AAA
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- big buget
- large item
- long development schedule
- requirement:
* large scope,
* broad feature set
- long play time
- high quality/ polish
- innovation?
- no middle in game market
- marketing costs >= development costs
.. note:: core gamers bring high expectations but are willing to pay
.. note:: late adopters form new casual audience, but want to pay less
1. High Quality User Experiance
- responsive
- 0.1s good
- 0.5s slow
- consistent
- clear/obvious
- forgiving
* Lasting Appeal
- Ramping difficulty + Random Chance + Increasing Rewards = Replayability
- Rollercoaster Excitement Curve
* Quality Assurance
- Start QA early, ramp-up from alpha through launch
- 100 little bugs worse than 1 big bug
2. Launch Multiplatform
* cross-platform social play allowed on mobile and can increase audience growth dramatically
* Amortize Development & Marketing
* Build game as native to each platform
- meet 'cultural' expectations
- tune for platform specific features
* xbox live! rich presence
* apple game center & retena display
* android 'back'
3. Connect with yurr audience
* Most AAA gamers target core gamers (young males)
* konwing your audience
* mobile has potential for broader audience
- casual audience spends less per user
- broader audience can increase costs
* community anagement
- best marketing: word-of-mouth
- metric tracking can help filter noise
- press is not magic entity but part of your community
* bioware & blizzard provide great example
* App store
understanding how each app store search function works is key
* Plannang
- launch of game is just the beginning
* plan for updates
- DLC for AAA games usually in development before game launches
- post-launch, be ready to modify update plan based on users
* tools
- metric tracking (flurry, bitpollen)
- project management (Hansoft)
- Feedback (Forum)
Naughty Dog (AAA developer with no project managers)
* clones copy a proven base set of features, without adding much new.
* experimental games focus more on innovation, generally at the expense of scope and polish
* AAA games focus on evolution and polish on proven features
smartphone
* short session
* always connected to Internet
tablate
* longer session
* often disconnected from Internet
AAA to mobile
* smaller scope
- app store
- more qualtiy
- more budget
+ larger possible audience
+ core gamers willing to pay to play
New Territory
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TV + Mobile:
* Google TV
* Apple TV
* Transmedia
TV + Console + Mobile:
* MS Smart Glass
Tactile Controls:
* joysticks and buttons on mobile? (we missed buttons)
