Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2016. Years ago, John created a casual games studio from scratch, by himself, with no money. Now, it’s a thriving small business, and he's reapplying the lessons learned from the casual game market in hopes of launching successful indie games under his new label, Burger Circus. Learn how to launch successful titles, the easy way, as he explains decisions made, data gathered, and marketing strategies developed while crafting their game, RogueMON, on a don't-quit-your-day-job budget.
9. 1.) Pick a Market, Pick a Keyword
• Start small (low competition)
• Pick a single keyword, on a single market
• Get a small audience
• Repeat… (more on that, later)
• …And, there’s a great tool for this…
10. Google Trends: Assess keywords
• Relative volume of keywords compared to market (games):
11. Google Trends - Suggested Use
• Pick a keyword you “know” is successful on a market
• “solitaire”
• Compare with similar keywords:
• “mahjong”
• “sudoku”
12. Assess keywords with Google Trends
• Relative volume of ‘interesting’ keywords, compared to ‘solitaire’:
13. This “Theory” Has Lead Us to Success
• 247Mahjong.com – 12+ million users
14. This “Theory” Has Lead Us to Success
• 247sudoku.com - 1st page for “sudoku” on Google Search
15. 2.) Reskin, Reuse, Recycle
• Learned:
• re-use my code base to create new products
• capture “corollary keywords”
• Corollary Keywords:
• keywords that contain or are often found adjacent to your “main keyword”
• Spider solitaire
• FreeCell solitaire
22. All combined, the traffic adds up!
• SummerMahjong.com / Christmas-Mahjong.com
23. Summer Mahjong on Google Play
• We got a huge spike in installs—just by submitting our reskins!
24. This has happened more than once…
• We’ve had several apps “featured” on various markets
• Chrome Store – 247Mahjong
• Amazon App Store – various solitaire / mahjong games
• Etc.
25. 2.) Reskin, Reuse, Recycle - Opportunities
• Learned:
• Reskins allow more opportunities to get noticed by curators
• Occasionally, you get a “slam dunk”!
26. 3.) “Burst Campaign” With House Ads
• “Burst Campaigning:
• Push lots of traffic quickly
• Leverage your Users
• Use House Ads!
30. 3.) “Burst Campaign” With House Ads
• Learned:
• Helps “climb the charts”
• Operates similarly in other markets:
• App Stores: downloads
• Social Media: likes and shares
• SEO: impressions and (sometimes) links.
• Will this work in “Indie” market space?
31. Ways to Burst Campaign
• “House Ads”
• In-Game (my preferred method)
• Email
• Social Media
• Purchase Advertisements
• Requires a budget
• IMHO: Spend more acquiring a user than you get out of them.
36. Principles Revisited: Indie Game Market
• Applied what I learned in Casual Games to the Indie market
• 1.) Pick a market, pick a keyword
• 2.) Reskin, Reuse, Recycle
• 3.) Burst Campaigning
37. Burger Circus: Raw Games, Well Done
• For “Indie Games”
• Different Audience
• LESS than 10million+ daily
impressions…
• Starting from scratch?
45. 2.) Reskin, Reuse, Recycle (Indie)
• Our “sci-fi” themed version of the RogueMON combat engine
46. Market / Keyword Goals:
• Future Game / Keyword Concepts
• Sci-Fi
• Zombie
• Goal
• Capture additional keyword audiences
• Dream
• get lucky, and get “noticed”…
47. 3.) “Burst Campaign” House Ads (Indie)
• See the relative traffic / growth of RogueMON.com, given House Ads
from BashyBirds.com
48. A / B Testing
• This “burst campaigning” from BashyBirds.com also allows us enough
traffic to do some A / B testing…to get the conversions as high as
possible
49. Learned (so far)
• You CAN get traffic from casual -> indie markets
• But not a ton…
• Need to increase conversions
• Visitors -> Players
• Players -> Regulars
50. Goals:
• Burst traffic from Casual -> RogueMON
• Determine % user conversion Casual -> Indie
• Develop a small Indie audience
• Use audience to leverage next release
• Reskin, rinse, repeat…
51. Conclusion and Forecasts
• Paid advertisements (mobile and web) will get more expensive
• “House Ads” will become more essential to succeed
• Those with an audience will find it easier to expand
• Growing an audience NOW is ESSENTIAL
• Before it’s too late!
52. If You Follow These Guidelines:
• You’ll start with a small audience
• You’ll rapidly create more products / opportunities
• You’ll accumulate users with every release
• OCCASIONALLY, you will hit a slam dunk, getting you a TON of users
• This will have an “upward spiral” effect on your traffic…
53. Have fun—and keep in touch!
• Facebook.com/burgercircusllc
• Twitter.com/burgercircusllc
• www.burgercircus.com
• burgercircus@gmail.com