colors to look like Unity and trained it to get all the key words in there. It's just fantastic! Ike has taken the opportunity to step back and put a couple of patches on the three games he has in the store after taking some of the feedback he's gotten. He also has a fourth and fifth game in the works! Brian explains that even though Fenix Fire hasn't released any games this year, they have a lot that is being incubated so they've had a really busy year and it's been the work for hire that's been able to keep them going. Brian and Ike also discuss the totally different approaches their companies have to releasing games and the importance of having your game featured in the initial launch. Puzzle Design As a starting point, puzzles should include a couple of key traits: It should be very clear what the puzzle is  - For example - With a jigsaw puzzle you know exactly what you're supposed to do, fit all the pieces together It should show progress as you're solving the puzzles - Jigsaw example - As you join more pieces together, not only are you building a larger cluster but you're also filling in this picture which is satisfying There should be some sort of a pay off when the puzzle is solved - Jigsaw example - The joy of seeing the picture all together gives a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of completeness Puzzles in Level Design The puzzle should be obvious with clearly defined rules. In games like Metroid and Zelda, the camera takes over and points the player to where they need to go. This gives the player a call to the puzzle and also shows the player the ingredients of the puzzle. The most common are a torch, a totem, a door, or a lock and key. You can be innovative as much as possible when designing your game because you have the amazing opportunity to design a brand new game and can do whatever you really want in it so why resort to something that has been done a million times before? But, be careful since it's very easy to lose the player the more you innovate. You'll still need to have a lot of conventional game design elements because if the game is too weird or out there then people won't be able to understand it.  Puzzle Games - Match 3 In a puzzle game, the call to the puzzle is the game itself and it's just a matter of learning what the mechanics of the puzzle are. Candy Crush example. Familiarity in games -  some players want something new but in a way that they understand it immediately Feedback Loop - the faster a path to failure is identified, the better it is Having clear, constant feedback is good - like a jigsaw puzzle trying to match pieces Sounds are very important - having satisfying sounds when making progress Effects are very important - Puzzle and Dragons example Having a tiny bit of input gives you tons of positive feedback - makes you feel great Prime demographic of match 3 games is women over 40 -  coincides with slot machine games Every Game is a Puzzle Anything that requires strategy, which is almost every game, the puzzle is defined by the fact that you have to make choices. Starcraft - The puzzle is how to win the war.  You have all these tools at your disposal and there's a constant change in strategy. Clash of Clans - The puzzle is when you go to attack a village which of your pieces do you put down and where. Gears of War - The puzzle is being in a large open space and shoot all kind of enemies. The AI is a puzzle and the level layout,

Brian and Ike discuss the practicalities of how to get a company off the ground and rolling. If you're looking for work-for-hire, then this episode provides some useful ways to obtain client work and how to build up your business development. Today's Developer Diary Ike is back! He is fresh after working at iD Tech Summer Camp where he taught high school students game design. It was fun to show them how to make games and by the time they left the camp in two weeks they had their own prototype working on their own phones. Ike also rang his "game release" bell! Puzzlin' Pieces: USA is now available on iTunes, Android and Amazon. His daughter helped develop this new game about learning about US geography. If there's any Windows 8 Microsoft people listening, please reach out to Ike. He wants to release the game for Windows, but keeps on hitting road blocks. So, if anyone can help please reach out to Ike! Brian just got back from Seattle! After doing his very first talk at Unite 2014 -  High End Mobile Development - highlighting his game Gates of Osiris. During the talk he spilled some tips and tricks on how they're going about the art of the game, a lot of the effects and how they're building the terrain. Was what really awesome was during his introduction when he mentioned he was a co-host of the Game Design Dojo, people clapped! And people also clapped when he mentioned their responsible for the Tuscany World Demo for Oculus VR. Our listener Vinny came up and talked with Brian. Thanks Vinny so much for coming out to the talk! Contact Work/Work For Hire The secret to Fenix Fire's longevity has been balancing work-for-hire with their own IP. Brian has been an indie for the past eight years and was in AAA for the previous six years. So, he's actually been an indie longer than he's been in the friendly confines of being an employee. He owes this primarily to work-for-hire by getting good contracts and doing good business development. General Thoughts About Work For Hire: It's a balancing act - you don't have control over your clients needs and timetables and you'll have to work around their deadlines as opposed to yours Repeat business - is the most efficient way to get get more contract work Making your own games - can yield a lot of opportunities Have at least one game shipped - really important and brings credibility Where do you begin to try to get Work For Hire? For the purposes of this episode, Brian and Ike use the scenario of a start-up company either with a team of 2-3 or a lone wolf who has all the skills needed to make a game. So, how would you go out and start landing a steady stream of clients for full service game development? Approach #1 - Try doing pro-bono work Go to a bigger company and offer to make a game for them for free. You'll make the game for them, they'll share their IP and you'll market it. If you have the ability to pull this off: You'll be getting a game on the shelf to then go and show other people When you go to those other people, you're showing the work you did for a big company You might actually get numbers because that big company is going to be able to do a lot of marketing This is something that's recommended to do for your first project, you shouldn't do it more than once. But it's a great way to get your name out there and to build some credibility. Approach #2 - Make your own IP Coming up with your own IP and putting it out there does yield opportunities. Brian has had experience of this first hand when he released his game Roboto. Approach #3 - Target a category of companies Once you've targeted a category of companies that you're interested in, come up with a prototype or a demo that they can play on the device that you ultimately want to launch it on and show it to them using their brand. When they see it playing in the device, it will make it a much easier sell for them. Make sure it's something that you can expand upon yours...

Brian and Ike talk about death in video games where the character dies or vehicle explodes at the end of the game loop. They discuss what death brings to a video game and why it may be important to include it your game. So, get ready for some great insight! Today's Developer Diary Brian is extremely excited to announce his own Twitch TV channel! Here is the link to check it out: Fenix Fire Twitch TV and if you haven't caught wind of it yet, now would definitely be a good time. It's become a tool in the indie game dev by using it to broadcast the making of your game while making the game. It's a pretty awesome way to connect with fans! Brian's mind is blown by just experimenting with it. He says the good thing about Twitch is just how raw it is and that production value is considered a bad thing. People who watch want to be a fly on the wall and want to see what makes the game tick, what makes the designer tick and all the decisions that are being made. There's no post production and really no pre-production. It's just a matter of hitting play and performing. Ike is heading to downtown Denver to teach some young budding high school kids how to make video games. He's really looking forward to it. While he's away, we plan on having some guest hosts on the podcast so stay tuned for that! Death in Video Games Death doesn't have to be a morbid topic, in the case of death in video games it's a really interesting topic. Death in a video game is the ultimate point of feedback in your feedback loop. You have to have a carrot and a stick to get the full range of emotions out of a player. But as a player, it feels awful when you die. So why have death in your game? Well, if you take death out: It remove conflict or friction in the game The mastery element gets thrown out the window There's no desire for the player to learn a new skill Rewind the Clock Back to the Arcade The one good thing about mobile games is they have heart again and some skill going on all of a sudden which is great to see. Reminds us of where video games began....in the arcade. The entire coin-op industry throughout the 80's were all about mastery. Atarti made a bunch of coin-op games about mastery like: Pong, Pac Man, Missile Command, Pitfall, Space Invaders, etc. All these games were hard and they were quick. It was a bite sized game. In order for it to be a game, you had to die and that was part of the business plan to throw in more quarters and play again. Before internet and Twitch TV, you would go to the arcade and just watch someone play since it was a skill based game and be amazed by his abilities. Not only did you have to know the game, but you had to know your specific arcade since all the machines were different. Mastery is a huge part of all of this that started the video game craze. It's a feeling that males as opposed to females really strive for which is why it became a male dominated sport. It was high technology and at the same time brutally difficult. All of this stuff was really hard core and that's where video games were born from. It's important to acknowledge that. Death in Video Games - The Discussion Brian and Ike go through many different scenarios and ideas of what death can bring to a game as well as some good insight into this interesting and important topic. The dreaded loading screen: Mostly found in Console and PC games After you died, the game had to re-load and that was a penalty in and of itself Death was painful not because you had to put another quarter in but you had to wait An example of a game without death was the game Planescape: Torment  where you're this immortal character and you didn't "die" you would re-load in your spawn point. The whole game was built on the concept that you don't die and there was no loading.  The need for conflict:  In a game, there almost needs to be a back and forth Like the old saying goes, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

We received an inquiry from a fan and it inspired us to discuss how to use music and sounds in video games. Brian and Ike tackle this topic with great detail using some of their personal experiences. So, enjoy! Today's Developer Diary Ike's watching movies and Brian talks about his experience at E3. This was much different than PAX which was all consumers, so you're audience and players and you can see that they really are interested in what you're doing. But the main difference at E3 is it's more of everyone sizing each other up, more of a competition. It's basically media and industry professionals at E3. The fact that the game is made by just a two person team is getting some attention. The One Room Schoolhouse had been busy and getting pretty close to launching another education game this year and doing some contract work as well. He does contract work during the day and at night works on his own stuff just to have enough fuel to get through the day. Game development involves a lot of momentum. We just want to thank you because we've received a bunch of great reviews on iTunes! "Keep on killing it guys! It's like Christmas opening up my podcast app and seeing a new episode." Thanks so much! It means a lot that we're resonating and hope to live up to your praise. Sound and Music In Video Games Many of you may not know this, but music is Brian's first love. Before he was an artist, programmer and video game developer he played the guitar and music is in his blood. He's currently playing in a band too!  Brian's love of music certainly shows in his games and trailers as he uses it as a centerpiece. In the film industry they say score, but in the video game industry it can be broken up into two sides: Sound Effects:  Put onto a jump, a bullet shooting, button sounds in your UI - those are usually a one off, you just play this and it plays a sound file and of coarse there's some tricks to the trade Soundtrack: You can do a lot with it like have different soundtracks for different levels like classic Super Mario Bros. or blend from one soundtrack to another like Journey did and make it very composed. Music and Soundtracks in the Mobile Market When people play games on their mobile devices, there is more of a tendency to play covertly and the player might not want a ton of sound and music. So how much effort do you put into your sound on a mobile game if a lot people are playing it silently? Keep in mind people can play with headphones on and there is something to the sound. It would be a huge mistake to not give your sound the attention it deserves. Obviously you wouldn't give it as much attention as art because that's visual and how you get your foot in the door. So, you'll want to get your art style down first and then make sure your sound can support it. Ike remembered the game EverQuest and how the game had a sound when you leveled up that was the most satisfying sound on the planet. Never forget how impactful sound can be. It can do so much for your production and if you put the effort into it, it will just pay off ten fold.  Putting Sound in Your Game It's really part of the basic core feedback to the player. If you think about a game mechanic, there's three things to think about as far as your core gameplay mechanics: A visual of the gameplay - show the actual mechanic There's a sound to go with it - put a sound to it A visual component in the UI - somehow draw attention to it in the UI as well Brian shares his experience when he worked at High Voltage Software with the lead audio guy. He said after the game was prototyped and they're ready to start putting sound in, he would look for anything that looks like it would add some sort of a sound like if something moves would be the first thing he would look for. If it moves, does it make a sound, then let's get a sound in there for it. So, if in doubt put a sound in there for it.

We received a Facebook question from our friend Bradley Erickson asking us "How do you finish and ship the dang thing after months(or years) of iteration and work?" after we published the episode 'How to turn an idea into a game?'. So, we got together and recoded this episode to answer his question. Enjoy!  How Do You Know when a Game is Done? This brings up the question, "Is it ever done?" Well, at the end of the day you need to just ship it and get it out. This episode will give you some insights on how you can tell when you're ready to rap it up. Creating the Minimum Viable Product Ideas are everywhere. An important skill to develop is taking an idea from start to finish. In general it is good practice to finish what you started. Finding a way to create a minimum viable product and getting that out in the world will do wonders for you and even hopefully earn you some money. What Does Minimum Viable Product Mean? From a gameplay perspective: You can feel the meta loop - the core game loop You're able to replay that loop in the right amount of time and have a continuation of where you left off The whole system is working for you Social Media - perfectly acceptable high level meta loop or meta game If you can get that short term, medium term and long term loops in place that's a good indicator that you're close to being done No Bugs It is extremely important that as your playing in all three loops of your game  that you're not coming across any bugs or errors. The worst thing you can do when launching a game is get a bunch of 1 stars for something you had control of. Soft Launch Launching to a small market first avoids the disastrous results if there are any problems with your game. Analytics Find ways to get as much feedback as you can. Seeing how people are playing your game can be a safety measure to catch problems really and make sure there are no road blocks. Using achievements is a cheating way of doing analytics. It works based on what achievements the player is getting you'll have some analytics. Brian used Flurry Analytics with his game Roboto and put a hook in the beginning of each level to gauge how people were playing the game. What Corners Do You Cut To Get Your Game Out Sooner? It is really hard to hand something over to someone when you know it had flaws. At some point you have to make the decision that this is good enough. But what do you give up on? Monetization On free-to-play games, you can shave (not cut out) on monetization and focus more on player retention so they are more likely to play the game and stay with it; then over time you can introduce more areas to monetize like more in-app purchases. How about an in-app purchase that takes the ads away, for instance. Amount of Assets Visual polish is more favorable that the amount of assets. Instead of making six worlds for your game, you can put all your focus on worlds one and two and make them absolutely amazing. Determining When Your Game Is Done  Create An Amazing Experience Your experience can be shorter and better. Keep in mind, the game doesn't have need to be the everything game that does all kinds of stuff. Players are going to move on to a game that has a different kind of experience - go in understanding that. But, the experience you're making is so special and so different and so unlike anything else that they only get it when playing your game. So, take that one thing that you're doing so far and you've presented it in such a brilliant way  that it's going to be unique and fresh and that's why they're sticking with it. Working Through the Half Way Point When working on a game, about half way through the game, you want to start working on the next game. Don't. Finish that thought (remember, it was once a brilliant idea) and then move on to your next game instead of trying to turn this game into your next game. It could be a tough pivot.

There's a million ways you can spend $10,000 but what would be the best way to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck? Brian and Ike discuss a few different scenarios on how they would handle a big chunk of money. Today's Developer Diary Ike launched his game Rhythm Friends on iOS and Amazon! Although it's technically his second game he's shipped, it's the first game he started and finished this year living up to the New Year's Resolution of "Ship It". Rhythm Friends is a rhythm tapping game intended for 6-8  year old's. Ike worked with his 6 year old daughter who just started taking piano to help her improve on the feeling of the notes rather than just knowing the counts of each note. He goes into some detail about the gameplay and challenges he faced but all in all this was a great experience and if nothing else a great memento working with his daughter. We wish Rhythm Friends luck and be sure to pass it along to anyone you know with kids in that age group! What Would You Do With $10,000? We decided to challenge ourselves a little and think about what we'd do if we had that kind of money and had a game we were working on, how would we spend that money? Since it depends on what stage you're in and where you want to go next, we explored a few different scenarios. Scenario 1 : The 1-2 Person Programming Team We can break it up into categories: Marketing Key Art Points - Character Store Front Presence For the programmer heavy team, it would be wise to spend your money on art and hopefully you're not making a game that is too character heavy but more of a puzzle game like Doodle Jump. It is really important to have good looking promotional screens, a landing page and an icon because it can give people a vibe of your game. With that said, we would put about $2500 towards getting all the promotional art and marketing materials including a video. An artist can polish anything indefinitely and in the world of art, the saying goes "It's never truly done, it's only abandoned." Here's a breakdown: $2500 - Marketing Materials $500 - Music and Sound Effects $3500 - Characters and Effects $3500 - Backgrounds and Props How do you squeeze the most amount of the highest quality art as possible with the amount of money? Focus on monetizing. In the free-to-play market you want to drive the player to purchase by trying to figure out how to get money in a way that is rewarding for both sides (you and the player).  So focus on the up-sell art that gets the consumer looking it and wanting to have it. How much art should you expect? An artist can ask anywhere from $20-$100 per hour. Seasoned Artist - $50-$60 per hour Mid-Level Artist -$30-$40 per hour Junior Artist - $15-$20 per hour If you find an artist that charges $35 per hour, $3500 will get you 100 hours or two and a half weeks of work. It will take the artist a day or two to get acclimated to the style unless you provide them with a style guide with color palates and so forth this helps the artist to not go in a direction you don't want them to. Keep in mind you're probably going to have some lost work. It's really hard to have a game almost 100% done and then plug in the art and it all works perfectly. Some of the work will get lost, called art waste. It also depends on how much business vs art orientated you are. As well as your inspiration and goals. More Art: the game is done when  say it's done - can end up spending more money, not having it out as soon but have an amazing game More Business: This is the game - have it all gray boxed in, put in final art and when we're done with the budget we're shipping it. If does well, maybe invest 10-20% back into the title Platforms There is always an expense related to every platform that you launch on, usually a couple hundred bucks. You might have to purchase devices during your development. Brian likes to purchase the older models simple because you develop fo...

The first step to designing a video game is transforming an idea into something that is playable in three key gameloops.  Brian and Ike explain these loops and give examples. Today's Developer Diary Brian and Ike are baffled about Flappy Birds popularity and the simplicity of the game. Perhaps, sometimes the simple idea is the best idea. Ike shares he had to take a step back from the games he's been working on to try to make some more simpler games. Brian shares one of the most fun games he's made was a super simple, addicting game for John Deere driving a combine. Most video game designers want to develop the best game they can, but 90% of their efforts are lost. Just like a Jazz musician that has spent countless hours learning scales and cords, but then Pop music makes a lot more money with just a catchy chorus. The only certainty that Brian and Ike can conclude about this discussion is your success is all in the execution. How to turn your idea into an Actual Game Once you've done the tutorials, know basic programming, and found a friend or someone that can do art where do you go with your idea? This has been a common question we've discovered through Facebook. With so many thoughts and questions running through your head about what to do, we can certainly see why. This podcast will give you the basics of where to start and what to do, ready? The Basic Game Loop The first thing is to prototype the basic game loop. The game loop is key. Most games have three main game loops: Meta Loop (Highest loop) - The overall game Level Loop (Middle loop) - Getting through the whole level alive Core Loop (Smallest loop) - Core mechanic The first place to start, even before the art, is to define and prototype the core mechanic (your moment to moment gameplay) and try to figure out how the person is going to interact with the character. You start with the Core Loop. Why? Since the story and overall background in the Meta Loop is something you can always be thinking about but doesn't get implemented - you can think of it as the North Star guiding you The game can change frequently - the prototyping stage is a discovery stage If you wrote it all out, it wouldn't be a game - it would just be a story Sometimes it can be good not to even think about the Meta Loop and overarching story and be ridiculous in your core loop then make sense of it later. It's all about finding the fun in that core loop. You start developing, but it's not as fun as you'd like it to be? The game needs to be satisfying. Developers always have the tendency or the impulse to keep adding more stuff of variety. Be careful. This could be a trap because adding variety will make it a more lasting experience but it doesn't necessarily make it more fun. Keep going super deep in the core ability that you have. Constantly ask yourself and evaluate why you're adding features and identify will adding it make something else more interesting. Brian talks about Gates of Osiris. UI Elements Try to limit yourself to 1 UI element that supports your Core Loop and the basics of what you're trying to do. Brian explains a term in the art word called "Gesturing it in." Ike shares a similar principle in the programming world. The bottom line is when making the core mechanic or core loop, "gesture in" the UI. Just toss it up there without worrying about the details and it might even be good enough to ship it that way. Starting to Feel Like a Game 30 sec experience - lets you know if the idea has any promise or not If yes, then you can move into a more complete thought Basically it will start feeling like a game when you have a bit of the Meta game with the level progressions in there and the basics of getting through the level. Even if it's all just gray and the character is a box, it should still feel like a game. The Tech Demo The tech demo is something completely different, but there is power in it.

Brian shares 15 tips from his experiences at PAX East 2104, the Indie Megabooth, and launching a Kickstarter campaign. Source is live and doing great on Kickstarter! So far it's 16% funded after about 6 days. The game received an awesome response at PAX and now just waiting and hoping to reach 100% funding by May 11th. Source Kickstarter  PAX East 2014 - IndieMEGABOOTH Brian gives an inside, behind the scenes, detailed recap of what it was like showing his game at PAX East this past weekend April 11-13.  He includes his struggles with starting a Kickstarter campaign at the same time, working through computer glitches, and updating the build while in Boston to make the demo of the game go much smoother. So sit back and get ready to hear about the drama of being in the IndieMEGABOOTH. Getting Prepared First step was to submit an application with a video, a write-up and screenshots to the IndieMEGABOOTH. Then around January we received the email that we were accepted! After that it, there was paperwork to fill out and hats off to the MEGABOOTH for making it really easy to fill out the scary paperwork that PAX was requiring.  Next came ordering the prints and the buttons. All this was a good month to month and a half of intense deadlines while also putting together a Kickstarter campaign at the same time. The biggest reason why Brian and Anna decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign at the same time as PAX was to have a clear call to action with the audience. They didn't want Source to become forgotten among the craziness of PAX. Of coarse, nothing can go as planned so the Kickstarter launch had some set backs.  Just when Brian though he could hit the green button to make the campaign live, he gets an email saying it will take another 3-5 days for verification. This is Thursday night, PAX starts in the morning! So, naturally he was really upset then wrote tech support a sob story email and by the end of PAX on Friday, the Kickstarter campaign was live. Can you sense the drama yet? Expo Tips Here are some useful tips Brian came up with to help your Expo experience go more smoothly. He elaborates on them in more detail, but here are the bullet points of each tip. Stick to one game  - we showed Source and Gates of Osiris, but really only focused on Source Bring your own hardware - this will prevent computer issues and crashes When you arrive at your booth, Don't wait - seek people out or you might never get what your equipment or devices that you need for your booth Have a Call to Action When launching a Kickstarter campaign, go through all the verification one month before you want to launch - this will eliminate stress and worry if more verification is needed Have a quick pitch ready Wear neon orange shirts with your logo - this helps identifies who to talk to about the game Engage with people coming to the booth, interact with fans and treat them like gold The Build of the game should be tailored to put action up front - important to get people in the meat of the game quickly Make sure you have ability to make last second adjustments to the Build Have a bunch of hot key on the keyboard - reset, kill, etc. Have back-ups of your Build If you have a network game, be prepared to handle network problems unless you can get a direct connection Make the game the large banner going across your booth - it prevents confusion A side tip not mentioned on the podcast is to have hand sanitizer at the booth - people really appreciate this and it's good for you to have too The Cost Brian gives a breakdown of the costs to consider: The 10 x 10 space with the base package includes 1 TV, 1 Computer, a table with 2 chairs, base carpeting with no padding and a wastebasket - $1750 Prints - 2 7-foot tall banners - $125 each Prints - 10 x 3 Logo Banner - $250 Buttons - 1,000 - $250 Travel - including hotel, airfare and a rental car - $2,000 Grand total - about $5,000 with food, etc.

Detailed strategies on how you can get publisher funding for your game or go the crowdfunding route. Complete with real world war stories from the trenches. Exciting NEWS!!! "Source" by Fenix Fire is live on Kickstarter! "Source" is not just another project to Brian, it is THE project. He gives some personal insight of the inspiration for the game and explains it's all about exploration and life. Brian will be at the Indie MEGABOOTH booth 2 at PAX East in Boston April 11-13 2014 where you'll be able to play "Source" live. So, make sure to tell your friends and help make this game a reality with a successful Kickstarter campaign! Funding Your Game In this podcast we drill into two primary ways to get funding for your game - Publishers and Crowdfunding. We discuss the proper etiquette to use when trying to raise money for a project and/or a studio. We also give some advice on certain things or behaviors to avoid. Publishers The #1 attitude you should have when approaching a publisher is the feeling that the train is leaving the station and it's their choice whether they want to get on board or not. You want to let them know how their money will add to your project and how it will be useful for you if they jump in. Keep in mind no one wants to be a parachute for you. Investors want to be part of the success story. If you believe in your game, you're going to find a way to make it. You don't want to depend on money from publishers to make your game. Firs,t be able to show the core mechanic and the core game loop and then make a clear plan of what you're going to do with hat money. Salesmanship Sales gets a bad rap. Here are some fundamental techniques and advice: The more you know who it is you're selling to and the more more they know, like and trust you - the less you'll need to do the hard sell, will be more conversational The less you know them and the less they know, like and trust you - the harder the sell, like a used car salesman Do not need gimmicks to sell Need to create  and build relationships Understand in the business world, sales are a very slow process and need to have a lot of respect NEVER Lie - always be upfront and honest, because it can easily backfire Meeting With a Publisher Like a resume, you want to ask yourself how do I get someone at a big company to pay attention to me? First, look for small victories for instance competitions, rewards, honorable mentions or Kickstarter funding. Try to build up credibility to give them reasons to trust you. Brain shares his experiences with publishers and touches on Mobile Publishers. A word of caution he gives, "If you're trying to raise quick cash, any day in the game industry will not get you there." It is a long road that takes a long time and everybody who's successful in the game industry had to earn it. General Advice: The further your game is along, the easier and typically faster the sales cycle is going to be Don't bend your design just to get get your game funded When they ask for stuff, then you ask for stuff - respectfully not confrontational They usually find you or send out a format to email back to them Work on your community before game is launched Move forward with the thought that you don't need the publisher The Pitch Let's say, you're game has been identified as the specific kind of game the publisher is looking for. What happens next? Well, they will bring it back to a committee or group for evaluation. The #1 thing you can do is understand what that committee is looking for. Work with the ambassador to adjust your pitch. Also, the less amount of people you bring to a pitch meeting, the better. A 20 minute pitch: Introduce yourself and your company - talk yourself up Start a light conversation - pretend talking to only one person Don't waste any time - pick up controller and start playing Introduce character, world, goals and details that make your game remarkable

Crash course in how to set up AI for your game, complete with pro tips from our resident AI programming expert, Ike. GDC 2014 has come and gone, we give a little recap of our highlights of the conference. The most exciting part was after Brian's speech at the Unity Booth fans from this podcast came up and talked to us. So just wanted to give a shout out to those that approached us, Thank you! In other news, Brian's company Fenix Fire will launch a Kickstarter campaign for "Source" which will be available for Xbox 1, PS4, and Steam Greenlight for PC. We want to be as transparent as possible so you can learn from this experience. We'll be showing and discussing the approach, marketing, press, social media, numbers and much more. This is an exciting an unmarked territory challenge and we're looking forward to sharing it with you. Enemy AI This podcast is a beginner's guide on how to set up a basic enemy character and how to organize basic functionality. Ike uses his 15 years of experience and gives some black belt examples and ideas while Brian keeps it on a simpler level so wherever your skill level is this will be a helpful podcast for your game development. 3 Key Elements of Enemy AI Goals Movement Responding to player Goals First split up behavior between unconscious decisions and conscious decisions. Separate your actions, behaviors and animations into which category it's going to be in and understand the unconscious decisions take priority over the conscious decisions. A good exercise when starting out is to write down all the conscious and unconscious actions that you're Enemy AI will do. Keep it at a high level. Conscious Decisions Patrol - trying to find the player, but not necessarily seeking them out Idle - waiting for something to happen Moving - to a specific location Attack - aggressively of lightly Give a sense of urgency  to each goal this allows you to swap in different animations later and when you have the character respond the same for starters it also gives flexibility later on. However, different states of urgency is more of an advanced feature, the next layer so to speak but it's one that has to be developed early on because it's hard to add later and it creates a more life like complex character for human behavior. Unconscious Decisions: Hit reaction - hit by bullet Falling - fell off a ledge Thrown on the ground Death Sequence The character doesn't think about what's happening to them, they're a victim of the environment Step by Step in Unity Next, we go though a detailed explanation of diving in and creating an example using Unity. Here are some definitions and explanations of terms we've used: Pathfinding: Basically the study of how do you get from one location to the other when the direct path is unavailable. Character Controller: Certain kind of entity that you can put on to an object and it all of a sudden assumes and absorbs a lot of the nice functionality for moving characters around. Ray Cast: Imaging looking through binoculars or a telescope and you're looking down a very pinpoint vision, a cone of vision but can see very very far and anything that is interrupting that can be sensed because you're using a ray cast. Basically you pass in a starting positions and an ending position in 3 dimensional space and the first thing that it comes in contact with from the starting position you can get data on it. Switch Case Functions: A little bit different than an if then statement in programmer talk. Brian gives a detailed example of how he uses this with his Enemy AI Helpful Advice We're big believers in tracking and recording the state changes of your NPC. Create a change state function and have all the state changes go through there then put it out to your debug window to always have it around. Because one thing with AI is it's really hard to reproduce the same situation over again sometimes and it's a really good idea to ...

On this episode of Game Design Dojo, Brian and Ike discuss ways to capture the best screenshots for your marketing channels, and may also help guide your game's production. It's GDC (Game Developer's Conference) week and we recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to go should most definitely go. Brian will be speaking at the Unity and Qualcomm booths. It is such an honor and really exciting! Check for updates on our facebook page for more details about GDC. Screenshots A screenshot should be how you visualize what your game should look like. It can be challenging to capture the essence of your game with just a screenshot. Do keep in mind a picture is worth a thousand words and at a glance someone needs to "get it". 3 Key Elements for Screenshots: Does it have a clear action Can you see a puzzle Is there a clear theme Screenshots at a glance - What are they looking for? A good analogy is the back of the box. Remember back to console games when you would look at the back of the box to see what the game was all about. The front cover would usually be very enticing and the back would have a small screenshot of the game. Blizzard executed this well. When looking at a screenshot, the player should have a clear understanding in a nanosecond of what the game is about and what they're supposed to do. One suggestion is while working on your game, take screenshots regularly, look at them, scale them down to a thumbnail, then look at the primary elements in that frame and decide if those elements come across in a clear way. Some things to consider with your screenshots: Needs to be some sort of an action - all games have action Working in 3's is always a good idea Be careful with effects like fake motion trails because you can potentially mislead the player Have to be honest Using text isn't always a good idea Video clips should be secondary Generally, the progression of the consumer is first they look at the icon, if that looks interesting then they go to the page, if the screenshots look good and there's a video, then they'll watch the video. There is an increase in time commitment from one step to the next and people typically don't go straight to the video, which is why video clips are secondary to the screenshots.  The Conflict - What am I up Against? Puzzle and action work similarly. A puzzle has a clear indication like a jigsaw puzzle and is relevant in game design elements. With puzzles, it's not obvious how you're going to solve it, you just know you can solve it. You know you have the ability to solve it and feel like you can. This is an important feeling in video games to think you can win and at a glance say, "Hey, I can do that." Another way to look at it is think of the cruise ship brochure for excursions. They highlight the end result like scuba diving and swimming with the dolphins, not the slow boring part of getting there. The same is true when putting together screenshots. Usually you have at least 5 screenshots. The first one is all encompassing and shows the very core of the core mechanics you have in your game. Then you expand on that from 2-4 with number 5 being a wildcard. Some more things to consider: Capture the 'wow moment' Give a little hint of something totally new Show what the action is and the progress of where they are with some sort of a puzzle Have key elements to fit your demographic Start showing screenshots to people for feedback and make adjustments The sooner you start taking screenshots of your game, the sooner it starts coming together visually Have a Clear Theme You want the theme to transcend through all elements of your game. Theme parks are so interesting because they create an atmosphere with the music, effects, sound, colors, graphics, locations, characters, buttons and so on. There is an encompassed theme that is consistent all the way through the entire experience. The best directors in Hollywood are masters of t...

Replay value is one of the most import aspects of creating a compelling video game experience that keeps players coming back again and again.  Brian and Ike explore three ways to pump up your game's replay value for ultimate publishing success. A great outlet for video game developers are local meet ups. Meet ups are a great place to find somebody that can help you with your project or you can help out with theirs. As well as talk about challenges in your game development and gather feedback. With free Wifi and laptops you can meet up at a Starbucks or something. It's a really cool way to meet other developers with similar experiences and skills you might be looking for. Help support Ike's game Barnyard Bubble HD. It's a fun game geared toward one year olds to help them say animal names by popping bubbles and listening to the animal noises. If you have a little one, check it out because they will LOVE it! How to Add Replay Value To Your Game Replay value is one of the most important aspects of creating a compelling video game experience that keeps players coming back again and again. You might have  a game that's fun to play, but it there's not a strong sense of replay value then they'll only play it once and never play it again. That's an issue. 3 Key Elements to Create Replay Value Are there alternate ways to play your game? Is there a desire for mastery? Is there a strong sense of progress? A holy grail for game developers is to have a game the player doesn't want to set down and they want to keep going. All the best games have amazing replay value. Alternate Ways to Play In general, the player is given choices during gameplay giving the game alternate directions it can go. A great example is the game of Chess which has amazing replay value. Basically when you can come back to a game and it will be a different experience every time you play, you have replay value. Social Media is a way people can share what they've discovered during their gameplay and see what others are doing to bring alternate ways that you may not have thought of or unveiled yourself. Here are example of different games that demonstrate this key element: American Football - never gets dull to watch Street Fighter Grand Theft Auto Legend of Zelda - open map with some funneling, but still have choices Psi-Ops - can play the game all different ways Hit Man Those are all big budget games, but what about a one action game with infinite amounts of ways to play? Any game that has a procedural or random level design can lend itself to that where the player can take a different path. Some examples: Match 3 - pieces come out randomly Words With Friends - find a pattern or process that works for you Field Runners Temple Run Racing games The racing mechanic at it's core has a conservative path that is obvious which will get you average to good results. To be great, you have to know where the shortcuts in the track are. Usually it's high risk, high reward. Desire For Mastery Naturally, when you play a game you want to get better at it. We can't think of a game that you don't want to get better at. Even playing slot machines in a casino have people mastering it in their minds. The bottom line is people are always trying to get better at whatever game their playing. It's one of the definitions of game, it's something you can master. The best games have a strong sense of the ability to master the game. With fighting games for instance, you have to train to know and learn all the moves of your character. There is mastery of strategy and mastery of skill. Golf is an example that has both, part skill and part mental. Lessons From The Olympics The Olympics is a celebration of human mastery. With the winter Olympic games fresh in our minds, we can apply it to this concept. For video games make sure you can play your game over and over again and it has the ability for the player to really master it....

Happy 2014! It's a new year and times are changing fast in our video game industry. It's important to evaluate your skills and abilities in order to make smart, achievable goals to make your company a success. Packed with insights and examples this episode will help you get going in the the right direction.Hey everyone! We're all rested up from a great holiday break and are getting back in the saddle for a great 2014. The word of the day: Ship it! Well, that's two words I suppose. For both of us, 2013 was a transitional year as Ike started his new company and I incubated multiple original projects. This year, you can expect both of us to launch our own stuff and we hope that you each launch at least one game 2014.5 Ways to Maximize Your Chances For SuccessPeople think of video game industry as gold rush. However, in reality it's very rare to make millions, much like the lottery. The truth is that thousands of developers making games don't earn a single dollar! Here's some sure fire ways maximize your chances for success:Set goals to have more product launches or, in baseball terms, “at bats”. The more at bats you have, the more chances you have to get a hit.Look at having a long career in games, not just a flash in the pan.Over time the more you shoot, the more accurate you'll get and the better you're going to get at knowing your audience and your craft.Repetition in this cycle will create mastery.Planning Your Goals Using the Indie Game Developer's Survival PyramidOne way to look at how to plan your goals is to find out where you are on the Game Developer's Survival Pyramid. This hierarchy, modeled after Pavlov's Hierarchy of Needs, illustrates how a developer can go from a single professional into a very successful business.  Let's take a closer look.Hierarchy of Needs PyramidBasic psychology from Pavlov:Bottom of pyramid – basic needs like food and shelterNext layer have some luxuries and so onTop layer – enlightenmentIn video game development:Level 1, Ground Floor – looking to earn money from video game development.Level 2, Lift Off - you're working in the industry as an independent contractor or as an indie game studio doing work for hire.Level 3, Cruising Altitude - you have a steady steam of clients and have grown your staff.  You're now launching your own original games.Level 4, Stratosphere - You no longer or very rarely do any work for hire and spend most of your time updating and launching games to your fans.Level 1 – Ground FloorThe first thing you'll need to do is to take a look at what skills you have. Then, you'll need to find a way to either get work for your skills, learn new skills, or find other like minded partners that have complimentary skills to join you – either by hiring them or by partnering. Also, it's important to get out and do some networking, since this stage is all about people. Here's a short list of places that can help you find work and partners:Local Meet Ups - highly recommendedGDC – Game Developers ConferenceCasual ConnectCollege – perfect situation for networkingOnce you have a small group, what's the next step? Get a website together and show the world what you can do. We suggest WordPress as a great template to build really nice looking websites very inexpensively. Look to the site to be a portfolio site that can clearly illustrate what skills you have and what types of projects you can do. Polish and quality are key here people!  At this point, look at these opportunities:Publishers willing to pay for a projectAt the point to launch a Kickstarter campaignGet some money because raised enough awareness through social mediaAnother company sees what you're doing and ask to do for themLevel 2 – Lift OffAt this point, you are working and making money creating art, writing code, or making entire games. Hopefully, you're even doing it full time! You're getting some fans on Facebook and you're posting on Twitter to raise awareness for yourself. Congratulations, you're well on your way.

In this episode Brian and Ike discuss camera and cinematography with a focus on the various angles, styles, and uses in game design. How to choose a camera, iterate on it, and reference film cinematography are all covered in this jam packed episode. We got feedback! It's such a great feeling when we hear back from listeners since we're flying blind so to speak. Please keep it coming with your feedback so we can make the most out of your listening experience! We have been busy with our own studios, but enjoy taking the time out to make this podcast. 5 Ways to Consider Using Camera and Cinematography for Video Games Camera and cinematography in video games are similar to that of movies. There's a lot to consider and sift through to keep the right amount of dramatic feel to your game. 3rd Person Camera Strategically use Camera and Handle Views Controls and Camera Relative Controls Cinematography 101 Camera Angles Getting Started with the 3rd Person Camera Using a 3rd person camera creates a more artistic video game with a cinematic feel as apposed to using just a 1st person camera. You're able to do more story telling in your game design as well as identify with the main character like in the movies. The player can see just how cool the character looks and is going to feel like that character in a clear connection. This concept brought on more female characters in videogames as well - Tomb Raider example. Strategically use Camera and Handling Views For your video game you want to create a great experience for the player. A way you can do this is to use many different shots and angles during game play. Diablo example. Also you can relate back to acting and the difference between Movies and Stage Acting and apply it to game developing. The goal is to use the camera strategically. Views can challenging because it is a sensitive thing that needs to be done well since it is the eyes the viewer is looking through. A few things to consider are: How far back do I want the Camera How fast do I want the Camera to rotate How fast will the Camera move What happens when player goes around the corner What happens when an obstacle is in the way There is so much more with no specific answer, you just have to keep playing and testing your game. Sometimes the answers depend on your environment. Controls and Camera Relative Controls Remember every time you touch the camera, it will have an effect on the controls. It is a one to one relationship and when developing, it's important to spend the same amount of time for both. You can use the camera in combination with the controls to help guide the player. (Rage example. Resident Evil example). Try to tame the camera. Think about movies and the restraint they use. The cameras are mostly still and subtle. Don't make it about the camera, the player shouldn't be thinking about the camera. You know you're doing the camera right when you don't notice the camera. Use the Camera as a tool in game design: Can have other influences or something interesting in the environment Use camera to guide them Hint the player where to go - softly Shadow of the Colossus and Journey example Cinematography 101 The Theory of Thirds is essential in video game development because you want your character not to be in the middle of the screen, that would be boring. So, first you take your frame, divide into 3 horizontal lines and 3 vertical lines like a tic tac toe board. The 4 points where the lines intersect are the most dramatic. (Examples of formula to create more drama. Gears of War example). It adds drama whenever you change how the camera performs. Depth of Field is another great tool to use in game design and development. (Source example). The camera focus is really important and needs to be used correctly. It acts as a soft way to lead the player since eyes naturally follow what's in focus. Camera Angles Two camera angles to consider:

In this episode of Game Design Dojo, we discuss how game characters and gameplay mechanics go hand in hand with level design and control schemes. How many controls do you give the player and why?  Characters and control are the backbone of your game's interactive experience and we walk through plenty of examples. Characters, Control and Mechanics Game characters and gameplay mechanics are essential to creating your video game. Once you've determined your character and what gameplay mechanics to give your character you can create level designs and start enjoying the game developing process. Characters and control are the backbone of your game's interactive experience and we walk through plenty of examples.  Put your phone on vibrate and come along for the ride.  A Look at Gameplay Mechanics What are mechanics you ask? Basically whenever the player presses a button, what does that button do? Once you determine what gameplay mechanics you'd like your character to have, you can start to work around that mechanic. Here are some things to consider:  Will the character walk, run, jump, shoot, etc.? How many mechanics will the character have? If character jumps, create steps and moving platform If character shoots, add guns and targets that include an explosion Remember: What is fun in real life, is fun in gameplay Combining Gameplay Mechanics Combining gameplay mechanics during your video game is a great way to enhance your game. This should be instantly understood by the player and can be something simple like the jump and duck from Mario Bros. You can introduce new abilities which makes for good level designs. You can use telekinesis as a mechanic and change the gameplay. The best combinations come from not being planned. They usually happen through testing, by accident or from different angles. Ideally you want to make sure each mechanic is doing something different in the environment - ex. bazooka gun vs. machine gun. Source - Good example of Design Character and Mechanics The character of Source is a butterfly-like creature with giant wings, so we decided to have it hover over platforms. Then we gave it a jump with a speed burst but it is always losing energy like a real living organism. Next we made a sensor or a feeler that has a bolt of lightning that comes out and senses around like an antenna. Things happen when the character senses something it can use and some things are hard to find. So through this mechanic, we decided to make exploration a huge part of the game. The player is prompted to pick up an object, and through testing we instinctively wanted to throw the object. We included that in the gameplay. Now with objects, the character can:  Lift up an object Move the object over Carry around the object - although it depletes energy Throw the object and watch it explode once it hits a pillar Fundamentals for Mechanics When choosing what buttons to use for the mechanics, keep in mind it needs to make sense to the player and needs to feel great when using. For ex. hold an object using y, and tap b to throw. Coder tip: Don't bury input controls - have a master control list. Characters Good character design is a combination of a really neat toy and a Swiss Army knife. An example of a Swiss Army knife would be something like Minecraft. An example of a toy would be something like Mario Bros. even with only two buttons, still had a lot of actions. Some other examples are Legos and Transformers. You build it and then discover what to do with it since it doesn't do only one thing. Fighting games are good examples of the toy and Swiss Army knife concept. Gameplay includes timing and content, surprises with secret attacks, button exploration, and learning each character with some basics and then go more in depth with each character. Top things to remember: Character controls define gameplay There is a lot of character controls

This episode is an exploration on how to approach creating a procedural level design system for a variety of game styles, and what to look for when it's up and running. Getting Started With Procedural Level Design Procedural Level Design is basically the design of the game and making it fun while keeping gameplay long. For example Jet Pack Joyride and Temple Run. With procedural level designs it's easier to adjust gameplay vs. crafted level designs. Free to play mobile games are good reason to use procedural level design because you want to keep gameplay at 30 sec to a minute and a half, you can ramp it up to become impossible and the player wants to purchase power up etc. Segment out the Experience It's important to make a beginning, middle and an end in your video game by putting random seeds in random seeds and creating in and out points. Here's a breakdown: Beginning - easy intro and limit the length Middle - the bulk is Act II and should be moderately difficult while introducing new mechanics to keep the game fresh and fun End - last is very difficult, almost impossible and the player relies on luck  Apply Fast as Fun to Video Games Think about when you were a kid and when riding your bike down a hill and that exhilarating feeling of having little control. In gameplay, it creates a satisfying experience when the player is lasting longer in the game then they should. Roller Coaster are designs with this in mind: Thrill minus death equals fun.  Sometimes levels aren't going to come out as you planned and it's important to push boundaries like with magnetic fields or orbit bullets. Allow the player to explore because that kind of discovery is fun for the player and you can also use social media as a tool for players to post their new discoveries. Challenges with Procedural Level Design Procedural level design can be tough and harder than hand-crafted level design. Some challenges we discuss are: Hard to gage if the game is fun - needs to be focus tested Play the same scene Easy to lose relationship of difficulty How to measure success of game? Endless Runner and Tetris are good examples of games that overcame some challenges. Bait the Player In a Sandbox game the player is in a physical world and can do things and move things the way they want. But the challenges that come with that are not sure what the player will do and will they all just bunch up in the corner? To overcome those challenges, give the player a reason to explore - bait them. Baiting is a good idea especially when you're not seeing a behavior you want, you can bait them in a procedural fashion. One way to accomplish this is to play with resources. Have resources run out and the player will need to explore to get more.  Choosing a Theme for your Video Game The great thing about developing video games is you never stop learning when you make games. You can look to Mother Nature as a natural source of inspiration as well as look to history and make it your own. Video Games can be a story telling medium. Some things to consider when choosing your theme: Have depth and be interesting in some kind of way Easy to play - difficult to master Once have procedural level design down, you have the gift that keeps on giving Tetris is probably the best example of procedural level design and was academically rated the most perfect game ever made. It found a balance and made a scale and made it simple and effective. Helpful Pointers with Procedural Level Design Important to distinguish curve to shoot up difficulty Bait player with a carrot stick in front of them Understanding random Access tables to edit on the fly - adjust a couple of parameters Be the master mind behind the curtain to create the show Dungeons & Dragons is a classic example of understanding randomness. As the Dungeon Master you can learn how to adapt situation to keep everyone in game, keep player's interest and learn about design.

Brian walks through a recent focus test, his take aways, and how to process the information and feedback he receives. The Power of Focus Testing Focus testing is a great tool for video game designers. Once you have a core loop (start a level, progress, and die) you can gather feedback in order to enhance gameplay and create an exciting, successful game. We talk about our own experiences with focus testing and the results, also tips and suggestions for productive focus testing. Focus testing should be done way before bug testing. You want to see what's working and what's not. Once you can play a loop and get a feel for the core mechanic, then it's important to gather feedback. The more informal it is the more honest people will be and don't tell them what to do to see if the player is connecting to the character and gameplay. Try to keep it fun and casual with about 5 testers and the developer. Focus Testing Experience When developing a video game, you usually are developing it for yourself but you do have to keep in mind your targeted demographic. In this case it's a 12 year old boy. Brian shares his detailed focus testing example of going to his neighbor's house that has two boys ages 6 and 12 and a girl age 15. Here are some of the things to watch for: Does the player want to start over and jump right back in? Does the player look up to see what to do next? Does the player hand it over to a friend? Make sure you ask the players how many stars they would give the game. Focus testing is great to reinforce and validate your ideas. Especially in today's workplace where most people are working from home and can't ask the guy next to you for feedback.  Remember: Kids are very honest and their first initial feedback is important. Breakthrough Moments in Gameplay It's an awesome feeling when the player understands the main mechanics of your video game and everyone who's watching learns and is strategizing for their next turn. Players making feature requests is a good sign of a good game idea. As a developer it's important to be disciplined and a goal keeper so to speak with those ideas. The skill of game design is always learning. Recommend the book: The Lean Startup Relevant for Software and Games Old game development cycle and release changed for the better Now release to small market and find out early trough focus testing History of Roboto Roboto is the first self published game Fenix Fire ever put out. It was released in the Summer of 2011 for IOS and Android and made Game of the Week (before Apple changed it to Editor's Choice) and also made Top 10. We kept it a closed development by staying silent until it was ready to release with no one testing it. But we sadly watched to fall out of the top 200 after the first week. Fenix Fire is currently working on an update for Roboto. The game is a side scrolling platformer with virtual controls - 2 buttons on right and a thumbstick on the left. It's like Mario and Sonic and similar to a Nintendo 3DS game which we couldn't release it on because Unity is not compatible. A cool platform feature the game has is when the character flips upside down and goes through the level. Roboto Discoveries through Focus Testing We took the game back to the same neighbor's house for focus testing. Here's what we found: We added exploring the environment for reward We found the players just wanted to get through the level as fast as they could We couldn't get them to play again once they died Thought about the rules of game design - should we reward or punish? Arcade Game Analogy Through focus testing we might rethink the platformer genre for this medium since mobile is tough with platformers and possibly release Roboto on the Ouya where the player can play with a controller. Next Steps with Focus Testing It's very important to focus test. Roboto as example could have avoided not playing on some devices and could have prevented some nightmares ...

Forming an Indie Game Studio is a BIG decision and often times a scary one. This podcast episode focuses on key points to consider when forming an Indie Video Game Studio and how to gather the best team possible in order to achieve your company's vision. We share what we look for and how our experiences have worked out for us. Get ready to listen to the basics of Forming an Indie Video Game Studio, how to find your company focus and who should join you on this journey! Forming an Indie Video Game Studio First things first, start small. To rent a store front or having a brick and mortar office would be a mistake for an Indie Developer. Much of the work can be done virtually at the kitchen table. Always try to keep overhead costs as low as possible. Decide what kind of company you'd like to be? Think of a couple games to make together with your team, making sure you still have life after your first game. Perhaps, take a look at the content, find similarities and gather a body of games everybody likes to shape the kind of company you want to be and then create your company's mission statement. Making Games After making the decision of what direction you'd like your company to go, always have some target to move towards in order to keep on track. Next you have to decide are these games we can do? Here's some things to ask yourself: How many people do I need? Can it be 3, 5, 10 people or a 100 person team? If I want open worlds, a live and online game - need to multiply staff by 100 If I want a multi-player game - need to think about single player and double the development cost Fenix Fire and One Room School House Fenix Fire gives an analogy of the Master Card Logo with the two circles that overlap to describe what works with this Indie Video Game Studio. Brian brings NES game experiences and art styles from Zelda, Metra, and Mario and his partner and wife brings Art focus and Art style. Together they overlap with Art Style. One Room School House is a company of one with a mission statement to make nutritious games similar to documentaries in film being entertainment you can learn from like the movie Braveheart. Both agree key points to success: Pair up passion with skills - overlap perfectly Focus - finding the right recipe Direction matches talent - keep realistic Core Skill Sets Needed for Video Games There are three basic skill sets needed to make a video game and it is dangerous to move forward without these three basics being covered. Design Programming Art If you don't have all these skills yourself, you will need to hire and/or bring into your company. When looking for someone to add to your team you want to evaluate their character to find the right fit. A few things to consider: Played on team (sports, military, has brothers or sisters) Cooperates, interacts, respects others Understands and knows role Once you have a quality team you can move forward and get everyone on board with obtainable goals for Month 1, Month 2, Month 3 and so on. With milestones in place it's easier to identify problems earlier and evaluate your timeline. Making your Indie Video Game Studio Legal As soon as you know when you're going to launch the game and know the platforms you're going to launch it on, it's recommended (most states) to incorporate ASAP. It would be a good idea to hire a lawyer ($700-$2000) so you have someone who knows what they're doing and has the best interest for the company to make a tight operating agreement. It's important to keep overhead costs as low as possible because the more money you save means the more money you can spend on the game.  Some costs to consider are your hardware or computers and your software or the programs you use. Unity - free version to get started with Open Office - free, similar to Microsoft Word Drop Box - swap files, quick networking Skype - work virtually, no one cares about office space

Brian and Ike continue to discuss Self Publishing including areas of marketing, user acquisition, and funding. Self Publishing vs. Mobile Publisher Part 2 In today's video game market, marketing is essential for your video game's survival and become successful. The debate continues - should you hire a publisher or perform the necessary work needed yourself? Marketing is concrete for Indie Game Developers. It's important to establish a relationship with the press (PR, bloggers) so you can call on them to review your video game and share it with their audiences building awareness for your game. Challenges of marketing: Hard to tell if working - billboard ex. How do you reach more people? Don't know what draws people in? Endless activity - tough, double-edged sword Gravity of the charts - end cap ex. Social Media is huge. Facebook is a great tool to post updates, reach out to fans and build relationships with them and cross promote other games. You can use tools such as Chartboost and PlayHaven. Business Perspective The question is should you have someone else handle marketing so you can just use your time to develop? First consider how much time is spent: Writing blog posts Emailing press Marketing on Social Media Advertising with Chartboost or PlayHaven Next, consider your personality and what comes naturally to you. If you're already blogging and are comfortable with social media then be the rock star of your company! Keep in mind people want people. Customers want to know their developers and publishers have a hard time portraying this. Think of Developers as Rock Stars and unless you're marketing yourself and your games, you're going to fail. Great games will find it's audience, but that's usually less that 1%. Use great marketing to kick people to the other side of the fence. Importance of User Acquisition Publishers will do this and will essentially advertise in a more advanced fashion. You can actually measure how many people saw ad, downloaded, and opened game. Viral growth is like nuclear fusion. Once a reaction is started, it continues to grow.  Start with just enough people to get the game out, then through their word of mouth it starts growing at a greater rate then the people you're bringing in directly. #1 Goal Get enough people to buy game Shoot up to #1 in store Because everyone's looking at it, #1 for 3 months Only had to juice it in the beginning to get people's eyes on it #2 Goal Get more money out of the person than what spent to get them Formula examples Since User Acquisition is an art in itself, it can be a full time job because it's constantly changing and might be hard to do for developers. Whereas it would be a publishers sole job to work the ad networks and use their big portfolios to get more bang for the buck. They might get a profit that possibly you would not have gotten otherwise. A publisher can help make your game social and provide overall professionalism. Self Publish or Publisher? Think about how many hats you're wearing. To self publish can depend on time, strength, team size and people you can take on to handle some responsibilities. It might be better to outsource your social media and PR. If you're going to use a publisher, find one you can trust that can help with marketing and keep you focused on what is important in the game. A publisher should: Utilize User Acquisition Stand by promise by living up to bench marks and goals Have marketing plan following a year All this and more need to be performed either by yourself or hired out in order to make your video game successful. Take a good look at what is feasible and go from there!   Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #002

Meet hosts Brian and Ike as they introduce themselves, the Game Design Dojo, and dive right into whether or not to self publish a mobile title. The Game Design Dojo In game design one never truly masters, but is constantly practicing. Much like in martial arts where one never really achieves full mastery. One can appear as a master, but in reality they are just further down the path that you. Thus the name Dojo. Topics The Game Design Dojo will discuss: Studio issues - starting a company Platforms and adapting to changes Video game design and development Story development Reward systems in game play All different video game genres - adventure, role-play, first person shooter, puzzle, match 3, etc. Any questions or topics from the fans Any current challenges that come up during our own video game development The History of Ike and Brian Ike started in the industry in the year 2000 with a Computer Engineering Degree and primarily had computer programmer jobs with a few different companies. In 2005 he started to work at FlashMan Studios a video game consulting firm that helped find projects by helping companies navigate the waters of the gaming industry. Ike recently founded own Indie Game Studio - One Room School House with a focus to kids education software. Brian stared with his first memories of playing Atari as a kid that really made an impact. He worked at a  retail store called Funcoland - similar to Gamestop until graduating college with a BS in Art and a Minor in Programming. Worked for High Voltage and Midway then moved from Chicago to California and worked for Blizzard. In 2011 founded Indie Game Studio with wife - Fenix Fire Entertainment. Launched first game - Roboto - in the same year and have gotten lots of 'work for hire' projects. Now, looking forward to focusing on own video games. We're excited to make this podcast and feel it's important to give support to the Indie Game Development community. We can talk for hours about video game development and design plus we genuinely enjoy helping people. So, we hope you enjoy!  Self Publishing vs. Mobile Publisher Part 1 The debate is there is a new style of publishing for mobile that provides services you can potentially do yourself. Publishers offer the benefit of offering to publish under their name and their recognition. Types of Publishers Big power houses vs. young up starts Experience with console and PC games Experience with casual WEB games - understands simple games Publishers typically are not offering money so their power has essentially been taken away and have had to change with the times. Can offer to publish yourself but with publisher's name. (EA example, Monopoly example)  Cherry Pickers Publishers create relationships with Indie Developer and want to see what game you're working on before you make any announcement or awareness and look to see if it has ant mass market appeal. Basically Cherry Pick. The publisher will tell the developer, "We'll publish game for you and make it a great hit!" The developer will think, "Great! I have a fan." This is very tempting so make sure you sort thru what the publisher can really do for you. Benefits of having a publisher: Can give developer feedback about game Provide professional opinion, not just advice because invested in it Knows and understands the A-Z process Might need in today's market for User Acquisition The debate continues as we take a look and discuss the self publishing argument. Continued on Podcast 2... Links Brian's indie game studio Ike's indie game studio   Listen now to Game Design Dojo Episode #001