As mentioned here, here, and here, I’ve been working on a new iOS (and eventually Android) game based on Dual N-Back, called Double Dynamo (also on Facebook ).
I just got the background music working last week, which was trickier than it sounds — I needed to play multiple tracks back to back without a gap while syncing the gameplay to the beat of the music. I’m halfway through writing a technical post on my blog on how I got it working, so watch this space....
The other part of the project is figuring out a marketing strategy, which is for me at least as challenging as the design and implementation aspects. My background is firmly on the technical side.
I’ve talked about why I’m doing this project in previous comments, but briefly, I consider it a stepping stone to larger things, a way to build a reputation as an indie developer, and also something to add to my portfolio that I can point to and say “I did that”. Which is something I can’t really do right now even after 7+ years in games. Also, I’ve already learned far more about game development than I would have working in a larger studio.
Talking about marketing, have you done any market research to determine if there’s any demand for your game? Or is that step one in your strategy? I’m asking because I’m currently learning how to do marketing myself, and “discovered” I’ve done things backwards by building a product first.
If there are experienced marketers here, they might consider creating a post at LessWrong. I’m sure they won’t be shy :)
An excellent question. I haven’t done any market research apart from informal polling of friends, which has been moderately positive, and familiarizing myself with similar products that are already published. If my primary goal had been to make money I would have taken a different approach, but this particular project was especially appealing to me for a few reasons I could go into if you’re interested. :)
I too would welcome posts from any experienced marketers at LW.
As mentioned here, here, and here, I’ve been working on a new iOS (and eventually Android) game based on Dual N-Back, called Double Dynamo (also on Facebook ).
I just got the background music working last week, which was trickier than it sounds — I needed to play multiple tracks back to back without a gap while syncing the gameplay to the beat of the music. I’m halfway through writing a technical post on my blog on how I got it working, so watch this space....
The other part of the project is figuring out a marketing strategy, which is for me at least as challenging as the design and implementation aspects. My background is firmly on the technical side.
I’ve talked about why I’m doing this project in previous comments, but briefly, I consider it a stepping stone to larger things, a way to build a reputation as an indie developer, and also something to add to my portfolio that I can point to and say “I did that”. Which is something I can’t really do right now even after 7+ years in games. Also, I’ve already learned far more about game development than I would have working in a larger studio.
Talking about marketing, have you done any market research to determine if there’s any demand for your game? Or is that step one in your strategy? I’m asking because I’m currently learning how to do marketing myself, and “discovered” I’ve done things backwards by building a product first.
If there are experienced marketers here, they might consider creating a post at LessWrong. I’m sure they won’t be shy :)
An excellent question. I haven’t done any market research apart from informal polling of friends, which has been moderately positive, and familiarizing myself with similar products that are already published. If my primary goal had been to make money I would have taken a different approach, but this particular project was especially appealing to me for a few reasons I could go into if you’re interested. :)
I too would welcome posts from any experienced marketers at LW.