1. Ten Things that TV Companies Alway
Get Wrong when Making Games
(and how to avoid these traps)
Nicholas Lovell
Games for Television
18th April, 2012

2. Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief
• Author, How to Publish a Game,
GAMESbrief Unplugged
• Director, GAMESbrief
• Clients include: Atari, Channel 4,
Channelflip, Firefly, IPC, nDreams,
Rebellion and Square Enix
• @nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief

3. I worked on this
• Misfits – The Game
• Nominated for a
BAFTA Television Craft
award
• Working with
Clerkenwell, Channel
4 and Mobile Pie

4. Subscribe to the blog

5. Buy my books

6. Ten ways to get it right

7. Are you gamers?

8. 1. It’s not about story

10. 1. It’s not about story

11. 1. It’s not about story

12. 1. It’s not about story

13. 1. It’s not about story

14. 1. It’s not about story

15. 1. It’s not about story
• Games are not movies or TV shows
• Games are not linear
• The tension is in the player’s head, not on the
screen
• What games do best:
– Choices
– Dilemmas
– Engagement
– Immersion
• Please, no interactive movies

16. 2. Find the fun

17. 2. Find the fun (it’s hard)
• If you leave a pitch knowing what the
narrative arc of the game is, but not the
MECHANIC, you haven’t got a game
• It is possible to make a game that is just about
narrative; it is also very, very expensive
• Finding the fun is intuitive. Leave time for
prototyping and finding the fun during
commissioning and production

18. 3. Make it iterative

19. 3. Iterate. A lot.
• Every successful social game is still in beta
• You need to iterate during production, as well
as after
– Especially if you are inexperienced at
commissioning
• A adherence to the initial project brief can be
disastrous. Build in flexibility.
• Read The Lean Startup

20. 4. Commission earlier

21. 4. Commission earlier
• Games take a *long* time to make
• TX is fixed
• If you want a good game to go alongside your
show, start early
• At least six months. Probably more
• Unless you want it to look, feel and play like
an afterthought

22. 5. Have a post-TX plan

23. 5. What happens when the show
ends?
• You’ve spent a lot of money on making your
game. Transmission has ended. Now what?
• Do you mothball it?
– But games build slowly, via word of mouth, over
time
• Do you continue it?
– But that incurs ongoing costs, and gamers will
demand changes
• Have a plan

24. 6. Games are about
RETENTION

25. 6. Focus on retention, not
acquisition
• TV is good at ACQUIRING customers
• Games are good at RETAINING customers and
MONETISING them
• Play to the strengths of the medium

26. 7. Make it free, make it
profitable

27. 7. Make it free, make it profitable
• Infinity Blade has netted $30 million (after Apple share)
• 7 free games were higher grossing in 2011

28. 8. Don’t think about revenue
*after* the design

29. 8. Design for the business model
• “If a game is built around a business model,
that’s a recipe for failure.”
- Dave Jones, designer, APB
• I see eight different revenue streams
• Dave Perry sees 38
• Each one needs a different style of gameplay
• No time today but key insight:
virtual goods are about STATUS and FEELING, not
possession and ownership

30. 9. Cater to the whales

31. How much do gamers spend
on average on an In-App
purchase in an iOS / Android
game?

33. 9. People spend a lot of money
• The average IAP
transaction value
on a US
smartphone is
$14
• 51% of the
revenue comes
from transactions
worth more than
$20

34. So how do we make money from
the power law

35. 10. Learn

36. “Nobody knows anything”
William Goldman

37. 10. Making games is not a “known
science”
• It’s endlessly changing:
– Technology
– Business models
– Consumer preferences
• Make a game for many reasons, but make it to
learn
• Launch, learn, iterate

38. 10 ways to get it right
1. It’s not about 6. Focus on
story retention
2. Find the fun 7. Make it free
3. Iterate 8. Design for the
4. Commision business model
earlier 9. Cater to the
5. Have a post-TX whales
plan 10.Learn

39. Thank you
nicholas@gamesbrief.com
Follow my blog
www.gamesbrief.com
Buy my books