Freelance Flash Games News

Flash Gaming Summit 2012 is less than two months away and I’ve got a discount for you if you’re looking to attend. But before we get to that, let’s take a look at this year’s conference.

What is Flash Gaming Summit?

Flash Gaming Summit, held in sunny San Francisco, California, is an annual conference for Flash game developers. Each year, FGS brings together hundreds of flash game developers to hear presentations from top-notch game developers such as Jared Riley of Hero Interactive or Andy Moore of Radial Games.

What are the topics?

While the official presentation topics have yet to be released, the theme for FGS 2012 is Maximizing Your Game. Whether you’re looking to develop (maximize) your game for multiple platforms, improve (mazimize) the quality of your game, or discover (maximize) new marketing, distribution, and revenue streams, you’re going to learn a lot from this conference. Knowing the folks at Flash Gaming Summit, there should be some great case studies for you to learn from too.

Sounds great! Where can I get tickets?

You’ve got two options for getting tickets.

The first way is through FlashGamingSummit.com. Just head over to their website and click Register. You’ll even get 15% off if you enter the discount code blog_freelanceflashgames.

The second, and more unusual way, is through the Indie Giving Event. Organized by the kind people over at Flash Game License, a $125 ticket will give you room and board for two nights, a ticket to FGS 2012, meals on Saturday, and even two free t-shirts. The best part? You get to spend all day Saturday giving back by helping out a local charity. It’s a win-win really, so check it out if that seems like something you’d be interested in.

What if I can’t attend?

Just because you can’t attend the conference doesn’t mean you have to miss out. The conference should be streaming live, allowing you to catch all the Flash goodness right from your computer screen.

We’re down to the last interview in the Manufacturing a Hit series, and I’ve saved the most popular game for last. In this interview I talk to Brad Borne, developer of the massively popular Fancy Pants series. Brad was able to leverage the success of his first game into a franchise, and talks to us for a bit about how his original game became so successful and how he’s been marketing the new Xbox version.

1. How did you come up with the idea for Fancy Pants?

Fancy Pants Man started as an animation when I first bought a digital tablet.  I had been fooling around with making a platformer previously, but progress was pretty rough, since I was just beginning to learn Flash.  I drew a little stick figure with pants running back and forth playing around with a sword, and was surprised by the thought that not many platformers really captured the feeling of running back and forth with weight, with the animations keeping up with the movement.  I though, hey, it’s Flash, it’s made for animation, why couldn’t I link all the moves together, instead of just switching between a few frames for every move?

The series has come a long way from that point, but everything added to the games have been focused around that core, feeling the weight of the character, and smooth animations that tie directly to the character’s movement.

2. Was anyone else involved in the design process?

Lately I’ve been getting more and more people involved in the design process, posting videos online and updating the World 3 Sneak Peek with new content.  In the beginning, though, I got a lot of feedback from friends while in college, and built off of older ideas that I had showed off before.  One of my first testers is now my wife, and I still run almost all my new ideas everything by her.  When working on FPA on Consoles, the teams we were working with at EA and Over the Top Games had an influence on adapting FPA for the consoles strengths and weaknesses, but I always made sure that we were true to what I consider FPA to be.  For all of my projects, really, I don’t think I could work without having final say, I’m pretty stubborn about certain things, for better and for worse, heh.

3. How did you market the game once it came out?

We got it into the hands of a lot of reviewers during EA events.  I think it was important to show them that there was a game that core gamers could enjoy, and that while FPA started as a Flash game, it was substantial as an arcade title.  I did work some with the original portals who distributed the Flash games.  I created versions of World 1 and 2 that informed players about the new game, and once World 3 is finished, it will follow a similar path, hopefully drawing players to the premium, multiplayer focused console game.  Our biggest viral asset will be World 3, while you have to push ads into potential customers’ faces, players will always seek out online entertainment themselves, and I think that there’s nothing more powerful for getting your message out there.  I’m not skimping on World 3, though, so it’s not out yet!  Hopefully, soon, though, then we’ll see how effective my evil plan for internet domination really is, muwahaha!

4. What was it about Fancy Pants that you think made it such a success?

I believe the simplicity and approachability has a lot to do with it.  It’s a series that someone can jump right into, and since the beginning, I always believed that the game must react and communicate back to the player from the very first key stroke.  As the series progresses, I still have to balance ease of play with more complex mechanics, but I think that the platforming genre in general is a great start, most players know what to expect once they start running around.  You have a defined language, and as long as the player is having fun just navigating the game, you can build on that language, without asking them to learn too much at once, or leave them bored.

5. How can other game developers apply the lessons of Fancy Pants to their own games?

Be yourself!  That’s my number one advice to anyone working as themselves or as part of a small team.  FPA is very much a reflection of my own personality, I want it to look like I’ve drawn it, and reflect a lot of my own personality.

Remember, there’s no one on this earth who can be a better you than you.  Your own personality is your most valuable asset, and if your game sets out to be your game, first and foremost, no other game will be able to show it up.

6. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Hey developers, go out and make great games, because I’m selfish and want to play them all!

Ready for some more interview related goodness?

In this installment of my Manufacturing a Hit series I had the chance to talk to Krin Juangbhanich, the developer of one of my favorite role playing games: Sonny. With an excellent zombie-based storyline and lots of upgrades, its easy to get lost in the world of Sonny.

In his interview, Krin discusses the inspiration behind his game and gives tip after tip on how to develop a game that players and sponsors alike will love.

1. How did you come up with the idea for Sonny?

I just had an urge to make a turn based RPG, and really focus on the gameplay of it. I wanted an interface that is very clear and visually intuitive – hence the ‘ability wheel.’ I also wanted to make buffs a big part of the gameplay and strategy, so you have little tags with the buffs and the duration on it. Then I spent a few weeks brushing up the small details, like how the camera zooms in when you hit, and the screen shakes when you land a critical. It was all about making a solid, polished turn based RPG system. I didn’t even think about the theme or story of the game until the gameplay engine was 80% done. At that point, I was a bit bored of the fantasy setting and wanted something a bit fresh for turn based RPGs. So instead I just went for zombies and sci-fi! But this is bad practice – I think you should always try to design gameplay and theme together.

2. How did you design and develop Sonny?

I developed Sonny mostly with the players in mind – in the sense that I made all my decisions based on how I think it will affect the player’s experience. At the end of that day, I think it just boils down to whether the players will have fun or not. So it was important to me to consider how the interface worked, how gameplay mechanics are introduced, how the story unfolds, the speed and pace of the game, and so on. I find that the opening of a game is the hardest to design, and also the most important part to get right. So the first stage in Sonny is probably the best example of everything I’m saying here. It throws you into the game right after the cutscene, and slowly teaches you to play while you advance in the story as well. As for sponsors, that doesn’t really figure into the design of the game. Perhaps a blank space in the menu somewhere for a logo, but that’s it. The important thing is to make it fun for the players. Do that, and the sponsors will come.

3. Was marketing the game a consideration before it came time to release it?

In Sonny’s case, no. I was just too excited to get it released, and didn’t really think about marketing. But I have done marketing for every other game since Sonny, including Sonny 2. Usually I would just post previews and images on forums and blogs a couple of weeks before release. That can create some buzz around it. I think it is important to let people know what you are working on, and give a heads up when you are about to release it. It is not just so that you can get a bigger opening, or more views – some players might really be interested to play your game, but if you don’t promote it well, they may not know about it.

4. How did you go about marketing your game once it came out?

Once the game was out, there were a lot of people commenting on it – maybe to complain about something, or to give suggestions. I think at that point, the best thing to do is to engage with the players as much as you can. Here they are telling me exactly what they think and what they want. Not only is it a great chance to learn how to improve your skills as a game designer, but it also gives you an opportunity to talk to the people who play your games, and show them that their opinion matters to you. A game like Sonny tends to create a post-release buzz around itself fairly easily because of the depth of customisation and strategy it offers. People like to compare builds, or items, and sometimes even write guides. Last year I released a game that was also quite popular, called “Flight” – but it did not create the same kind of buzz because the nature gameplay is very straightforward.

5. Why do you think Sonny did so well?

I think that the success of a game depends on a combination of things. In Sonny’s case, the player is given a lot of options in how to customise their character, and how to fight in combat. About 15 minutes into the game, there are already about a hundred permutations in the way that you can build your character – from the stats, to the skills, to the items. I think players enjoy complexity. But they also like things to be simple. So in essence, I think the key to Sonny’s success was its ability to be complex without being complicated.

6. If you had to sum up the lessons you learned about marketing a game from Sonny in a few sentences, what would you say?

Communicate with your players, a lot. Make blog posts, forum posts, and reply to emails and comments. Be nice! Listen and respond. Focus on the design of the game – the more exciting new features you have (that no one else has done before) the easier marketing will be. Be excited about your work! If your game does nothing to stand out, even Don Draper will have a hard time selling it. Don’t ever think about designing a game to be ‘viral’ – just focus on designing a game to be good :)

It’s the second interview of my Manufacturing a Hit series, and this time I’m talking to Lightbringer777 about his game “Learn To Fly“. In this interview, I asked him about the distribution methods behind his success and, more importantly, what aspects go into the development of a successful game.

What methods did you use to market Learn to Fly?

Close to nothing, a good game distributes itself, the most I did was manually submit it to a few bigger portals, then add it to Flash Game Distribution and gamers/portals did the rest. Learn to Fly 2 was also an experiment on a new type of sponsorship for me, based on performance rather that an upfront payment from Kongregate for example. Because of this the game was pretty advertising and branding-heavy and I believe this harmed distribution a bit.

What sites did you submit your game to?

My two top portals are Newgrounds and Kongregate, mostly because of the community and feedback you get from them (especially here on Kong). I did update to better suit the players needs, mostly balancing out stuff, odds of getting secrets and such.

What do you think made your game go viral?

Learn to Fly 2 had a big reputation to begin with, and that played a HUGE part it making it go viral. There are a few elements to make a game go viral however. IMHO, you need to get the player’s attention within seconds, make them enjoy themselves/laugh/get hooked to something, the game has to be easy to pick up at first, yet complex enough to allow strategizing and finding your own way of reaching goals…

Another important element of the Learn to Fly series is how large its target audience can be. I’m 24 and I just love distance/upgrades games, and so does my 10 year old cousin and all his friends at school. The humor and gameplay is simple enough for anyone to grasp, yet not too childish (at least I hope so!)

Of course many games have and will be successful without following these guidelines, but it’s the strategy I came up with when I decided to create Learn to Fly in the first place, and I just took it a step further in giving players what they asked for with the sequel.

Anything else that you think played a part in your game’s success?

A few simple points: a sense of progress, upgrades, achievements to expend and shape the gameplay, humor, small details all over the place for people to find and to keep them from getting bored, and most importantly, penguins. I also think a big part of its success come from simply earring out what gamers wanted in a game, and though the job wasn’t perfect, I think I did pretty good seeing how to game was received!

Ready to start learning how to make a successful game?

To kick off my series of interviews on manufacturing a hit, I talked to flash game developer Chris Condon (aka Con Artist) about the release of his wildly popular game “The Last Stand”.