12G Challenge Update #1

I knew the concept of committing to finishing and publishing a game a month wasn't new but until recently I didn't know the resources and groups available were so plentiful. Even one of my idols Matthijs Hollemans has attempted the challenge, he may not have completed the challenge but I'm sure he learnt a lot in the process.

I feel with the simplicity of SpriteKit, my understanding of technical game design and the template which is now almost complete to take control of the menu tools and even a few utilities to make SpriteKit even faster, I may be able to pull it off... but maybe I am just crazy.

Keep an eye on my profile on: #onegameamonth

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment to extend a very merry christmas to all customers and associates. It has been a fantastic year and I'm really looking forward to next year with my impending 12 month challenge.

What have I been doing so far?

A challenge like this needs a lot of prep work, while I haven't started making any games I have been jotting down a lot of ideas and working on a menu template I can use on all games and also give away as part of the finished bundle.

The menu template will save heaps of time in the process by having game centre, analytics and store kit fully implemented with warning directives to remind me what needs to be done to have it ready to roll out.

I think this will be a good foundation and lets me concentrate on the 12 games rather than the fiddly detail.

I hope to have this menu template complete by the 1st of January so that I can start work straight away in the new year.

12 Sprite Kit games in 12 months

I've grown awfully fond of SpriteKit in the last few weeks of looking at it and would love to make some games using it. Looking at the business position and time I have to put in to those sort of personal projects its often hard to budget time to make the cool stuff, like games.

I'm still not sure with my time commitments if this idea is even possible but one thing I'd love to do is challenge myself to make 12 games in 12 months, releasing on the 1st of each month where possible.

This means I have to make a few changes to the business structure for my current apps placing them in to two categories:

• Premium Products: Our "Northy Software" premium product apps will still receive ongoing support, updates and feature additions over time until such date they are decommissioned. They will also be kept up to date with any iOS updates.
  Current Premium Apps: Defects Collector, Notography
   
• Budget Entertainment: Our "Northy Software" budget entertainment apps will receive support and updates for up to six months. Any new features after the initial six months will be available via in-app store. They will be kept up to date with any iOS updates after premium apps have been updated.
  Current Budget Apps: Wicked Freefall!, Dubstep Calculator, Evil Block Company

This model should make the app side of the business more sustainable beside the consulting side of the business. If we are going to go from 2 Premium and 3 budget apps to 2 premium (maybe 3) and 15 budget apps by this time in 2014 then that is significant growth in products we need to support.

Quality is something I am passionate about, exercising proper UX design and making great products is essential. I believe this exercise could not only uphold the current standards but improve upon them by forcing design choices based on time constraints and increased exposure to the SpriteKit environment.

12 Games in 12 months, what else?

It's a fun goal but surely there is more that be accomplished within this time period than simply having 12 games on the store at the end.

Learning Sprite Kit Package: What if I was to document the entire process either by video tutorials, video blog, text blog, etc explaining design decisions, coding, marketing decisions and more explaining the whole process over 12 months and packaging it all together with the source code for all 12 games and releasing it to the world as a development package and full course. 

Self Improvement: By far one of the hardest parts of this goal, in building this business and learning new things, I've found it hard to keep in shape. That has to change. I want to lose 2kg for every game released and be 24kg lighter by this time next year.

I want to hold myself to this goal by linking it in with this package and having a chapter on healthy living and how active software developers can take control of their "computer weight". Each release date will also contain how much I have lost since the previous release.

As you can see, I want to keep this project very personal and close to my heart, just like my products. I don't just want to make quick games, I want to make fun games which people will actually be excited to play. It will be a massive challenge.

I think it is time for me to stop typing and get to work, if you support this project, please let me know, the encouragement will only help me reach my goals sooner!

The rise of the "Annual Pass" model

In the mainstream gaming world there has always been an upfront investment to play the game, the problem with this historically is that it often meant a huge cash injection for the company right away and then a slump until releasing their next product.

Then video game developers came up with a few ways to add longevity to their projects by releasing content over time, single player games might get episodic content while multiplayer games might get new scenarios and levels. This is a great way to make some extra money from the devoted fans by giving them something extra at a reasonable price using the existing game resources to save money.

This model has its problems though:

• Creates a barrier of re-entry: Nothing puts a player off more than coming back to a game after a few months and discovering they need to purchase two or three map packs in order to play with their friends.
• Alienates new players: Just like the returning players the new players feel discouraged as well. Unlike the returning players though these guys will never know what the good days were like.
• A fickle community: Gamers tend to move on quickly, bringing out new content too slowly means whatever you are bringing out might not be exciting enough to being back the same volume of fans.

This in turn means for most companies it is more profitable to keep putting out new games at full retail price every 12 months rather than supporting their older games until the numbers slowly drop off.

One solution that has arisen in popularity lately is the Annual Pass, a nominal fee paid upfront while you are excited about the game which gives you something straight away (normally cosmetic) and promises 4 or 5 content packages over the next 12 months that you won't have to pay for.

The prices on annual passes I have seen look fairly reasonable as well, at around 35% of the overall price of the upcoming content. This works great to retain the player base and leaves the old model intact in case people don't want to commit to an annual pass.

Is this a good thing for the games industry?

I think so, it can obviously be abused, if you are going to be pay $60 to $120 for a game you would expect to be getting a fairly complete experience and not feel cheated by being asked for more money to get a great experience. 

Battlefield 4 is a game which pushes this line a little bit by having expansion content available from release date and also offering priority server queue positions to premium pass holders.

Other games such as Dead Rising 3 do a lot better, straight away you receive a few items of cosmetic value that you may not even notice. The remaining content sounded like it will be great value compared to buying each of the episodes separately.

There is definitely a good and bad way to use this payment model, for the most part I think the games using it so far have done a good job at increasing the longevity of their product and keeping gamers happy.

Could this model be useful for iOS games?

The world of iOS is very different to that of mainstream gaming on PC or consoles. While I would like to believe there is overlap (and upcoming controllers might help with that) there currently isn't.

You are also not marketing to someone who wants to sit down for a few hours and have an engaging experience, on iOS you are marketing to someone who wants to kill some time while waiting for the dentist or on a long car ride. It's a different world where games like Angry Birds or Tiny Wings can reign supreme even with their small design scale.

The freemium or in-app content models have proven to work well in this world, for the most part episodic content has worked better on iOS simply because the payment model is a lot less convoluted and has a history of always being there where as payment models on consoles may still be thought of as a new thing.

The real question is, do you love Angry Birds enough to pay $6 for all additional levels and content throughout the year instead of $3 each for 6 packs?

For some people the answer would be yes, Rovio could implement a non-renewing subscription in-app purchase system to allow it as well. Would it be financially beneficial for them if they did? 

No matter how I run the numbers in my head or think about their average players, I'm still not sure of this outcome.

Could an annual pass work on iOS? Maybe... This remains to be seen but I think it has potential, let me know if you come across any games that have implemented this model.

How to be a Technology Evangelist Successfully!

When selling software and/or hardware there are a lot of different groups of people you need to talk to who all speak different business languages and quite often if it isn't a sell at any one level, it isn't a sell. Here are some tips for getting your technology in to a big corporate.

Preparation

Before going to site and introducing the company to your product, there are some things you should always do:

1. Know your product - This may seem like a no-brainer but all too often salesmen have to leave the room to call their IT guys to find out something which they really should already know. If you don't know the product inside and out how do you expect to be able to tell others why they want it?
2. Know your competition - It's very unlikely you are the only one out there trying to sell a product which solves the same solution that your product solves. It's good to do a lot of research and even a SWOT analysis on all competing products just to see how your product compares.
3. Know your customer - It's always good to see what products they are currently using and what their network infrastructure can handle so you know exactly what investment they would have to make in order to implement your product.
4. Believe they need your product - If you've compared the products they are currently using to yours and you honestly believe objectively that what they are currently using is the same or better than your product or that the cost to upgrade would outweigh the benefits then be honest with yourself and leave it at that. This is a hard point for most people to take, they say, "Well, I'm a salesman, I'm meant to be able to sell ice to eskimos!". The technology industry is different though, aside from not wanting to be a sleazy salesman you also don't want other companies calling them to ask about your product and have them say, "It isn't working out for us". It could mean 10 or more lost sales instead of just 1. Don't be sleazy.

Once you are convinced in your own mind that your product can be of great benefit to the potential customer, it's time to go to them and explain your case.

Going to Site

There are 3 types of people you are likely to talk to during the process of discussing the product you have on offer and each group must be communicated to in a different way to properly promote your product.

Should you end up in a situation where all 3 types of people are in the same room make sure you can explain it from all 3 angles if required or keep each topic brief. When in doubt focus on talking about functionality rather than technical details.

These are the 3 types and what the focus of conversation should be:

1. Management - Everyone you speak to is important but in the end it will come down to management to make the decision and place the budget. It will also be their job on the line if the product you sell them doesn't work as intended so it will be very important to earn their confidence (once again, being honest). Talk about other clients that have your product and how they are using it, this makes it easier for them to justify. If your product is rather new then focus on the things it does well and how it will improve productivity and reporting. Management love statistics and case studies. Leave out technical jargon unless they seem savvy with the terminology, if you are talking about things they don't understand then they may feel intimidated or put off.
2. Front End Workforce - You may think the people actually using the product aren't the ones you need to sell to but you'd be amazed how many times it comes down to management asking staff for their impression of the product and that being the deciding factor. You get a lot of people working on the front end, some are excited for change, some are set in their ways and don't want to change and others just don't care. You really need to be sympathetic to all personalities, you don't want to be seen as the bad guy coming in to turn everything upside down when it is currently working. It's important to make it clear you aren't trying to make more work for them, you want to make their work easier and more enjoyable after all.
3. IT and Technical - These guys generally don't care what your product does, only if it is going to be easy to implement and maintain. If your product uses software or server configurations they don't currently use or have experience with, it may be difficult to sell to them. Their concerns are often legitimate, even if your product is great, if their internal IT team don't have the resources to manage it then you will need to come up with alternatives, such as contracts to manage the servers for them, etc. When talking to their IT teams its good to use jargon as it shows you know what you are talking about, keep it light though as being too specific early on can make them hesitate thinking about the potential work load even if it isn't that scary.

A good technology salesman always knows when their product is good for the customer or potentially not so good, so be honest with your customer, they will respect you for it. If you think they are understaffed to acceptably manage the package then let them know, they may just decide to put on extra staff.

You are not trying to sell a dodgy used car, you are selling your brand, an easily tainted brand at that. It is always hard to get started in the technology business, the power of a brand is massive, managers don't get fired for failing to implement reputable branded technology, they get fired for taking risks on unknown brands. They don't get fired for using history proven technology, they get fired for trying the next big thing and having it not work out.

A sympathetic understanding of what could happen to your customer and their job should this not be the right choice for them will not only lead to them respecting you, it will make them respect your product and your brand.

5 Possible Uses for Notography iOS

As I've said before, it is sometimes hard to sum up what "Notography" does easily but I can definitely tell you some potential ways that it could become an essential tool on your iOS device which you can't live without!

1) Building Inspections - If you work in the property market or are a real-estate agent then you will need to take a lot of photos. Sometimes it may be hard relating all of these pictures back to their respective properties, especially if you are giving them to someone else to document. Notography can record the date / time and geocode an accurate address and print it directly on the photo, so all the proof is right there.

2) Live Blogging an Event - If you are at an important event or function as a journalist you need a way to get your content out there and fast, what you don't want is someone else to rip off your content or to post something which looks unprofessional. With Notography you can have your presets set up the day before so that all you have to do is snap and share instantly. It will put your companies copyright information or watermark on the images before sending them, it is quick so you aren't taking your eyes off the action and can auto-enhance the images so they look great and professional.

3) Photo Diary for Holidays - The quick snap and share is great for capturing your adventure without being taken out of the adventure, the different filters and date/time stamps, location details, etc can really help you recall where a photo was taken later and make it look like you are having a great time! Custom text means you can set up titles like "Canda 2014" so you can remember exactly which holiday you were on.

4) Water / Power Meter Inspections - This may seem like an odd item to have on the list but being able to have a static inspection number and automatically geocoded address means its very easy for those back in the office to process.

5) Concept Design Artist - Easily watermark every image you photograph, you can also choose the save the original image on your phone so it is maintained without layered text or filters. This gives you a sharable copy and safe original for later use. 

Any occasion where you want to prepare templates for your photos before hand so that you can instantly automate the process and choose to share via social media, email, airdrop, etc. 

Any occasion where you need to automate useful text to remember where and when the photo was taken.

Any occasion where you want to protect your copyright and/or produce a professional looking image every time you take a photo.