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Overview of the Casual Games Space with a focus on the needs

of developers.Ivan Tkachenko

Vice President of Production Nikitova Games / Kenjitsu

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Nikitova: Outsourcing

6 years of experience5 offices

Chicago, LA, Kiev, St Petersburg, Dnepropetrovsk

3 dev teams Kiev, Ukraine; St Petersburg, Russia; Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine

250+ employees

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Nikitova: Casual Games Projects

Wild TangentFire FlyPolar GolferPolar BowlerShrek 2 Ogre Bowler

Big FishMystery Case Files

Anarchy EnterprisesNDA Project

…

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Nikitova: Casual Games Development Service

Full game developmentDevelopment of Game Design DocumentArt creation

CharactersLevelsSpecial Effects

ProgrammingC++JavaFlash, Director

Porting to alternate platforms

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Developer's Goals

Make hits (top 10)

Own popular IP

Increase revenue

No excess in value chain

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Scope of work: What developer needs to reach his goals

Management

Sales & Marketing

Production

Infrastructure and artefacts

Postproduction

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Management

Project management

QA Manager

Lawyer

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Project management

Budget

Typically produced for approximately $50,000 to $200,000 USD

Small Team

Roles overlapping

1 person plays a number of roles

Number of projects go simultaneously

Planning / Tracking

Meetings

Coordination

Communications

Reporting to stakeholders

Conventions

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QA Manager

Test PlanLooking for bugs

Compatibility testing

User Surveys

Usability testing

Focus Groups

Play balancing

Linguistic and Functionality Testing

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Sales & Marketing

Research

Pitch

Negotiations

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Research

What is your Target Audience?

Who are your publishers?

Game mechanics

Setting

Art Style

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Pitch

Look and feelPrototype?

More pictures

Key Selling features

Short description instead of GDD

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Negotiations

IP holder

Type of contractPublisher

Self-publishing

Work-for-Hire

FundingShare Risks

Give up rights

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Production

Stages

Team involvement

Technologies

Processes

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Stages

Concept

Prototype

Alpha

Test

Beta

Test

Gold

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Team involvement

Art

Programming

Game design

Management & QA

Sound

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Art

20-45% of budget

Art DirectorStyle

Light

Color

FX

OutsourceSketches

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Programming

20-25% of budget

Lead programmer

Architecture

Flexibility

Handles

Tools

Outsource

Prototype - No re-using

GDD

TDD

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Game design

20-25% game design / narrative / script

Idea

Producer

Game Designer

Game mechanics

Key Design elements

Outsource

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Idea

Reference analysis

Thinking OrganizationNumber of people

Brain storm

MindMaps

More Ideas - wider choice

Test you choice

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Producer

Is it fun enough?

Creative opposition to PM

Marketing support

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Game Designer

GDD

Levels

Balancing

Explaining features on production stage

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Game mechanics

Matching Games

Chain Popper

Find Subsets

Shape Manipulation

System Management

Breakout Variants

Casual Sports Games

Card & Parlor Games

Other Arcade Variants

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Key Design elements

Simple and Meaningful Play with Transparent Rules

User Interaction

Depth & Complexity

Rewarding Players

Showing Progress

Forgiving Game Play

No stress

Visuals and Themes

Narrative and Characters

Using Sound and Interactive Audio to Enhance Gameplay

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Outsource

GDD

First phase of outsourcing full title

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Management & QA

15-20% of budget

Project Manager

QA team

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Sound

1-10% of budget

OutsourceSounds list

Music list

References list

Playable demo with Handles

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Technologies

Engines an Framework

Director

Flash

Torque

HGE

Popcap Framework

Web + PC + Mac

Network

Community based and multiplayer casual games.

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Processes

Small Team

Small Budget

Agile method

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Infrastructure and artifacts

CVS

Feature & defect tracker

Art asset management

Project Plan

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CVS

Documentation

GDD

TDD

WIKI

Code

Graphics

Variants

CVS

AlienBrain

Perforce

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Feature & defect tracker

Test Track

Bugzilla

OnTime

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Art asset management

AlienBrain

Perforce

Art Tracking Tools

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Project Plan

Microsoft Project

Tracker

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Postproduction

Porting to alternate platforms

Localization

Support

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Porting to alternate platforms

Open own division

Outsource to porting house

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Open own division

Long term

Experience

Risky

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Outsource to porting house

Short term

Nikitova Mobile

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Nikitova Mobile

Nikitova MobowiseService

Product

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Localization

Plan at preproduction phase

German, Japanise