Ryan Clark and Indie Game Profitablity
This is a summary of How to Consistently Make Profitable Indie Games.
How to Consistently Make Profitable Indie Games
– Ryan Clark (Crypt of the Necro-dancer)
Game requirements
To make a game you/it must satify:
- Motivation - Want to make it.
- Skill/Scope - Able to make it.
- Viable - It will make enough money. see below :)
The overlap of these is a game.
How to know if a game will make enough money?
- Evalutate the quality and quantity of the hooks.
- Do market analysis on similar games to evalute viability of the market.
- Consider of to describe and promote the game.
Hooks
interesting bit of information about the game that completes people to try it.
Hooks begin before the game is played.
Examples of hooks
Consider these with Crypt Of The Necrodancer or Darkest Dungeon in mind.
- title is a pun
- mashup core mechanics
- hooky soundtrack
- star power
- the deveopment team
- catchy trailier
- gamplay
It's quantity and quality.
More hooks lead to greater interest. The more compelling the hooks the better.
Every facet of the design can be a hook.
Look at each element of the design and process and evalute it as a hook.
- Is it unique? Can it be more unique?
- Is it compelling? Can it be more compelling?
Evaluting the strength of hooks
Over time a feeling for strengths of hooks can be developed. While subjective, the strength of hooks can be looked as by:
- Analyze hooks in newly launched games. Examine/Estimate type, quality, strength, value.
- Look at the games sales afterwards and confirm/compare to your expectations.
Indie Devs and Streams have similar problems
Unsucessful indie devs and streamers have similar problems.
- They are no unqiue enough to stand out or be memorable. (Hooks are unqiue factors to make you stand out)
- They are overestimate the entertainment value of their work. (Evalute hook value and strength)
- They fail to understand the non-luck factors that create success. (Actaully do hook/market/marketing analysis)
- The are unable to compare themselves to the bigshots (Perform market analysis)
- which leads to be unable to determine what they are lacking. (Use analysis to find improvement opportunities)
Market Analysis
Market Analysis is a required phase of game design.
Steps of Market Ananysis
- Find 10-20 similar games.
- Play them all.
- For each game,
- Play it.
- Examine the hooks in each game.
- Look at the sales result for each game.
- Explain why the sales result is where it is.
- Contrast the hooks and sales results. (Best sellers, worst sellers, sub-genres)
Market Trends are the shifts in popularity of genres/themes over time.
It's important of understand trends to predict future sales. Keep an eye on steam best sellers and newly released games.
Explain the reasoning behind trends.
- Survival trend is popular
- It satifies base human insticts.
- Flexibility. (different format/style/themes).
- Room for innovation.
- High retention among users
- Possible online multiplayer
- streamable
- Puzzle Adventure trend is loosing popularity
- Not replayable.
- Bad for streaming (Getting stuck is not enjoyable).
- No multiplayer.
- Not online.
Big enough market
Favourable composition and size of a market are required.
if there are more fish, your hook is more likely to snag one.
It is safer to market to apolyamorous gamers than to monogamous games.
How to make revenue esitmates.
- Check for owners.
- Take the bundles into account.
- Take steep sales/discounts into account. (steamdb.info)
- Account for platform holder feed, taxes (VAT), estimate budget, and rev share.
Bundles/Giveaway can be indicated by higher than 0-10% owner to player difference '
Creating a new genre. Moon shots
It's a looong shot. You must
- Understand current zeitgeist.
- Identify largest hole in it.
- Produce a game that fills the hole perfectly.