We're excited to share our first monthly highlight report. See what we've been up to in the month of July.
Social Media/Marketing
- Twitter: 67 followers
- Facebook: 46 likes
- Blog: 3 articles
- Email newsletter launched
We recently started putting out weekly blog posts about our journey as a new startup mobile game developer. It’s been a struggle trying to build an audience when we’re literally just getting started. We don’t have a game yet, much less a demo or screen shots, but we know the importance of getting our name out there and that’s why we chose to start sooner rather than later. We’ll continue to hustle, and as we build more content and make progress on developing our game, we’re optimistic that our audience will grow.
Game Development
- PIVOT! Originally our first game was going to be “Oh Nooooo!!” After much consideration, we decided to change our strategy and go with a different game entirely. By developing a more straightforward game first, we felt we could get a minimally viable product (MVP) launched faster and apply what we learn to subsequent games.
- A game about… what else? Ninjas! In keeping with our mission statement, we wanted to create a mobile game that would be 1) intuitive, 2) fun, and 3) addictive to play. Our new game will be reminiscent of the late-80s arcade classic Shinobi but with a modern spin.
Assets
- Main characters established: Initially, we'll be working on three ninjas: a brother, sister, and their fellow student. We haven't fully fleshed out the storyline (that's still to come), but we're well underway on developing what these characters will look like.
- First draft of level 1 environment created: The first level of our game will be in a dojo. We sourced a 3D artist to create a working draft of this environment based on photos and artwork that we liked.
- Initial prototype of game created: We worked with a developer to create an initial prototype of our game concept based on the framework we established in our Game Design Document (GDD). Actually seeing a working game was exciting, while at the same time revealing to us that we still have a lot of work to do.
What's Ahead?
- Flesh out the storyline: We have the characters but not a fully developed background story yet. Once we solidify this, it'll help us with the detailed nuances of our game design.
- 3D renderings of main characters: So far, we have 2D assets created for two of the three characters. Once these are finalized, we're planning to work with another artist to convert our characters to 3D and animate them.
- Continue tweaking game play details: Based on our prototype, we still have a lot of work to do. We'll continue to iterate on our game play and will be guided by our three criteria: 1) is it intuitive? 2) is it fun? and 3) is it addictive?
What do you think about our new game concept? Is it something you'd play? Let us know in the comments below!