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独立游戏开发者该如何前向发展(四)

发布时间:2015-02-12 10:19:39 Tags:,,,,

作者:David Galindo

游戏产业在不到2年时间里发生了难以置信的变化。

screenshot(from gamasutra)

screenshot(from gamasutra)

在过去一年我分享了自己销售《Oil Blue》(这是一款在2010年发行于PC上的独立游戏,虽然销售不佳但却获得了一些好评)的经历。从那时以来我便一直致力于两个项目,一个项目在经过半年多努力后被搁置了,而另一个项目便是在去年10月发行的名为《Cook, Serve, Delicious!》的管理游戏,你可以在游戏中购买装备和食物去填充你的饭店的菜单并在早上9点至晚上10点间为人们做饭。今天我想再次分享这款游戏的销售,我如何做到这些,我将如何选择,我在销售游戏中使用的策略以及我会再次尝试以及不再尝试的事。

这并不是游戏设计的事后分析,更像是我从销售自己迄今为止最大一款PC游戏,同时也是我第一次在Mac和iOS平台发行的游戏中学到的经验教训。

创造

在经历了一款并不成功的游戏开发后(尽管已经完成了游戏图像和音乐的创造),我决定终止该项目并致力于其它内容。我曾经在Indie Royale上卖过《Oil Blue》,并赚到了1万美元左右去支持下一款游戏(在搁置的项目身上用掉了一半左右的钱)。带着沮丧的心情,我决定如果这款游戏再不成功的话它将是我所创造的最后一款游戏。我已经尝试了好几年,但都未曾赚取真正的收入。每个月我从游戏那拿到的钱都不到100美元,大多数收入还是来自在咖啡店的兼职工作。

最终我决定创造从2004年以来就有很多人要求我创造的游戏:受日本PS1游戏《我的料理》影响的一款烹饪游戏。2004年的时候我基于充满手绘精灵以及来自《模拟人生》的音乐的《我的料理》所创造的一款免费游戏受到了许多人的喜欢。将做饭与尝试着让客人离开相结合是一种有趣且混乱的挑战。几年之后我尝试着创造这款游戏的续集,但是因为一些原因未能成功,主要是因为我没有足够的钱投入游戏创造。而这一次,我有钱了,所以将最终尝试看看。我知道游戏理念很棒,并且只要带有一些优化内容的话便能够获得成功。而我真正想要问自己的是:这是否是个足够出色的理念能够让我最终创造出一款优秀/赚钱的游戏?

我从2012年3月开始创造游戏并在4月20日正式对外公开游戏。我的目标是在夏天的时候创造出一款大受欢迎的游戏,如此我便可以利用游戏新闻/发行。我同时也要挑战自己每周发篇博文去描述游戏开发进程,游戏设计策略等等。我对自己所做的这一切感到非常自豪,因为我从来没有如此恪守时间期限或制度。

平台和开发

多亏Game Maker Studio,我一直计划着将游戏带到多个平台上,但在开发的同时引擎仍然处于测试状态。我决定使用Game Maker 8.1并先在PC上发行,然后再将其移植到Mac和iOS。我不怎么了解编程,而Game Maker让我能够创造任何想要的游戏,所以在某种意义上我与该平台是维系在一起的。我并不在乎是否了解Game Maker,我只专注于游戏创造过程。

我使用了与创造《Oil Blue》一样的美术师和编曲家(Sara Gross和Jonathan Geer),他们在过去都拥有非常棒的表现并且也有时间完成该项目。我的预算是6000美元,并且最后只超出一点钱:在美术和音乐上花了5500美元,为了将游戏移植到其它平台上又花了2500元购买设备。我并未将创造游戏所花的钱当成虚拟消费,主要是因为这是所谓的时机成本。没错,我花了许多时间去创造游戏,但当我开始衡量自己投入于游戏创造的时间并计算自己未拿到工资的损失时,我可能就要放弃游戏制作了,因为这便表示我的游戏热情已经消失了。

我同样也为广告和新闻稿作了1000美元的预算,因为这对于我来说完全是个新领域,所以我不敢保证这是否有效。这真的很可怕,因为比起《Cook,Serve,Delicious!》,我之前游戏的预算真的非常低,10000美元已经算是非常低的游戏预算了。但对于我来说这却是一笔较大的金额。

对于游戏创造有一点非常重要,那就是我使用少量游戏内容所进行的公开测试,之后还有完整游戏的封闭测试。公开测试向我呈现出了一些之前所遗漏的游戏设计缺陷,让我看到了那些公开测试者真心希望游戏变得更好。我邀请了大概20名公开测试者参与封闭测试,在此他们将看到完整的游戏。

screenshot(from gamasutra)

screenshot(from gamasutra)

测试是个很棒的经历,我并不想做出一些艰难的选择,如我将整合多少反馈到游戏中。有些用户发现游戏前进到下一个关卡太慢了,所以我便将游戏压缩了8个小时。虽然这对于我计划将游戏宣传为带有20多个小时游戏玩法的广告不利,但这却是对的做法。比起面对20多小时乏味的游戏内容,我更希望人们能够拥有12小时有趣的体验。我修改了许多内容,最终剩下一些较为出色的内容。

但在进行测试的同时我意识到难以赶在夏季截止期限内完成游戏。并且随着9月的临近,我知道如果我不能在10月前发行游戏,我便只能将其推迟到明年,因为从10月中旬以来便会出现一些大型游戏。从收益和个人士气看来这都不是一件好事。所以我更加努力地投入工作并公布了发行日期:10月5日(周五)。根据《Oil Blue》的经验,我将新游戏定价为8.95美元。并且与我的其它游戏一样,这款游戏也是没有数字版权管理保护。

《Cook, Serve, Delicious!》的发行

《CSD》与普通的休闲烹饪游戏不同,因为它非常复杂。我是故意这么做的,因为我将游戏称为“第一款餐厅硬核PC模拟游戏”,并且未去证实这是对的还是错的。至少我认为这是对的!我不想将游戏定义为休闲游戏,希望游戏能够瞄准那些追求一定难度挑战的更加硬核/独立游戏玩家。在10月5日(周五)半夜,我使用了BMT Micro在我的网站上发行了这款游戏。

很快地我便意识到为何游戏不能在周五发行:如果你未能在周五获得关注,那么你可能需要跨越两天等待周一的到来。有可能在这两天里游戏便会溺死水中。我怎么会做出如此愚蠢的决定呢?

实际上我这么做是有原因的:因为我觉得那些会购买游戏的人也是那些从3月份以来便一直关注我的博客的人,他们真正喜欢《我的料理》并也玩过我之前的游戏。我觉得这点就足以帮我实现2000美元的目标,尽管这远低于我所投入的8000美元成本,但却可以让我走上正轨。

到周日的时候我共赚到了250美元。这让我有点慌掉了。因为用户数量似乎远低于我的想象。很少有网站会在周五注意到一款游戏,这让我度过了非常悲惨的一个周末。我告诉自己Mac和iOS的发行将会顺利的,因为我觉得那是个更赚钱的市场,但这仍然是我所遇到过的最让人沮丧的一个周末。我觉得自己好像遭遇了失败。

在接下来的一周情况有所好转。Rock Paper Shotgun选中了我的游戏,并推动了游戏销量的上升,在新一周结束前我共赚到了900美元。我将几天内赚到2000美元的目标改成在月底的时候赚到2000美元。我认为即使进行Mac/iOS发行我也很难打破这一数值。

我尝试着说服自己事情会变好的。但在我心中,我知道自己搞砸了。你只有一次机会去发行一款游戏,而《CSD》却未能成功把握住这次机会。我希望通过GameBizWire所发布的新闻稿能够帮助我接触到更多网站,除了一些来自独立网站的请求外,我的游戏似乎未受到更多关注。这种情况下我很难激励自己完成Mac/iOS的移植。游戏销量也逐日下滑。

如果这种下滑趋势进一步延伸的话,我可能就要终止自己的游戏创造生涯了。我不认为自己还有动机去完成Mac/iOS移植,因为Mac的用户更少,iOS更是一个难以突破的市场。我觉得自己就像是一个轻易放弃的人,但在创造了两款自己引以为傲但却遭遇了财政危机的游戏后,我的士气早已被打压得毫无踪影了。

Giant Bomb

在游戏发行后的第二周,我收到了一封来自Ryan Davis关于《CSD》一些优惠码的邮件。

这是真的Ryan Davis吗?真的是我前几年订阅并且很喜欢每一个Quick Look和播客的那个网站吗?不可能的吧!在打开邮件前我迟疑了几秒。没错,真是他,他向我索要了新闻稿中提到的一些额外媒体代码/架构。

那时候我兴奋地在屋子里奔跑尖叫。但之后我意识到我的游戏并非Giant Bomb上任何类型的报道的首选。所以我便按照他的要求发了一些代码便没再多想了。

之后我看到了Giant Bomb在接下来一天的时间表:下午2点将会推出《Cook, Serve, Delicious!》的Quick Look,两名Giant Bomb员工将玩30分钟左右的游戏。那个晚上我甚至兴奋得忘了睡觉。

让我告诉你观看基于Quick Look的游戏视频是怎样的感受:非常超现实。当游戏中出现一些爆破时我简直吓呆了,尽管这仍然只是在进行测试。我很兴奋地看到自己关注了很久的两个人正在玩我的游戏。在整个过程中我的心都狂跳不已。在接下来几天里我又看了好几遍。想到不久前我都想着退出游戏制作领域时,这简直就是一次非常棒的成就。

在Giant Bomb的视频上线后30多分钟后,游戏销量便上来了。并且这种情况持续了整个晚上。每卖出一款游戏我便会收到电子邮件,我也即时刷新了iPod上的收件箱以获得更多销量邮件。在Quick Look前一天我只卖掉2份游戏,而在视频发布的那一天我就卖掉了140多份游戏,在接下来一天甚至卖出了更多。我简直不敢相信,这是我一生中关于独立游戏最棒的几天。我最终突破了自己的目标。

如果我们着眼于Giant Bomb的Quick Look之前12天游戏的销售趋势,我一个月赚到的钱大概是1500美元。而在月末的时候,游戏在我的网站以及GamersGate/Desura上的总销售额为7400美元。我终于在发行Mac/iOS版本前做到了收支平衡,这是我之前从未想到的情况。

bmtsalessm(from gamasutra)

bmtsalessm(from gamasutra)

我知道在发行PC版本的同时未推出Mac版本是一次巨大的打击。这主要是因为我们使用的是Game Maker 8.1,这只适用于PC,而GM Studio也还未做好万全的准备。所以我快速将游戏移植到到Studio并在几周内创造了Mac版本并投入运行。最初我发布的新闻稿提到Mac版本将在11月问世,而我现在将其提前到了10月28日。那个月我只赚到了100美元,而现在单单游戏的Mac版本就已经获得了1500美元的收益。在面对官方苹果Mac App Store我并没有什么经验。不仅审批时间非常慢(游戏邦注:大概需要14至20天去审批游戏与更新内容),并且这里几乎未曾出现过促销的情况。这里还存在一个主要因素,即那时Game Maker Studio的架构出现了一点小故障不能保存Snow Leopard的用户。这是很少出现的故障,但却提醒了我需要去留意漏洞以及其它问题。GM Studio开发者能够在几天内帮我修复漏斗,而苹果也加快了更新内容的审核。

关于Mac版本的另一个问题便是未能得到有效优化,这主要是因为我并不熟悉GM Studio处理Mac上的文件的方式。这需要大量的运行资源(4GB左右的内存)。这是基于GM 8.1进行开发然后再移植到Studio的副作用,即我未能面向全新的引擎优化内容。我迫切地希望获得iOS支持与运行,而完整优化《CSD》的Mac版本则意味着我需要彻底撤回游戏。考虑到Mac版本到现在为止的销量,我最终选择进行一次简单的移植。如果你拥有一台足够强大的Mac去运行它,这便会是这款游戏的一个有效的版本。

利用YouTube

2个月后游戏销量开始下降,相关报道也逐渐减少,我也准备好发行《Cook, Serve, Delicious!》的iPad版本了。我浏览了各种iOS网站并阅读了许多手机开发者的分析与测量,因为尽管我对iOS有所了解,但面对整个市场仍是个新手。我是一个没有名气的开发者并将发行一款即将与该平台上许多餐厅模拟游戏相竞争的高价游戏,尽管我的游戏与它们不同。这是件让人害怕的事,但与此同时我知道如果能够在此获得用户,我便会成为赢家。所以我便非常努力去做到这点。

iOS

我知道在一整年时间里,对于iOS开发者来说圣诞节是最大的促销日,我也想要与他们共享这一福利。我将游戏的iPad版本定价为5美元,并且在1月6日前享有3美元的促销价。Giantbomb在其播客中再次提到了游戏,甚至将《CSD》提名为2012年获得最佳下载量的游戏,听到这一题名的时候我简直像获得了奥斯卡大奖那样兴奋。一些主要的评论网站给予了游戏4颗星的评级,在Touch Arcade的4.5颗星的评论甚至在整个1月份都停留在TA App的首页。所有的这一切都帮助我的游戏在12月份创造了更多销量。

toucharcade(from gamasutra)

toucharcade(from gamasutra)

我知道自己并不想将游戏降价到1美元,因为这还是一款新游戏并且没有应用内部购买机制能够弥补损失。但我却未完全意识到圣诞节对于应用开发来说的重要性。选择在这个月发行游戏意味着我将面对无数基于假期促销价的游戏,甚至连一些大型AAA级应用也低至1美元,一些大型公司甚至限免了其应用列表中的内容。如此我根本无法与他们竞争,结果便是我的游戏错过了圣诞节的推广(那天它所卖出的数量甚至低于平常)。毕竟我的游戏售价是3美元,如果我是一个拿到全新iPad/iTunes礼物卡的孩子,我肯定会先选择其它1美元的应用。

我所犯的另一个错误便是将促销时间延伸到1月6日。我不应该将3美元的游戏售价延伸这么长时间,但一切都太迟了。我已经对外公布了这一决定,我并不想因此惹恼用户。但其实促销通常只在一两天内具有功效,因为你处于应用价格观察网站,所以你可以获得流量的推动。在那之后你基于促销价格所卖出的游戏与基于5美元原价卖出的游戏数量其实是一样的。如果我能够尽早结束促销的话所有的假期流量有可能会带动收益。

我所面对的最后一个问题是游戏不能运行于iPad 1上,这便是基于GM 8.1移植游戏所出现的另一个副作用。因为不可能阻止iPad 1用户购买你的游戏,所以我只能在游戏描述中做出警示。这么做似乎是有效的,除了有时候会收到来自用户的消极评论外。

实际上浏览应用商店中的用户评论有时蛮让人受挫的。有些人用户的确喜欢游戏,但却只会先给你1颗星,直至我添加了一个选择或修复了一个漏洞。有一个用户便在我每一次更新时都给予1颗星的评级,并表示虽然她喜欢游戏但却不喜欢设计选择,且不断问自己为什么仍然会花4个小时去玩我的游戏。看到这个我简直郁闷到想砸掉显示器。但谢天谢地这些问题终被解决了,现在我的游戏在美国应用商店中已经拥有120条4至5颗星的评论了,并且只有2条负面评论。不得不说这真的是非常棒的结果。

可下载内容(DLC)

因为在iOS上修补游戏非常轻松,所以我想做一些之前在其它游戏中未曾做过的事:提供DLC。我知道每当我推出更新内容时这便能够推动游戏宣传,通过在PC上提供免费DLC以及在iOS上提供应用内部购买能够促进游戏销售。在新图像和音乐方面我花费了大概1800美元,其中包含了在Iron Cook Kitchen中出现的新食物和全新的游戏玩法挑战。

从游戏设计来看,这是一次巨大的成功,处理游戏中的一些缺陷并将其变得更出色。而从商业上来看,这却是一个巨大的问题。

我认为这款游戏最薄弱之处在于玩家从0颗星到达3颗星的餐厅,然后打开全新的事件和挑战,这是1颗星和2颗星层面中不具有的全新游戏玩法元素。全新的DLC包含了10种新的食物(游戏邦注:其中6种食物是现在推出,而其余的4种则要等到3月),并且不像在1颗星和2颗星餐厅中出现的其它20种食物那样打开便能够购买。这能够帮助游戏维系起与接下来一些餐厅级别之间的关系并创造全新的游戏玩法元素和策略去强化游戏整体,从这方面看来这是一种巨大的成功。

最初我是计划在PC/Mac版本使用免费的DLC内容,而iPad用户则需要花费1.99美元进行购买。但最终我决定在iPad上也免费出售,因为较小的用户基础(当1月份发行第一个补丁时大概有1800名用户)并不能带动更多IAP销售,即便转换率再高。而培养商誉反而能够带动曝光度并最终创造更多销量。

那时候我并未想到的是游戏方式。用户可以花12个小时以上打开最终餐厅关卡,那时候游戏将变成是可扩充的免费游戏模式,不存在其它可实现的目标。他们将能够“击败”游戏。为了让这一DLC能够与拥有《CSD》的玩家相关联,它们需要仍处于打败游戏的进程中。如此便阻碍了销售DLC/IAP的能力。存在一个用户玩游戏的窗口,而当我能够向他们销售内容时,剩下的内容便因为太短而难以触及。

不仅如此,当你想到这点时,游戏已经拥有完整的功能并且在iOS市场上基于5美元定价出售。一旦用户以5美元购买了游戏,那么不管他们打算玩10分钟游戏还是10小时游戏对我来说都是没有区别,因为我赚到的钱都是一样的。创造DLC去延伸游戏并不能让我受益,只会让我投入接下来几个月的时间去完成所有DLC内容,如此我才能够进行之后的iPhone/Android移植,之后我还需要将新内容移植到PC和Mac上。这并不是明智的行动,尽管DLC能够让游戏变得更好。我的下一款游戏将会更有效地执行DLC,如此我便不用再被移植和开发所束缚。

iOS销售情况和结果

自从《CSD》在iPad上发行以来,我在1月末又进行了一次促销,即将价格从4.99美元降至2.99美元几天,但也就这样了。我不敢进行太过频繁的促销,我也不希望游戏价格低于2.99美元,因为游戏中并不存在IAP。这是我唯一能够赚钱的游戏,所以我只能谨慎地推广它。

另外需要注意的是我在iOS上发行了一个演示版本,即在用户购买完整版本前呈现给他们30分钟左右的游戏玩法。有很多评论说游戏是场“骗局”,我对此困惑不已,而在与一些Touch Arcade论坛开发者交谈后我才知道,《Cook,Serve,Delicious!Free》这个名字会让人觉得这是一款免费且带有广告的完整游戏,但其实事实并非如此。所以我便将游戏名字改为《Cook,Serve,Delicious!Lite》,如此便未出现任何问题。

appanniesm(from gamasutra)

appanniesm(from gamasutra)

我想要指出的一个有趣的事实是游戏在App Store前300款付费模拟与策略游戏榜单的排名—-从中并不能看出开发者一天赚到了多少钱。在1月和2月期间,当游戏处于300款游戏末端时,我赚到的钱比它位列前150名时还多。同时这也让我知道了一周间游戏的销售情况,周二周三卖得最好,而周日和周一最糟。自从发行以来游戏在1月份都未曾再进入前75名,但作为我的第一款iOS游戏,这样的游戏排名已经算是一个很好的开始了。

到目前为止的总体销售情况

从10月5日起游戏的PC版本开始进行促销,从10月28日起Mac版本开始进行促销,从12月12日起iPad版本开始进行促销。这是我到目前为止所进行过的促销活动。

3月5日,PC/Mac版本通过BMT Micro,GamersGate,Desura,亚马逊和MacGameWorld共赚到了16200美元。BMT,GamesGate和Desura是很不错的合作伙伴,他们的付款都很及时并且能够提供很棒的技术支持。我非常推荐这三个服务。

(注:我同时也在我的网站上出售一个名为Combo of Amazing的捆绑包,即我当前所有促销游戏的组合,包括《CSD》,这个捆绑包售价15美元,通常情况下都是超过30美元的。这一捆绑包为我赚到了3500美元,即包含于上述总销售额中。)

从12月12日到1月31日游戏的iPad版本总销售额便达到了10500美元。当我完成了iPhone和Android移植时,我希望游戏在手机领域每个月至少能够赚到3500美元,如此我便能够拥有非常美好的一年。

itunessalessm(from gamasutra)

itunessalessm(from gamasutra)

到目前为止的总销售额是28000美元,扣除开支后的利润是17000美元(游戏邦注:进行iOS/Mac/Android开发消耗了2500美元的费用)。在短短5个月里,这算是一个非常稳定的数值,但另一方面我也必须承认这对于大多数独立开发者来说只能算是极其微薄的利润。因为我还需要程序员和美术师的帮忙,所以我能获得的利润就更低了。我通过在Game Maker Studio独立创造游戏而节省了许多钱和时间,事实证明这么做的确很有效。但如果未能得到Giant Bomb或Northern Lion的关注,我便不可能做到这一切。我一直告诉自己,能够得到他们所给予的机会是多么幸运的事啊。

今年《Cook, Serve, Delicious!》还有许多获得利益的机会。我认为全新的手机移植将会表现得很好,我也有可能在年末的时候将这款游戏与其中一款主要的独立游戏捆绑出售。我还想要重拾之前被我搁置的游戏并在今年发行它,同时在2014年1月发行一款主要的iOS游戏,因为这个月似乎是大多数开发者所忽视的一个月。

在今年结束之前我可能还会再写一篇关于我在iPhone/Android市场的经历的文章,并且希望这能够给那些正在致力于创造独立游戏的人带去帮助。

原文发表于2013年3月6日,所涉事件及数据均以当时为准。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

How much do indie PC devs make, anyways? (Part IV)

by David Galindo on 03/06/13

It’s kind of incredible how much the gaming landscape has changed in just less than two years.

Over a year ago I wrote about my experiences selling the Oil Blue (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), an indie game that was released on the PC back in 2010 and garnered some critical acclaim but less than stellar sales. Since then I’ve worked on two projects, one that was cancelled after more than a half a year’s work, and the second released last October called “Cook, Serve, Delicious!”, a management game where you buy equipment and foods to fill your restaurant’s menu and cook for people during the business hours of 9am to 10pm. Today I’d like to share my sales and how I got there, where I go from here, the strategies I used in selling the game and what I would and wouldn’t do again.

This is less of a post-mortem in game design and more of what I learned in selling not only my biggest PC game to date, but my first Mac and iOS release as well. Let’s get to it!

Build Up and Buzz

After going through some development hell with a game that just wasn’t coming together for me, despite the terrific art and music that had already been created for the game, I decided to shelve the project altogether and work on something else in the meantime. I had previously sold the Oil Blue in the Indie Royale bundle and had about $10k left to fund my next game (after burning through around 5k on the game I had just shelved). I knew, with a sinking feeling, that this was likely going to be the last game I was going to make if it wasn’t successful. I had already given it a go for years now, but had no real income aside from pockets of sales when the Oil Blue would get some attention here and there. I was making less than a hundred dollars per month on the games I had available, and had most of my income supplemented by my part time job at a coffee shop.

I decided to finally make the game a lot of people had requested I make since 2004: a cooking game that was influenced by the old Japanese PS1 game, Ore no Ryouri. Back in 2004 I made a free fan game based on ONR that was filled to the brim with awful hand drawn sprites and ripped music from the Sims, and yet somehow it really took off with people. The combination of cooking dishes while trying to keep customers from leaving was a fun, chaotic challenge. A few years later I was always trying to get a sequel back off the ground, but it never seemed to come together for various reasons, mainly due to the fact that I had no money to invest in the game. This time, I had the money, and I was going to give it a final go. I knew there was a good concept in that game, and with some polish it could turn out to be quite good. What I really was asking myself was: is it a good enough concept to pin my final attempt at making a good/profitable game?

Work began in March 2012 and the game was formally announced on April 20th. The goal was to have the game hit during the summer so I could take advantage of the slow game news/releases. I was also going to challenge myself in making a weekly blog post that detailed how the game was progressing, my game design strategies, and so on. I’m actually quite proud that I managed to do that, since I hardly ever stick to deadlines or able to stick to a regime for all that long, so woo!

What I was hoping for also with these weekly blog posts was a buildup of interest so that people could get hyped for the release. I was hoping to make a big splash on launch day, and I was shooting for at least $2k in sales on the first few days.

You can click these Youtube pics to check out the videos.

Platforms and Development

I had always planned for the game to be on multiple platforms thanks to Game Maker Studio, but at the time of development the engine was still in a beta state. I decided to use Game Maker 8.1 in the meantime and release it on PC first, with a port to Mac and iOS once GM Studio got out of beta. I know very little code and Game Maker lets me make any game I really want, so I was in a sense tied to that platform. I didn’t mind as I knew Game Maker inside and out, and as a result I could focus directly on the game making process.

I used the same artist and composer (Sara Gross and Jonathan Geer) as I had for the Oil Blue, as they both had excellent work in the past and delivered right on schedule. I budgeted about $6k for the game and only spent a little bit over: in the end, I spent $5,500 on art and music, with an additional $2,500 on equipment needed to bridge to other platforms, such as an iPad and Macbook Air, as well as a GM Studio license and iOS developer licenses. I don’t include all the time I spent on making the game as virtual money spent, mainly because that’s called an opportunity cost, and I really hate when people argue that they actually lost $60k on a game because their salary for the year would have been $45k in corporate America, etc. Yes, I spent a ton of time making the game, but the day I start measuring my hours put into game making and figure the sum of money I lose by not working for a waged income is the day I need to quit game making because the passion is obviously gone.

Anyways, sorry for the rant there! I had also budgeted about $1k for advertising and press releases, as that was a completely new thing for me so I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out. It was a bit scary, as my previous budget was paltry compared to the money I was spending on “Cook, Serve, Delicious!” despite the fact that even on indie game terms, <$10k on a game is a very low budget. But it sure felt high to me.

One thing that was significant in shaping up the game was an open beta I made publically available with a small amount of game content, followed by a closed beta of the full game. The open beta really showed me some game design flaws that I had previously missed, and allowed me to see from those open beta testers users who were very passionate about making the game better. I invited about twenty of the open beta testers to the closed beta, where they got a full version of the game. I was incredibly paranoid of the game leaking ahead of the release date, but thankfully the game stayed within the forums I released it on.

The beta was a great experience, but what I wasn’t expecting was making some tough choices as to how much of the feedback I was going to incorporate into the game. Several users found the game too slow to progress to the next level, so I trimmed the game down by nearly eight hours. It really hurt as I had planned to advertise the 20+ hours of gameplay, but at the same time it was the right thing to do. I’d rather people have a fun twelve hour experience than a mediocre twenty hour one. Lots more fixes were done and there was a great, positive amount of buzz surrounding the game. Or at least, that’s what it felt like.

But as the beta was underway, I knew I wasn’t going to make the summer deadline. And as September loomed, I knew if I wasn’t going to launch before October, then I was going to have to hold the game till next year due to the high profile releases starting mid-October. And that would have been an absolute disaster in terms of income and my personal morale. I worked like crazy and managed to announce a release date: October 5th, on a Friday. It would also be $8.95, as I learned from the Oil Blue that a high price of $15 was something I wanted to avoid. The game was DRM free, same as all my other releases.

The Launch of Cook, Serve, Delicious!

CSD was a different game from the normal cooking casual fare, mainly because it was incredibly hard. This was done intentionally, and I branded the game as “the first Hardcore Restaurant PC Sim” without really knowing if that were true or not. Hey, it sounded true to me! I had no interest in branding the game to casuals, and immediately aimed the game at the more core/indie gamers looking for a difficult challenge. And so, on Friday October 5th at midnight or so, I released the game on PC via my website using BMT Micro.

Right away I realized why games don’t get released on a Friday: if you don’t get any buzz by the end of Friday, you’re next shot is Monday. That’s two days that my game was going to be dead in the water, right after launch. How could I have been so dumb?

Actually, I remember why: because I felt like the people who were going to buy the game were the ones reading my blog since March, and the ones who really loved Ore no Ryomi and had played my previous fan games. I felt that was enough to push me to my $2k goal, a goal that while very short from the $8k I spent, would set me on track.

Well, by Sunday I had made about $250. I was panicking already. The audience that I thought was there was significantly smaller than I had imagined. Very few websites picked up on the game on Friday, leaving me with a dead weekend. I told myself that it would be OK with the Mac and iOS release I was going to work on, which I really felt was a more lucrative market, but it still marked the most depressing weekend I’ve ever had involving my indie game pursuits. I felt like a complete failure.

The week following, things got a little better. Rock Paper Shotgun picked up the game and sales grew quite a bit, and by the end of the next week I had hit $900. I changed my goal from $2k in a few days to $2k by the end of the month. I thought that any money I wasn’t able to make to break even I’d make with the Mac/iOS releases.

I was trying to convince myself in all sorts of ways that things would be fine. In the back of my head though, I knew I had blown it. You only get one chance to launch a game, and CSD hit with all the intensity of a marshmallow. I was hoping that my press release via GameBizWire would help get my foot in the door with a few websites, but aside from a few requests from indie sites, there wasn’t much on the radar. It was extremely difficult motivating myself to get through the Mac/iOS ports at this point. Sales were dwindling by the day.

Had that sales trend continued, I probably would have ended my game career. I don’t think I would have had the motivation to go through the Mac/iOS ports due to the fact that Mac was already a smaller audience, and iOS was such a difficult market to break through that it seemed ludicrous to even try since I couldn’t even break through the PC market. I felt like a quitter, but after making two games that I was really proud of design wise and seeing them flounder financially, I had my spirit broken. It was over.

A Giant Bomb

The next week following my game launch, a message on the right bottom corner of my PC screen lit up: an email from Ryan Davis about some promo codes for CSD.

This wasn’t the actual Ryan Davis, was it? Not of the Giant Bomb website that I’ve subscribed to for the last few years and enjoyed with every new Quick Look and podcast, right? No, that can’t be. I paused for a few seconds before opening the email. Sure enough, it was him, asking for some extra press codes/builds mentioned in the press release.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to running around the house screaming. But then I realized the game wasn’t exactly a prime candidate for any kind of coverage on Giant Bomb. That’s what I believed anyways, after a rough week and a half of little to no coverage. So I sent some codes over but didn’t think much would come of it.

And then I saw the schedule for the next day over at Giant Bomb: at 2pm, a Quick Look of “Cook, Serve, Delicious!” which is where two Giant Bomb guys play a game for thirty minutes or so. I don’t recall sleeping very much that night.

Most of the views on GiantBomb are done by their own hosted videos on the GB site, so the view count here is inaccurate to the total amount of people who watched the Quick Look.

Let me tell you what it’s like watching a video of your own game being Quick Looked: pretty damn surreal. I was scared to death that something would break in the game, despite extensive beta testing. I was so excited seeing these two guys that I enjoyed reading/listening to for so long actually playing one of my games. My heart was racing the entire time. Then I watched it about a half dozen more times in the next few days. It felt like such an accomplishment that I felt like it was crazy I was thinking of quitting game making in the first place…well, that is, until I remembered I kinda need to make money doing game development, cause that’s kinda important.

About thirty minutes after the Giant Bomb video went up, sales came in. And they kept coming in all night. Emails would be dispatched to me with every sale, and I could literally refresh my inbox on my iPod seconds after the last email, only to get more sales emails. I had sold 2 copies of my game the day before the Quick Look, and on the day of the video release sold over 140 copies, and even more the next day. It was incredible, and one of the best indie game related days of my life. I finally had the breakthrough I so desperately needed.

If we look at the sales trend for how the game was doing in the first 12 or so days before the GiantBomb Quick Look, I would have made about $1,500 that month. Total sales for the month ended up being $7,400 on both my site and GamersGate/Desura. I had almost broke even before I had a chance to release the Mac/iOS version, something I couldn’t even imagine happening.

Sales graph for PC/Mac- guess which day the Giant Bomb video came out?

Still, I knew it was a fairly big blow not to have the Mac version released at the same time with the PC version. It was mainly due to having to work via Game Maker 8.1, which is PC only, since GM Studio wasn’t quite ready yet. So, I quickly ported the game to Studio and in just a few weeks had a Mac build up and running. Originally my launch press release said the Mac version would come out in November, but I was able to release it on October 28th. I only netted $100 for that month and as of now, have sold around $1,500 for the Mac version alone. I was kind of surprised how poor my experience was with the official Apple Mac App Store, where I thought I’d be making the majority of Mac sales. Not only was the approval times severely slow (nearly taking 14-20 days to approve games and updates), but the sales were nearly nonexistent. One main factor was that the Game Maker Studio build at the time had a glitch that didn’t allow saving for Snow Leopard users. It was a very rare glitch, but led to my one and only review for CSD on the Mac store, alerting me to the bug and warning others of the issue. The GM Studio devs were able to get a fix for me in just a few days, and Apple rushed the update to get it out quickly.

Another problem with the Mac version is that it’s just not very well optimized, mainly due to the different way GM Studio handles files on the Mac that I wasn’t used to. It needs a significant amount of resources to run (optimally 4GB of memory), among other things. This was a byproduct of developing on GM 8.1 first and then porting to Studio, as I didn’t optimize anything for the new engine. I was in a mad dash to get iOS support up and running, and to fully optimize CSD for Mac meant that I’d have to tear down the game completely. Given the sales to date of the Mac version, I did the right thing by choosing to have a simple port, but it still felt a little scummy. It’s a perfectly playable/fine version of the game, if you have a powerful enough Mac to run it.

Tapping into YouTube

Something I didn’t see coming was the ease of which the game could be played and streamed by various YouTube and internet personalities. It had some breathing room during the day for people to chat to their viewers, and then gets immediately chaotic during the “Rush Hour” portions of the day where things just go nuts for one minute. There were people streaming the game for charity events, and some big named YouTube/internet streamers like Northernlion and HAWP giving it a go. Some streamed just to show off their awesome APM skills. It was pretty nuts to watch.

Still, after two months things started slowing down sales and coverage wise, right as I was ready to launch the iPad version of Cook, Serve, Delicious! I was watching various iOS websites and had read dozens of developer breakdowns and strategies by mobile devs, so while I sorta knew what to expect on iOS, I was still very much new to the entire market. I was a no name dev who was about to launch a pricey game that would compete with a ton of other restaurant sim games on the platform, despite my game being significantly different. It was scary, but at the same time I knew I’d have a winner if it found an audience. And I managed to do everything possible to ensure that it wouldn’t.

iOS for Dummies

I had known that Christmas Day is the biggest sales day in the entire year for iOS devs, and I wanted a piece of that pie. I priced the game at $5 for the iPad, with a sale at $3 till January 6th. Giantbomb mentioned the game again in podcasts and even nominated CSD for Best Downloadable Game 2012, which to even be nominated felt like I had won the Oscar. Some major review sites gave me 4 stars and up, with Touch Arcade’s 4.5 star review staying on their front page of the TA App through January. All of this helped to create a lot of sales and buzz for December, and a good thing too, considering how stupid it was to launch in December in the first place.

What I knew I didn’t want to do was go down to $1, as the game was new and had no In Game App purchases to help offset the loss. But what I didn’t fully realize was that, sure, Christmas Day was a huge day for app devs…if your game is priced accordingly. I launched during a month where I was competing with endless holiday sales, where huge AAA apps were being sold at just $1, and where major companies would slash their entire hundred plus app catalogue to nearly free. There was no way I could compete with that, and consequently my game didn’t get a Christmas Day boost (it actually sold less than most days). My game was $3 after all, and if I was a kid with a shiny new iPad/iTunes gift card, I’d fill up on $1 apps myself.

Another major fault of mine was the sale till January 6th. I should have never kept the game at $3 for so long- but it was too late. I had already posted how long I’d have the price for, and I didn’t want to upset any users. But sales typically work great at one-two days because you’re on app price watchers websites and get a boost of traffic. After that, you’re basically selling your game at a discount with no disenable difference in revenue whatsoever, since I had to sell more copies to make what I would with a $5 price point. All that holiday traffic could have boosted revenue if I had just ended the sale earlier.

Finally, the last problem I had was the game wouldn’t run on an iPad 1…another byproduct of porting the game from GM 8.1 instead of optimizing it from the ground up. Because there’s no way to prevent iPad 1 users to buy your game, I had to issue warnings in the game’s description. That seemed to work fine, aside from the occasional “HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF” comments I get from time to time with regards to the game not being on iPad 1. Yes, I actually got that comment.

In fact, it’s kind of a jolt to interact with user reviews on the app store. Some would love the game but would only give me one star until I added a small option or fixed a bug. One user repeatedly gave me one star with every new update saying she liked the game but didn’t like the design choices, and asked herself repeatedly why she still was playing my game for hours. I wanted to punch my monitor. But thankfully the issues were ironed out and the game on the US store currently has 120 4-5 star reviews, with only two negative reviews. That’s pretty awesome, I must say.

My DLC Take

Because of the ease of patching a game on iOS, I wanted to do something I hadn’t done with any of my games before: offer DLC. I figured this would be a boost of press every time I’d get an update out, and would help sales by offering the DLC for free on PC and as a premium in app purchase on iOS. I spent about $1,800 on new art and music, which consisted of ten new foods and a new gameplay challenge taking place in the Iron Cook Kitchen.

Game design wise, it was a huge success, addressing some of the shortcomings of the game and making it even better than before. Business wise, it would be a huge mistake.

I think the weakest point of the game was when the player was getting from zero to a three star restaurant, which then unlocks new events and challenges, as the one and two star tiers don’t have quite as much going on in terms of new gameplay elements. The new DLC consisted of ten new foods to buy for the restaurant menu (six currently released as of now, with four more in March), and unlike the other twenty foods available would unlock to buy at the one and two star restaurant levels. This helped bridge the gap to the next few restaurant tiers and created new gameplay elements and strategies that really strengthen the game overall, and in that regards it was a big success.

Originally I was going to have the DLC available for free on PC/Mac, with iPad owners buying it at $1.99 per pack. But ultimately I decided to release it for free on iPad as well, as the smaller userbase (about 1,800 at the time when the first patch went out in January) wouldn’t result in very many IAP sales, even if the conversion rate was high. I thought the goodwill gesture would result in more press and ultimately more sales.

What I didn’t think of at the time is just how the game is played. Users can unlock the final restaurant upgrade at around a dozen or more hours, and at that point the game becomes an open ended free play mode, with no other goals to achieve. They will have “beaten” the game. In order for this DLC to be relevant to the user who owns CSD, they’ll need to still be in the progress of beating the game. Because of that, the ability to sell DLC/IAP is hampered. There’s a window in which the user is playing the game and when I can sell them content, and it’s too short to target.

Not only that, but when you think about it, the game is feature complete and selling at $5, a premium price on the iOS market. Once users buy the game at $5, it makes no difference, business wise, whether they play for ten minutes or ten hours…I still make the same amount of money. To create DLC to extend the life of the game benefits me in no way, and crucially ties me up for the next few months as I get all of the DLC finished for iPad so I can move onto the iPhone/Android ports, and then after that having to port the new content to PC and Mac. It was not a smart move, despite the DLC making the game better. My next games will have a better implementation of how DLC can be integrated in a much smarter way, so I won’t be so tied up with porting and developing.

iOS Sales and Results

Since CSD has been released on iPad, I’ve had one more sale at the end of January, decreasing the price from $4.99 to $2.99 for a few days, but that’s been about it. I’m very cautious about creating too many sales, and I don’t want to price the game below $2.99 since there’s no IAP in the game to make up the difference. This is my only game that’s making money after all, so I have to be extremely careful in how I promote it.

Another side note was that I released a demo version on iOS that had about thirty minutes of gameplay before the user had to buy the full version. I had a lot of reviews calling the game a “scam” which was pretty confusing…but after talking with some helpful Touch Arcade forum devs, it turns out calling the game “Cook, Serve, Delicious! Free” was giving the impression that it was the full game for free but with ads, which certainly wasn’t the case. So I changed it to “Cook, Serve, Delicious! Lite” and haven’t run into any problems since. Whoops!

My app ranking on the Top 300 for North America since release through March 6th.

One interesting fact I want to point out is the way the game is charted in the App Store Top 300 Paid Simulation and Strategy charts- it doesn’t quite give the entire picture of how much a dev makes in a day. During parts of Jan/Feb I made more money being near the bottom 300 than being in the top 150. At the same time it does give me a good indication of how sales go during the week, with Tuesday/Wednesday being the best selling days, and Sunday/Monday being the worst. I haven’t cracked the top 75 again since launch through January, but to be on the charts for a few months with my first iOS game is a great start. (I was originally in the Action/Simulation genre listings before switching to Strategy/Simulation in Jan.)

The Totals so Far

The game has been on sale since October 5th for PC, October 28th for Mac, and December 12th for iPad. Here’s how I’m doing in sales so far.

The PC/Mac version has sold a combined $16,200 through March 5th across my site via BMT Micro, GamersGate, Desura, Amazon and MacGameWorld. BMT, GamersGate and Desura have been nothing short of fantastic to deal with, as they always pay on time and have great tech support. I cannot recommend those three services enough.

(A quick note: I also sell on my website a bundle called the Combo of Amazing, which packages all of the games I have currently for sale, including CSD, into a $15 bundle, which normally would be over $30. That accounted for $3,500 in sales, which is part of that sales total above.)

Total sales on the iPad version alone from December 12th through January 31st totaled $10,500, with a projected $2,000-$2,500 for the month of February. Once I have the iPhone and Android port done (should be by April) I’m hoping to make at least $3,500 a month in mobile sales, which would definitely put me on track to have a good year.

iPad sales so far

So, the grand total so far puts me at around $28,000, which is a $17,000 profit after expenses ($2,500 being onetime expenses in getting into iOS/Mac/Android development). For just five months, that’s a very solid figure, but on the other hand I have to admit that would be some razor thin margins for most indie devs. Had I needed a programmer or an additional artist, my profit would be much lower. I saved lots of money and time by doing the game on my own via Game Maker Studio, and it paid off quite well. But had I not been mentioned on Giant Bomb or Northern Lion, I probably would not have broke even on just the $8,500 in expenses. It’s a scary thought that reminds me how lucky/blessed I was that they gave my game a chance.

There are plenty of opportunities for revenue this year with just Cook, Serve, Delicious! I think the new mobile ports will do well, and I’ll likely bundle the game towards the end of the year with one of the major indie bundle guys. I want to return to that shelved game and release it this year, as well as make a major iOS game for release in January 2014, as that seems to be a great empty month that most devs don’t target at all. Look at how much attention was given to Hundreds, one of the few major iOS releases in January.

I’ll likely do another sales article sometime before the end of the year with my experiences in the iPhone/Android market, but I hope this was at least interesting enough to help anyone out there looking into making an indie game. I am finally a full time indie game developer with my game supporting me financially, for the moment anyways. Here’s hoping it’ll stay that way for the months to come!(source:gamasutra)

 


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