How to make a video game with a tiny budget of 3,000 USD and to make money with it. Thoughts about 'producer's' approach

1. How to make a profitable
game
under $3000

2. Commercial dev by day / indie dev by night

3. Star Tactics is a turn-based tactics game about starship fleets battles

7. Star Tactics
Top-down, stylized graphics
Turn-based combat
No story
Two campaigns
Random battles
Unity3d
Steam (Win/Linux/Mac)
Android - to be released
iOS - to be released
>6k owners
$3000 budget
Already paid off
2 people core team
2 outsource artists
Free sounds
Music from an older project
DIY trailer (thanks to my GF)

8. Budget under $3k
You can do it too!

9. Become a
producer!
Who is a producer?
It’s a person who gives money to other people and
they make him a game.
Become a producer. Order a game.
Your money, your rules
Choose with whom to collaborate
Your responsibility

10. Why become a producer?
I tried several approaches to indie-development:
collaboration with other people - mostly fails due to human factor
one-man team - too much work; I don’t code
hiring a pro-dev, monthly basis - too expensive, weak motivation
working with publishers - terrible terms, you know

11. Let’s start!
Define what’s need to be done
Define what can be done by you
Find and hire missing roles
Prepare planning
Ready to rock!

12. Principles
Team is crucial
Simple game
Proven concept
Realistic goals
Cheapest team possible - hire students, do it it yourself, use colleagues’ help
Use engines
Indie marketing
Maximize quality, make a small but good game
Do cheap features that add value (skirmish mode)
Don’t start from skratch: Find a game you really enjoy playing -> Check if it’s successful -> Think about what you want to
improve -> Change setting to your favorite -> This is your concept
Get a job in game industry!
Get some experience
Discuss your ideas and don’t be afraid - idea without implementation costs nothing
You NEED experience. This is your most valuable asset

13. Team Hire students!
Choose who are eager to do your game!
Pay fixed per project cost - this is crucial!
Be a visioner… and fill every other role you
can
1 developer is all you need
Star Tactics team:
1 dev + me (GD, manager) + 1 2D part time
+ 1 3D part time

14. A good
candidate
Young
Passionate
Eager to implement your game
Might even make you a draft prototype
You like him as a personality

15. Budget sources
Salary! Your main source
Students are cheap
Per project cost - no other ways. Absolutely.
Don’t count price of your work! In other case your budget will be 3-10x
higher
Your friends may help. By doing some work or giving some money

16. Simplify Production
Simple visuals, style matters.
Simple features
Don’t overdesign
Use engines (again)
Marketplace assets
Your colleagues can do part of work
Task tracking!
Deadlines!
Prepare in advance (store pages, art etc.)
You don’t need perfect code! You need a finished game!
Most likely you won’t do Game Evolution for this game

17. Target audience
Star Tactics fills a niche of hardcore games in which thinking is a
main skill.
Player who values words ‘pay once, play forever’ will appreciate this
game because it provides a lot for its price.
It’s a game with simple and clear rules but challenging thoughtful
gameplay and significant playtime.
Star Tactics has a strong community waiting for its mobile release.
Star Tactics will fit to a player who is a fan of:
sci-fi
hardcore strategies
turn-based games
spaceships
tactical combat
buying a game once and playing it for a long time
Our player is also:
a male
18-45 years old
North American, Western European or Asian ( we didn’t expect
Asia but Steam sale stats prove it)

18. Marketing
Twitter, Insta, FB - all this shit doesn’t work without tons of money
FB/Twitter ads doesn’t work at your budget’s scale
Twitter has the best audience
Use autolikers (archie.co) and other SMM tools (Hootsuite)
Your sales will be miserable
But your game will be profitable
Because it’s fucking cheap
Start to do marketing as early as possible
Everything is a marketing asset

19. Mistakes
Don’t port
Develop for target device
I did it just to make a game. Set money goals. Just paying off is ok
Develop for target audience
Don’t become too addicted
Don’t expect a lot of money
Don’t delay paperwork
Pricing - find somebody who knows how it works. Check your
target audience

20. Press
Before release
1.5k sent emails
72 opens
12 link clicks
4 replies
0 results
News even on PocketGamer doesn’t help
After release
100+ received
emails
30+ coverages

21. Release
Release preparations take about 1 month
Do the paperwork in // (It eats time. Really)
Go Greenlight as early as possible, don’t
delay it
Local communities (i.e. Likers Tribe) can help
with different stuff
Playtest with friends
Playtest with colleagues
Find some GDs to playtest your game too!

22. Revenue First night might and most likely will show
TERRIBLE sales
Bundles (Indie Gala)
Bundles give some money but their value is in
huge (for indie) visibility
Steam farmers - few hundred bucks never killed
nobody
Steam revenue is very low comparing to what you
can imagine
Steam sales are cool! Use it!
Other stores doesn’t make money
High expectations is your enemy!

23. Community management
Nice to have, but not crucial
Your GF/BF is the best option

24. Thanks for your
attention!
See your game on the stores!