PART 1: The Initial Steps in Creating the Next Social Word Game
Words
With Friends. Angry Birds. Fruit Ninja.
Every once and awhile, a new app comes around that seems to change the
face of mobile gaming. So what new game
app will take the spotlight next? What
game will be distracting people during important meetings? What game will travelers be tapping away on
when waiting for a plane in the airport?
What will be the mobile game causing that vibrating buzz on phones in
schools, offices and homes alike?
What
does it take to create the next sensation in the mobile gaming space?
In
order to answer this question, we decided to follow Chris Puglisi and Kyle
McGetrick, founders of Mellow
Militia (a successful
mobile application company based out of Kansas City, Missouri) on their road to
creating The Next Social Word Game. In
this many-part series, we will be exploring the world of mobile app development
and following Mellow Militia on their mission to develop a top 25 mobile gaming app. Our exploration will range from what it takes
to develop and execute a mobile app effectively to launching the Next Social
Word Game*, to the potential return for a company like Mellow Militia. Care to join us for the ride? Then take a look at the first phase of the
life of a mobile game app—the initial steps in creating the Next Social Word
Game:
A bit of background: Mellow Militia has an investor commitment for
25% of the capital that will be required for this venture. Countless
hours over several months have gone into transforming the original concept into
a viable model that investors can grasp on multiple levels including the game
itself, the mobile gaming market and of course, the potential return on
investment which, in this case, equates to a great return on investment based
on realistic (not stretch) goals and projections. This commitment kick-starts the project
allowing for advanced design and app development to be put in motion while
Chris and Kyle continue to raise capital to meet their total goal. Reaching this stage didn’t happen overnight,
and the partners are very pleased with the initial commitment, considering it a
verification of their concept and work.
A lot of preparation goes into making a Top 25 Gaming App. So what did Chris and Kyle do first?
*The
Next Social Word Game is what the new application will be referred to for the
time being.
STEP
1: Find the Idea
As
many mobile app game developers know, it all begins with an idea. From that idea, it is important to look to
the core foundation of the concept and answer the most important questions: Does
this mobile app have stickiness? Is this
a game you would want to play? Is this
something that people will be excited about?
Will others play with you? And more importantly, will they invite their
friends?
According
to Chris Puglisi, everyone has an
idea for a mobile app. Since the launch
of Mellow Militia’s initial release, Tiki Toss 3D, the
partners have been inundated with ideas stemming from every angle
imaginable. In addition to the inquiries
that the company receives through their business network and website, Chris
comments that every personal acquaintance has a handful of ideas, along with
virtually any stranger who learns that we are in the mobile app space.
“The
range of ideas is borderline overwhelming, both in subject and in quality,” says
Chris. “You will start with ten
different ideas and fifty other ideas will be brought to you. But you have to ask yourself, ‘Why this
app? Why is this worth my
time? Why is this worth the
investment? Is this a new idea? If it has been done already, in what ways can
we improve upon the concept?”
STEP
2: Decide on the Type of Game
In
order for Mellow Militia to develop The Next Social Word Game, they had to
first decide what type of game it was going to be. The first key questions: single player, two
player, multi-player or social? Chris
and Kyle decided that they wanted their next game to have a sense of
community. Therefore, they decided to
take a look at Words With Friends—one of the most popular games in the app world
today and one of their favorite models.
Words With Friends currently has 2.5 million daily active users and 5
million monthly active users. When you
consider the user base along with the fact that the game was purchased early on
by Zynga for tens of millions of
dollars, you have to ask: Is there a better model to emulate than that?
STEP
3: Storyboard!
Chris
suggests to develop a half page document with findings and decisions from Step
1 and Step 2 and then to create a storyboard for your mobile game app. Storyboarding can take months and involves a
large number of talented people. Chris
suggests wire framing your screens so that the entire game flows. Another part of the storyboarding step is to
research, research, research! Never stop
looking at what the marketing trends are and what type of game is on top.
“One
of the most challenging aspects to creating the storyboard is confining the
concept,” says Chris. “When you actually
start diagraming and putting the concept on paper, the project inevitably takes
on a life of its own. Idea after idea; never-ending
possibilities. Many of the ideas are
amazing and so much growth is realized, but at some point you have to put a cap
on it, define the specs, commit and move to the level.”
STEP
4: Determine the Game’s Mobility
There
are another series of questions to ask yourself when it comes to the mobility
of a game app. How does the game
translate across various mobile platforms?
What are the social hooks that can be implemented? Can you invite players? Will it go viral? Can you integrate into social networks? Do you want a group chat? What will motivate people to continue to
play? The list goes on and on.
So
what did Mellow Militia do? The company
incorporated the game so that Android, Blackberry and iPhone users can all play
together. In addition, Chris and Kyle
have decided that The Next Social Word Game will incorporate social status and social
rewards that will motivate players to continue game play.
“Having
a true community is our goal. We are
building the app to accommodate up to 13 players per gaming instance with
thousands of parallel instances in play at all times,” Chris explains. “Players will be able to chat within the app
across all of these instances.
Communication expands outside the app allowing the community to
incorporate their Facebook and Twitter contacts to arrange group play at any
time. Points will be cumulative for the
lifetime of the player’s involvement in the community. This allows for leveling up through skill
sets, accumulation of rewards, trophies and social badges; all of which are
necessary in maintaining an on line social community.”
Mellow
Militia also decided to offer the app for free along with a paid or premium
version. The free version will feature
advertisements. The premium version will
be ad-free and grant access to the advanced skill levels. This motivates more players to buy, buy, buy!
STEP
5: Monetize
A
game developer must next determine how the game will be monetized. This
step requires looking at ad and revenue models as well as the models of
competitor games. Use this step to
negotiate with ad vendors and look at the acquisition. You must
largely determine your marketing plan and advertising budget before the
first line of code is written.
Many
mobile gaming apps have a free version that displays ads at undisruptive
moments. Paid versions are commonly ad
free. Mellow Militia has decided to go
another route. They will offer a free
version of The Next Social Word Game without ads for the first three
months. After the first three months,
ads will be integrated in. In the
premium version, the ads will disappear.
In addition, Chris has decided to use Flurry—a
proven app marketing tool—for the ads in The Next Social Word Game.
Another
important part of this step is to map out the overall budget create
projections. All possible expenses have
to be balanced with several potential revenue scenarios. As it is essential that nothing gets overlooked
here, the result is a stack of spreadsheets outlining a variety of financial
scenarios ranging from failure, to conservative, to grand slam outcomes. Mellow Militia has created a target goal of
$2.6 million in a 24 month period for The Next Social Word Game. Determine your goal and calculate how much
money it will take to get you there (and be sure to keep in mind the facts! 95%
of apps make less than $1 per day!).
STEP
6: Get the Moo-la!
Step
6 is dreaded by many: the funding stage. “It’s important to put together a
presentation for both investors and vendors,” says Chris of his experience in
the funding phase. “Be sure that you
present with one goal in mind: to provide ROI for your potential investors.”
There
are many challenges to fundraising. It
can be very difficult to even get an audience. One of the challenges that
Mellow Militia has experienced, like many other app development companies, is
implementing funder’s feedback and suggestions.
“The
input is often very very intuitive and valuable and it can be eye-opening to
see the outside perspective,” both Chris and Kyle say. “The challenge is in finding the balance
between implementing while not losing sight of the original plan. In this case, we went back to the drawing
board to make some adjustments to how quickly (or slowly) this game will
move. Being open to the insight of our
potential second investor, our product, we believe, has significantly
improved.”
STEP
7: Start coding
Finally,
the step that developers everywhere have been waiting for: the coding
phase. It took Mellow Militia eight
months of research and preparation to get to the coding phase for The Next
Social Word Game. Coding is just
beginning, so we will keep you posted as to the progress throughout this
series.
STEP
8: Amp Up the Social Media
The
Next Social Word Game is (quite obviously) a social game. Therefore, it will require very significant
attention from social networks like Facebook and Twitter in order to become the
success that Chris and Kyle anticipate.
This is yet another project that begins pre -launch and carries
throughout the life of a social gaming app.
“Keeping
the community involved through these standard outlets is an absolute must in
the social gaming world,” Chris articulates.
“This is a daily endeavor and requires a dedicated team who are
motivated by a love of the game and community engagement.”
Marketing
through press releases and within the iTunes app store and
other app markets can also be considered social media (but in general are a
whole other animal that will be discussed in another post!).
One
of the main reasons that The Next Social Word Game has looked to the Words With
Friends model in planning is that this knockout game acquired 60% of it’s user
base through word of mouth, largely through online social networks. With a very slim marketing spend, Words With
Friends still went viral. Every so
often, an app will make the Top 25 App list (even though it may not mean to—cue Angry Birds!). Mellow
Militia would be very happy to see this happen, but does not plan on taking
that chance. The vast majority of their
budget will go to targeted marketing, ensuring that the necessary daily active
user base is acquired.
Chris
and Kyle both believe that it’s not about the marketing, it’s about the
product: “It starts with creating a
great product. Once you have the product
in hand, you have to let the world know.
That is our responsibility, but we hope that we will have the support
and help of our players in spreading the word!”
We
have only scratched the surface of mobile app development for games. So what in the world should a developer do
next? Tune in for PART 2 when we check
back with Mellow Militia and the evolution of The Next Social Word Game and how
you can make or break it in the app world.
Want to go behind the scenes of ‘Creating the Next Social Word Game’, including
tips & strategies to creating great mobile apps and games? Visit Chris’s Blog.
