Risk management. Sounds like a boring university lecture. But in real life, nothing is more important—or more interesting—for projects small or large. In previous editions of Casual Connect, we have offered suggestions on how to make a go of it as an independent developer (see, for example: “The Realities of Running an Independent Game Studio” (Summer 2007); “Surviving the Industry” (Fall 2007); and “Don’t Go Broke” (Winter 2007). As a follow-up to those popular articles, in this issue we offer a series of articles about the specifics of mitigating risk.
1. “Survival” by Brian Poel. In the face of mounting competition and skyrocketing development costs, developers looking to enter the casual games space will need to carefully plan their business approach. Brian takes a look at specific distribution methods and business models available to mitigate risk for new casual games developers.
2. Examples of Survival—Three companies from the Big Apple. Three specific examples of New York City companies founded seven or eight years ago, each of which has grown organically to about three dozen employees while mitigating risk through diversification of clients, products, and platforms.
3. “Rapid Prototyping to the Rescue” by Bill Dugan. With ever more clones on the market, many are worried about their studio’s ability to create genuinely innovative games. Bill gives an overview of how his company used rapid prototyping to foster innovation.
4. “Zam BeeZee Postmortem” by John Foster. A group of experienced, successful and smart developers leave their safe nest at an established Advergaming company and set off in search of their own fame and fortune. Follow their experiences over two years—and the rather harsh lessons learned from their experiences. Although Zam BeeZee was released nearly three years ago, the candid detail is still illuminating today.
Examples of Survival
Three companies from the Big Apple
Arkadium, an independent game developer headquartered in New York City, has mitigated risk by offering a number of different product options as a service to major brands. This includes allowing games to be compatible with many devices including iTV and SetTop Boxes, Nintendo Wii and 99% of all computers.
The ability to create custom game software quickly on diverse platforms has enabled Arkadium to meet the needs of a wide range of clients such as Mattel, Hearst, National Geographic, CBS and Reebok—while not putting all of their focus on just one product offering.
Peter Lee and Eric Zimmerman founded Gamelab in 2000. Based in New York City, Gamelab focuses on PC download and online multiplayer games along with custom development for major brands. Their projects are funded with advances from publishers, private investment, self-publishing, as well as grants (Gamelab has received major grants from the MacArthur Foundation and Microsoft).
Although many would have gotten high-and-mighty after the great success of Diner Dash, Gamelab continues to work with publishers and partners while also pursuing self-funded projects in order to mitigate their financial risk on any one product.
Since opening its doors in 2001, Large Animal, an independent developer located in New York City, has mitigated the risk of self-publishing downloadable games by adding projects which involve advances from publishers. The duality of guaranteed income from publishers and the high return on self-published titles has segued into the addition of a new online framework for player customized games, PlayWidgets. For example, their Mustachr PlayWidget allows users to add mustaches to their photos which are then viewed and rated by others and can be embedded into any blog or social networking site.
