The games industry ecosystem has changed a lot since 2009, to survive as an indie game developer/studio you need to adapt. Here are some survival tips on how to manage your studio and projects in 2018.

1. Building Sustainable Indie
Studio in 2018
Kris Antoni, Toge Productions

2. Agenda
Today I’ll be discussing:
● 2009 vs 2018
● Building Team
● Managing Studio
● Choosing Projects
● Managing Projects

3. Introduction - About Me
Kris Antoni
Founder of Toge Productions
● 9 years of experience in game dev.
● IGDA Jakarta Chapter coordinator
● Indonesian Games Association advisor

4. Introduction - About Toge
Toge Productions
Independent game development and publishing studio.
● Started in 2009, formally established in 2010.
● Released more than 20 games across multiple platforms (web, mobile,
desktop)

5. In the
beginning
Started with only 2 guys in
a garage
Indie game developer
making web-based Flash
games
No funding (~US$ 1000
own saving)

6. Now
14 people
Indie dev &
publishing for PC,
consoles.
Collaborating with
more than 7
studios
We now have an
office and 2 cats

7. Sustainable?
● Keep going for a very long time
○ Survive
○ Adapt

8. Definition of
Indie Studio
Indie Studio is a team that has
complete creative freedom and
legal independence
Not the size of the team or how
much money they have
Legal Independence
Creative Freedom
IndiesInternal R&D
Internal Studio
Work-for-hire/
Outsourced Team
Source: Jason Della Rocca

9. Starting your studio
2009 vs 2018

10. Starting your studio
2009 vs 2018
THE GOOD

11. Tools are accessible &
affordable
Engines are cheaper and
easier to use
Platforms are
more open

12. The Game Market
is Growing

14. Starting your studio
2009 vs 2018
THE BAD

15. The Game Market
It’s getting crowded, at least for Mobile and
Desktop (Steam)
Democratization of game development has
opened the floodgates.
Supply is exceeding Demand.
We are competing for time and attention.

16. The Game Market
Web Games
Flash Gaming is DEAD
(sort of)

17. The Game Market
Mobile
● There are approx 3,6 Million apps on
Google Play Store
● There are approx 3,1 Million apps on App
Store

18. The Game Market
Mobile
App Store - There are approx. 783,269
games in iOS (25% of total app)
Play Store - 677,560 games in Google
Play Store (18% of total app)
Very crowded, visibility is an issue
Source: Statista.com

19. The Game Market
Mobile
With $70Bn market it seems that in average
each game makes $47,918 in revenue per
year.
But in reality the top 1% mobile games earns
90% of the revenue. Backed by HUGE
marketing budgets.
Means that the rest 99% earns almost nothing
Source: Statista.com

20. The Game Market
Desktop (Steam)
● +-25,000 total games on Steam in 2018
● 7,696 games released in 2017 alone
● Predicted 9800 new games in 2018
Top 0.5% games earns 50% of the total revenue
Steam
Greenligh
t
Source: Steamspy.com

21. The Game Market
Console
● Dominated by AAA games
● However, relatively less crowded
● A lot easier now vs 2009, but still very hard
for indies to enter
(especially for 3rd world countries)

22. The Quality Expectation
2009 - Angry Birds - $ 0.99 2018 - PUBG Mobile - Free
● Gamers expects high quality polished game
for cheap
● Race to the bottom $0

23. Self-Publishing in 2009
Make a good game and release!
● Show off on social media
● Success!

24. Self-Publishing in 2018
● Making a good game is no longer good enough. You also
need to think about:
○ Hooks
○ Content Size
○ Product Positioning
○ Marketing & PR
○ Release Windows
○ Pricing
○ Target Market
○ User Behaviour

25. 2009 vs 2018
COMPLETELY
DIFFERENT!!!
The situation has changed!
We need to adapt to survive!

26. Survival Tips
Building
Your Team

27. Small and Agile Teams
● Keep your team small and agile
● Less mouths to feed, your budget will
last longer
● Hire people with good work ethic and
attitude, not just good skills
● Keep your projects small, but focused

28. Have
ONE DIRECTION
● Your team believe in the same
shared vision
● This will give you a direction to go
● Define goals and milestones
● Allows you to plan ahead
● OKR & Sprints (I’ll explain later)

29. Have
Entrepreneurial
Soul
It’s okay to find inspirations from
other games, but if you don’t
stand-out from the crowd, you’ll
drown.
Build POSITIVE REPUTATION &
DISTINCT SIGNATURE
Impact / Innovation
Commercial Intent
Independent
Entrepreneurs
Sell Outs/
Clones
...just lost Starving Artists
Source: Jason Della Rocca

30. Survival Tips
Managing
Your Studio

31. Set Goals & Milestones
● Objective & Key Results
● Agile Method (Sprints)

32. What is OKR?
OKR stands for Objectives & Key Results
is a framework for defining and tracking objectives to identify goals and focus efforts
“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal.
A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan.
A plan backed by action makes it reality.”

33. OKR Structure
Vision / Dream
Year 2
Strategic Goals
Year 1
Strategic Goals
Q1 Objective Q2 Objective Q3 Objective Q4 Objective
Key Result
Key Result Key Actions
Long Term
Yearly
Quarterly
Month or
Week
Company
OKR
Team OKR
Personal
OKR
Key Actions

34. OKR Best Practices
Where do we need to go?
● Objectives:
○ Directional
○ Inspiring & Ambitious
○ Qualitative
○ Time Bound (Yearly or Quarterly)
○ Actionable by team
How do we know we are getting there?
● Key Results:
○ Results/Outcomes to achieve
○ Measurement of Success
○ Measurable & Quantifiable
○ Time Bound (Quarterly/Monthly)
○ Difficult, but not impossible
Company
OKR
Team
OKR
Personal
OKR
Final Goal / Objective
Milestones / Key Results
Effort Driver / Key Actions
What do we need to do to get there?
● Key Actions:
○ Efforts to achieve objective
○ Key to Success
○ Can be Number or Boolean
○ Time Bound (Monthly/Weekly)
○ Difficult, but not impossible

35. OKR Example
Dream:
The Best Game Ever!
Year 2
Strategic Goals
Year 1 SG:
Validate Visual
Style
Q1 Marketing Objective
Viral on Social Media
Q1 Art Team Objective
Create Distinctive Visual Style
Key Result
10K Likes
Key Result
10K Retweet
Key Actions
Post 10 Devlogs
Key Actions
Post 100 Concept Art
Key Result
Win 2 Awards
Key Result
10K Likes
Key Actions
Experiment with 10
Art Styles
Key Actions
Make 100 Concept Art

36. OKR Best Practices
Max 3 Objectives at a time
3-5 Key Results / Actions
Set Quarterly
Reviewed Weekly or Monthly
Visible to Everyone
<50% is problematic, 70% is on target, >90% is too easy
Objectives
Key Results
Time
Frame
Progress
Visibility
Target

37. Benefits of OKR
● Disciplines Thinking
○ How to cascade major goals logically and how to achieve it
● Communicates Accurately
○ Gets everyone aligned to what is important
● Establishes Measurement Culture
○ Shows how far we have gone
○ Establishes benchmark
○ Motivates to push further
● Focuses Effort
○ Ensures that we are going the same direction
● Everyone is Involved!
○ Everyone knows where the company is going and participate in
moving forward

38. Survival Tips
Choosing
Your Project

39. Acknowledge Your
Limitations
Do you have it to pull this off?
● Skills
● Experience
● Budget
● Time
● Platform / Tools (Multiplatform)
● Passion / Do you care?
Impact & Result
Cost & Effort
(Effort)
Max Cost
Max Result
(Waste)
Max Cost
Min Result
(Stagnant)
Min Cost
Min Result
(Lucky)
Min Cost
Max Result

40. Methods There are 2 approach
Product Oriented
Games First
Approach
Market Oriented
Audience/Platform
First Approach
Gameplay ThemeVisual Competition Trends
User
Behavior

41. The Product
Oriented Approach
● Start with creating prototype
● Focus on innovation
(Mechanic, Visual, Narrative)
● Game-jams
● Find market fit later
Prototype
Market
Research
Experiment
Development
Launch

42. First, Best, or Different
● If you can’t be the first, be the best
● If you can’t be the best, be different
● By being different sometimes you’ll be
the first
● Experiment & Innovate!
Example:
Ultra Space Battle Brawl
Fighting PONG game on
steroids

44. Fail Fast, Fail Forward
● Don’t waste time polishing crap
● Prototype and validate quickly
● Participate in game-jams & Ludum
Dares
● Learn from your failures and move
forward

45. The Market
Oriented Approach
● Start with market research
● Understanding the market
(User Behavior, Competition,
Trends)
● Market analysis
● Find game design to fit market
Prototype
Market
Research
Experiment
Development
Launch

46. Know Your
Audience
● Mobile Gamer
● On the go
● Short sessions
● Not willing to pay upfront
● PC Gamer
● Dedicated time/space
● Med-Long sessions
● Willing to pay upfront $-$$
● Console Gamer
● Dedicated time/space
● Long sessions
● Willing to pay upfront $$$
● Do market research &
analysis
● Know their behavior/habits
● Know their demographic
● Know your customer
journey
● Identify their personas
● What hooks them?

47. ● How consumers find you?
● What influences them?
○ Streamers / Youtubers
○ Game Media
○ Etc
Important
● Landing Page ASAP
● Build fan base!
Customer Journey

48. Understanding
Hooks
Something that can grab your attention
and pull your curiosity
Types of hooks
1. Visual Aesthetics
2. Theme Cohesiveness
3. Interesting Mechanic
4. Emotional Hook
a. Nostalgia
b. Controversy
c. Dev Story
5. Audio Hook
6. Technological
Novelty
7. Brand Loyalty /
Power
8. Catchy Title & Pitch
9. ROI for the Player /
Affordability
10. Social Hook / Peer
Pressure

49. Know Your
Competition
● Is it a crowded genre?
● Product positioning?
● What works?
● What to avoid?
● Steamspy / App Annie
● Boxleiter method
Simulation
Play as the
zombie horde
Play as a
single zombie
Action

50. Anticipate Trends ● Don’t follow current trends, you are too
late!
● Predict future trends!

51. You Need Both!
● Iterate and test
Prototype
Market
Research
Experiment
Development
Launch

52. Survival Tips
Managing
Your Project

53. Scaffolding
Building Chunks
Your dream project is too ambitious for
you to tackle at once!
Break it down into smaller chunks.

54. Minimum Viable
Product (MVP)
MVP != Vertical Slice (at least not always)

55. Vertical Slice
A portion of the final product.
1 level / 1st 15 minutes.
MVP
Core Gameplay
Secondary
Features
Polish / Cosmetics

56. Build Visibility as
early as possible
Build hype and awareness.
Direct traffic to your Landing Page or
Store Page.
Goal collect wishlist & fan base!
Concept Art
Mock-ups
Post concept art or
mockups to social
media
Concept
Alpha Demo /
Early Prototype
Post GIF or video,
Proof of concept
demo
Alpha
Vertical Slice
Demo
Feature highlight,
Teaser demo
Teaser trailer
Exhibition &
Competitions
Beta
Trailers
Gameplay,
Story / Narrative,
Announcement
Trailer
Pre-Launch Launch
Updates
Post-Launch

57. Pricing vs Revenue
(Steam)
$9.99 is the go to price for most indie
games

58. Pricing vs Revenue
(Steam)
Revenue generated vs price

59. Pricing vs Revenue
(Steam)
Value has to match Price
$19.99
Don’t make cheap games
Don’t sell your games for cheap!

60. Predicting Success
10,000 Steam Wishlist Pre-Launch
= ~5000 1st Week Steam Sales
= ~ 10,000 1st Month Steam Sales
= ~ 24,000 1st Year Steam Sales
Average price of $10 ($10 median, $12
mean)
More wishlist = more sales
The right pricing = more revenue
Rough estimates based on average Steam
game:
● 30%-50% Pre-launch Wishlist is =
1st week sales (Wishlist conversion
+ organic sales)
● 1st week sales = 50% of 1st month
sales
● 1st month sales = 40% of 1st year
sales
Average 1st year wishlist conversion rate
15.4%

61. Survival Tips
Work
Together

62. Collaborate
Find partners that complete you!
● Funds
● Skill & Experience
● Insight
So that you can focus on what you do
best!

63. Take Away & Conclusions

64. Take Away &
Conclusions
● The market is always changing, be
ready to adapt
● Always look for new opportunities
● Keep your team small & agile
● Have clear direction
● Set goals & milestones
● Know your limitations
● Be unique & distinctive
● Build your fan base early
● Collaborate

65. Thank You
● Kris Antoni
@kerissakti
● Toge Productions
@togeproductions