engage and keep your community alive best practises and keys to success - sebastien borget
DESCRIPTION
"This is a story of progressive success: launched in 2012, The Sandbox is a world crafting game in 2D with touch controls and access to over 200+ physics elements. It was nominated by Apple for Best Game of 2012 and 2013 and now enjoys over 13M players; 600,000 Facebook fans; and over 1.5M creations shared online. The Sandbox is considered a reference among ""Minecraft-like"" titles on mobile. In this session, Sebastien will talk about the continuous game development over these 3 years of existence. With the experience of over 35 updates, Sebastien will explore best practices of game updates to keep players hooked, as well as effective community management, helping it become a viral hit! "TRANSCRIPT
Engage and Keep your Community Alive Best Prac9ses and Keys to Success
Sebas9en BORGET COO & Co-‐Founder at
25 employees 5 Games Released +2 scheduled for 2014
5 people in San Francisco
20 people in Buenos Aires
www.pixowl.com
About Us
Founded in 2011 13M players
13M Players Building and sharing
pixel worlds 600,000 Fans
on Facebook
1,000,000 creations shared on our gallery
The Sandbox is a world building game with touch controls. Play and manipulate over 200+ physics elements presented in
2D pixel blocks that can interact with each others Craft amazing worlds, create pixel art, chain reactions, mini-games,
chiptune music, contraptions, electric circuits or just play with physics.
34 Updates One per month
22 campaigns 325 Quests Levels
Launch on Google Play
1 Year Anniversary
50,000 Fans on Facebook
> 4M
> 6M
> 8M
> 10M
> 12M
Launch on iOS (May 2012)
Our Growth
2 Year Anniversary
500,000 Fans on Facebook
300,000 Fans on Facebook
Steam PC Launch
32th update
What’s our secret formula?
AnalyJcs
Social Media
User AcquisiJon Tracking
Cross-‐PromoJon
Going Further (opJonal)
Virality
SDK Toolbox
To infinity and beyond!
Timing is key
Updating regularly increase chances to reengage your players Prefer shorter release cycles Look at your Retention Numbers! Day 1, Day 7, Day 30, Day 60
Update Regularly
UpdaJng keep your players engaged. OpJmal update cycle = every month!
Players Like New Contents New Features Bug Fixes
FREE STUFF!
Players Dislike (or don’t care about) Marke9ng Features
Various SDKs
PAYING STUFF!
Think about Players first Adapt to OpportuniJes: new OS or devices releases
Define a Template for your Updates
Weight your Priorities!
Reduce FragmentaJon of User Base Good updates => More Trust from Players => More Players on Recent Updates
Force minimum version only if absolutely necessary Automated Update feature from Apple / Android
Forced updates?
Top Game Versions by DAUs: 80% on most recent, 13% on previous one
Prepare your Roadmap
1.800 - Gaming
1.900 - Ninja
Amplify Version
Ouya Version
1.950 - Ecology
Steam Version
1.995 - Farm Life
Console Version
The Sandbox 3D
The Sandbox RPG
The Sandbox 2.0 Version
The Sandbox EDU
1.997 - Brainiac
Go get your players where they are J Try to be available on as many pla]orms as possible!
Leverage Cross-‐Pla]orms OpportuniJes (Unity, Cocos2DX etc)
Cross-Platform Strategy
Still listening?
I think I understand this guy...
Community Management
1) Acquire New Users - Social: Friends of friends - Virality - More Targeted
2) Engage & Retain - Engagement - Listening & User-Support - Improvement
Community Management
Simple Facts -‐ MarkeJng Team =
• 1 Community Manager (intern) • Myself (not even full-‐Jme)
-‐ Average Organic to Paid Users raJo = 95%
-‐ Monthly MarkeJng Budget = $10K USD max
-‐ Indies don’t have money, but crea9vity and mo9va9on!
Be fun and original
It helps a lot when you are very creaJve J
Looking for inspiration?
Best Prac9ses of Community Management Follow this cheat sheet
TEASING NEW RELEASES
The Basics
Just for starters.. Let’s get warmed up!
MINI-GAMES HOW-TO & TUTORIALS
Intermediary Level
Enough talking about your product! Now engaging players beyond it
REWARDING EVENT RELATED
Advanced Level
I told you too much already Keep this a secret for this room
SUPPORT A CAUSE
Make your Own Video Promotion
Do it first, do not expect others to make it for you Be creaJve – you will never lack of contents! A whole new User AcquisiJon playground
Turn Players into Evangelists
Let your players take screenshots, brag about their scores or achievements on all social networks! IT WORKS EVEN BETTER WITH VIDEO REPLAYS!
2 solu9ons to consider: or
Use Videos Curators
Players talking directly to players Can drive significant volume of installs... Or kill your game ReputaJon
SJll very limited for mobile games, mostly PC games oriented
Launch Contests / Tournaments
Increase Engagement by providing a reason to reopen your game regularly Enable Top players to express the full potenJal of their skills
Shows off all features of your game Should remain open to everyone, not elite only
What’s next? Real World Events!
IdenJfy where most of players are located Kick-‐off your own Meetups / ConvenJon! Collect feedback straight from players
for today J
Questions & Answers!
Ready to craft your own success?
