JOCCE MARKLUND

Swedish indie game developer

[joccish]

Necken Steam Release!

Necken is finally released on Steam, Itch and GameJolt!

Check it out if you’re interested in playing the rogulite set in the Swedish forest, full of creatures from nordic folk lore!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/985510/Necken/

[joccish]

Necken 0.10.0 “Trinket” demo is available for download on Itch and GameJolt!

Biggest feature added is the trinket system - items that can be unlocked and brought into each game. The player can choose items to start with to fit their playstyles =)

https://gamejolt.com/games/necken/257078

https://joccish.itch.io/necken

[joccish]

How much money can you make on GameJolt?

I recently decided to try to figure out how much money is reasonable to expect from releasing a game on GameJolt (referred to as GJ), so I started asking around. Since I want to release my game Necken on GJ because I love the site, I wanted to get a rough estimate of the landscape.

This article shows my results.

The Process

I made a list of 100 games released on GJ, with a pricepoint set - no free games and no ‘Name your price’. These 100 games were chosen from the Hot (either new-ish or gathering a lot of traffic) and Best (by GJs magical algorithm) lists, together with the Featured list (games GJ curate manually).

These 100 games were manually scraped of all data available - Followers, Likes, Views, Price and the developer’s Twitter handle.

The next step was to contact all of them. Of the 100 chosen games, 72 had a Twitter handle, and I didn’t really have time to go full detective to find the remaining email/handles to contact them.

Out of the 72, 15 responed and 13 shared their data, under the premise that it was going to be anonymous.

After that it’s all about crunching the numbers.

Public data

Below is the data collected from the website. The top part is the total data, and the bottom part is the collected data from the responding developers.

This data might not be super useful, but it gives you a rough estimate of what traffic & retention an “average” game is getting on the site.

The first thing that pops out is that Follow is more common than Likes. To compare this, imagine that people are more likely to follow you on Twitter than to like your tweet. Feels very weird, right?

Out of the 100 games, 96 of them had more followers than likes. Only 4 of them had more likes than followers.

Distribution

Next up, let’s take a look at the distribution on these 4 variables. A tiny detail, in these distribution charts, the categories are divided by [>x, >= y], for example, the category $3-6 means more than $3, but less than or equal to $6.

The price is a lot lower than I expected, a normal indie game price point (in my experience) ranges from $10 - $15, but both the average and median is way lower. From the gathered data, I can see that the top selling 25% has a price average of $2.32.

Around 25% of the games have less than 10k views. Otherwise the view count is very scattered. Not much to add.

This is the amount of followers you can expect on GJ. And again, a follow is more common than a like.

The most common range is 0-10 likes. To spoil an interesting fact, the most sold game in my gathered data has less than 15 likes, so there doesn’t seem to be a relation between likes and sales.

What you came to see

Ok, let’s get to the juicy data, the reason you clicked this link.

Downloads, Sales and Release date is the data I gathered from the participants. The most interesting one is sales, but to give some context I added the other two as well.

A side note, is that many of the developers released either a free version or a demo before releasing their full version, which is why downloads and sales are not related at all.

So, from the data we can see that the most successful title has sold 72 units. 72! When I started estimating sales for my title, my “very low” estimate was 1000 units. I was super wrong.

Analysis & Guesstimates

So, why is this?

My theory is that GJ only recently enabled games to be sold. Originally it was a site for free games only, driven by ad revenue. Developers would get a share of the ad revenue and thus making money by getting traffic to their site. I believe this is why sales are so low - the user base is used to getting free games, not paid ones.

If we multiply the categorized sales figures with the categorized price, this is what we get. So if we paired the highest sales with the highest price, we’d make $1799. First off this didn’t happen, it’s only a made up number.

So of these $1799 we would get a 90-100% cut - GJ allows the developer to decide the GJ rev share from 0-10%. After that it’s time for taxes. It’s nowhere a sustainable income, at least not for a Swedish developer like me.

What to take from this

I love GJ, and have been using the platform for over 5 years according to my profile. I think GJ is a superb platform for uploading prototypes to get some initial feedback, to get a rough estimate if the game is going to become popular or not. It has a really awesome community that have helped me over the years, finding bugs, getting feedback and making the game better in the end.

At least now I know, so I will not assume GJ will bring in a big chunk of money during the release. I will still keep using GJ, since I really appreciate all the pros with the site.

The only con is that it’s not for making money.

Final words

A big thanks to the developers who shared their data. I really appreciate your help and this article would not have been written without you <3

If you thought this article was interesting, feel free to share it.

In case you want to try my game, a demo of Necken is available on GameJolt and Itch: neckengame.com/

Cheers,

Joccish

[joccish]

Necken 0.9.0 (”Approach”) available

Necken 0.9.0 is finally available on GameJolt, and will be available on Itch.io as well shortly. This version focuses on polish and juicy effects, as well as simplifying a couple of mechanics. Check it out if you want that roguelike experience in a dark forest!

https://gamejolt.com/games/necken/257078

[joccish]

Tips on being the idea guy

Are you the guy who is the absolute best at coming up with ideas for games?

Are your ideas always super awesome, innovative and guaranteed the next Minecraft/Angry Bird/Flappy Bird?

Well then, look no further.

This article is just for you. It’s full of tips based on education, experience and topped off with some brutal honesty. It’s not meant to be mean or salty, just a couple of tips to get you started. Let’s go!

Who is he?

The idea guy is usually a person who has little or no experience in the games industry, but really, REALLY wants to make a game.

The idea guy is usually very defensive when his ideas are being criticised.

The idea guy is usually not very fond of ideas that are not his own. Released games often has obvious flaws or missed opportunities, and team members ideas are usually total crap and they need to hear it.

The idea guy is usually annoying beyond measuring.

Lastly, the idea guy tends to keep his ideas a secret. He doesn’t want anyone to get a glimpse of his brilliance unless they sign an NDA. He usually wants 50% of the profit from just being the creator of the idea.

We all know a guy like this, and I have to admit that I was one as well. No one wants to work with a guy like this, because he tends to be arrogant and drain a metric shit ton of energy from the rest of the team. On top of that, he doesn’t contribute to the team whatsoever.

Ok, I’m aware this sounds like a shit fest, so let’s look at the possible career for the idea guy.

The career

There is no career as an idea guy.

Instead, read below how you can become useful.

Tip #1 - Game design

You are only doing the easy part. The idea guy is scratching the surface of game design. Anyone can come up with an idea, and most of the time I get my game ideas from ordinary conversations, a cool scene from a movie, by walking to school, or by talking to a family member. The art of game design is taking that idea (no matter where it came from) and turn it into a cluster of game mechanics that works in harmony with each other.

Working out the details of every game mechanic, crunching the numbers, measuring the results, iterating and polishing the combat system - that is game design.

Read a few books on game design, watch a couple of tutorials, analyse good games, analyse bad games. Become a good game designer.

Learn how mechanics can be reused, how to make a great game with a small scope, few features and short time frame. Don’t pitch your MMO Battle Royale AAA-killer clone with 40 customisable unique never seen before classes.

Tip #2 - Become useful

No one will hire you. Absolutely no one. I’m sorry but that’s the truth. Instead, pick a skillset that will make you useful.

Programming is hard to get into, but once you know how it’s an amazing skill to use when you get ideas. Spend a weekend programming and BAM, you have a prototype of the awesome idea you came up with.

Art, either 2D or 3D is another skillset that is super useful. Make a couple of mockups to show how you imagined the game, the mechanics, or the environment. Being an artist is always useful when working in a team.

Learn how to make audio effects, or music. Pick up all the tasks that are outside of the design, programming and art skillset, if you don’t want to work with the ones above. Become the handyman, the guy who make sure everyone has coffee, that the applications are in order, the website looks crisp, the twitter feed is full, writing the blog posts, recording and editing the videos, and everything else that could be considered marketing and project management.

Become good at testing. When working in a team, no one has time to play test the game as much as they would like. Learn how to find bugs, and learn how to report them. Becoming a tester is a great way to get into the games industry, and you will be a valuable asset if you can make sure that the latest build is bug free.

Tip #3 - Change mindset

Your ideas are worth nothing. No one cares enough to steal your ideas. Everyone who is capable of stealing and creating your idea is working on their own.

Working with a team where your only skillset is coming up with the idea might be useful for 10 minutes. What are you doing for the rest of the time?

Having a great game idea is a start, but you will most likely need to visualise it in some way. No one will read your 20 pages long game design document. They want to see your idea. Make a prototype or make a mockup with art.

After that point, make sure everyone knows how you will benefit the team. Will you design every small part of the game? Will you be coding? Art? Music? Marketing? What will you actually do? Unless you have a clear answer, the idea guy mentality will most likely get you kicked off the team faster than you can mention your unique skill tree system.

Actually working with a team, bouncing ideas and tweak them is a great way to make a good concept. Don’t dismiss the ideas of others, embrace them. When they come up with alternative versions of your game mechanics, consider how they could actually work instead of discarding them right away.

And for the love of God, drop that arrogant attitude.

Tip #4 - Make a pitch

This conversation has never happened in the history of mankind: Idea guy: “I have this awesome idea but I can’t tell you about it. You can make the game and we will share the profit 50/50” Imaginary person: “Sounds cool, when do we start?”

Make a proper pitch. Don’t smack your huge design document on the table and think that you’re done. Make a short version, a condensed summary of the game. Make it interesting. Fill it with concepts, pictures and explanations. If you’re going to get a team together, make sure they actually get the idea, and also get interested in making it. Ideally, show them your prototype.

If it takes more than 2 minutes to make them interested in your game idea, you’re not doing it right.

Tip #5 - Adapt and cater

This is similar to tip #2 and #3, but as a team member you will have to find your role.

As an idea guy you are deadweight. Ask your team how you can help, what you can take off their shoulders. Even if you have absolutely no way to contribute to creating the game itself, you can still become useful. If you manage to find out how you can tend to your team, they will always be grateful. Refill their mugs, plan their meetings, feed them, make them happy. Basically, become their mom/dad. Do all the boring tasks they don’t want to do, fill the gap in your collective skillset, and master it.

These five tips are overlapping a bit, and they will not guarantee you a long career in game development, but it will get you started if you consider yourself the idea guy.

[joccish]

Necken 0.7.0 Pickaxe Update!

The new Pickaxe update features a lot of fixes, and feedback. I’ve reworked the combat UI a bit, increased the feedback overall and also added some new info to the start menu help section just in case.

The big feature (although a small feature) is the pickaxe rework. It’s not as restricted anymore, and it gives the player a bit more wiggle room.

Resources have a chance to spawn "too early", which will help you, and the 4 different pickaxes now corresponds better with their resource tiles. Earlier you would get stone when collecting from a copper tile without the correct pickaxe, but now you can’t collect from it at all instead.

Pickaxe health also only decreases when you get a special resource.

Get the new version here

[joccish]

Necken demo out on GameJolt!

Necken is finally out on GameJolt! Click HERE to get to the gamepage!

[joccish]

Necken Demo v.0.6.0 incoming!

I’ve been playing the demo over and over, making tons of adjustments each and every time. Right now I felt like releasing the demo to a smaller number of people, and let them give the game a go. If they don’t find anything too broken, I’ll upload the game to GameJolt pretty soon, and possibly even on Itch.io now during the first phase.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the game, join our Discord, visit the Website, or follow me on Twitter. 

Oh, and if you want to try the demo before everyone else, the link is in the Discord =)

[joccish]

Made some character concepts with a tiny backstory to why they are in the woods all alone. Anyone interesting?

[joccish]

10 months of indie game development, and what I’ve been doing during that time.

It’s kinda clear that I code a lot more than I’d like, and should increase the marketing a bit more =P

[joccish]

New weapons!

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Talking about progression and how to let the player grow stronger throughout the game