A JOURNEY FROM FLASH TO

STEAM
GAME DEV GATHERING 2014
BY KRIS ANTONI

Agenda

A Little Introduction

Game Overview

Background

Development Phase

Release Phase

Lessons Learned

Conclusions

About Me
Kris Antoni
Hadiputra

CEO & Co-Founder of Toge Productions

IGDA Jakarta Chapter Coordinator

Role in Infectonator : Survivors

Game Designer

Art Director

Programmer

The STEAM Dream

75 Mil active users

Hardcore & Royal

L337 developers only

HOW IT STARTED - FLASH OF IDEAS

How It Started - Infectonator

Series

How It Started

Surviving the Infectonator Universe

Taking Infectonator to the next level

Early Concepts:

Tactical

Shooter

Strategy

Simulation

Mobile friendly

Game Design: Objective

How do we do it: mix everything

we like with a bit of trial and
error

Goals

Fun & Addictive

Highly Replay-able

Deep & Engaging

Challenging

Memorable

Game Design: Inspirations

What is it?

Infectonator : Survivors is Randomized

Permadeath Survival Simulation

Fun & Addictive

Fast Paced Survival

Highly Replay-able
Randomized

Deep & Engaging

Simulation Mechanics

Challenging
Permadeath

Memorable
Personal Experience

Combines RTS, TD, Squad Tactics, SimManagement, Roguelike

How Do We Do It: Steam Greenlight

Drive traffic from FB & Twitter to Steam page

Drive traffic from Flash version to Steam page

Received great feedback from users

Greenlit in 5 Days

DEVELOPMENT BOILING PROCESS

Development

Tools
Flash AS3 + Starling

Multiplatform target
Web, Desktop, Mobile

Core team
1 Programmer, 3 Artists

Dev time
Target: 4 months
Actual: 2 years and counting

Development - Challenges

Game Controls
Figuring out the right control scheme for multiple devices

Screen Resolution
Figuring the right UI/UX/Layout

Performance
Delivering stable 60 FPS across multiple platforms

Funding
Supporting the dev team

Development - Challenges

Screen Resolution

Development - Timeline
Concept

Alpha 1

Alpha 2

Alpha 3

November 2012

March May 2013

December 2013

January 2014

Prototype Internal Test

GDC 2013
CasCon Asia 2013
Gamejolt

Christmas Version
Armor Games
$10K Sponsorship

Funding

Crowdfunding? Kickstarter? Indiegogo?

Sponsorship

Steam Early Access

Steam Greenlight

Alpha 4 etc
Steam Early Access

 Armor

Games Christmas
Edition

Rating

8.8/10

EARLY ACCESS RELEASE STEAMY

GREENLIGHT

Why Steam Early Access?

PC (Premium) vs Mobile (Freemium)

mentality

Start Selling and Continue Development

Let players join the dev process

Freedom to Experiment

Result So Far: Steam Early Access

Released 14 April 2014 (14-04-14)

Sold at $12.99 with 25% Launch Promo

Almost no marketing

Sold 1000 copies on 1st day

45/50 Positive Reviews

Permitted to use L4D characters from Valve

Sales Graph
Launch

Launch Sale
Ended

Early Access Launch 14.4.14

Steam
Halloween
Sale
Newgrounds

Sales Graph

Steam Halloween
Sale

Newgrounds

Viral demo impacts sales

Sales Distribution

Lessons Learned

What we did right

Stay in touch with early adopters

Maintain regular updates

Cross promote with viral Flash version

Mobile in mind from the start

Control Mechanics

Resolution

Technical Limitations

AGILE Development with Deliverable Milestones

Lessons Learned

What we need to improve

Not to rely too much on Facebook fan page

Avoid confusion between paid version with free

Flash version

Not to release the game with old trailer video

Conclusions

Steam is not the final destination

Build your fan base

Keep in touch with your early adopters

Leverage using Flash game portals

Clearly state free web-version as Demo

Be AGILE and have target milestones

Thank you
Kris Antoni Hadiputra, CEO & Co-Founder
E-mail kris@togeproductions.com
Twitter

@kerissakti