Building a Solid Foundation for a Game Startup

Building a Solid Foundation for a Game Startup

The valuable lessons I’ve learned from running a game startup in Finland and working with indie

teams all over the world

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Quick Disclaimer

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

enough!

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Question

Are you prepared to run a game startup?

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Answer:

Ask yourself Don’s questions: http://gdcvault.com/play/1022021/Going-Indie-10-Questions-to

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Table of contents• Who is this dude?

• The lessons I really really hope you won’t have to learn the hard way after this talk (or at least you will be able to fix them faster when you stumble over them).

• The road ahead

• Summary

• Questions

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Who am I?This is a talk byVlad Micu

Business development manager at Data Realms

Former Head of Studio atCritical Force Entertainment

Used to be the PR Manager ofGet Social

Did production, game design and creative direction forarkavis Siam co. ltd. in Thailand

Wrote for many other international outlets including

Gamesauce.org, TechInAsia.com, PocketGamer.biz, Control

Magazine, Gamer.nl, XBLAFans.com, Casual Connect

Magazine and many more.

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Partners & Clients

My personal lessons & mistakes

• Agreements & Responsibilities

• Adversity & the Reality of Running a business

• Constant Growth and getting Outside Perspective

• Learning to take the punches

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A Culture without Shame helps

And a tight-knit community based on mutual trust is quite nice as

well.www.igda.fi

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(Swedish) Commercial pragmatism

www.stugan.com

The Demo Scene

Optimized code > everything elsehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGwv2F3-Fo

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The Right People & Responsibilities

“You know in a startup, you only need three people. You need someone who can make

something. You need someone who can sell it. And you need someone to collect the money.

That’s the only three roles in a startup. So which one are you?”

– Guy Kawasaki

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Different Attitude & Vocabulary

• Sustainable traction – who’s ever used that word?

• Cash flow positive– or this one?

• Share holders/Revenue share agreement

• Business plan!?

• Go-to-market strategy?

• Product/Market fit

Recommended by @derkdegeus

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REALLY have Everything Written Down

• Meeting minutes, e-mails & contracts.

• Use team communication platform Slack!

• Get your licenses straight: https://tldrlegal.com/

Watch Dmitri Dubograev’s talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXL79-rmvjw

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Having a lawyer & biz dev person on board

• Find a lawyer for equity/rev share

• Get a board of advisors (officially or unofficially)

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/copyright/959/wipo_pub_959.pdf

Contracts are Designed against Assholes

Chris Natsuume’s talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0UL_QOho6g&list=PLEoI6ST6os509lBweWPn67UYaMrMDSOLS&index=4

Be a dick and don’t accept verbal deals. Clauses can always be changed and/or

waived later if needed.

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Never Stop Learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBYhVcO4WgI

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Learn with (Comic) Relief

And squeeze in some Work/Life balance in there while you’re at it!

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Embracing Stoicism

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/

The best way to approach life, the Stoics suggest, is to think of oneself as an archer who does his or her best to fire the arrow well but accepts that once it has flown it may be blown off course and miss the target. In this analogy, our intentions are like preparing to fire the arrow, but the outcome of our actions, like hitting the target, is beyond our control and partly the result of external events.

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Find Veterans & Advisors

Let them give you much needed perspective

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Proprietary Tech still matters• With publishers,

platforms and other potential partners

• Unique look and feel vs. Unity or Unreal Engine

• Even potential commercialization & licensing options (id Software, Crytek, etc.)

http://i.imgur.com/yacucU1.jpg

The BetaDwarf team lived in a university classroom for 7 months before getting

discovered and kicked out

Office space is expensive everywhere

in Karlshamm, Sweden

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Pitch all the Time, Everywhere• Know who you are and

who you aren’t

• Know what the other person wants and doesn’t have

• Use that to disarm your opponent and put him/her in the defensive

• Make yourself rare/scarce

Learn from Eminem!http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/how-to-get-an-mba-from-eminem/

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Embrace Competition

“A wise man can learn more from his enemies than a fool from his friends” – Niki Lauda

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A Support System Really Helps

Colleagues Mentors & PeersTherapist

FriendsA FUCKTON of books

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Don’t let Misfortune Define You

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/magazine/evermans-

war.html?referrer

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The #1 Skill is still Resilience

The Fins have ‘Sisu’ (perseverance)

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Finnish Sisu + Swedish Commercial

pragmatism

http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se/media/150924/game_developer_index_2014.pdf/

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Summary• Get your agreements straight!

• Get both legal & outside perspective.

• Embrace adversity & the reality of running a Business.

• Keep taking those punches, you’ll get there!

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AppendixWhat ‘Triple I’ means for us

• Long term goals & plans

• Proprietary technology and modding community

• Unique vision and business attitude

• Advisors and veterans on board for legal, design, business, etc.

• Looking for unlikely partnerships

• Strong PR & Marketing effort and significant budget

• Being ready for anything from Worst to Best case scenarios

Most importantly

Talk with each other about failure & adversity, entrust each other with those stories. Fully foster your community of peers!

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Bonus tip: watch my other lectures

www.youtube.com/vgvisionary

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Contact me

• @vgvisionary

• Mail me at [email protected]

• Slides: www.slideshare.net/VGVisionary

#imlonely

Thanks!

Questions?

Let’s talk more outside!