MasterClass: Predicting Commercial Success in Free-to-Play

The PocketGamer.biz MasterClasses include online webinar lessons and workshop sessions conducted by video.

PocketGamer.biz is well known for its conferences and round-tables, but the short nature of these sessions means they only scratch the surface of important subjects. For real in-depth learning, we have worked with industry experts to create the MasterClasses. They are professional half-day activities featuring tutorials and breakout groups, all accessed from your home office.

There are four sessions running in December 2020 (see below), and this session is: F2P Publishing & Predicting Commercial Success – with Martine Spaans

OVERVIEW

After the hard work of designing and creating your game, how will you bring your project to life? It doesn’t start with the choice if you want to publish or yourself or work with a partner, but it actually starts with the question if your game is even ready for launch. Sadly many games fail at launch because the runway was simply too short and there is no sustainable way to adapt to the market.

In this masterclass we want to address those pitfalls. We’ll look at how to use the game statistics to guide your design decisions and we’ll hand you a checklist on how to negotiate a fair publishing contract.

Martine Spaans started her career in online gaming in 2006 and has worked for well-known companies like Spil Games and Ubisoft before setting up her own Mobile Publishing company. By optimising the successful formula behind a great casual game she developed a good understanding of gamers needs. During the last decade she has given numerous talks at conferences and mentored indie teams regarding game design, games for women and a practical approach to mobile publishing.

She runs Publishing label Tamalaki.com; a boutique publisher with a hands-on approach, specialised in Hidden Object, Match-3 and Simulation games. Tamalaki joined forced with partner-company FGL.com, which focuses on idle/clicker gamer, card- & boardgames and silly puzzles.

We will focus on three core areas of design:

The workshop will focus on three subject areas:

1) Predict: Games require a different market research than simply creating demographic profiles. We’ll give some practical tips how to prepare your game for a commercial launch and what methods to use to check if other people love your game as much as you do. Learn how to design for retention and avoid a content burn.

2) Publish: Self-publish or find a publishing partner. For both routes there are some basic metrics you need to understand. We’ll discuss some available tools to get access to the right stats and how to use them. We will work with example sheets to calculate if your game is showing healthy performance.

3) Contracts: Mobile F2P contracts often have quite a unique setup. As partners rather than client and supplier, both parties have to make commitments. As with the game-metrics it is also important to make the contract measurable. We’ll look at some good and bad examples.

In this class attendees will be able to learn:

• How to recognise if your game has any commercial viability.
• The importance of session length, retention and ROAS
• How to calculate if the game is performing well enough for sustainable user acquisition
• What to specify in a publishing contract

This will be a highly interactive session using Zoom and Miro as tools to support the participants working together to see how the theory can be applied.

For each subtopic we will have the following format:

20 mins lecture

20 mins group activity

20 mins Feedback/Review

60 mins x 3 = three hours total

There will be audience participation encouraged throughout the MasterClass.

This workshop is designed for small and mid-sized game development studios, working on any game genre. Disciplines we’ll touch upon are Business Intelligence, Marketing, Game Design and Production.

Basic knowledge of F2P Mobile game design is recommended.

There are three other sessions available in August 2020. Each MasterClass requires a separate ticket, although multiple bookings are encouraged and come with a discount:

Tuesday, December 1st (2pm-5pm)

Game Design: How to Benchmark, Create and Validate Fun, with Javier Barnes

Wednesday, December 2nd (9am-12noon)

How to Raise Investor Money for Your Game Studio, with Joakim Achren

Wednesday, Decemember 2nd (2pm-5pm)

Game Monetisation Design: Building Value into Your Game, with Oscar Clark

Individual multi-buy discount: book for three & get fourth free (so, book for all four MasterClasses and get one of them free).

Corporate discount: a group of six or more from one company can get 30% off if booked together.

To take advantage of multi-buy or group discounts, please email sally.kevan@steelmedia.co.uk to discuss your bespoke package.

Select your ticket above and follow the simple online booking system. Payment is required at the time of booking, so please have your credit or debit card ready.

Group bookings from the same company: to arrange a discount on block bookings, please contact us if you wish to purchase more than 6 tickets, via sally.kevan@steelmedia.co.uk

If you are an indie developer (small privately-owned studio with fewer than 10 members, engaged in game creation) or student you may be entitled to discounted tickets. Please contact us with proof of your status and we can discuss relevant offer codes: sally.kevan@steelmedia.co.uk

Please note the final ticket price is in £UK, and conference tickets can be subject to UK VAT at a rate of 20%. You will be sent a VAT receipt by email along with confirmation of your booking.

For all other questions, please contact support@pgconnects.com

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