When it comes to games, I pretty much know what I’m doing. I’ve written game designs before and followed the traditional path for developing a big budget, multi-million dollar, AAA title: create a design document, secure funding, assemble a team. Casual titles, however, don’t seem to follow this same model. So I searched for advice and began compiling the collective wisdom I found.
“How do I make a casual game?” I posed this question to a number of people during a recent Minna Mingle. “I have a novel idea for a game, and I’ve got some funding; but where do I go from here?” With each new bit of information the picture became clearer—and the need for a summary of what I was learning more obvious. So, in order to keep you from having to repeat my quest, here are the tidbits I gathered.
What is a casual game?
A casual game is usually a smaller game, both in size (ranging from 10 to 50 megs) and in game play time (offering on average 10 to 30 hours of unique game play to the user). Most casual games are targeted at mainstream Web users, and thus the games tend to be easy to learn, non-violent and not especially complex. Users can log in, play for a while, and log out, feeling they have had a fun experience. While the preceding is a generalization, it describes most of the casual games currently in circulation.
Where do I start?
As with writing, the hardest part of creating a casual game is getting started. An understanding of the market will help generate ideas and narrow down the possibilities. Tough market research is the best place to start. Learn what types of games are out there and what the components of these games are. Some good sites I’ve found are: MSN games (http://zone.msn.com), Playfirst (www.playfirst.com) and Pogo (www.pogo.com).
After researching the market, the next step I would recommend is learning about the development community. A good starting point is the Casual Games Special Interest Group at the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) (www.igda.org/casual/). The IGDA offers a great environment for developers of all experience levels to come together, exchange ideas, and ask questions. I highly recommend joining the mailing list. Another helpful site is the Casual Games Association (www.casualgamesassociation.org). The CGA (which also published this article) is an organization that will allow you to get to know developers, publishers, distributors and portals in the casual games space.
Why make a casual game?
This year I spoke with many casual game developers. The majority of them worked in small teams with established technology. The beautiful thing about casual games is that a small group of people can use existing technology to create a game in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost required to create a AAA title.
What language is the code written in?
The programming language a developer uses depends on the comfort level of the development team and the requirements of the distribution method. The most common languages are Visual C++, Torque, Flash, Java, Perl, and Director. More information about the technology behind creating a casual game can be found at www.igda.org/casual/quarterly/1_1/casual.php. For links, downloads and information on various development tools, check out http://abattoir.wolfpaw.net/personal/gamelibs.php.
Who is involved with creating a casual game?
Three groups are involved with getting a game from the mind of a designer and delivering it to the desktop of the end user.
- Game developers use passion and creativity to take an intangible idea and solidify it with code. Developer teams range in size from a single person multitasking all of the jobs needed to create a game to large development teams of 10 or more.
- Publishers are a tremendous resource for small developers. Publishers can polish a developer’s game and shop it around to distributors. They can also find funding to create a game or the resources needed to finish an existing one.
- Distribution portals are websites that offer end users a collection of games to try out and (we hope) purchase.
What to do with a great idea.
Once you have a solid idea, it’s time to create the design document. The most important part of any game, the design document acts as your guide in determining the scope of the project, creating the development schedule and project tasks, and allowing others to understand what you’re creating. Books I’ve found helpful in the design process are: Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton, Christopher Swain and Steven Hoffman and Game Development and Production by Erik Bethke.
The next step is to build your game, though it need not be your “masterpiece.” A new developer or studio needs a track record to give publishers, portals and investors an example of your capabilities. Few things are as important in this industry as having released titles to show your competence, bring in income, and give you a morale boost. Accordingly, it is often in the best interest of a new development team to start small. A simple game gets your team working in the development environment and establishes its ability to create a game. It can also display your potential to publishers or investors. Don’t panic if creating an entire game seems overwhelming. Start with a proof of concept for your game or a prototype that highlights a particular aspect of the complete game, then build the rest of the game as funding and new ideas appear.
Where can I get help along the way?
It is possible to have a great design, full documentation and a working prototype but not have the funds or capabilities to finish it. I’m of the opinion that it is better to call in help than to have a game languish in development for years. When looking for people to help work on a project, a great place to start are schools with game development programs and skilled students looking to work on a title in production. Programs such as The Art Institute (www.artinstitutes.edu) and Full Sail (www.fullsail.com) have staff advisors that can help to place students with a developer.
The project listing page at Gamasutra (www.gamasutra.com) is another place to post for help. Don’t expect to get good reliable work from people for nothing, however. Be prepared to offer cash or a piece of a game royalties to get experienced, skilled people. Offering stock or shares in a developing company is something to be avoided, however, inasmuch as having ownership of company spread amongst too many people can scare away potential investors.
IndieGamer (www.indiegamer.com) offers a strong community of message boards for independent game developers with areas for help wanted and game feedback. Garage Games (www.garagegames.com) has an active community for help with advanced topics in engineering, audio, production and art.
Getting your game into distribution.
You have finished creating your first casual game—now what? The traditional model for game distribution is for a developer to make a game, package it, and ship it to retailers. To give a frame of reference from personal experience, a game that will retail at $19.99 will cost approximately $3 dollars per package to manufacture (for a small game run of around 50,000 units). This includes a box, CD, jewel case and a 10-page rule book. Another 10-30% comes off the top for fulfillment (taking the finished boxes from the manufacturer and getting them into retail stores)—that’s about $4 per box. You can count on 10-25% of the retail price being allotted for advertising and marketing—about $2 per box on the low end. So do the math: That’s about $9 per box just to put a game on a retail shelves. Most stores take 40% off the top of the retail price for their expenses, and larger chain stores can demand even more. What all that means is that on a $20 game, a developer may net just $3 per unit, or a 15% return. To make matters worse, these manufacturing and distribution costs must be paid before any revenues from the game are seen.
A new choice for developers is to release their own games online. With this model the developer creates its own website to entice players to try (and eventually buy) its game. Self-distribution leads to higher profit for the developer but comes with a number of concerns. How does a relatively unknown developer draw people to its website? Viral marketing is currently the cheapest way to promote your name. Links to a game site on other websites frequented by the target demographic is a relatively low-cost, effective marketing tool but may be viewed as spam and anger some players. Another concern with self-distribution is how to collect the cash. Trymedia, Plimus, RegNow and PayPal offer possible solutions. Other issues with self-distribution are Web hosting, security (hacking and game stealing) and network infrastructure (to handle the traffic).
If self-distribution doesn’t sound appealing, a distribution portal could be the answer. It is through portals that most small developers get their games out to the public. In exchange for a percentage of the revenue (retaining 20% to 30% of sales is typical for a first-time developer), a distribution portal will modify your game to work with their online distribution tools, put the game online for trials, sales, and downloads, and provide advertising on their site. While the price is high, the larger portal sites can receive over a million hits a week, offering a new developer a tremendous number of impressions (the number of times a customer views a game or advertisement). In addition to providing higher visibility, the portal sites will handle hosting the game, collecting and distributing revenue, and maintaining the majority of the backend network. In some cases, a portal will act as a publisher for a developer, getting a successful game placed onto other portal sites as well. Distributing through a portal can even offer access to the major game sites, such as MSN, Yahoo, and AOL.
One last word of advice: When shopping a game around for distribution, look over the contract carefully. Make sure that you protect your IP (to retain the rights to your creation) or that you are properly compensated to surrender those rights. Likewise, be careful not to grant exclusivity to any portal without receiving a higher payment percentage in return. Other issues to be aware of are how long your game will remain on the site, what advertising/marketing will be provided, and whether the portal will offer the game to other portal sites. In any case, it is well worth it to engage a good contract lawyer to ensure that your rights are properly protected.
Conclusion
The potential of the casual games market is undeniable, with millions of dollars being spent and continued growth expected. Independent developers have the ability to create a name for themselves that is rarely available in the AAA arena. User-friendly development tools and digital game distribution give access to game development at little to no cost.
Hopefully the information above will show a starting path for getting into the casual games space. A little bit of information can lower that initial barrier to entry. With luck and vision these can be the first steps in creating the next great casual game.
Robert Carroll is a Game Producer for TableStar Games, LLC. TableStar Games is dedicated to exploring new ideas in games and gaming with its innovative new tabletop game system, HeroCard coming in the summer of 2006. Robert can be reached at robert@tablestargames.com.
