1. *presented at IGDA Melbourne meetup April 2010
Year 1
TheVoxelAgents.com
Simon Joslin
Matt Clark
Tom Killen

2. GOING INDIE IS POSSIBLE!
... with a plan

3. THIS TALK IS FOR THOSE
WHO:
• want to start an indie studio
• take indie very seriously

4. ... in the beginning
(Simon Joslin, Tom Killen, Matt Clark)

5. We Set Goals in April 09
We all agreed to focus on:
• iPhone
• Original IP
• Innovation
• Small and gameplay driven
• Trade short-term income for long-term gain
(NEIS, invest cash, ignore contract work)
• Go full-time

6. Dolphin Hero
In the early months:
• Setting goals
• Learning iPhone dev
• Laying some groundwork
Why Dolphin Hero didn’t work
• No target audience
• Not understood in 30 seconds
• No marketing

7. Train Conductor
In the mid-months:
• Prototyped
• Focused on quality
• Really pushed marketing
Why Train Conductor did work
• Obvious target audience
• Understood in 30 seconds
• Supported by marketing
• Niche (Australia)

8. Train Conductor USA
In the late-months:
• Collecting and responding to feedback
• Dedicating 40% of time to marketing
• Using connections

9. In 12 Months:
• $12,000 ($4000 invested each)
• $35,000 earnt
• $27,000 spent
• Released 2 games for iPhone / iPod Touch
• Worked with 9 contract / part-timers, 1 legal firm, 1
accountant

10. The 49 Roles
The
Non-Development
Roles
• Accounting / Tax • Marketing Videos
• Website design / coding • Web 2.0 Strategy
• Marketing Strategy • Forum dweller
• Press management • Tweeter
• Corporate Planning • Facebook'er
• Legals • iTunes Marketing
• Sys / Network / Backups • Website SEO
• Public email handler • Publisher Management
• Human Resources • Rank data analysis
• Looking for offices • Grants

11. The Voxel Agents
What we have after 12 months:
• 2 Games to be proud of :)
• 28,000 Train Conductors
• 1 year of Indie FREEDOM!!
• 237 Twitter followers,
• 98 Facebook fans,
• Connections with GDAA, MMV, Film Vic,
• Contacts at about 30 press outlets
• Interest from Gamasutra, gamedev.net, IGDA Melb etc
• 1 iPhone engine + some in-house tools
• Requests for contract work

12. How much is all of this worth?
a cool $229,850
$0

13. But reality is quite different!!
$0

14. Expenses

15. Retrospective
What went right
1. Trust the long-term plan
2. Quality and polish
3. Realistic schedules / projects
4. Original IP
5. Not protective - Networking, accepting assistance
6. Ok with failure: learn and grow.
7. Imitate success
8. Professional (office, attitude, ACN)

16. Retrospective
What has brought the most value?
1. Marketing (TVA story, press page, resources)
2. Quality (games, website, professional)
3. Relationships (MMV, GDAA, Film Vic, press, devs)
4. Targeting niches (Australia)

17. Retrospective
Marketing tips
1. Have a story for the press to tell
2. Make journalists lives easy
3. Take every opportunity
4. Spread your effort wide
5. Be positive

18. Retrospective
What went wrong
1. Not making smaller games
2. Not releasing earlier
3. Not having an artist in the team
4. Inefficient production management
5. Undervaluing our time

19. If we could do it again
Work to your abilities and Make small titles, record
give 40% of time to marketing metrics and iterate
Have core viral / marketing features

20. INDIE 2010
MUST DO’s for Indies in 2010
1. Work out your income stream
2. Invest in marketing and strategise
3. Befriend the press, give them a story
4. Prototype, make small and iterate

21. GOOD LUCK!
ASK US QUESTIONS
Some resources:
Film Victoria
Game Developers Association of Australia
Multimedia Victoria
New Enterprise Initiative Scheme
Freeplay
simon@thevoxelagents.com
TheVoxelAgents.com
twitter.com/TheVoxelAgents
facebook.com/TheVoxelAgents