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Well Hello everybody
We are the guys from getUP | games
Here is a short overview of our supporters
We are a Startup located in the Startup Center of the Stuttgart Media University
But right now we have our office in the TTI Stuttgart
We are also supported by the EXIST Business Start-up Grant
This program is also supported by the European Union
So we want to say thx to all the tax payers out there :)
So what are we doing all day long?
Gamasutra published a nice article lately
And I took it as a starting point to describe what we are doing
We make motion based games as Indie Devs
So one could say, we accepted the challenge!
The article described three major problems motion based games have
and by means of those problems I am going to explain how we design our games
and why we believe that we have the potential to move something in this genre
On the one hand it is the design barrier described in the article
This means that most games were designed for a controller as the classical input device for consoles
and that throughout the design process of a game gestures are used to mimic the binary input of a button
ok, one could argue that you have analog sticks and buttons as well
but let us compare it to the classical binary input of a button
and in such a comparison gestures will always look bad
because it is always faster to press a button than performing a gesture
that won't be recognized correctly or not at all in the worst case
which will result in failed user inputs
and this is a design barrier developers have to deal with
for example many AAA games offer motion controls as an addition
what means that the game was not built with motion controls in mind from the get-go
around the strength of motion controls
and what we do in our games is to ask our selves
what can you only do with motion controls? What is the strength?
what can you only do with a controller?
this way one can differentiate and say alright
we are going to build our game solely upon the strength of motion controls
the second point
benefit vs. price barrier
can be interpreted as a player saying
"alright, I've bought my motion control hardware"
be it a Kinect, Wii, PS Move or whatever
and the player may thinks about buying a AAA game
where motion controls are just a feature
and sometimes not implemented very well
maybe due to a lack of time during the development process
or a financial decision because there is not a very big user base with motion based controllers
and from a consumers view one may think
"Am I going to spend money to experience the motion control features?"
"Or am I going to save the money because the control feature is not implemented very well?"
And this is the point were we are saying
"Ok, we are going to take the advantages of self-publishing..."
"...and create more compact motion based games..."
thus offering the players a more focused experience
that they can buy for an affordable price
and create an incentive to buy
because one could argue
"well, I'll give this game a shot..."
"...a MC Donalds menu more or less won't hurt..."
"...this game is a manageable financial investment and I want to try it out."
furthermore I want to use my motion based hardware
and get the most out of it
and...yeah...
...player expectations barrier
sure many of you know the Gartner Hype Curve
that starts slow and then you are on the peak of a hype
like with the Kinect back then
great! endless possibilities, according to the marketing videos
Precise interaction!
Is this as close as a holodeck can be?
and everybody was like "shut up and take my money!"
and after a while comes the valley of disappointment
when one is about to realize
"ok, it is not as good as promised..."
"...not many great games"
and after a while the curve slowly reaches the plateau of productivity
then you can say "ok, the hype is over, the disappointment's gone"
now we know what the hardware can do and what not
and now we take what's there and make something great out of it
and we think that's the current situation of motion controls
especially with regard to the upcoming console generation
so that we can use this situation as a starting point to say
"alright, let's use what motion controls can do best..."
"...and leave the rest up to the controller"
We are in the lucky position to be allowed to develop for the PlayStation 4
and we already got our DevKit
right now you can see our main character
"Commander Cherry"
and we design our game for the PS4 Eye camera
which will be released with the console it is a stereo camera
and for the PlayStation 4 controller
and we combine
as mentioned before
the strength of each input type
what can best be done with the camera?
with the body tracking and the depth image?
and what can better be done with the controller?
and we are going to combine those aspects
to create a unique gaming experience
and we build our game with motion controls in mind from the get-go
alright
and because I promised some cool anecdotes
until now I gave a quick heads-up about us and what we do
I am now going to tell our story
how we got our PS4 DevKit
how we managed to get into Sony's attention as no-names
I mean we started in April 2013
and had not much to show back then
and so we thought
"ok, how can we get our fingers on some Dev-Hardware?"
and because of that the classic "I already prepared something..."
[quote from a famous German TV show]
so we thought ok, when you want to pitch your game
you can't just show up and say "Ok. Hi!"
"So we got that cool idea..."
instead you need something to introduce yourself
when you want to submit your game
if you take the official way
what can be a challenge of its own
to find the right places to actually submit your concept
uhm...(Brain: "was it right to say that?") :p
uhm...yeah... :)
so we thought that we do not want to show up with bare hands
instead we wanted to shine as bright as possible
so we came up with and tied up a "Pitching Package"
because we had some spare time
so first of all we decided to include a gameplay demo
always a good thing
best thing is a playable demo if you make a PC game for example
Steam Greenlight etc. community management and so on
but we wanted to get on console
and in this case providing a demo gets more difficult without a DevKit
so back then we took the Microsoft Kinect and XNA Gamestudio
and created a playable prototype with a prototypical level of our game
added some nice audio comments, picture-within-picture effects
to make the video look more professional
and show that you are serious about your work
so this was one part of the package
and that the people know and see who they're dealing with
we decided to produce an awesome Team-Video
so we engaged a freelancer for that purpose who did a really great job
Sabrina Winter
I can only recommend her services
[covered advertising, lol]
and yeah
so we got our Team-Video
this was another component
and of course we included
the classical, dusty, oldschool...
...gamedesign doc
of course not a 100 page thick thingy
but round about 30 to 35 pages
where you elaborate what's your vision and where you want to go from here
and in our opinion
of course no guarantee
but we think that was a cool package
because you show that you have a demo
and not just a loose idea
scribbled into the game design doc
but that you have some real meat there
and you have the team to show
who are we? what are our skills?
because it is always more remarkable to have a face in front of you
instead of just a name in an email
especially nowadays with the self-publishing options
where more and more applicants will pitch their games
this approach can give you an advantage to stand out a little bit
and it seemed to worked as you can see
alright
next topic is "What? And who are you?"
so we tied our Pitching-Package
and approached "the big ones"
here you can see the paths we walked
on the left Microsoft
and Sony on the right
I am not sure if everybody noticed
but Sony took quite an effort to enmesh Indie-Devs
and communicated this effort aggressively from a PR perspective
and you really have to say on behalf of Sony
of course, of course I hear you saying "he just wants to elevate himself..PS4...we...awesome."
but seriously
the things they say in public
that they put Indies on an equal footing with AAA developers
that they make no difference
if a game provides a certain level of quality of course
they will not send a DevKit to everyone who puts his name onto a mailing list
but
we are no-names
we released no commercial game up to now
none of us worked in a big studio before
we really are bloody beginners
but we still have our DevKit and enjoy full support
for example we need to have our IP address changed
we need access to the DevNet
jab jab jab
no problem at all
so one really has to strike a blow for Sony
so one really has to strike a blow for Sony
in my opinion the problem with Microsoft was the size of the company
also the entertainment division of Microsoft lives through a lot of change
new CEO
new Microsoft CEO
i think it is no secret that Windows 8 was not the big success everybody was hoping for
the Surface tablets did not so well
the Xbox One PR strategy was not very successful
so one could say "***'s on fire"
and maybe all these things
and the change were a reason that our application got ignored
Sony on the other hand reorganized their whole submission process
in order to become a registered developer
and thus did some work in advance
that Microsoft will do in the future
so don't get me wrong
I don't want to disrespect Microsoft in any way
but I want to share our story with you and this is what we experienced
so let's start with Microsoft because it is told quickly
Markus made some contacts through a participation at the Kinect Accelerator contest during his studies
and as far as I know this was six months before we started with our EXIST scholarship
so we mailed them full of anticipation
and said "guys, we are ready!"
and...yeah...
it seemed like those contacts were not with Microsoft anymore
so this was kind of a bad start for us
after that we got a contact through Georg
say "Hi" Georg :)
[Georg: Hello! :) ]
he got it by fluke when we were in Munich
I think it was inside a bank
so we met a former associate of Georg who knew someone working at Microsoft
so we had another potential contact within Microsoft
and we also sent him our Pitching-Package
here you go
the link
unfortunately there was no response either
and the official game submission did not accept new devs for the Xbox 360 anymore
maybe due to the fact that Microsoft lives through changes in their program
and there ends our story with Microsoft already
we were frustrated
then I thought to myself
"Sony"
"Camera"
"Motion controls"
"Let's do this!"
this time I started more guerilla like
and thought to myself
"Last time the official way failed"
"Big time"
so I looked for studios already developing games for the PlayStation 4
and wrote an email to my first pick
I was also looking at the size of the studio
to find one that is also of small size
because they know the problems
small studio, small team
please give us a hand!
and it really worked out
shed a few tears ;)
and it really worked out well
the guy there was a pragmatic
put his partner at Sony in CC and introduced us directly via email
"Hello" "André, Sony guy" "Now you know each other"
and the Sony guy was awesome
he directly offered us an NDA and wanted to take a look at our Pitching-Package
so we gave him our address
and he then noticed that we are not from the US
oh and by the way
there is SCEA, Sony Computer Entertainment America
SCEE, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
and SCE...
...something with Asia :)
[SCEJ, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, gomen nasai ^^]
and....yeah...
so then the Sony guy introduced us to someone at XDEV
XDEV means "External Development"
they are a division within SCEE and support Indie-Studios
you have full support
marketing support, they'll get you to trade shows
E3... you name it
they also provide human resources
and help you to get the most out of your game
but you do not have full control over your IP anymore
and we did not want that
unfortunately the contact at XDEV was out of office at the time we wrote
so we did not receive an answer for a while and were frustrated again
we then tried to submit our game concept via the official process
but since we are poor Indies we only had OpenOffice
and there was a problem with our Excel-Sheet and we could not upload it
this made me somewhat aggressive :)
and then I thought to myself "Ok folks!"
If you have your Shahid Kamal Ahmad...
...totally cool guy btw...
...positioned like the savior of Indies...
...in several articles
so I noticed him and had his name
and thought to myself "ok dude, got ya!"
so I tweeted him and gave him links to our Pitching-Package
and said
of course in a more polite way :)
your damn web-formula does not accept our Excel-Sheet
and we desperately want to show our game to you guys!
no joke ten minutes after the tweet came an answer
"Sorry for your troubles with the formula"
"here, write an email to dev relations and CC me"
and finally WIN!
it worked out!
if you look at the time span
the endeavor with Microsoft took round about a month and a half
and with Sony...
more precisely the Tweet story...
...those three steps...
were the important ones which netted us the DevKit
and those took us a maximum of 20 minutes!
so what is the bottom line?
don't be shy!
never give up if a plan does not work as expected!
No! No!
push forward, forward, forward!
do not take things personally
many may think
"oh my god"
"our game is crap!"
"it sucks so hard!"
"oh god folks!"
"let's quit this!"
"I'll go and get a regular job!"
STOP!
NO!
NO!
DON'T DO IT!
all jokes aside
there may be several reasons
maybe people are very busy
or your mail gets lost in an overcrowded inbox
so pull yourself together and go on!
so what says the clock?
looking good!
oh btw if you have any questions...
shout!
alright
we then thought "Yes! DevKit! "Rock and Roll!"
now we will only work on our game! 24 / 7 !
but...
...forget it!
when you start you think that you have so much time
one year scholarship
but the clock is melting
*strange noise* :P
because when you look at all the implicit tasks that arise when you develop a game
I mean when you work on your game during your studies
every evening
buddies
beer and whatnot
and you design and experiment
write some code
big fun!
it really is great!
game jam like! I love it!
but when you want to make a living
in order to develop and release several games
and build something like a company
there are suddenly so many issues popping out like weed
you simply have to deal with
and this costs you a lot of time!
thankfully
I studied E-Services at the Stuttgart Media University
and were allowed to learn a lot about business administration
this means that I did not have to make myself aware about the importance of marketing
or realize it
because I already knew that this is something one should do :)
so all these topics
business administration
founding a company
it all helps a lot
but in the end there is still a lot to learn and do
so let us briefly look at the topics on the sheet
marketing
extremely important!
when you read through the helpful pixelprospector "Big List Of Indie Game Marketing"
you'll find an article saying
1/3 marketing
1/3 quality of the game
and 1/3 luck
when you look at the components of success of a game
so marketing is very important
you can't just sit in the basement and develop your game
be it the best game ever
you'll finally realize around the time of release
"oh, nobody knows a thing about our game!"
so start early
read a lot about the topic
for example
I read two and a half weeks articles using Clearly and a robot voice that read out the text to me
it really was a ruminant experience
but it really helps you a lot
but it is a lot of work
you should have some kind of strategy
when are we reaching out? what do we want to show?
this affects the development plan as well
what should be done until when? in order to have some marketing assets
so that you can show something
trailers, pictures, etc.
so you really have to harmonize all the different tasks which are all part of the production process
PR is another important part
get known maintain a blog engage in communities.
the latter may be more important when you develop a PC game since you can easily hand over a demo
this can get a little tricky when you develop on console but nonetheless an important issue
project management!
determine tasks
what kind of tasks need to be done? in programming? in design?
then you have to make work packages
so you can say what needs to be done and when?
what is our first milestone? what are its goals and why?
what do we do in the first iteration? what in the second and why?
what it is important and what not?
you have to prioritize in order to decide
what's really important at the moment and what can be postponed
you also have to constantly monitor and update your progress
you should do it on a weekly basis
I mean you do not have to act like a big software company
we for example have a simple template on a whiteboard
there we have the different main tasks
like programming
design
business development
jab jab jab
and every week we look at each main task and brainstorm
what is important this week? what is overdue?
what is done? what is next?
important!
another thing is the production itself
a lot of time is prototyping
graphic design
sound design
it was also time consuming to get our core running on the PS4 DevKit
our first prototype was made with XNA Gamestudio
XNA had C# and XNA itself that made things a little bit easier
and then you start over again
PS4 DevKit
C++
a new engine
and setting up your project while familiarizing with a new development environment
takes quite some time
of course you have support through the DevNet
but it is there for specific questions and not to pamper everybody
so this takes some time
if you want to take apply for some funding
or want to find a publisher for your game
or you decide to self-publish then you have to stay afloat
and again this costs a some time
and another thing is business administration
the founding itself
we were in the lucky position that we were granted a business coach in the context of our EXIST scholarship
who helped us a lot during the process of founding a company
though we only started with a GbR [German form of enterprise]
because we needed a VAT-tax number in order to become a registered developer
so they took all documents needed and pre-filled them for us
the only thing we had to do was sign that thing and hand it over to the finance office
then you have to argue with the finance office
just kidding
I must say that I was surprised
everybody was talking bad about the finance office
ok, maybe it is because we do not earn any money right now :)
but they were really cooperative and friendly
of course you have to be cheeky and pushy then you'll get some quick results :)
you also have to familiarize yourself with self-publishing
and the implicit marketing and PR tasks that come with it
in regard to infrastructure we had such a great support from the Stuttgart Media University Startup Center
so we did not have to do anything about it
but if you have to deal with it this can also cause a lot of work
so yeah
that's it for now
if anybody is thinking right now
"wow, what a bunch of cool dudes!" :P
"I want to work with you!"
please feel free to contact us anytime
we are located in the TTI Stuttgart
you can drop by anytime and buy us a coffee :)
just kidding
but maybe you want to come over and have a little chat with us
you can visit our website and have a look at our horrible team video :P
or you can like us on Facebook and see what we are doing all day long
and yeah....
thx for your attention!
and there are no questions, right? ;)
awesome!
[we did not translate the questions since they are only in regard to German funding programs]
[and if you are interested in such a program, you can hear the audio for yourself! ;) ]
so thx for watching!