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PROFESSOR: And [INAUDIBLE]
them for next week.

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So for Monday just
to really settle

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expectations for what
we're doing on Mondays,

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we are doing rehearsals
of presentations.

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You do not need to do
the demo of your game

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part of the rehearsal.

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You do need to do
the actual talk.

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That means we're asking for
the visual slides, any visuals

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you're going to use.

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Go through the full talk as
if you're going to do it.

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Don't try to speed through it.

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If it's in outline
mode, then maybe

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you're testing the
actual material

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that you're going
to be going through.

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Please pay attention to all the
talks that you're listing to.

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Give them feedback.

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00:00:59,730 --> 00:01:02,600
Give the other teams feedback
about what they're saying.

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We will be here basically
kind of like The Voice

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but without the
cool chairs, letting

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you know what we think
about your stuff.

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Yes.

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A great way to get a good
grade for the presentation

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is to listen to all the
feedback and make changes,

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so keep that in mind.

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AUDIENCE: Just as a
suggestion, even though you

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don't have to demo
your stuff, it

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might be a good idea just to
bring the computer [INAUDIBLE].

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PROFESSOR: Absolutely.

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AUDIENCE: And test
the hardware just

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to make sure that the
screen resolution works out,

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you can go full
screen, you don't

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have that Google Chrome has
taking over your entire screen.

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Hit Escape.

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PROFESSOR: Yeah.

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So make sure the
game works, but you

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don't need to actually play it.

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Works in a period of time.

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Time length for these
presentations-- each team

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is given 20 minutes.

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You will be timed.

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We will flag you once
you hit 20 minutes.

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That's total for the entire
presentation including

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the demo.

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Limit the game-playing
part of your presentation

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to no more than 10 minutes.

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Anything more than
10 minutes, we're

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going to make a note of
that, but please keep it

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under 10 minutes.

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It can be as short as you like.

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You could have someone
play the entire game.

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You can have someone play
just one part of the game.

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You will have
somebody who has not

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played your game before
playing the game live on stage,

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so that's also a test of ours.

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Time for the actual
slides part of your talk

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has to be at least 10 minutes,
so 10 is a good suggestion.

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Five minutes of demo, 15 minutes
of talk is also fine, as well.

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After you're finished
with that talk,

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we're going to open
it to Q&A from people

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in the group in the room,
and that will include us.

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So rehearsal is give
your presentation.

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We won't do the Q&A.
We'll just do feedback.

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Final presentations
are the real deal.

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It is being recorded, of course.

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We are still figuring out if
we're going to live stream it.

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Please invite your friends on
Wednesday the 10th to come.

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We're sending out invites
to a bunch of people,

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to get some of our
local developer friends

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to come in and talk, and also
some folks from our department

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and from some of the
other game design classes

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to come and watch.

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Attendance for those two
days-- so attendance for Monday

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is going to be normal like
we've just been doing it.

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Attendance for Wednesday--
come in at 1:00, please.

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Let us know if you're
going to be late,

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like email the video
game bosses list if you

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are going to be
late on Wednesday

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for the final presentations.

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We'll keep the sheet
in the back of the room

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so you can sign in as
you come into the room.

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Anything I'm missing
from any of that?

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And then at the end of
all the presentations,

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we'll probably going to end
up with about 30 minutes left

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of class, so you can
open up your computers

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and have people play
your games if you like.

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Totally not required,
but it tends

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to be fun when we do that.

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Cool.

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So if there's no questions
about any of that,

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we are going to do
our last lecture.

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We've invited Sean Baptiste
from Fire Hose Games

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to talk to us about community
management, marketing,

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and all sorts of stuff,
and basically how do you

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get people to play your games.

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And after he's done,
attendance will be back open.

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SEAN BAPTISTE: Cool.

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Thank you very much.

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Thanks for having me here.

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This is great.

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My name is Sean Baptiste.

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I'm a 10-year veteran of
the video game industry.

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My first job was
at Harmonix, which

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was a huge AAA sort of deal.

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And now I'm at a small
indie game studio

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right here in Cambridge that was
started by some former game lab

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alumni, Ethan Fenn and Sharat
Chat and Eitan Glinert.

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I think I should probably start
how I got into the industry

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in the first place.

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I don't have a tech
background whatsoever.

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I came up through theater.

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I was a theater major, and one
thing I've realized in my years

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is that there are a lot of
theater majors in video games.

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I've been thinking
about it a lot.

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I think a lot of it is that
video games and theater

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both have an interactive
element where there's

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interplay between the
audience and the creator

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that film doesn't
have necessarily.

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And I think a lot
of theater people

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drift towards there
when they realize

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there's no money to be
made whatsoever in theater.

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That's how I made it.

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So I was working
in film and I was

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working in theater and
stuff and I got sick,

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and just the only
game I could play

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was Amplitude, which was
an early Harmonix title.

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And as I was playing
it I was like,

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oh, I think people make these.

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Like, I don't think
games just happen.

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I think somebody makes them.

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And I realized that was-- I
lived up on the North Shore,

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so it was close, and I just
started pestering Harmonix

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to hire me since I was close.

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And they kept telling me no
until eventually I just got

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a friend there who sort of
said nice things about me,

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which was lovely of him, and
that sort of got me in in QA.

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QA, I'm hesitant to say
that that's a good way

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00:06:13,590 --> 00:06:17,214
to start in the industry
anymore because I don't

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know if it's quite as valid.

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QA teams have gotten smaller
and the turnover is a little bit

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difficult, so it's not
necessarily the entryway

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into the industry
that it used to be,

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which I do think is
a bit unfortunate.

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I worked as a QA person on
the Karaoke Revolution series

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early on and then on
the Guitar Hero series

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before I end up becoming
a technical artist, which

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meant that I wasn't a
programmer or an artist

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but I helped make them have less
fights with each other, which

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is probably something you guys
are used to at this point.

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So I did a lot of
that and learned how

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to animate and hook things up.

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But then they realized-- one
of the things I was doing

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was-- so Harmonix, I don't
know how familiar you

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guys are with
Harmonix's [INAUDIBLE],

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but this was before
Harmonix got bought by MTV.

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And Guitar Hero had come out,
but that handled by RedOctane

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and Activision-- RedOctane,
then Activision--

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and we had an outside PR
place handle a lot of the PR.

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And mostly we just made
games and put them out there

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and there wasn't as much of a
consideration for us doing PR

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from inside.

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But we realized as we
wanted to make Rock Band

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and we're moving away
from Guitar Hero and kind

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of owning our own destiny that
we were the ones who were going

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to have to talk up our own games
and kind of create something

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about it.

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So I wasn't the best technical
artist, I'll be honest.

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So they moved me over to
running the community.

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From Frequency and
Amplitude, there

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was a very small
community of I'm

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going to say about 50 or 60
people on the Harmonixfreak.com

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forums and I was only one
willing to talk to them pretty

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much in the whole company.

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So as part of my job
is technical artist,

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for an hour each day
I would sit and talk

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with people on
the forums and try

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to manage that community,
which was very, very small

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and very angry that there
wasn't a sequel to Frequency

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or Amplitude, that that
was kind of a dead series.

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So a lot of my time
was spent apologizing,

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I guess is how I would-- that
my big start to community

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management was apologies.

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So I did that for a while.

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And when it came up
that we were going

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to have to start
doing our own stuff,

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I got promoted up to create
the community development

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team at Harmonix.

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And I put that
together, and that's

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when there's a big change
because then we're owned by MTV

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and they have a lot of
money-- like, a lot of money.

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And they put a lot of money
into advertising for the game

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and sending us around to,
like, every event and stuff.

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I went to the Grammys
and was giving out

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Rock Band to Morris Day and the
Time and weird stuff like that.

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And it started moving
a little bit away

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from just general
apologizing, daily dealing

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with problems, and more
with kind of creating,

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or at least sustaining,
a cult of personality

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around the persona
of Harmonix, which

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was sort of punk rock and
kind of outside of-- it

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wasn't as much like
traditional game development.

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Everybody there was a musician
and there was actually

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00:09:32,870 --> 00:09:34,350
kind of this identity
that we could

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point to and kind of
play that up and make

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that sort of the
character of the company.

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And we definitely did that.

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We played that up and because
one of the things-- and we'll

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00:09:44,571 --> 00:09:46,570
get into that more when
I talk a little bit more

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about the difference between
marketing for AAA verses

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marketing for indie-- is
a lot of games in AAA,

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you're selling the games.

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As far as marketing goes,
you're selling the games.

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For indie, what
you're doing is you're

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00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:03,380
selling the people
who make the games,

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00:10:03,380 --> 00:10:05,380
and Harmonix was in
this interesting place

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00:10:05,380 --> 00:10:07,490
where even though
it was owned by MTV,

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00:10:07,490 --> 00:10:09,870
it worked a lot more
like an indie company.

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So once we were able
to promote ourselves,

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we promoted the company
as a group of people.

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Like, don't just buy
Rock Band by Harmonix.

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Buy the whole company.

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Buy what we do.

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00:10:21,825 --> 00:10:23,200
Stick with us
because we're going

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to keep making cool stuff.

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And I did that for
a number of years

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and it was crazy-- flew
constantly everywhere,

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stayed in hotels that
didn't have lice and stuff.

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It was nice.

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A lot of getting to
do really cool things.

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I ended up getting
sick after that

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and spent a few years
away from the industry.

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And when I came back,
I'd been playing

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so many independent games
from small indie teams--

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things like stuff that John Blow
had made or Fez or just a lot

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of the games-- Castle
Crashers, Alien

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Hominid, those sorts of games.

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And I realized there was an
analog to what I was already

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00:11:05,190 --> 00:11:09,910
doing with Harmonix, which was
kind of the-- in indie games,

245
00:11:09,910 --> 00:11:11,890
you really do have
to sell the artist.

246
00:11:11,890 --> 00:11:13,030
You're selling the artist.

247
00:11:13,030 --> 00:11:14,510
You're trying to
get people to come

248
00:11:14,510 --> 00:11:18,470
because if you don't have an
interesting story in a way

249
00:11:18,470 --> 00:11:21,554
or that you can sell to
the press or to journals,

250
00:11:21,554 --> 00:11:23,970
you're not going to get anybody
writing articles about you

251
00:11:23,970 --> 00:11:25,982
for the most part.

252
00:11:25,982 --> 00:11:28,500
That's just the case.

253
00:11:28,500 --> 00:11:30,890
The big AAA companies have
lots and lots of money

254
00:11:30,890 --> 00:11:33,160
so they can plant lots
and lots of articles.

255
00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,150
And as far as indie
stuff goes, the only way

256
00:11:35,150 --> 00:11:37,130
you can sell yourself
is having a good story

257
00:11:37,130 --> 00:11:40,250
that a journalist wants to tell
because if you don't have that,

258
00:11:40,250 --> 00:11:43,250
there's really no
upside for them

259
00:11:43,250 --> 00:11:45,640
to write an article
about you or your game

260
00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:47,420
or anything like that.

261
00:11:47,420 --> 00:11:51,690
I know that seems a little
cynical, but there it is.

262
00:11:51,690 --> 00:11:53,840
That is the case.

263
00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:58,894
So let's see-- so when
I went to Fire Hose,

264
00:11:58,894 --> 00:12:00,810
the differences in the
marketing, like I said,

265
00:12:00,810 --> 00:12:06,170
was when I was at
Harmonix, a lot

266
00:12:06,170 --> 00:12:09,620
of what I did in community
management was making

267
00:12:09,620 --> 00:12:13,480
sure everybody was really
invested in the product,

268
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:18,030
in ourselves as a team.

269
00:12:18,030 --> 00:12:22,170
But a lot of it was also
keeping our secrets--

270
00:12:22,170 --> 00:12:24,640
making sure that people
weren't leaking information

271
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:26,137
from inside of the
company, making

272
00:12:26,137 --> 00:12:28,470
sure play testers weren't
leaking inside of the company,

273
00:12:28,470 --> 00:12:31,910
making sure an unannounced
project that a coder on there

274
00:12:31,910 --> 00:12:34,780
didn't go in and update their
LinkedIn profile and say,

275
00:12:34,780 --> 00:12:37,790
hey, we're working on
Rock Band 2 at the time

276
00:12:37,790 --> 00:12:39,520
before we'd announced
Rock Band 2,

277
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:40,770
and then there's a huge thing.

278
00:12:40,770 --> 00:12:42,950
So a lot of my
stuff was managing

279
00:12:42,950 --> 00:12:46,870
what information got out.

280
00:12:46,870 --> 00:12:50,850
In independent games,
my job is to make sure

281
00:12:50,850 --> 00:12:53,610
all of the information gets
out and that we are constantly

282
00:12:53,610 --> 00:12:56,670
screaming for people to
notice us because there's

283
00:12:56,670 --> 00:12:59,100
so much competition.

284
00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:02,350
I mean, just look
at the explosion

285
00:13:02,350 --> 00:13:05,300
of independent games
in the past let's say

286
00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:07,000
five years, six years.

287
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,830
2008 I think is
really when it really

288
00:13:09,830 --> 00:13:13,860
started becoming this definitive
thing that you can point at.

289
00:13:13,860 --> 00:13:16,520
There's a lot of people,
and a lot of people

290
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,517
who also equally want people
to pay attention to them,

291
00:13:19,517 --> 00:13:21,350
and there's only so
many outlets and there's

292
00:13:21,350 --> 00:13:23,620
only so many places
where people are going

293
00:13:23,620 --> 00:13:24,790
to be able to read about it.

294
00:13:24,790 --> 00:13:26,680
So you're really fighting.

295
00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:32,480
There is a sort of-- it
could very easily turn

296
00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,120
into a sort of crabs in
the bucket situation,

297
00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:38,010
just everybody pulling
each other down.

298
00:13:38,010 --> 00:13:41,209
Luckily that's not really how
the indie game scene works.

299
00:13:41,209 --> 00:13:43,250
A lot of people are trying
to push each other up,

300
00:13:43,250 --> 00:13:45,840
which is nice, but
you're still competing

301
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,240
with so many other people
for a limited amount of slots

302
00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:50,610
of articles.

303
00:13:50,610 --> 00:13:53,400
The one thing I've learned
since I've been at Fire Hose

304
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:58,550
is that actually matters
very little if in the end--

305
00:13:58,550 --> 00:14:00,120
and by that, I should
say I mean that

306
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,140
in terms of sales of the game.

307
00:14:03,140 --> 00:14:06,340
A big article on
Kotaku isn't going

308
00:14:06,340 --> 00:14:08,540
to sell your game, not anymore.

309
00:14:08,540 --> 00:14:10,190
When I first started
in the industry,

310
00:14:10,190 --> 00:14:11,540
that absolutely was the case.

311
00:14:11,540 --> 00:14:17,160
A big article in GameSpot
or IGN, one of the big-- 1UP

312
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,040
at the time-- that
would put you over.

313
00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:21,860
That could definitely
help put you over.

314
00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,350
But at this point, that's
just simply not the case.

315
00:14:27,350 --> 00:14:29,690
And even a year ago,
I was saying that,

316
00:14:29,690 --> 00:14:31,500
and that everybody
should probably

317
00:14:31,500 --> 00:14:34,570
put more of their marketing
time towards getting YouTube

318
00:14:34,570 --> 00:14:36,320
people to cover their games.

319
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,270
And now that's sort of
the predominant theory,

320
00:14:38,270 --> 00:14:39,728
but I think that's
going away, too,

321
00:14:39,728 --> 00:14:43,750
because everybody who likes
games has a YouTube channel

322
00:14:43,750 --> 00:14:44,950
and does Let's Plays.

323
00:14:44,950 --> 00:14:51,070
So in a way, it's sort of
a reflection of what indie

324
00:14:51,070 --> 00:14:52,580
is doing at the same time.

325
00:14:52,580 --> 00:14:54,350
Now that there's
just so many people,

326
00:14:54,350 --> 00:14:55,520
the market sort of flooded.

327
00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:57,320
The novelty has worn off.

328
00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,394
So it certainly can
help, but it's something

329
00:15:00,394 --> 00:15:01,560
you have to be careful, too.

330
00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,960
You can't put all of
your eggs in one basket.

331
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,490
But with indie, too-- so
when I was at Harmonix,

332
00:15:07,490 --> 00:15:12,580
I ran a team of I think
at our height 12 people.

333
00:15:12,580 --> 00:15:15,650
So that was 12 people doing
just community management

334
00:15:15,650 --> 00:15:18,260
and just doing public relations.

335
00:15:18,260 --> 00:15:25,220
At Fire Hose, I do that, all
of it, and I'm also a designer.

336
00:15:25,220 --> 00:15:28,311
So it's like a part
of my overall job

337
00:15:28,311 --> 00:15:29,560
and I'm the only one doing it.

338
00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:33,720
So I have to choose what
we do far more carefully

339
00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:38,060
and I have to do it without
any money whatsoever.

340
00:15:38,060 --> 00:15:40,600
Certainly you can put money
into buying ads or doing

341
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,520
Facebook ads or
that sort of thing,

342
00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:47,170
but I don't think that
that's necessarily the best

343
00:15:47,170 --> 00:15:48,860
use of your time all the time.

344
00:15:48,860 --> 00:15:51,450
And a lot of companies
don't have the budget

345
00:15:51,450 --> 00:15:54,580
beyond their salaries to
actually buy these ads,

346
00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:56,320
so what do you do?

347
00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,590
And that goes back
to what I was saying.

348
00:15:58,590 --> 00:16:00,397
It's community
management, and I guess

349
00:16:00,397 --> 00:16:01,980
I should get into a
little bit of what

350
00:16:01,980 --> 00:16:03,120
community management is.

351
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,370
When I started doing
community management in 2007,

352
00:16:06,370 --> 00:16:08,850
it wasn't a thing really.

353
00:16:08,850 --> 00:16:12,610
I think there was one
video game company that

354
00:16:12,610 --> 00:16:15,810
wasn't an MMO, that didn't
make MMOs, that actually

355
00:16:15,810 --> 00:16:17,800
had anything approaching
a community team,

356
00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:19,890
and that was BioWare.

357
00:16:19,890 --> 00:16:22,030
Right around Neverwinter
Nights, they put together

358
00:16:22,030 --> 00:16:24,910
a community team of
two people, I think,

359
00:16:24,910 --> 00:16:26,800
and that was just to
manage their forums.

360
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:31,054
And let's see, that's
probably around 2002/2003.

361
00:16:31,054 --> 00:16:32,970
And in that time, you
really only put together

362
00:16:32,970 --> 00:16:35,210
a community team if you
had a large multiplayer

363
00:16:35,210 --> 00:16:36,970
game, generally an MMO.

364
00:16:36,970 --> 00:16:43,660
So at the time, Asheron's Call
had something or Ultima Online

365
00:16:43,660 --> 00:16:48,170
had it and early
World of Warcraft all

366
00:16:48,170 --> 00:16:52,070
had these community teams.

367
00:16:52,070 --> 00:16:54,484
There was an element
of promotion to it.

368
00:16:54,484 --> 00:16:56,150
There was an element
of marketing to it,

369
00:16:56,150 --> 00:16:57,560
but it wasn't so much that.

370
00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,330
It was more customer service.

371
00:16:59,330 --> 00:17:01,760
They were really there
to deal with problems

372
00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,350
that came up as they went.

373
00:17:03,350 --> 00:17:06,280
BioWare where they sort of broke
the mold a little bit was it

374
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:07,240
wasn't about that.

375
00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,640
It really was about the
company having direct access

376
00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,940
to communicate with their
fans, and vice versa.

377
00:17:15,940 --> 00:17:20,960
I once was half-joking
that my job as a community

378
00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,490
manager at Harmonix
was ombudsman

379
00:17:24,490 --> 00:17:26,611
because I felt like
I had to represent

380
00:17:26,611 --> 00:17:28,069
the company to the
fans, and then I

381
00:17:28,069 --> 00:17:31,530
had to represent the fans
to the company, which

382
00:17:31,530 --> 00:17:33,610
involved being as
honest as possible

383
00:17:33,610 --> 00:17:37,440
at all times with both, which
is a real difficult tightrope

384
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:37,960
to walk.

385
00:17:46,210 --> 00:17:49,320
So with community management,
what you try to do

386
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,390
is you try to build out the
people who love your games.

387
00:17:52,390 --> 00:17:54,840
You're trying to make
them into the people who

388
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:56,850
talk about your games online.

389
00:17:56,850 --> 00:18:00,185
You're basically creating
a kind of an ad hoc sales

390
00:18:00,185 --> 00:18:03,910
force, a word of
mouth way of promoting

391
00:18:03,910 --> 00:18:07,660
your game because that's like if
you read an article on Kotaku,

392
00:18:07,660 --> 00:18:09,720
do you immediately go
out and buy a game?

393
00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:10,690
Probably not.

394
00:18:10,690 --> 00:18:12,671
You might do a little
bit more research on it.

395
00:18:12,671 --> 00:18:14,420
You might read up a
little bit more on it.

396
00:18:14,420 --> 00:18:16,461
You might go to Metacritic
and check the reviews,

397
00:18:16,461 --> 00:18:17,320
that sort of thing.

398
00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,665
But if a friend tells
you, like just a person

399
00:18:20,665 --> 00:18:22,790
you know is like, "Hey,
I'm checking out this game.

400
00:18:22,790 --> 00:18:23,700
There might be multiplayer.

401
00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:25,075
We should check
this out," you're

402
00:18:25,075 --> 00:18:27,070
far more likely to buy it.

403
00:18:27,070 --> 00:18:32,190
Community management is the
art of managing word of mouth.

404
00:18:32,190 --> 00:18:34,190
You're getting people
to tell their friends,

405
00:18:34,190 --> 00:18:35,273
the people that they know.

406
00:18:35,273 --> 00:18:37,900
You're getting people to tell
the people who trust them

407
00:18:37,900 --> 00:18:40,270
that this game is good so
that those people then go on

408
00:18:40,270 --> 00:18:41,820
and buy it.

409
00:18:41,820 --> 00:18:44,200
And join your community,
hopefully, and then they go on

410
00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:44,960
and tell.

411
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,070
So what started for Harmonix, a
lot of what we did is because--

412
00:18:49,070 --> 00:18:52,740
and there's a
scalability aspect to it.

413
00:18:52,740 --> 00:18:58,210
When I created the Rock
Band community site,

414
00:18:58,210 --> 00:19:01,220
that was 100% forums-based.

415
00:19:01,220 --> 00:19:02,360
We did Twitter.

416
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:03,180
We did Facebook.

417
00:19:03,180 --> 00:19:04,950
Like I said, we did
tons of live events,

418
00:19:04,950 --> 00:19:08,040
but everything was very much
based around the forums.

419
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,120
Part of that was because
Twitter hasn't happened yet,

420
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:13,340
or was just happening
and not as many people

421
00:19:13,340 --> 00:19:14,320
were talking about it.

422
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,360
This was early 2007.

423
00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:18,620
So everything we did, we
build our this huge site.

424
00:19:18,620 --> 00:19:21,080
We had forums.

425
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,860
I think I was
managing at that time

426
00:19:23,860 --> 00:19:28,540
a registered community of about
350,000 people on the forums,

427
00:19:28,540 --> 00:19:30,130
and that's why we needed a team.

428
00:19:30,130 --> 00:19:31,057
It was big.

429
00:19:31,057 --> 00:19:32,890
And there was an aspect
of customer service.

430
00:19:32,890 --> 00:19:35,990
You might remember-- I
don't know how many of you

431
00:19:35,990 --> 00:19:38,280
guys were really playing
that at the time,

432
00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,160
but when it first
came out, there

433
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:44,740
were issues and articles
about the issues

434
00:19:44,740 --> 00:19:47,110
about the instruments.

435
00:19:47,110 --> 00:19:49,445
Any time you debut new
hardware, there's generally

436
00:19:49,445 --> 00:19:51,570
going to be problems or
there's going to be issues,

437
00:19:51,570 --> 00:19:52,860
and that happens.

438
00:19:52,860 --> 00:19:55,927
So leading up to
it, it was very much

439
00:19:55,927 --> 00:19:57,510
like, Rock Band's
going to be awesome.

440
00:19:57,510 --> 00:19:58,218
We're doing rock.

441
00:19:58,218 --> 00:20:00,870
And then as soon as it came
out and those issues started

442
00:20:00,870 --> 00:20:05,810
coming up, the job just clamped
down into 100% customer service

443
00:20:05,810 --> 00:20:08,200
all the time, just trying
to manage all of that.

444
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,470
Which was something that
having come from technical,

445
00:20:11,470 --> 00:20:14,440
I wasn't necessarily
prepared to do.

446
00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,235
But I think with any
game, no matter who

447
00:20:17,235 --> 00:20:18,610
your audience is,
no matter what,

448
00:20:18,610 --> 00:20:22,529
it's very valuable to have some
sort of protocol for customer

449
00:20:22,529 --> 00:20:23,570
service leading up to it.

450
00:20:23,570 --> 00:20:30,290
That's something I think that
you should definitely do.

451
00:20:30,290 --> 00:20:35,060
At Fire Hose, we
don't have forums.

452
00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:36,660
We have a Facebook page.

453
00:20:36,660 --> 00:20:37,830
We have Twitter.

454
00:20:37,830 --> 00:20:41,420
But forums, they're not
what they used to be.

455
00:20:41,420 --> 00:20:43,350
The communities aren't
forums, aren't the same

456
00:20:43,350 --> 00:20:45,240
as they used to be,
and sometimes they're

457
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,180
just more trouble than
they're worth to manage.

458
00:20:48,180 --> 00:20:50,790
It could be it's
very time-consuming

459
00:20:50,790 --> 00:20:54,080
to stop all the spam, to
get in the middle of fights

460
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,100
and stop people from
hurting each other.

461
00:20:56,100 --> 00:20:57,710
And we were very hands-on.

462
00:20:57,710 --> 00:21:00,135
We weren't a
website where it was

463
00:21:00,135 --> 00:21:01,410
like, say whatever you want.

464
00:21:01,410 --> 00:21:02,368
Post whatever you want.

465
00:21:02,368 --> 00:21:07,250
We were very hands-on about
abuse and that sort of thing.

466
00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:09,870
At Fire Hose since we don't
have as big of an audience--

467
00:21:09,870 --> 00:21:13,150
we don't have 350,000 people
who are following what we're

468
00:21:13,150 --> 00:21:16,220
doing who are registered
users who are going to follow

469
00:21:16,220 --> 00:21:18,100
everything that we
say and everything

470
00:21:18,100 --> 00:21:21,340
that we do and are
really hugely invested

471
00:21:21,340 --> 00:21:26,810
in the company or our games--
so we have to find other ways.

472
00:21:26,810 --> 00:21:29,310
One of the things that's
probably the biggest thing-- I

473
00:21:29,310 --> 00:21:41,600
should bring this up here-- is
we started up a Twitch channel,

474
00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:47,020
and this was just as the
live video and live streaming

475
00:21:47,020 --> 00:21:49,030
was starting to
really become a thing.

476
00:21:49,030 --> 00:21:50,660
So it was a couple years ago.

477
00:21:50,660 --> 00:21:52,527
We had Go Home Dinosaurs,
which you might

478
00:21:52,527 --> 00:21:53,610
have seen on the scroller.

479
00:21:53,610 --> 00:21:55,930
That was a game that
we put out last year.

480
00:21:55,930 --> 00:21:59,460
That was coming out and we
wanted to get attention for it.

481
00:21:59,460 --> 00:22:01,220
And we realized we
wouldn't be able to get

482
00:22:01,220 --> 00:22:05,240
every the YouTube video star
to feature our dumb game that

483
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:12,330
was awesome-- it was awesome--
about dinosaurs stealing

484
00:22:12,330 --> 00:22:14,950
barbecue from early mammals.

485
00:22:14,950 --> 00:22:17,830
We knew we weren't going to get
every YouTube star to cover it.

486
00:22:17,830 --> 00:22:19,630
TotalBiscuit did
actually, somehow,

487
00:22:19,630 --> 00:22:22,860
but we realized we kind of
had to build our own community

488
00:22:22,860 --> 00:22:25,570
and really kind of make
our own press for it

489
00:22:25,570 --> 00:22:28,330
rather than spend
all of my time.

490
00:22:28,330 --> 00:22:31,190
Our marketing
budget is my salary.

491
00:22:31,190 --> 00:22:33,900
There's not extra
stuff where I'm

492
00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:35,630
buying up ads and everything.

493
00:22:35,630 --> 00:22:41,030
So we started
meeting with Twitch.

494
00:22:41,030 --> 00:22:43,711
Actually, they came
out here to talk

495
00:22:43,711 --> 00:22:45,960
about how they wanted to get
more indie games on there

496
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,090
and we sort of struck up
a relationship with people

497
00:22:49,090 --> 00:22:53,790
at Twitch, and that got
us front page promotions.

498
00:22:53,790 --> 00:22:58,280
So for instance every
day, Monday through Friday

499
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,990
from 12:00 to 12:30
on Twitch, you

500
00:23:02,990 --> 00:23:06,270
will see my big stupid
face staring out

501
00:23:06,270 --> 00:23:09,000
at you from the screen because
we're on the front page

502
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,320
right in the thing, and
anybody who goes to Twitch

503
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:13,870
is going to see our game first.

504
00:23:13,870 --> 00:23:17,980
That cost us absolutely
zero dollars.

505
00:23:17,980 --> 00:23:19,940
As far as budget
goes, all that takes

506
00:23:19,940 --> 00:23:22,985
is my time because
we talk to them

507
00:23:22,985 --> 00:23:29,140
and we try to create
good content that also

508
00:23:29,140 --> 00:23:30,410
helps their brand, as well.

509
00:23:30,410 --> 00:23:34,810
But that brings us-- you can
see so far since we started up

510
00:23:34,810 --> 00:23:38,810
our channel, four million
people have watched it.

511
00:23:38,810 --> 00:23:43,630
Four million impressions is
way outside of our price range.

512
00:23:43,630 --> 00:23:46,660
It's just outside of our--
that would be tens of thousands

513
00:23:46,660 --> 00:23:50,254
of dollars to get that
many people to get

514
00:23:50,254 --> 00:23:52,920
an impression of our product, to
get an impression of Fire Hose,

515
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,336
to get an impression
of our games,

516
00:23:54,336 --> 00:23:57,110
to get an impression of the
people who worked there.

517
00:23:57,110 --> 00:23:59,330
It would take that long,
and part of the way we do

518
00:23:59,330 --> 00:24:02,230
is like I said, every day,
Monday through Friday 12:00

519
00:24:02,230 --> 00:24:03,950
to 12:30, I put on a show.

520
00:24:03,950 --> 00:24:05,170
It's about Let's Quip!

521
00:24:05,170 --> 00:24:06,980
That's actually my game.

522
00:24:06,980 --> 00:24:09,950
I should mention
Fire Hose, we have

523
00:24:09,950 --> 00:24:11,330
three games going right now.

524
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,100
We also do outside projects.

525
00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:18,560
We take on contract work.

526
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,540
Right now we're working
on a project with DARPA

527
00:24:21,540 --> 00:24:24,170
that's pretty cool that
actually teaches people not

528
00:24:24,170 --> 00:24:24,960
to shoot people.

529
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,760
It's pretty fun.

530
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:32,390
But we have three eventually
commercially available products

531
00:24:32,390 --> 00:24:34,140
that we're working on right now.

532
00:24:34,140 --> 00:24:35,424
One is Let's Quip!

533
00:24:35,424 --> 00:24:36,590
That's a game I'm designing.

534
00:24:36,590 --> 00:24:39,860
That's a comedic debating game.

535
00:24:39,860 --> 00:24:41,800
That's what I do
on the show Monday

536
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,080
to Friday 12:00 to 12:30.

537
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,760
Just I invite local
comedians in and we just

538
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,910
talk about different aspects of
comedy while playing the game,

539
00:24:49,910 --> 00:24:54,650
and that has actually
been wildly successful.

540
00:24:54,650 --> 00:24:58,860
I had Jackie Kashian,
who's a very big touring

541
00:24:58,860 --> 00:25:00,700
comedian who I'm a huge fan of.

542
00:25:00,700 --> 00:25:01,980
She came in on the show.

543
00:25:01,980 --> 00:25:05,340
And on that show, I think,
over the course of that one

544
00:25:05,340 --> 00:25:07,290
half-hour, we had
something-- I want

545
00:25:07,290 --> 00:25:11,260
to say it was 24,000
people, which is great.

546
00:25:11,260 --> 00:25:15,120
Like I said, I would not
be able to pay for that.

547
00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,620
I would not be able
to afford that.

548
00:25:18,620 --> 00:25:20,630
But all it takes is my time.

549
00:25:20,630 --> 00:25:22,910
We also have three
other shows that we do.

550
00:25:22,910 --> 00:25:25,230
So there's the Monday show.

551
00:25:25,230 --> 00:25:27,510
So that's 2 and 1/2
hours out of the week.

552
00:25:27,510 --> 00:25:31,240
And then we have a Tuesday
show in the afternoon

553
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:32,380
from 4:00 to 5:00.

554
00:25:32,380 --> 00:25:35,360
That's one of the other
games that we're working on.

555
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:37,530
Chris Chung, who's
a local developer,

556
00:25:37,530 --> 00:25:39,790
he's working on a game
called Catlateral Damage

557
00:25:39,790 --> 00:25:40,914
that you may have heard of.

558
00:25:40,914 --> 00:25:44,280
Catlateral Damage is
really, really rad.

559
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,450
You're basically a cat.

560
00:25:46,450 --> 00:25:48,590
It has first-person
shooter controls.

561
00:25:48,590 --> 00:25:50,650
Your family's left the
house for a little while,

562
00:25:50,650 --> 00:25:52,150
so you have a limited
amount of time

563
00:25:52,150 --> 00:25:54,080
to just destroy
all of their stuff.

564
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:54,710
And it's great.

565
00:25:54,710 --> 00:25:57,050
You're just pouncing around
knocking things on the floor.

566
00:25:57,050 --> 00:25:59,050
You get points for
destroying people's monitors.

567
00:25:59,050 --> 00:25:59,810
It's great.

568
00:25:59,810 --> 00:26:01,230
It's exactly what cats do.

569
00:26:01,230 --> 00:26:08,880
It's very, very fun, and
Chris is this lovely guy.

570
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,650
He loves cats in a way
that's sort of very honest.

571
00:26:13,650 --> 00:26:15,370
There's nothing
ironic about, and he's

572
00:26:15,370 --> 00:26:19,090
kind of the perfect person
to host a show about making

573
00:26:19,090 --> 00:26:20,980
a game about cats.

574
00:26:20,980 --> 00:26:24,010
So we gave him this spot, 4:00
to 5:00, where all he does

575
00:26:24,010 --> 00:26:27,040
is he sits there with Unity
open and he shows what

576
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,080
he's been working on that week.

577
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,732
And he tells people, like,
we do this, we do this.

578
00:26:32,732 --> 00:26:33,940
I just added in these things.

579
00:26:33,940 --> 00:26:35,580
This is how I did that in Unity.

580
00:26:35,580 --> 00:26:38,360
So it's one part demonstration
of his game and one part

581
00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:40,960
tutorial, and that
brings in people, too--

582
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,480
people who want to learn
more about making video games

583
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,170
as well as people who are just
interested in a game about cats

584
00:26:46,170 --> 00:26:48,387
knocking your stuff over.

585
00:26:48,387 --> 00:26:50,220
And that really works
for him, and it really

586
00:26:50,220 --> 00:26:52,060
fits the theme of this game.

587
00:26:52,060 --> 00:26:55,880
The other game we have is a
game called 20XX, which we just

588
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,130
announced two weeks ago.

589
00:26:57,130 --> 00:27:01,340
If you are a fan of
games like Mega Man X

590
00:27:01,340 --> 00:27:04,096
or those sorts of
platformers, it's a game very

591
00:27:04,096 --> 00:27:04,970
much similar to that.

592
00:27:04,970 --> 00:27:08,730
We're working with a team
out of I believe Maryland.

593
00:27:08,730 --> 00:27:11,150
It's where they
currently reside.

594
00:27:11,150 --> 00:27:16,300
So part of that is we-- I
should clarify that Fire Hose

595
00:27:16,300 --> 00:27:22,270
Games late last year as
opposed to just a studio,

596
00:27:22,270 --> 00:27:25,360
we opened up an incubator
for independent games.

597
00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:30,190
So for the most part,
local indie game developers

598
00:27:30,190 --> 00:27:32,660
who have good games that
they really want to work on

599
00:27:32,660 --> 00:27:35,670
can come to Fire hose,
get a monthly stipend,

600
00:27:35,670 --> 00:27:39,125
get office space,
and we'll help them

601
00:27:39,125 --> 00:27:40,500
with the development
of the game.

602
00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:42,458
We'll help them with the
promotion of the game.

603
00:27:42,458 --> 00:27:44,160
We help them with
kind of everything.

604
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,930
And it's more like
a partnership.

605
00:27:47,930 --> 00:27:51,980
Both Catlateral Damage and
20XX are part of that program.

606
00:27:51,980 --> 00:27:56,390
And it's great working because
that's like Catlateral Damage

607
00:27:56,390 --> 00:27:59,380
and 20XX and Let's
Quip! are three

608
00:27:59,380 --> 00:28:01,680
incredibly different games.

609
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,370
Like I said, 20XX has a very
sort of Mega Man X feel.

610
00:28:04,370 --> 00:28:05,440
It's very hardcore.

611
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:07,370
It's very platformery.

612
00:28:07,370 --> 00:28:10,280
Catlateral Damage is
about cats, so that

613
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:11,970
has a completely
different audience.

614
00:28:11,970 --> 00:28:16,340
I'm sure on a Venn diagram,
there's some crossover.

615
00:28:16,340 --> 00:28:17,890
And then Let's
Quip! is just a game

616
00:28:17,890 --> 00:28:19,560
where you write words down.

617
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,780
Like you write
tweets and then you

618
00:28:21,780 --> 00:28:23,340
try to be funnier
than other people.

619
00:28:23,340 --> 00:28:27,486
The three games have almost no
shared audience across them,

620
00:28:27,486 --> 00:28:29,110
so we have to approach
everything very,

621
00:28:29,110 --> 00:28:29,830
very differently.

622
00:28:29,830 --> 00:28:33,530
I think showing Let's Quip!
but actually showing comedians

623
00:28:33,530 --> 00:28:35,610
playing it, that helps
because that actually

624
00:28:35,610 --> 00:28:37,800
plays into the
narrative of the game,

625
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,910
the fiction of the game, which
is allowing you to be funny.

626
00:28:40,910 --> 00:28:42,370
And then we have
comedians come in

627
00:28:42,370 --> 00:28:44,036
and kind of vote on
whether you're funny

628
00:28:44,036 --> 00:28:49,020
or not, and that's creating
sort of a cult of personality.

629
00:28:49,020 --> 00:28:51,490
And at the same time, they're
also meeting the creators.

630
00:28:51,490 --> 00:28:53,240
So like I said earlier
when I was talking

631
00:28:53,240 --> 00:29:01,350
about how people pushing the
artist as opposed to the art,

632
00:29:01,350 --> 00:29:03,490
we sort of play into
that a little bit.

633
00:29:03,490 --> 00:29:06,275
Having Chris Chung come in
and just show development

634
00:29:06,275 --> 00:29:08,020
on [INAUDIBLE], it's so earnest.

635
00:29:08,020 --> 00:29:09,603
If you get a chance,
you should really

636
00:29:09,603 --> 00:29:14,550
watch it because he's just the
most likable, smart dude who's

637
00:29:14,550 --> 00:29:15,560
just going through.

638
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:22,712
And for a live stream where he
just basically has Unity open

639
00:29:22,712 --> 00:29:24,170
and he's just moving
things around,

640
00:29:24,170 --> 00:29:28,440
he gets several thousand people
over the hour watching him,

641
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:29,415
which is nuts.

642
00:29:29,415 --> 00:29:30,040
But it's great.

643
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:31,660
People love it.

644
00:29:31,660 --> 00:29:33,750
With 20XX, we've just started.

645
00:29:33,750 --> 00:29:35,500
I'm just working
on the marketing

646
00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:40,910
plan for that, the marketing map
for the next six months or so.

647
00:29:40,910 --> 00:29:47,020
And I should say that's when I'm
just planning out this month,

648
00:29:47,020 --> 00:29:48,960
these are the things
we need to talk to.

649
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:50,640
We need this many screenshots.

650
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,160
We need to have a
trailer for February.

651
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:54,370
We need to have this.

652
00:29:54,370 --> 00:29:58,800
And just coming up with those
milestones in the same way

653
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,240
that I'm sure you come
up with your milestones

654
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:02,272
for your project.

655
00:30:02,272 --> 00:30:04,480
We're doing the same thing,
but on the marketing end.

656
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,580
These are the goals we
need to hit in December.

657
00:30:06,580 --> 00:30:09,160
These are the people we
need to talk to in January.

658
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,502
If we can get an
exclusive for February,

659
00:30:11,502 --> 00:30:13,710
that means we're going to
need to be talking about it

660
00:30:13,710 --> 00:30:15,940
in December and have
a pitch for that,

661
00:30:15,940 --> 00:30:18,940
have some sort of
PowerPoint presentation

662
00:30:18,940 --> 00:30:22,300
or just a really good email
with good resource screenshots

663
00:30:22,300 --> 00:30:25,165
and videos and stuff that we can
send out to different outlets

664
00:30:25,165 --> 00:30:26,790
to try to get a little
bit of coverage.

665
00:30:29,470 --> 00:30:31,670
Even though I said
that articles don't

666
00:30:31,670 --> 00:30:33,500
have a direct effect
on sales, they

667
00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:35,960
do have a direct
effect on zeitgeist,

668
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:40,320
I guess I should say, so there
is a sort of cultural cachet

669
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:44,240
that comes from having a big
article on your games there.

670
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:45,990
It doesn't necessarily
translate to sales.

671
00:30:45,990 --> 00:30:49,920
But if you know how to
use it and take advantage

672
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,020
of that cultural cachet, you
can bring more people in,

673
00:30:53,020 --> 00:30:54,410
which I find useful.

674
00:30:54,410 --> 00:30:56,540
But every single one
of these games, I

675
00:30:56,540 --> 00:30:58,290
have to market differently
because they're

676
00:30:58,290 --> 00:31:00,860
marketed to different people.

677
00:31:00,860 --> 00:31:07,370
Like I said, 20XX, also that
game is going to be on Steam.

678
00:31:07,370 --> 00:31:11,000
It's I think it was
$14.99, and that game

679
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,624
we put out in early access.

680
00:31:12,624 --> 00:31:14,040
That's one of the
early ways we're

681
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,480
trying to market it is
getting it out on early access

682
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,730
and getting people who are
excited about Mega Man-style

683
00:31:19,730 --> 00:31:22,300
platformers really
talking about that game

684
00:31:22,300 --> 00:31:24,790
and very excited
about that game.

685
00:31:24,790 --> 00:31:27,710
Whereas with Let's Quip!, that's
just going to comedy fans.

686
00:31:27,710 --> 00:31:30,260
All I'm doing is talking to
comedians for the most part

687
00:31:30,260 --> 00:31:32,287
because comedians if
they like the game,

688
00:31:32,287 --> 00:31:33,870
they're going to
tweet about the game.

689
00:31:33,870 --> 00:31:37,640
And it turns out comedians have
lots of fans who like comedy.

690
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:39,730
Who would've thought?

691
00:31:39,730 --> 00:31:42,790
And then with Catlateral
Damage, as far as I can tell,

692
00:31:42,790 --> 00:31:46,310
the audience for that game
is every person on Earth.

693
00:31:46,310 --> 00:31:47,730
It involves cats.

694
00:31:47,730 --> 00:31:50,260
It involves mindless
destruction.

695
00:31:50,260 --> 00:31:52,930
It's everything the world
is asking for right now.

696
00:31:52,930 --> 00:31:56,070
It's just beautiful and I love
Chris and I love the game.

697
00:31:56,070 --> 00:31:57,950
It's amazing.

698
00:31:57,950 --> 00:32:01,130
But since in a way
that's a little bit more

699
00:32:01,130 --> 00:32:04,350
of a mainstream game, that also
takes a completely different

700
00:32:04,350 --> 00:32:07,680
approach because we're
not selling that game

701
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,080
to hardcore gamers.

702
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,370
Hardcore gamers are
certainly invited,

703
00:32:11,370 --> 00:32:15,360
but this is a game that
I can give to my mom

704
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,942
or I could give to a friend
who already likes video games,

705
00:32:19,942 --> 00:32:21,650
and both could get
something out of that.

706
00:32:21,650 --> 00:32:23,108
And that takes a
different approach

707
00:32:23,108 --> 00:32:26,210
because you don't want
to come up with a-- like,

708
00:32:26,210 --> 00:32:28,400
I wouldn't want to
come up with an ad

709
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:33,810
or a promo for the game
that was like, this

710
00:32:33,810 --> 00:32:35,230
is the baddest game ever.

711
00:32:35,230 --> 00:32:38,650
It's going to destroy your life.

712
00:32:38,650 --> 00:32:41,490
I'm not going to be
advertising that way

713
00:32:41,490 --> 00:32:43,140
because that'll turn
off the people who

714
00:32:43,140 --> 00:32:45,435
are not hardcore gamers.

715
00:32:45,435 --> 00:32:46,810
They're not going
to want to play

716
00:32:46,810 --> 00:32:50,930
something that acts like
it's going to destroy them.

717
00:32:50,930 --> 00:32:54,027
Whereas also if you go too
soft on the other side,

718
00:32:54,027 --> 00:32:55,610
that's going to turn
off other people.

719
00:32:55,610 --> 00:32:58,160
So you're going to find sort
of a midway line between that,

720
00:32:58,160 --> 00:32:59,980
and that's another thing
I'm working on right now

721
00:32:59,980 --> 00:33:00,480
with Chris.

722
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,900
But as far as video
goes on Twitch,

723
00:33:02,900 --> 00:33:04,450
I think that's
very, very helpful.

724
00:33:04,450 --> 00:33:06,885
I should probably start getting
ready to take questions,

725
00:33:06,885 --> 00:33:08,440
I think.

726
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,190
But I guess one of the
things you asked me, too,

727
00:33:11,190 --> 00:33:14,540
is about IGF in the IndieCade.

728
00:33:14,540 --> 00:33:18,190
For me, it's a hard thing
because I do certainly

729
00:33:18,190 --> 00:33:23,840
find value in marketing for as
far as award shows and stuff,

730
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,330
like the IGF getting awards.

731
00:33:26,330 --> 00:33:29,700
I personally have a whole lot
of problems with the whole

732
00:33:29,700 --> 00:33:33,160
how awards for any art.

733
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,460
I guess I think I just
have personal problems.

734
00:33:36,460 --> 00:33:38,170
I think it's very,
very valuable.

735
00:33:38,170 --> 00:33:40,940
And I think especially
for young developers

736
00:33:40,940 --> 00:33:42,920
who are trying to
their name out there,

737
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,630
getting your game into as many
festivals as possible is great.

738
00:33:46,630 --> 00:33:49,050
Don't break the bank doing so.

739
00:33:49,050 --> 00:33:52,560
A lot of them require
submission fees.

740
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:57,624
So if you can find festivals
that fit the genre of the game,

741
00:33:57,624 --> 00:33:58,540
just do your research.

742
00:33:58,540 --> 00:34:00,550
Know what you're submitting to.

743
00:34:00,550 --> 00:34:05,040
Like IGF has something like
7,000 people submitting

744
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:09,110
every year, and that costs
money for you to submit.

745
00:34:09,110 --> 00:34:12,250
So if you think you can
compete, definitely do it.

746
00:34:12,250 --> 00:34:15,600
Otherwise, put your efforts
into a different festival

747
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,440
which still you
could win something

748
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,159
and then you can put
that on everything

749
00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:22,810
that you market the game with.

750
00:34:22,810 --> 00:34:28,670
Like, the winner of
the 1989-- I don't

751
00:34:28,670 --> 00:34:31,040
know why I went with 1989.

752
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:32,481
I'm old.

753
00:34:32,481 --> 00:34:32,980
So, yeah.

754
00:34:32,980 --> 00:34:34,170
You just put that
award on there.

755
00:34:34,170 --> 00:34:35,900
I'm sure you've been
on Steam and you've

756
00:34:35,900 --> 00:34:39,340
seen they have a section where
you can actually just put links

757
00:34:39,340 --> 00:34:41,630
to every award you've
got, and then it shows up

758
00:34:41,630 --> 00:34:42,929
and there's a little graphic.

759
00:34:42,929 --> 00:34:45,449
That's really good and that
can get your name out there.

760
00:34:45,449 --> 00:34:47,600
And even though I have
a problem with it,

761
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:49,770
I can still see the value in it.

762
00:34:49,770 --> 00:34:53,250
IndieCade is one of the funnest
things I've ever been to.

763
00:34:53,250 --> 00:34:59,480
And every time I get really
down on this industry, which

764
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:03,410
happens, going to
IndieCade makes

765
00:35:03,410 --> 00:35:06,630
me remember why I love working
with the people I love.

766
00:35:06,630 --> 00:35:10,400
I love this industry,
and I love the weird crap

767
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,220
that people come up with because
it's a great place for games

768
00:35:13,220 --> 00:35:17,230
that were completely outside the
mainstream to exist and live.

769
00:35:17,230 --> 00:35:19,670
That's how I found out
about this game last year

770
00:35:19,670 --> 00:35:21,240
called Dominique Pamplemousse.

771
00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:24,300
I don't know if any
of you have played it.

772
00:35:24,300 --> 00:35:25,080
It's a musical.

773
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:29,970
It's an opera game, which
is adventure singing.

774
00:35:29,970 --> 00:35:34,011
It's nuts and it's
great, but people never

775
00:35:34,011 --> 00:35:36,510
would have found out about it
if it weren't for just winning

776
00:35:36,510 --> 00:35:40,095
the IGF Award, for
noticing weirder games that

777
00:35:40,095 --> 00:35:43,880
are outside the
mainstream like that.

778
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,380
But I think I should open things
up for questions if anybody

779
00:35:46,380 --> 00:35:47,296
has anything specific.

780
00:35:54,460 --> 00:35:55,106
Yeah?

781
00:35:55,106 --> 00:35:58,090
AUDIENCE: So you mentioned about
how articles don't directly

782
00:35:58,090 --> 00:36:00,718
translate [INAUDIBLE].

783
00:36:00,718 --> 00:36:04,533
Do you think that's also
starting to be true for AAA,

784
00:36:04,533 --> 00:36:07,980
or is it more of a
direct [INAUDIBLE]

785
00:36:07,980 --> 00:36:10,446
expect to get [INAUDIBLE]?

786
00:36:10,446 --> 00:36:12,070
SEAN BAPTISTE: I
think there's probably

787
00:36:12,070 --> 00:36:16,240
still some value to
for AAA, and part

788
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:22,480
of that is because the one thing
that's great about being a AAA

789
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:27,250
developer is you have resources,
and lots and lots of resources.

790
00:36:27,250 --> 00:36:30,970
So one of the things we
would do any time you

791
00:36:30,970 --> 00:36:33,400
talk about the launch
of a game, it'd be like,

792
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:39,520
OK, so let's say
Assassin's Creed.

793
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:44,610
The next one supposed to come
out on September 9, 2015.

794
00:36:44,610 --> 00:36:48,020
You want to own that
Newsday, and that

795
00:36:48,020 --> 00:36:51,530
means you are planting
articles on it for September 8

796
00:36:51,530 --> 00:36:54,670
and September 9 at every
outlet in the world

797
00:36:54,670 --> 00:36:59,240
so that that day when every
person who checks video game

798
00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:02,340
blogs, reads a video game
blog, the only thing they're

799
00:37:02,340 --> 00:37:04,530
going to be reading
about is your game.

800
00:37:04,530 --> 00:37:06,840
It's basically like
playing a commercial

801
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,730
on a loop for an entire day
until you've subliminally

802
00:37:09,730 --> 00:37:11,730
made that person buy your game.

803
00:37:11,730 --> 00:37:13,350
That's sort of the whole idea.

804
00:37:13,350 --> 00:37:17,270
Independence-- we
cannot own a Newsday.

805
00:37:17,270 --> 00:37:22,630
It's very difficult because it's
expensive and time-consuming--

806
00:37:22,630 --> 00:37:24,350
really, really
time-consuming to own

807
00:37:24,350 --> 00:37:28,540
a Newsday as an independent
because just planting

808
00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:32,330
one major article in a big
thing, like say a cover

809
00:37:32,330 --> 00:37:35,610
article for GameInformer--
that's so many

810
00:37:35,610 --> 00:37:39,590
man hours between the person
who's negotiating that deal

811
00:37:39,590 --> 00:37:43,820
and making it happen, coming up
with a story like the narrative

812
00:37:43,820 --> 00:37:45,700
for the game you're
trying to sell.

813
00:37:45,700 --> 00:37:48,990
Plus also art resources,
like getting your artists

814
00:37:48,990 --> 00:37:51,030
to deliver a whole
bunch of screenshots,

815
00:37:51,030 --> 00:37:55,720
but also Photoshops of
all of the characters.

816
00:37:55,720 --> 00:37:58,400
That's so expensive
in time and money,

817
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:00,190
and indies can't do that.

818
00:38:00,190 --> 00:38:02,480
So I think for us,
we can get articles.

819
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,550
But really getting an article
in everything simultaneously

820
00:38:05,550 --> 00:38:10,340
on the same day-- the funniest
thing that ever happened

821
00:38:10,340 --> 00:38:12,780
is when Go Home
Dinosaurs came out,

822
00:38:12,780 --> 00:38:14,990
I was sending review
codes out to things.

823
00:38:14,990 --> 00:38:17,030
And I was like, so we
have an embargo for this,

824
00:38:17,030 --> 00:38:22,070
and one reporter literally wrote
back, Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

825
00:38:22,070 --> 00:38:23,870
We don't have that.

826
00:38:23,870 --> 00:38:27,210
We don't have the
muscle to be like,

827
00:38:27,210 --> 00:38:29,330
we can back up this embargo.

828
00:38:29,330 --> 00:38:32,020
AAA places have a hard
time backing up an embargo,

829
00:38:32,020 --> 00:38:33,970
but they have the benefit
of being like, well,

830
00:38:33,970 --> 00:38:36,630
if you don't adhere
to this embargo,

831
00:38:36,630 --> 00:38:39,070
we're not going to give you
coverage of the next game.

832
00:38:39,070 --> 00:38:42,890
Whereas if you're an indie,
you would be cutting your nose

833
00:38:42,890 --> 00:38:44,360
off right there.

834
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,470
Like, fine, you don't
get to do the next game,

835
00:38:46,470 --> 00:38:49,720
and they'll tell you
won't have a next game.

836
00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:51,840
So like I said,
there's certainly

837
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:53,439
cultural cachet I
think for indies,

838
00:38:53,439 --> 00:38:54,730
but it's more valuable for AAA.

839
00:39:02,325 --> 00:39:03,700
AUDIENCE: So
community management

840
00:39:03,700 --> 00:39:08,910
as you described it is a word
of mouth deal for a lot of it.

841
00:39:08,910 --> 00:39:10,810
Is part of your
purview then doing

842
00:39:10,810 --> 00:39:15,271
bundle sales and other types of
sales where if you get somebody

843
00:39:15,271 --> 00:39:17,270
to play the game, maybe
they'll talk to somebody

844
00:39:17,270 --> 00:39:18,100
else about the game?

845
00:39:18,100 --> 00:39:18,933
SEAN BAPTISTE: Yeah.

846
00:39:18,933 --> 00:39:21,630
Doing bundle sales--
see, that's another one

847
00:39:21,630 --> 00:39:25,090
I'm torn on because I see
the value in bundles sales,

848
00:39:25,090 --> 00:39:30,060
but I see that that value
is diminishing day by day.

849
00:39:30,060 --> 00:39:33,256
There are so many
bundles out there,

850
00:39:33,256 --> 00:39:34,880
Humble Bundle being
one of the biggest.

851
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,650
But then there's, like, 70
other ones that you can go to.

852
00:39:37,650 --> 00:39:39,320
And Humble Bundle's
great to work

853
00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:42,170
with because they're very
protective of the Steam keys

854
00:39:42,170 --> 00:39:45,166
that you put out, whereas a
lot of the other bundle places,

855
00:39:45,166 --> 00:39:46,540
they don't have
as much security.

856
00:39:46,540 --> 00:39:50,820
So what happens is you put
your thing in a bundle.

857
00:39:50,820 --> 00:39:53,590
That bundle sells 10,000.

858
00:39:53,590 --> 00:39:59,270
You get $0.13 on the dollar for
whatever people paid, or less.

859
00:39:59,270 --> 00:40:02,190
Probably less--
probably much less.

860
00:40:02,190 --> 00:40:04,170
But you're not getting
that much money.

861
00:40:04,170 --> 00:40:06,840
You're selling at a discount
to try to get a huge amount.

862
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,120
The thing is what a lot of
the people buying those are,

863
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,519
they're overseas.

864
00:40:12,519 --> 00:40:14,060
And what they're
doing is they're not

865
00:40:14,060 --> 00:40:16,351
buying the game because
they're fan of you or your game

866
00:40:16,351 --> 00:40:18,460
or they want to play it
or your game was just one

867
00:40:18,460 --> 00:40:19,700
other thing in the bundle.

868
00:40:19,700 --> 00:40:21,430
They're buying up
Steam keys and then

869
00:40:21,430 --> 00:40:24,720
they are selling them on
their own sites overseas.

870
00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:29,390
So basically they're buying
your game and 15 other games

871
00:40:29,390 --> 00:40:33,100
for $5.00 total in the bundle,
and then they're selling all

872
00:40:33,100 --> 00:40:36,220
of those at half
off of retail price.

873
00:40:36,220 --> 00:40:39,330
And that cuts into
your sales so bad

874
00:40:39,330 --> 00:40:42,040
because when people actually
do want to play your game,

875
00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:43,190
they're looking for a deal.

876
00:40:43,190 --> 00:40:46,620
So they end up going to
this off-brand site that's

877
00:40:46,620 --> 00:40:52,160
selling Steam codes
from it, and it's rough.

878
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,790
There's a lot of indies who've
shot themselves in the foot

879
00:40:54,790 --> 00:40:56,530
by going to Bundle
Crazy and then

880
00:40:56,530 --> 00:41:00,520
really killing the long tail
on their sales in my opinion.

881
00:41:03,071 --> 00:41:03,570
Yep?

882
00:41:03,570 --> 00:41:05,403
AUDIENCE: How big an
impact did TotalBiscuit

883
00:41:05,403 --> 00:41:07,300
have on Go Home Dinosaur sales?

884
00:41:10,110 --> 00:41:12,970
SEAN BAPTISTE: I think a few
more people found out about it.

885
00:41:12,970 --> 00:41:16,680
I don't think it had
on sales, not much.

886
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:17,362
Not much.

887
00:41:17,362 --> 00:41:18,820
And even at the
time, that was when

888
00:41:18,820 --> 00:41:20,010
that was sort of happening.

889
00:41:20,010 --> 00:41:25,257
And it wasn't the most glowing
play-through of all time

890
00:41:25,257 --> 00:41:26,840
that he's ever played
it, but he liked

891
00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:29,717
it and he said it was
really fun and dumb, which

892
00:41:29,717 --> 00:41:30,800
is what we were going for.

893
00:41:34,820 --> 00:41:37,120
But in the end as
far sales goes,

894
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,050
it wasn't as big of a
driver as one would think.

895
00:41:40,050 --> 00:41:44,490
I do know of games
that TotalBiscuit

896
00:41:44,490 --> 00:41:47,860
has covered that has had a
pronounced effect on sales,

897
00:41:47,860 --> 00:41:50,780
but they're multiplayer games.

898
00:41:50,780 --> 00:41:54,180
Like our game, it
was single-player.

899
00:41:54,180 --> 00:41:56,740
Whereas if you have
a multiplayer shooter

900
00:41:56,740 --> 00:41:59,530
or if you have something
like Hearthstone,

901
00:41:59,530 --> 00:42:01,840
a game where people are
playing together online,

902
00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:03,140
that's his audience.

903
00:42:03,140 --> 00:42:06,660
His audience does
care about e-sports

904
00:42:06,660 --> 00:42:11,090
and does care about
big multiplayer games,

905
00:42:11,090 --> 00:42:12,140
and ours wasn't that.

906
00:42:12,140 --> 00:42:14,050
So I don't know if
that was necessarily

907
00:42:14,050 --> 00:42:17,240
the best fit, but still
nice that he liked it,

908
00:42:17,240 --> 00:42:18,224
nice that he played it.

909
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:25,308
Oh, yeah?

910
00:42:25,308 --> 00:42:25,808
Go ahead.

911
00:42:25,808 --> 00:42:26,308
No problem.

912
00:42:26,308 --> 00:42:28,293
AUDIENCE: Do you also
manage the Steam forums

913
00:42:28,293 --> 00:42:30,780
for any of the games, or
do you solely do just--

914
00:42:30,780 --> 00:42:36,430
SEAN BAPTISTE: I do you manage
the Steam forums a little bit,

915
00:42:36,430 --> 00:42:40,049
mostly for customer
service because that

916
00:42:40,049 --> 00:42:41,590
would be the first
place people would

917
00:42:41,590 --> 00:42:42,800
go rather than emailing us.

918
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,175
We had a link inside the game
where people could email us

919
00:42:45,175 --> 00:42:48,120
if they had problems,
if there were

920
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:49,740
bugs or something like that.

921
00:42:49,740 --> 00:42:50,781
[INAUDIBLE]. [INAUDIBLE].

922
00:42:50,781 --> 00:42:53,200
But a lot of people went
straight to the Steam forums

923
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:56,910
and would talk about
their problems on there

924
00:42:56,910 --> 00:42:58,120
and do direct sort of stuff.

925
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:00,090
But as far as building
up the community there,

926
00:43:00,090 --> 00:43:02,280
some games work for that
and some games don't.

927
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:06,990
I think games that
are multiplayer

928
00:43:06,990 --> 00:43:10,390
just do better as far as
Steam forum communities.

929
00:43:10,390 --> 00:43:13,820
It's just easier to grow
a community like that,

930
00:43:13,820 --> 00:43:15,760
build a community there.

931
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,620
But where for
single-player games,

932
00:43:17,620 --> 00:43:19,820
people are less interested
in, I think, talking

933
00:43:19,820 --> 00:43:21,280
to other people about them.

934
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:23,780
Maybe Skyrim, that sort
of a single-player game

935
00:43:23,780 --> 00:43:26,532
where there's a huge expansive
world and there's more to share

936
00:43:26,532 --> 00:43:27,990
and it's less
linear, I think there

937
00:43:27,990 --> 00:43:31,730
might be more room for
community on Steam.

938
00:43:31,730 --> 00:43:34,130
Yeah?

939
00:43:34,130 --> 00:43:37,010
AUDIENCE: Can you talk
about IndieCade as an event

940
00:43:37,010 --> 00:43:41,070
[INAUDIBLE] rejuvenation.

941
00:43:43,499 --> 00:43:44,832
On Monday, we had Jenna come in.

942
00:43:44,832 --> 00:43:46,290
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

943
00:43:46,290 --> 00:43:50,180
She was talking about how
she spends so much on events.

944
00:43:50,180 --> 00:43:54,240
And I'm wondering how
do events factor in

945
00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:56,865
and how you think about events
in terms of sales, in terms

946
00:43:56,865 --> 00:43:57,490
of [INAUDIBLE]?

947
00:43:59,090 --> 00:44:01,640
SEAN BAPTISTE: So events
are difficult for indies

948
00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:06,220
because events by their
very nature cost money

949
00:44:06,220 --> 00:44:09,620
to travel to, to stay at.

950
00:44:09,620 --> 00:44:11,030
Luckily the
independent community

951
00:44:11,030 --> 00:44:15,490
is great because we'll just
call up 19 other companies

952
00:44:15,490 --> 00:44:17,490
and be like, hey, you
guys are going to this?

953
00:44:17,490 --> 00:44:18,140
Cool.

954
00:44:18,140 --> 00:44:19,590
Want to get an Airbnb?

955
00:44:19,590 --> 00:44:22,319
And then we just share it
and try to keep costs down,

956
00:44:22,319 --> 00:44:23,360
but it's still expensive.

957
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:27,136
You can't do that for a
flight or to get places.

958
00:44:27,136 --> 00:44:28,260
Well, you might be able to.

959
00:44:28,260 --> 00:44:28,843
You shouldn't.

960
00:44:32,110 --> 00:44:34,680
But I will say this-- if
you can go to an event,

961
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,300
if there's any conceivable
way you can go to an event,

962
00:44:37,300 --> 00:44:40,030
and I mean just
about any event where

963
00:44:40,030 --> 00:44:42,490
there's other game
developers there talking

964
00:44:42,490 --> 00:44:46,280
about games, any sort of
game-based conference or expo,

965
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:47,280
go to it.

966
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:48,220
Absolutely go to it.

967
00:44:51,197 --> 00:44:52,780
I've been talking
about word of mouth.

968
00:44:52,780 --> 00:44:53,910
One of the best ways
of word of mouth

969
00:44:53,910 --> 00:44:55,784
is going out and meeting
other developers who

970
00:44:55,784 --> 00:44:58,550
have other communities
supporting their games--

971
00:44:58,550 --> 00:45:00,340
talking to them
about their game,

972
00:45:00,340 --> 00:45:02,215
you talking about your
game, and just sort

973
00:45:02,215 --> 00:45:03,355
of sharing because
then they are going

974
00:45:03,355 --> 00:45:04,840
and they're going to be
probably be, hey, check out

975
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:05,798
this new friend I made.

976
00:45:05,798 --> 00:45:07,970
He's making this game
and it's pretty cool.

977
00:45:07,970 --> 00:45:11,880
And you're getting more
people noticing it.

978
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,702
And it's better to be part of
the overall game development

979
00:45:15,702 --> 00:45:17,410
community than it is
to be outside of it.

980
00:45:17,410 --> 00:45:19,118
But by the same token,
sometimes you just

981
00:45:19,118 --> 00:45:23,855
don't want to talk to
people, and that's fair, too.

982
00:45:23,855 --> 00:45:26,220
AUDIENCE: Actually, it
made me think, in the past,

983
00:45:26,220 --> 00:45:29,299
did you play other people's
games on your FireHost?

984
00:45:29,299 --> 00:45:31,090
SEAN BAPTISTE: Yeah,
I should mention that.

985
00:45:31,090 --> 00:45:34,409
So when we first started
out, like I mentioned,

986
00:45:34,409 --> 00:45:36,200
we did it because we
wanted to sell Go Home

987
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:39,760
Dinosaurs and another game that
we had made a port of it called

988
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:41,260
Slam Bolt Scrappers.

989
00:45:41,260 --> 00:45:45,090
And so we started off with that,
and it became very apparent

990
00:45:45,090 --> 00:45:48,070
after two weeks that
we only had two games,

991
00:45:48,070 --> 00:45:50,450
and that's not a good show.

992
00:45:50,450 --> 00:45:51,450
That's not a great show.

993
00:45:51,450 --> 00:45:53,800
So that was our Wednesday show.

994
00:45:53,800 --> 00:46:01,910
That was our inaugural show
on our live stream channel.

995
00:46:01,910 --> 00:46:06,445
So after those two weeks, we
were like, what else can we do?

996
00:46:06,445 --> 00:46:08,070
We shouldn't give up
on this because we

997
00:46:08,070 --> 00:46:09,280
don't have two games.

998
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:11,327
How do we build
our audience more?

999
00:46:11,327 --> 00:46:13,910
And then we were like, what if
we played other people's games?

1000
00:46:13,910 --> 00:46:17,340
And then we realized, well, what
if we bring in other developers

1001
00:46:17,340 --> 00:46:20,280
and then they bring in
their games with them?

1002
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,200
And then we play their
games while they're

1003
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:25,090
standing next to us, and
then we just talk about it?

1004
00:46:25,090 --> 00:46:26,780
And I have a
standing desk at work

1005
00:46:26,780 --> 00:46:29,610
and it's just two of us standing
there and playing games.

1006
00:46:29,610 --> 00:46:31,907
And we just interview and
talk to them about the game

1007
00:46:31,907 --> 00:46:33,490
that they made while
we're playing it.

1008
00:46:33,490 --> 00:46:36,510
And I've called that sharing.

1009
00:46:36,510 --> 00:46:38,820
You create it, you bring
your own spotlight,

1010
00:46:38,820 --> 00:46:40,140
and then you share it.

1011
00:46:40,140 --> 00:46:41,420
And that helps.

1012
00:46:41,420 --> 00:46:44,450
We help get other,
smaller-- because we

1013
00:46:44,450 --> 00:46:45,720
don't do a lot of big games.

1014
00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:48,880
It's very rare.

1015
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:50,390
We did Super Smash
Brothers, I think

1016
00:46:50,390 --> 00:46:53,304
is the biggest game, the biggest
marketable game, that we've

1017
00:46:53,304 --> 00:46:54,720
had on our live
stream, and that's

1018
00:46:54,720 --> 00:46:57,874
just because everybody at
the office is addicted to it.

1019
00:46:57,874 --> 00:46:59,415
But largely, we have
other people in.

1020
00:46:59,415 --> 00:47:06,220
Like in January, we
had Zoe Quinn in.

1021
00:47:06,220 --> 00:47:08,071
We had people before
that, like just a bunch

1022
00:47:08,071 --> 00:47:10,570
of other developers throughout
the country because sometimes

1023
00:47:10,570 --> 00:47:12,653
they couldn't come in, so
we'd have them Skype in.

1024
00:47:15,945 --> 00:47:17,320
And it's helped
them, but it also

1025
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,720
helps us because it gives
us content for our show.

1026
00:47:19,720 --> 00:47:22,429
It helps give them exposure
and it helps build our audience

1027
00:47:22,429 --> 00:47:24,720
over time because they're
tuning into an exciting show.

1028
00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:27,610
And watching game developers
talk about game development

1029
00:47:27,610 --> 00:47:31,140
and seeing that sort of inside
baseball is for some reason

1030
00:47:31,140 --> 00:47:33,260
exciting to people.

1031
00:47:33,260 --> 00:47:37,390
I don't know why,
but there's something

1032
00:47:37,390 --> 00:47:42,345
that people enjoy
tuning into about it.

1033
00:47:42,345 --> 00:47:44,779
PROFESSOR: Anyone else
have comments, question?

1034
00:47:44,779 --> 00:47:45,279
All right.

1035
00:47:45,279 --> 00:47:47,179
Thank you so much for coming.

1036
00:47:47,179 --> 00:47:48,220
SEAN BAPTISTE: All right.

1037
00:47:48,220 --> 00:47:49,636
Thank you very
much for having me.

1038
00:47:49,636 --> 00:47:50,413
Thanks, guys.

1039
00:47:50,413 --> 00:47:52,686
[APPLAUSE]

1040
00:47:53,185 --> 00:47:55,620
Good luck on your
projects this week.

1041
00:47:55,620 --> 00:47:57,550
I look forward to seeing them.

1042
00:47:57,550 --> 00:47:59,110
PROFESSOR: Are you going to
be able to just stick around

1043
00:47:59,110 --> 00:48:00,090
for a little bit, or
you have to run off?

1044
00:48:00,090 --> 00:48:01,070
SEAN BAPTISTE: Yeah,
I'll be around.

1045
00:48:01,070 --> 00:48:01,165
PROFESSOR: Cool.

1046
00:48:01,165 --> 00:48:02,990
So if anybody wants
to talk to him now,

1047
00:48:02,990 --> 00:48:04,010
feel free to come on
down and talk to him.

1048
00:48:04,010 --> 00:48:05,760
We're going to break
for about 10 minutes.

1049
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:06,860
Come down and sign up.

1050
00:48:06,860 --> 00:48:09,030
Other thing I should
note-- [INAUDIBLE]

1051
00:48:09,030 --> 00:48:12,220
is coming today at around 2:30
to talk to some of the teams

1052
00:48:12,220 --> 00:48:13,890
if you want to talk to her.

1053
00:48:13,890 --> 00:48:17,070
If you have burning
questions about your game

1054
00:48:17,070 --> 00:48:21,700
that you need to get answered by
one of our clients, she's here

1055
00:48:21,700 --> 00:48:22,910
and available to talk you.

1056
00:48:22,910 --> 00:48:25,370
Otherwise, the rest the
class period is for yourself.

1057
00:48:32,870 --> 00:48:35,920
[CHATTER]