Heading out to E3

It’s been awhile and I have a lot of catching up on this here blog. Heading out to E3 today to help cover the event for Total Gaming Network and Girl Gamer. If you’re onsite love to meet up, hollah at yer girl.

Casual Game Demographics, Who are they and who are they for?

Early on in 2000, when someone said casual gamer, the first image of the player was most likely women, or the “soccer moms.” In the early 2000s, adult women represented a Blue Ocean of gaming but now in 2009 it is very red with 1,200 developers participating in this space.

Who is the Soccer Mom?

• Appreciate simple gameplay and are consistent players
• Women 60-85%
• Tend to skew older than the core gamer with a median age of 35-45

Positives:

• Have disposable income, use credit cards and are fairly open to web transactions.
• Not interested in the core gaming value proposition
• Little to no piracy, these audiences are not on Bit torrent to figure out how to get more for free reducing the need for DRM.
• Willing to consume lots of content in their favorite genres , if they bought one game and liked it, they are likely to buy more of the same

Negatives:

• Not familiar with core game tropes including genre conventions, controls
• Minimal spare time
• Web is free mentality resulting in low conversion rates – demo to purchase
• Fairly price sensitive, particularly in the current economy, games are a disposable past time. (What do you think? With the advent of iPhone applications and erosion of traditional price points – $20 to $10, etc., will price points erode among the entire genre?)

Although these were the majority players in the past, there are tons of new niches of gamers emerging, representing Blue Ocean opportunities.

Boys, they play casual games too!

What they like:

• Frequent content refresh
• Short durations
• Topical, edgy, risqué humor (humor that may be taboo for women)
• In-browser play

Positives:

• Lots of time to invest
• Comfortable with edgy subjects
• Know core gaming conventions
• Don’t need to create depth (relatively)

Negatives:

• Competing for attention with core games
• Minimal disposable income
• Short attention span/low loyalty to individual games

Strong brands among this audience:

• Miniclip
• Addicting Games
• Rune Scape

 

Girls, they just want to have fun

What they like:

• Virtual worlds
• Soft theme MMOs
• Identity/Investment
• High levels of personalization
• Open-ended play cycles with low commitment

Positives:

• Lots of free time to invest
• Attracted to games offering high level of investment
• Clear monetization through small transactions – customization

Negatives

• Minimal disposable income
• Requirements for persistence ups the product ante
• Social environment expensive to maintain

Strong brands among this audience:

• Club Penguin
• Yoville
• Pet Society

Undiscovered Territory:

Older men, we are still figuring out what they like in a casual game however with disposable income this is a profitable audience to target.

What are the commonalities among casual gamers?

• They are still casual gamers
• United by psychographics not demographics
• Looking for engaging, accessible fun
• Low session times
• Open to disposable online entertainment
• Overly price sensitive (free is nice!) Important to have free component

Casual games are not just “soccer moms” and are available for everyone. Remember to know your audience and what they want before you build.

Casual Games Summit: Marketing 101, Developing a Casual Game

This is a key question for any new product development. When you start to build a game, define your audience so that you know what they want to play before you build! This knowledge is critical and will shape your game from top to bottom, ensuring that when you do launch it, that it will be a success.

This doesn’t mean replicate prior successes (think Red Ocean mentality from a previous post) but it does involve establishing a deeper understanding of your audiences – what they like in a game, how they experience and approach games and platforms they use. This provides you the knowledge of how you can provide them with a fun satisfactory game play experience and be profitable by building a strong economic platform for your product because let’s face it, we all love games but most likely, you’re in this to make money.

At the Casual Games Summit, speakers identified what hasn’t worked in the casual game market:

• Playtime charged by the minute
• Casual game rental
• Facebook and other social networking game for developers
• Non-smartphone mobile for indie developers
• Fully ad-supported large scale casual (I think this has HUGE untapped potential!)

(NOTE: these are general principles because although there are exceptions, they are the minority)

Casual Games Summit: Casual Games Changing the Landscape

All people are gamers. Since the beginning of time individuals have played games independently or with other folks, think of images of popular board games from the past and you typically see a cross-section of ages and genders having fun. It’s not until the advent of the digital age that games became relegated to a niche of the population and establishing a barrier to entry to a wider audience by placing emphasis on more difficult forms of gameplay and deeper familiarity with establish game mechanics.

The emergence of casual games has been a great tool to reestablish that “games are for everyone” by transforming the gaming landscape with the introduction of new audiences outside of the stereotypical “hard-core gamer.”

Casual gamers can be categorized as players for whom games are not a central component in their lives and when approaching development of casual games for these audiences one should assume the following as guiding principles:

• Create a low barrier to entry, games should be:
  • Easy to learn
  • Use rules with which folks are already familiar
  • Incorporate a simple and intuitive user interface
  • Gamers should be able to quickly play with gradual immersion into deeper game play mechanics
• Assume zero knowledge base of games, casual gamers tend to have a zero tolerance for frustration and should be taught through rewards and not punitive punishment
• Permit, but don’t require short play time and fit play into a larger context
• Match your look and theme to target demographic but don’t be condescending to your players

Casual Game Summit Day 1: Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean

Day one at the Game Developers Conference and I am having a blast attending the Casual Games Summit. The theme for this year’s Casual Games was based on the book Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgune – reviewing the casual games space through the lens of Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean.

So what is a Red Ocean or a Blue Ocean? Basically it’s the difference between mature/saturated markets vs. emergent markets.

Speaker Kenny Shea Dinkin summarized Red Oceans perfectly when he said “Everyone to the right hand side of the boat!” Red Oceans are environments where many
competitors capitalize on another game’s success, replicating the story, game mechanics and look and feel. While this business practice reduces risk because it is a proven model, following the same business plan also results in “cut throat competition which results in reduced profits for everyone.”

Blue Oceans are largely emergent spaces, where developers can tap into new audiences, game play and themes, creating new markets with relatively few or no competitors. While this may present some inherent risk to forge new grounds the benefit can be much larger because of the lack of competition because of the lack of competitors.

Coming from a marketing background I find this Summit largely informative and wish that fellows in the business could attend because they tend to build Red Oceans and perpetuate saturation by “doing what works.” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that phrase I’d be a rich woman.

Take calculated risks, by first and foremost identifying your target gamers that you’re building the game for, what they like in a game and play style. Develop reiterations of the game through smart play testing and be a pioneer and forge a path into the Blue Oceans.

Look for more coverage throughout the day on the Casual Games Summit and more!

Houston, We Have a Breakthrough

If you’ve followed my blog from the beginning you might have noticed that the title has changed from ‘Breaking Into the Video Game Industry,” to “Working in the Video Game Industry.”

So what changed?

Over the course of a three month period I have slowly built a growing roster of clients, developing and executing marketing communications. (Hooray!) The last two weeks have been killer, onboarding new clients, launching partnership opportunities, and preparing for GDC. Despite the long hours I can absolutely say that I have never been as satisfied with my work as I am now.

I also volunteer on the International Game Developers Association, serving as the Baltimore Chapter Content Manager and Women in Games Special Interest Group (IGDA WIG SIG) Newsletter Editor.

Today the IGDA WIG SIG just launched our inaugural newsletter. You can check out some of my articles here.

Adult Swim, I Can Has Korgoth of Barbaria?

A loooong time ago on Adult Swim I saw pilot episode of Korgoth of Barbaria and I absolutely loved it. The pilot reminded me of all of the campy/classic fantasy films from the 70s and 80s including Conan, Red Sonia, Fire and Ice, Heavy Metal, the Hobbit, you name it.

 

 

For some reason or another this was the first and only episode of a great show!

 

Adult Swim what’s the deal? Give me my Korgoth!

Video Games for the Road – Nintendo DS

In general, I don’t enjoy flying (this picture sums up the level of joy I have to be in the air).

Watching Patton Oswalt’s standup show in D.C .last night he captured my feelings about planes perfectly when he said “sending a big metal tube traveling through the sky is a slap in god’s face,” and “looking at passengers, it’s like they just strapped on a big rocket to a greyhound bus.” With work and my love for traveling however flying is a routine occurrence and so I often take gadgets with me to take my mind off the flight and the remaining length of time in the air. I’ve found that the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP to be wonderful portable handhelds that provide me with entertainment on the road.

 

Gearing up for GDC I’ve put together a list of my favorite games for each of these systems and a brief review in case you’re looking for some games to purchase for your travels.

Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS is a great little portable system that provides 8 -9 hours of gameplay on a full charge. If you’re traveling with another person for an extended period of time I absolutely recommend this system.

 

The DS has two LCD screens, the top one is a regular screen and the bottom one is a touch screen that many game developers have utilized to deliver innovative forms of gameplay. The DS has wifi and within a limited range can connect to other DS’s to play competitive games. As long as one person has a game cartridge, they can host a game that others can download to participate in, it’s a wonderful way to kill time and make new friends. The majority of the games I own on this system can be played for 5 – 15 minute bursts however they are just as fun over multiple hours.

 

My favorite games for the DS:

• Picross: This is a great picture puzzle game that I describe as visual Sudoku. I particularly enjoy playing this multiplayer and often catch a game right before bed.
• Super Mario Bros: A childhood favorite, Mario delivers as a side scrolling platformer. Additional value comes with the multiplayer games, I’ve giggled across Japan playing these on the train.
• Zelda Phantom Hourglass: Another childhood favorite, Link is portrayed in 3D cel-shaded graphics complete with a great story and innovative gameplay.
• Big Brain Academy: This game is great for quick 5 – 15 minutes of gameplay with five different categories of puzzles including Think, Analyze, Compute, Identify, and Memorize.
• Cooking Mama: This is a really fun and cute game that takes you through simple mini games to cook a recipe. I’ve found that playing it I often get hungry so play on a full stomach or you’re likely to start craving a snack or two.
• Dementium the Ward: I’m a fan of the horror genre which is a rarity for the DS and so when Dementium came out I immediately picked it up for DS. It’s a decent horror shooter and I’ve had some scares in the game. Pick it up if it’s in the bargain bin.

My review of the Sony PSP and games will come come shortly. In the meantime, if you have any recommendations for additional games on the Nintendo DS please let me know.

 

Getting Ready for GDC: Business Card How To’s

I enjoyed this scene from American Psycho about the basic business card. The funny thing is THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME but folks do take notice in the details such as card stock, font size, etc., It really brings home that when creating your own business cards that even the smallest elements matter.

Read my article over at Mary-Margaret for best practices on how to create a great business card. If you have any questions after reading the article or want an opinion on your design feel free to drop me a line!

Shawn of the Dead, Left 4 Dead Crossover

I came across this picture on Deviant Art and thought “wow what a GREAT idea,” you can never have to much of a good thing and Shawn of the Dead maps and Left 4 Dead sounds like a big time WIN to me.

 

Looking at the website of the team taking on the task of recreating Shawn of the Dead maps for Left 4 Dead, it looks like they could use some help, the projects at a standstill until they can find a mapper.

 

Any talented folks interested in helping out and participating in the project please visit their site. I hope this comes through, as well as the Dawn of the Dead mall campaign. These would be great additions to the current four campaigns.