The document provides five dos and five don'ts for developing games. For dos, it recommends knowing your platform, iterating frequently through testing and updates, outsourcing non-core functions, paying attention to market trends, and focusing on retaining rather than acquiring players. For don'ts, it advises against overreliance on licenses, spending too much money or time in development, prioritizing monetization over gameplay, and forgetting the interactive nature of games. The document aims to offer strategic advice for successful game development.

1. Five dos & don’ts of making games Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival 2010 Nicholas Lovell GAMESbrief

3. Director, GAMESbrief

4. Clients include Atari, Channel 4, Channelflip, Firefly, nDreams and Rebellion

7. 2. Don’t spend too much money You don’t need to spend tens of millions of dollars to launch a game anymore So why would you? Unless you are *really*, *really* sure of yourself, keep it small, test and iterate

8. 3. Don’t spend too much time

9. 4. Don’t think about revenue *after* the design “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

10. 5. Don’t forget it’s a game 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 Average rating: 16%

11. Five dos of game development

13. Best virality

14. Low consumer barrier to entry

15. Conversion is hard

16. Competition is growing

17. Niche audience

18. Expensive marketing

19. High barrier to entry

20. Strong propensity to spend

21. Competition is, if anything declining, but that’s because it’s hard

22. Niche audience

23. Crowded Appstore

24. Low consumer barrier to entry

26. 62 million players in last 30 days

27. Has been in beta since it launched

29. 4. Pay attention to the market The games industry is going through continued disruption Sony and Microsoft blindsided by Nintendo Wii Casual portals like Miniclip and Kongregate blindsided by Facebook Advertising-based businesses blindsided by emergence of virtual goods You can never be paying too much attention

30. 5. 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

31. 5 dos and 5 don’ts DO know your platform DO iterate, iterate, iterate DO pay attention to the market DO outsource, outsource, outsource DO focus on retention, not acquisition DON’T rely on licences DON’Tspend too much money DON’T spend too much time DON’T think about revenue *after* the design DON’T forget it’s a game

32. Nicholas LovellGAMESbrief nicholas@gamesbrief.com @nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief www.gamesbrief.com