A presentation at WebVisions 2011 in in Portland, OR, USA by Tyler Sticka
GO! HOW TWO GUYS MADE AN iPHONE GAME (AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE) WEBVISIONS 2011
@tylersticka @u2elan
1 HISTORY LESSON
2006-2007
OVER 1,000,000 PLAYS
THIS IS WAY BETTER!
(SOB STORY)
FIRST EXPERIMENTS
2 PROCESS
PRODUCT CREATIVE PURSUIT
WE CHOSE TOOLS THAT HELPED US COLLABORATE QUICKLY, LOOSELY, CHEAPLY:
WE AVOIDED OVER-PLANNING
WHY THE HECK NOT?
WE ♥ SMALL DETAILS
SOLICIT FEEDBACK FROM YOUR PEERS ( WAY FASTER THAN GRAPPLING WITH YOUR OWN SELF-DOUBT )
ITERATE!
“WE MADE IT, SO IT’S OURS TO DESTROY. AND THAT’S LIBERATING AND EXCITING IN A REALLY CREATIVE WAY.” - JEFF TWEEDY http://www.flickr.com/photos/pietermorlion/5014362542/
IF A GAME DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT, NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING CAN MAKE UP FOR IT WIKIPEDIA SAYS THIS GAME LOST ATARI $100 MILLION
3 RECEPTION
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mukumbura/4180968389/
TRADITIONAL EXTRA HIP
COVERED US FIRST, FOLLOWED BY… THE APP INFORMER APPOLICIOUS IGN APPMODO SLIDE TO PLAY DOWNLOAD SQUAD 148APPS APPSPY iFANZINE.com TOUCHREVIEWS.net …AND MORE (THANKS, EVERYONE!)
“A NEAR-PERFECT MIX OF SIMPLICITY AND ORIGINALITY THAT MAKES IT A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHAT AN iPHONE GAME SHOULD BE.” - SLIDE TO PLAY http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/ramps-review
4 IF YOU REMEMBER NOTHING ELSE…
RESIST OVER-PLANNING
ITERATE OFTEN
LISTEN TO YOUR PEERS AND USERS
ABOVE ALL ELSE, MAKE THE BEST THING YOU CAN
THANK YOU! backabit.com @playramps @u2elan @tylersticka
Tim Sears and I give some tips to other first-time indie game developers based on the surprise success of Ramps for iOS.
for free. You
can too.