I was never lucky enough to experience the world of video game development until I came to Tech Ranch®, and let me tell you, it has been an education! Here at the Ranch, right across the hall from my office, are both Maestro Interactive and Art & Craft Entertainment (makers of Crowfall). In addition, I’ve had the chance to work on marketing for a number of other gaming entrepreneurs that have come to seek advice on growing their user base. Over the past couple of months I’ve overheard things I never thought I’d hear in the work place, and learned a lot about this growing industry…
10 things I’ve learned:
- When you overhear someone discussing “her boots” and the “color of her hair” they are NOT discussing the girl from the bar last night…she is a new character.
- I thought I was a whiteboarding rockstar, but I wouldn’t last a day in one of these meetings.
- Everything I have on my phone is considered a “free-to-play” game – I will admit that I am the devil because I never click on ads or pay for advanced features.
- There is a fascinating business decision related to how a game will be released: mobile (which OS), software, console & the next new thing, the MBA in me loves this.
- “Gamer’s Thumb” is a serious injury – be careful!
- Knowing the difference between “tower defense”, “hack and slash”, “rail shooter” and “MMORTS” is something I never thought would happen.
- You can make money playing video games – I missed out! On a side note, I could sell my original NES System for about $100 on Amazon.
- There are some crazy statistics about the industry, check them out. For example, 45% of gamers are female and 36% play games on their smart phone.
- If you look over and see someone brushing their teeth in the middle of the office, it is a completely normal occurrence (no names!).
- I have a much fuzzier vision of what my ideal video game would be – I guess I’ll just have to keep my eyes open and my fingers crossed that it resembles Mahjong on steroids.
So, to all of you game developers out there – congrats, you have earned the respect of a clueless non-gamer 🙂 Keep producing your awesome products and helping free the world of their boring old games!