August 29, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP8D1Fr9k8E

What

Free-to-play mobile game aimed at a young male audience. It boasted high production value with proven, short gameplay. Unfortunately, it lacked great depth and sufficient monetization. The game was published by a top 10 global mobile publisher at that time.

Why

In 2013, I launched a "hot gaming startup" with a group of friends and business angels, aiming to capitalize on the growing mobile and free-to-play (F2P) trend. We drew inspiration from successful companies like Natural Motion Games, Kiloo, and Rovio.

Our goal was to launch 4-6 products, with Creature Racer being our first major title (third overall).

We believed our strategy was solid and that we were early to market. Both were true, but we grossly underestimated the challenges of finishing and marketing the game within our allocated budget. Who knew? 😉

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How

  1. Our plan was to build a company, not just a game, with the goal of self-publishing and retaining the IP. We were primarily inspired by companies like Kilo and Rovio, which leveraged the Apple ecosystem to become highly profitable, high-growth companies without any intermediaries.
  2. The primary objective was to achieve commercial success independently. That was the ultimate goal. Alternatively, if we were not entirely successful, the aim was to demonstrate traction and the ability to create games with. ahigh production value, a distinct style, and specific categories and loops. This would help secure further investment after the initial stages of the company.
  3. What I was really proud of is the core gameplay loop that we designed, which lasts around 10 to 20 seconds on mobile phones. It’s very simple to understand, yet not that simple to master. We were mostly inspired by the company Natural Motion Games and the game CSR Racing, which was very similar and a significant inspiration for us.
    1. I think we did very well. The playtests with kids and later with the real audience showed that we did an excellent job in keeping gamers interested. Huge kudos to Szymon Majewski, who was responsible for it.
  4. What I really loved about our achievement is the fact that we agreed on a specific art style and production pipeline for the creatures in our game design document. From the very beginning, the idea was to base them on simple shapes similar to various types of animals. This approach allowed us to easily modify them and use these modifications. asa monetization tool. Additionally, we planned to add more creatures if the game became successful. They were also designed to be potentially used as merchandise, similar to what we’ve seen with Rovio’s games.
    1. I think we did really well. I love this art style so much that I’ve printed the marketing materials and keep them in my house as a form of nostalgic memory. Huge kudos to Krzysztof Bielenin, who was responsible for the art.
  5. Ultimately, due to various internal disagreements on the direction of game development, the project was prolonged. We eventually needed to partner with a publisher to assist with marketing, as our budget was stretched thin. Fortunately, we secured one of the top five global publishers at the time, which significantly boosted our game’s downloads and visibility—a truly exciting outcome. I am also grateful for the financial support they provided.However, working with a publisher introduced new challenges. They insisted on incorporating multiplayer functionality in the game’s first iteration, which was not in our original plan. In my opinion, this approach does not align with the principles of creating a minimum viable product (MVP). Additionally, the publisher’s aggressive monetization strategy, heavily reliant on advertising, was, in. my view, detrimental to the game’s overall quality.
    1. The key lesson here is that partnering with a publisher can significantly restrict your creative control and decision-making autonomy regarding the game’s core features, which can be harmful in the long run.
  6. In terms of technology, we used Unity 3D, which is already. astandard engine for such games. We were early adopters of Parse.com, a. backend system famously discontinuedby Facebook. I loved the fact that we were early adopters. The team was relatively small for such a project. We had two programmers, one of whom was essentially the lead programmer and later became the lead of everything, in my view. He now works at Unity Engine in San Francisco and is a top engineer at Google. As for the game’s appearance, I think it lacks a bit of polish. We could have spent another year improving the UI, animations, or 3D models, but I still think the music and art style look great to this day. If someone had the assets and the desire to improve it, it could still be a very good game.

Key numbers

  1. 5mln downloads, good app engagement 🤘
  2. Featured globally by Apple and Google Play 👏