1. Backend
in a box.
Sept 17, 2014
by bitHeads Game Developer Intro

2. Background
Only one in ten
mobile games succeed.
2

3. Background
Mathematically, the formula is simple.
High Volume
High Conversion
$Success
High Spend

4. Background
In practice, it requires a lot of design
and meta-‐systems to achieve.
Multiplatform Multiplayer
Free-‐to-‐play
Social
In-‐app
Promotions
Cross-‐play
Game-‐as-‐a-‐service
Competition

5. Background
Which in turn require tons of
back-‐end technology and tools.
Clan-‐style
Multiplatform Multiplayer
Free-‐to-‐play Social
In-‐app
Matchmaking
Promotions
Cross-‐play
Game-‐as-‐a-‐service
Competition
Leaderboards
Achievements
Quests
Notifications
Pricing Controls
Cloud Data
Turn-‐based Design tools
iOS
Android
Windows
Virtual Currencies
Analytics
Store Integration

6. Background
The big guys have spent years and
millions of dollars building these systems.
49* of the 50 Top Grossing games
in the iOS App Store
incorporate cloud-tech to enhance
gameplay and monetization.
* based on data from August 29th, 2014
It’s time to level the playing field.

7. Enter brainCloud.
brainCloud is a ready-‐made,
cloud-‐based backend
for game development.
Using brainCloud, developers can
access pre-‐built features to jumpstart
building the most popular free-‐to-‐play
game types, without having to reinvent
the wheel.
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8. brainCloud is…
Rich gaming back-‐end -‐ multiplayer,
cloud data, leaderboards, in-‐app
purchases and much more
Extendable via custom cloud code
Native libraries for iOS, Android,
Windows and more
Unity, Cocos2d-‐x and Unreal engine
integration
Easy-‐to-‐use development portal
Advanced promotional tools to
maximize your monetization
Affordable usage-‐based pricing
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9. Any Engine, Any Platform…
brainCloud supports Unity,
Cocos2d-‐x and Unreal -‐ with native libraries for
iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and more!
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10. And Any Game Type
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11. Architecture
We have built a secure, reliable and super-‐
scalable architecture — so you don’t have to.

12. Key APIs
And pre-‐built all the key APIs that you’ll need.

13. Key APIs
Cloud Data
Store everything about the player’s game
experience -‐ no matter how simple, or
how complex.
User/Global Statistics
User/Global Entities
Shared Data
Custom Files
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14. Key APIs
Multiplayer
Support for both turn-‐by-‐turn and
one-‐way offline (﴾clash-‐style)﴿ multiplayer,
with matchmaking.
Turn-‐based
Offline (﴾Clash-‐style)﴿
Challenges
Matchmaking
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15. Key APIs
Achievements
Award achievements automatically based
on player stats -‐ and even synchronize
them with GameCenter and Facebook!
Simple Achievements
Auto Achievements
Achievement sync
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16. Key APIs
Leaderboards
Global and Social Leaderboards, with
support for weekly Tournaments with
rewards!
Social
Global
Tournaments
Pacers
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17. Key APIs
Monetization
Server-‐side validation for In-‐App Purchases,
with rich support for product pricing and
virtual currency management.
Virtual Currencies
Server-‐based verification
Pricing controls
Platform integrations -‐ iOS, Android,
Windows, Blackberry, Facebook and
Steam
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18. Key APIs
Notifications
Reach out to your players,
no matter what their device.
Programmatic
Automated
Segmented
Support for iOS, Android*, Facebook
and more*
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19. Key APIs
Cloud Code
brainCloud doesn’t do exactly what
you need? Extend it!
Javascript
Extension points
Schedulable
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20. Tools
brainCloud is more than an API. It’s a toolset to
aid in all aspects of the product lifecycle!
Design
Development
Test +
Support
Product
Management

21. Tools
21
Design
Design and iterate the key meta-‐data
for your game.
Define the metagame
(﴾stats to collect; milestones,
quests and rewards;
achievement triggers; xp levels;
virtual currency types)﴿
Tune metagame and rewards
Add new milestones, quests
and achievements -‐ without
code!

22. Tools
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Development
The tools to support your developers.
Native libraries
API Explorer
View/debug player data
View/debug global data
View/debug multiplayer
View server logs / exceptions
View API performance
API Reference + Examples +
Tutorials

23. Tools
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Testing & Support
The tools to support your
testers & support team.
View/edit user data
View/edit currencies
Flag players for follow-‐up

24. Tools
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Product Management
Advanced tools to better manage
and monetize your game!
Cross-‐platform analytics!
Centralized pricing across all
platforms
Targeted notifications!
Scheduled and targeted
promotions!

25. Highlighted Feature
Automated Promotions!
brainCloud’s promotional tools are
designed to increase your monetization
by allowing you to focus on reaching
the right players at the right time!
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Define key target segments
Design promotions for each
segment
Turn it on!
Measure the results!

26. Highlighted Feature
Dividing your player base into segments allows
you to better target your promotions.
Non-‐repeats Repeats Regs Committed
Play once,
then bounce
Play 2-‐9
times
37% 0% 40% 3% 12% 13% 11% 84%
Percentage of players
Play 10-‐49
times
Play 50+
times
Percentage of Revenue
Example classifications based on Emily Greer’s (Kongregate) talk at Casual Connect 2012.

27. Highlighted Feature
Define promotions to monetize players and
move them upstream.
Non-‐repeats Repeats Regs Committed
Play once,
then bounce
Play 2-‐9
times
Play 10-‐49
times
Play 50+
times
Ignore Push them
into Regs
Push them to
Committed
Don’t let them
leave!

28. Highlighted Feature
Promotion Example: Repeats
Repeats
Goal
Play 2-‐9
times Special offer on a bundle with
enough currency to get them their
ship, and have enough currency left
over to push them past 10 plays.
Push them
into Regs
Segment
Definition
Played >1 & <9,
“brig” unlocked
Natural pinch-‐point in the game,
where they’ve unlocked a new ship,
but cannot afford it.
Promotion
Definition
New player
flash sale!

29. Highlighted Feature
Promotion Example: Committed
Committed
Goal
Play 50+
times Super sale on an offer large enough
to get them recommitted again.
Keep them
from leaving
Segment
Definition
Played >50,
haven’t played
in >3 days
Most committed players play every
day… if you start to see gaps in
activity, it’s a sign they’re thinking
of leaving
Promotion
Definition
Veteran Sale!

30. Highlighted Feature
In summary, setting up,
iterating and evolving
your Automated
Promotions will
maximize the
monetization of your
game.
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31. No-‐brainer Pricing
brainCloud pricing philosophy -‐ we only charge you
for the server capacity that you use.
brainCloud costing is based on
API requests.
The more you load our servers,
the more you pay -‐
how shockingly logical!
We give you the tools to
measure and predict your API
usage -‐ so that you can optimize
your utilization -‐ lowering your
cost per DAU.
For estimated pricing based on DAU,
we use a conversion of:
1 Player Session = ~33.33333 Requests
Using this ratio:
1000 DAU (﴾daily)﴿ = 1M monthly API calls

32. No-‐brainer Pricing
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Tier
API Calls /
month
DAU * Cost / month
Early Adopter!
(until 2016)
Per M API +
Tier 0 - 100** $0 $0 $0
Tier 1 2M 2K $49 $25 $35.00
Tier 2 5M 5K $149 $125 $35.00
Tier 3 10M 10K $299 $250 $34.00
Tier 4 25M 25K $799 $700 $33.00
Tier 5 50M 50K $1,599 $1,450 $32.00
Tier 6 100M 100K $2,999 $2,700 $31.00
Tier 7 250M 250K $7,399 $6,900 $30.00
Tier 8 500M 500K $13,999 $13,000 $28.00
Sign up in 2014 -‐ get
Early Adopter Pricing until 2016!
Tier 9 1B 1M $24,999 $23,000 $26.00
* Based on 33.33333 API calls per DAU.
** Limited to 100DAU during development (Free!)

33. brainCloud in review…
33
In Conclusion…

34. brainCloud in review…
34
The features you need to
drive engagement.
brainCloud has the richest
feature set of any gaming back-‐end.
Multiplatform
Cloud Data Multiplayer
Payments
Pricing
Virtual Currencies
Notifications
Leaderboards
Achievements
Player XP
Matchmaking
Identity
Facebook
Pacers
Tournaments
Social

35. brainCloud in review…
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Without limitation.
If you need something extra
-‐ add it -‐ using our advanced
cloud code system!

36. brainCloud in review…
Increase Revenues.
Greater engagement, together with
targeted pricing and promotions,
will maximize your revenues.
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37. brainCloud in review…
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Lower Costs
Buy, don’t build.
brainCloud will save you
months of development and hundreds
of thousands of dollars.

38. brainCloud in review…
The brainCloud Equation.
more Revenue
Greater engagement,
across more platforms,
with automated promotions.
+
lower
Costs
Save development time,
and server deployment
and management costs.
=
Success!

39. Sign up now!
Sign up, and level the playing
field now!
It couldn’t be simpler -‐ just go
to http://getbraincloud.com
and register today!
Remember -‐ sign up before
Dec 31st, 2014 to get
Early Adopter Pricing until 2016!