1. Truro and Penwith College
Product Journey for
Truro and Penwith College

2. Preparing for publishing
 Publishers will be looking for something in your presentation they can pitch to the Store 
The Store has over 200k games submitted per year, so the Store is looking for the best and unique experiences to feature.  
The store featuring is crucial to get that initial visibility. 
If you get that store front feature then you have to maximise that opportunity with a polished presentation.
* Think of your presentations as a prototype of those selling documents. Maintain that focus throughout.

3. Presenting to the Store

4. Pitching to Publishers
The publisher will not only want to know about the game but about your team, abilities, funding, expectations and attitude. 
They will be reviewing scores of products, so being concise informative and being realistic about expectations will help. 
Make sure you know what you are selling, what is unique, what will catch their attention, 
Don’t be desperate or aggressive if there is negative feedback, listen and appreciate it. It’s  OK to have bad ideas , it’s not OK to be a bad person to deal with. Accept No and move on. There will be a next time or another publisher.
*Have a prototype of the core unique game play. 

5. Presentation
Use the introduction form as a skeleton to build up the presentation document.  
Get people to check it - Get feedback and have the right attitude to negative feedback - that is the best.
Practise presenting it, Practise having people ask you questions and refine it to suit. 
* This is your sales pitch – The better your document the easier your pitch will be.

6. Finding a Publisher
Check the stores who has games on the store and in the charts.
Do your homework. Check if they have products that match yours , i.e. Ketchup might not want a Dragon based MMO. Check they don’t already have a product exactly the same as yours. 
Most will have some kind of submission portal. Most will attend shows but you need to book appointments well in advance and you fit in their schedule.

7. Evaluation Process
Our Business development team act as the first filter and the vast majority will fail to get through. Low Quality and Me too product being the usual reason for failure.
Any that get through will be sent into a Greenlight meeting . 
It is submitted with a questionnaire, a presentation document if available with any assistance in the tutorial, a build, distributed usually via TestFlight or Hockey App 
The game is played for about a week by heads of each department Marketing , Production PR etc and they review it generally as a product, but also from their departmental perspective.  Is it it too far from completion from production, is the art too poor to make it good for marketing etc. 

8. Signing the contract
This is where the negotiations start. How much revenue gets split 50:50 60:40 etc.. All depends on the quality and desire/competition for the game.  
The contract life – It is usually 3 years, that is ok for an average game, but we had to give up Angry Birds when it was at the top, so it can be painful for us.

9. Different contract terms
Some devs may want help with funding, so they want some money up front, but as soon as it makes money the publisher takes all the income until it is paid off. Sometimes it does not make enough to pay it off.
Some will want commitment to spending on promotion,  advertising or user acquisition (UA) to bring players into the game.  You will want quality installs, no point advertising for a Dragon RPG in Candy Crush. 
Some devs may want a minimum guarantee, this could be an agreed amount of revenue made in a set period. If the publisher fails to deliver, then the developer can end the contract
* Remember until it makes a profit it is a Hobby - So don’t think being signed is the end of it - Think of it as Bootcamp and you are competing against the other signings to stay.

10. Process Gates
As a publisher of third party (independent ) developers we deal with a mixture of teams and talent and we also get involved in the production side. Some developers are not as advanced as they thought once we take the game apart. Compare yourself with the competition not your development plan or investor budget. 
The games to get the stage where they can launch have to pass what we call Greenlight Gates - They have to satisfy what is regarded as necessary to succeed at that point in it’s journey to pass onto the next stage.

11. Concept and Feature Planning
WHY are we building the game - Who is it targeting?  What motivations have you got to keep them engaged? Why is it different? Is there a market? 
WHAT are we building - Vision  Feature plans - How much and how long will it take - What will it look like - Early prototypes - What engine and tech will we use

12. Gate 1 First Production PROVE it works in live software Vertical Slice
User Feedback
Planning for full production 

13. Gate 2 Production BUILD it Full feature build (Alpha)
Monetisation and Currencies 
Product Management tools 
Certification and QA

14. Gate 3 Soft Launch Validate and Optimise
Is the game performing as planned Analytics are used to track the Economy,  Gameplay 
Gameplay - Are users staying with the game -  retention, without high retention non of the other metrics will work 
Can you identify where and why players are leaving 

15. Soft Launch – What you may be looking for
Revenue 
Are the players staying with the game to start sending to speed up the pro cess Relevance, Prices, Availability, Sales
*Make sure you are giving relevant offers - Don’t sell 18” tyres to owners of 16” wheels.
Gaming the Game 
In free to play, a player prides themselves in how well they manage their resources.  
So we create events to make that relevant to their goals. If you have a content sale coming up, have a way for players to buy buffs to accelerate their earnings to save up for the upcoming sale.  
*Create strategies that will allow a player to feel smart

16. Global Launch GROW the game
Store featuring - Soft launch performance will influence their choice of features
PR and Comms Engaging with your players through Social Media - FAQ pages - They can influence your customers 
Marketing - Getting UA campaigns that are effective - Track performance - Track Quality of your assets 
Customer Services - These are the main contact with your customers - Very important that you are organised and can track down customer accounts and respond effeciently. 
Updates - Not just content - Events Tournaments - Game Modes are just as important . Need to have a plan to update regularly or else you will lose players.  

17. Any Questions ? ? ? ? ? ?