The ‘Pre-Mortem’

www.slideshare.net/VGVisionary

Quick Disclaimer

Nothing in this talk is new, but we just don’t talk about it often

enough!

Who is Data Realms?This is a talk byVlad Micu

Business development manager at Data RealmsData Realms has

23 folks (mostly contractors) in 10 countries on 4 continents

Previously created

Now working on

+14 other amazing developers <3

@DataRealms

Cortex Command

Table of contents• Planetoid Pioneers background

story

• Slow-cooking Planetoid Pioneers

• ‘Alexander Brucing’ it

• Marketing

• Early Access launch and beyond

Pros and Cons• Unexpected organic

modding community

• Incredibly fun to watch

• Lot’s of lessons learned on game design

• Resulting in extended shelf life, HR talent pool and more vision for next game

• Suffered from initial missing PR strategy and unclear messaging.

• No online multiplayer

• Lack of community management

• Unclear messaging

Slow-cooking games approach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xNppjXeamo

• Less stress

• Taking the time for ideas

• Bigger scope

• Better team– Activity changes

Harnessing a Contributor community

• Amazing talent pool

• Hired from them

• Built the ‘Pioneer Program’ to increase community infrastructure

• Admitting and embracing the creativity of our audience.

User Generated Content is everywhere

• YouTube & Twitch

• Fan Art & Fan Fiction

• Modding

• In-Game Assets

Players vs. Makers dynamic

Setting a stage for UGC

No such thing as an overnight success

Alexander Bruce on Antichamber’s ‘Overnight Success’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOlcB-

JxkFw

• Cortex Command: 10 years

• Antichamber: 7 Years

• Rocket League: 7 years

• Stardew Valley: 6 years

‘Alexander Brucing’ it

PR: Tipping odds in your favor

• Planting seeds

• Be remembered/recognized

• Social proof

• Finding champions

Events attended 2015•May 20th-22nd - Nordic Game Conference in Malmo, Sweden•May 26th - Creative Coasts Festival in Karlshamm, Sweden•June 21th-23rd - Dreamhack Summer in Jonkoping, Sweden•August 26th - September 6th - PAX Prime & available for meetings in Seattle, USA•September 10th - 12th - BIC Festival in Busan, Korea•September 14th - 20th - EGES Summit in Mallorca, Spain•September 24th- 27th - Eurogamer Expo in Birmingham, UK•September 28th - Google Playtime in London, UK•September 29th-30th - INDIGO 2015 in Utrecht, Netherlands•October 2nd - 12th Brasil Game Show in Sao Paolo, Brasil•October 15th - 19th - Poznan Game Arena & Game Industry Conference in Poznan, Poland•October 28th – 2nd - Game Connection Europe in Paris, France•November 3rd - 8th - Mastering the Game WIPO conference in Krakow, Poland•November 10th - 17th - GStar in Busan, South Korea•November 17th - 22nd - Game Summit 2015 by Digiworld in Montpellier, France •November 22nd - 10th - Finland•November 26th - 30th - Game Developer Sessions in Prague, Czech Republic•December 16th - 19th - Deutsche Entwicklerpreis in Cologne, Germany•December 27th - January 5th - Munich, Germany 2016•January 14-19 - Barcelona, Spain •January 26-31 - Taipei Game Show in Taipei, Taiwan •February 5-12 - Winter Nights in Helsinki, Finland•February 16-21 - DICE Summit 2016 in Las Vegas, USA •March 10-21 - Meetings in San Francico, GDC San Francisco and Silicon Valley in San Francisco, USA•April 22-24 - PAX East 2016 in Boston, USA •April 28-30 – IndieCade East 2016 in New York, USA•May 11th – Games First in Helsinki, Finland•May 16-17 Digital Dragons in Krakow, Poland •May 18-20 - Nordic Game in Malmo, Sweden

Event budget overview

Our Total Marketing Investment: Approx. 100.000 euros

Event Total ExpensesGamescom 2015 € 4,328.92PAX Prime 2015 € 4,594.51Busan BIC 2015 € 1,360.20EGX 2015 € 4,802.54Brasil Game Show 2015 € 2,905.77PAX East € 10.000,00 (Approx)Poznan Game Arena 2015 € 1,366.63Taipei Game Show € 1,096.48AMAZE & QV 2016 € 714.43

Happy companies Total ExpensesUber € 1,304.31KLM € 4,594.51Fedex € 1,864.09Our merch guy Bart € 5,000.00 (Approx)

Merchandise Total ExpensesT-shirts € 3,000.00 (Approx)Steam key cards € 1200.00 (Approx)Promotional material € 12,000.00

Unexpectedly winning awards

Have a launch signup option

http://thumpergame.com/

E-Mail Marketing

• Still strongest marketing

• 6 months or older is ‘stale’

• Spend significant time on your message

• Activate your community on launch-day!www.mailchimp.com

Test #1: not bad

Test #2: filtering quality

Test #3: Let’s do this

Discord for community

www.discord.com

Make GIFS, not war!

www.discord.com

Early Acces Strategy:

Inspired by Vlambeer’s approach to Nuclear Throne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-3VFOWrgpU

Managing expectations• Higher price and NO

discounts during Early Access

• Filtering out the right people

• Tackle Steam Forums with elaborate answers that educate community

• Find and praise community heroes

Our biggest hurdles• Less game, more

engine & editing tools

• Hard to explain

• Not pick up & play

• CC Legacy

• Early Access reputation

A Personal moment: Imposter Syndrome

http://www.polygon.com/features/2016//10776792/imposter-syndrome-game-

developers-who-feel-like-frauds

The #1 Skill is still Resilience

The Fins have ‘Sisu’ (perseverance)

Don’t Forget!

https://software.intel.com/sites/campaigns/levelup2016/

Summary: Be as ‘Triple I’ as you can

• Success doesn’t come overnight

• Slowcooking helps for extra time, attention and new ideas

• Events have layered benefits

• Start PR/Marketing early

• Track your spending, marketing and data

• GIFs!

• Community is your #1 currency

• Early Access is tough

• Dare to be different

Contact me

• @vgvisionary

• Mail me at v.micu@vgvisionary.com

• Slides: www.slideshare.net/VGVisionary

#imlonely

Check out Planetoid Pioneers on Early

Access!

Thanks!

Questions?

Let’s talk more outside!