I’ve whipped up a file downloader that helps me track how often the Jeweltopia demo is downloaded, how fast it was downloaded, and whether or not the download completed, with the capacity to determine between a canceled download and a timed-out download. After a few weeks with targetted traffic (casual gamers), I’ve come to some stunning conclusions. First, here are the raw stats:

• Users with broadband: 89%
• Users with dial-up: 11%
• Broadband Success Rate: 94%
• Dialup Success Rate: 38%
• Overall Success Rate: 88%

Now, it’s important that I point out that the Jeweltopia demo is a mere 4.72MB in size — certainly below the age-old maxim of 5MB — so I’m not scaring away dial-up users with a huge download. At 4 KB/sec (the average dial-up speed), the demo should be expected to take approximately 20 minutes to download — a reasonable investment for the typical dial-up user. It should be no surprise, then, when I tell you that 63% of the canceled dial-up downloads were transferring at under 1 KB/sec and lasted for at least 30 minutes. Even folks on bad connections were certainly willing to at least give it a shot with a 30 minute investment.

However, the failure rate for dial-up users is shocking, to say the least. Almost two thirds (62%) of dial-up users canceled their download. Compare that to only 1 out of every 20 broadband users canceling their downloads, most within the first minute. It certainly appears as though dial-up users are least likely to complete a download, despite being more patient than their high-speed bretheren. No matter the connection, however, the vast majority of users who canceled their download did so at under 15% completion, or about 708 KB. Less than 1% of canceled downloads were canceled after the user had downloaded 15% (708 KB) or more of the file.

While a 1 MB download would probably capture the vast majority of users, that’s far too small to effectively compete in this industry. However, this data indicates a strong propensity for users to accept large downloads and sub-700 KB web-games. How big can we go? I can’t yet tell, because I have not yet tried other file sizes and don’t know the psychological ramifications of such things, nor have I been able to witness the upper threshold of broadband downloaders. However, if we target a larger file-size, we can probably assume we’re only further alienating dial-up users. As such, let us temporarily remove them from our considerations.

The average broadband user has a 200 KB/sec download capacity, or approximately a 1.6 Mbit connection. If we project the dial-up user fail rate onto broadband users — 700 KB @ 1 KB/sec, or approximately 11 minutes of download time — we find ourselves with an intriguing result: 132 MB. Does this mean we can start offering 100+ MB downloads? Probably not. As noted earlier, broadband users are far less patient than dial-up users. However, this does mean that we are free to explore our medium in a more relaxed state. Sure, we all have to worry about our own bandwidth costs; that is always a consideration. But it appears as though the casual audience — and I would presume the core audience to a much greater degree — is comfortable with larger downloads than we’ve ever experimented with before.

Unfortunately, these statistics do not yet measure many important things. The integration between order taking and download monitoring is minimal at the moment, though it does appear that broadband users are in the vast majority of those who eventually register the game. In addition, different channels — or referers — have different failure rates. I tried to organize the data in such a way that it most accurately reflected the casual games audience, and I believe I acheived that to a large degree. Finally, one thing I don’t have is a vast array of different titles, so these statistics are unique to users who were intrigued by Jeweltopia. However, I don’t suspect they would change much in the same family (casual).

If you are intrigued by the volume of valuable data I gleaned from my users’ download habits, you may be interested to learn that Solari Studios is planning to release this technology as a product named “trackdown” in the near future. With the capacity to monitor different products, channels, affiliates, success rates, conversion rates, and much more, trackdown will prove to be an invaluable tool for anyone who takes the downloadable software industry seriously. Please stay tuned, if you are interested in this exciting technology!

Frankly, most developers seem to spend zero time coming up with the theme of their game. This is a huge mistake: It’s your first line of marketing, no matter your distribution. (Casual portal or own site.) Just as we all wrote up outlines of our papers in school before we began putting pencil to paper, it’s important to write an outline of the specific features and characteristics of your target audience.

Ideally, it’s important you identify your target audience before you make your game. If you don’t do that, you don’t know what kind of considerations to keep in mind while constructing your gaming mechanics and to reach the largest possible audience. However, sometimes that’s just not reasonable; an idea for a game can (and often does) come long before the marketing end of the brain gets a chance to play. Here’s what you should do if you choose to identify and appeal to an audience with your existing gameplay mechanic:

1. Who will find the core game mechanic the most entertaining?
   • Hardcore?
   • Casual?
   • Cats?
2. Coming up with a broad audience isn’t enough; narrow it down.
   • What other games targetted at this audience have a similar "feel?"
     • Luxor
     • Bricks of Atlantis
     • Karu
   • What are the major characteristics of these players?
     • More likely to be male
     • 30-40 years old
     • American
3. Extrapolate information and create an individual from that extrapolated data.
   • Born in 1971
     • Child of hippies
       • Exposed to alternative lifestyle at a young age
       • Imperfect family structure while growing up
     • Too young to remember Vietnam war
   • Pre-teen in 1981
     • Born into the age of computers
     • Probably didn’t have much direct contact with computers due to poor financial means
   • Teen in 1986
     • May have rebelled against parents’ alternative lifestyle
     • Well versed at "escaping" undesirable family structure by hanging out at the arcade playing shooters
   • Graduated in 1990
     • Puttered around a little while deciding direction to take life
   • Possibly graduated community or low-ranking college in 1995
     • Went for "safe" over "fun"
     • May have married high school or college sweetheart
       • Places a lot of value in the atomic family unit
   • Has first child in 2000
     • Wants to raise child better than own parents
     • Very calculated and intentional parenting
   • Has surprise second child in 2003
     • Addition of unplanned child emotionally upsetting
     • Feelings of being "out of control"
4. Infer this person’s motivations and emotional state from the timeline.
   • Just starting a family (3 and 6)
   • May own home
   • Cost of surprise child combined with housing bubble costs leave huge, burdening mortgage
   • Spends most of time in the office; games are a diversion
   • Feeling overwhelmed by responsibility of being sole worker in household; wife taking care of children
   • Slowly realizing rat race safe but not emotionally satisfying
   • What little time for amusement is given to games as a method of escapism
   • No solid time commitment for gaming
   • Never exposed to organized religion, so questions of spirituality and "Why am I here?" abound
5. What are this person’s media interests?
   • Movies
     • Family/clean comedy
       • Ice Age
     • Action
       • Saving Private Ryan
     • Some drama
       • Cider House Rules
   • Music
     • Likes contemporary rock
       • Michelle Branch
     • Dislikes classic rock (bad memories)
       • The Birds
       • Eric Clapton
       • Jimmy Hendrix
     • Dislikes rap/hip-hop and metal, as well as other "disfunctional" musical genres
     • Thinks techno is strange
   • Books/Magazines
     • Doesn’t read books anymore
       • Has fond memories of the Illiad and the Odyssey from school
     • Reads light business magazines (to little avail) and family/parenting magazines
       • Forbes
       • Good Housekeeping
6. From the outlined media interests, what purpose do they serve? What void are they filling?
   • Safe
   • Mature/Responsibile
   • Light-weight
   • Family oriented
7. Meet those needs and interests with thoughtful and appropriate theming.
   • Pre-rendered 3D, comedic characters, perhaps animals, light rock/acoustic guitar music
     • Pros
       • Appeal to greater demographic/rest of casual market
       • Music lends uniqueness
     • Cons
       • Not escapist enough; reminds of home
       • Expensive
   • 2D pen and ink, storybook-like, Illiad/Odyssey backstory, strong emphasis on unique characters (cyclops, etc.), orchestral music
     • Pros
       • Unique style for the audience
       • Great level of escapism
     • Cons
       • Story may be negative to coffee-break player
   • Pre-rendered 3D + photography, light hearted WWII, mature but not too serious, orchestral soundtrack
     • Pros
       • Very appealing to many males
     • Cons
       • Expensive
       • Strong chance of alienating women players
   • Retro-style 2D, simple blips/beeps, no soundtrack
     • Pros
       • Cheap as hell
       • Extremely attractive to arcade gamers
     • Cons
       • Alienate any but a core segment of the market

First, don’t guess about everything. Do some research; find out what interests your target audience share. You’ve only created an imaginary person. It’s important to realize that this person isn’t a perfect representation of every male ages 30-40. The idea, however, is to give yourself a solid understanding of the person (and thus people) you’re targetting. When you can understand their motivations, you can manipulate their emotive experiences to your benefit.

Second, this is a very limited scope of interests, primarily dealing with other forms of entertainment. Things that have been ignored but should be identified:

• Physical location
• Social structure
• Food interests
• Hobbies
• Anything else that helps you identify with your audience and provides inspiration for unique or original theming

As per our example, we’re left with a list of four themes of varying solidity. The more focused a theme is (retro-style), the more appealing it is to those it appeals to, but the more it alienates other players. The less focused a theme is (3D animals), the more it appeals to other gamers, but the less it appeals to those who find the primary gaming mechanic engaging.

It’s important to find a middle ground, with enough character to keep and hold fans of the game, but with enough draw to attract those who may not be interested in the first place. The WWII theme may attract many males, but it would certainly alienate a huge portion of casual gamers. The stylistic, hand-drawn Illiad/Odyssey theme can appeal to both men and women, and it offers a level of uniqueness in the crowded casual game space. In addition, it would be a relatively inexpensive production. This theme is the ideal choice, given the options.

Is this a process we don’t already go through? Probably not. Most of us go through something like this when we pick a theme, but often don’t do it consciously. It’s important to lay everything out on paper in an organized fashion so you can identify problem areas and further explore/expand the available options.

Why just choose "Atlantis" or "Space?" No other industry is that careless with their marketing and targetting!

The main website has been updated with a brand new version! Feedback is, of course, welcome. The new Solari Studios website: http://www.SolariStudios.com

You can read the full announcement at the Indiegamer forums here. Oh, happy day! Any feedback would be appreciated! (Either here, or in the forums.)

Commentary on Chinese Internet censorship. Feedback welcome.

I’m starting a new section on the blog called “Sketches,” which will include not only sketches, but musical snippets, code fragments, short ideas, and any other creative nuggets that cross my brain.

Today, we’ve got a little experiment. I have never tried to draw a pretty girl, so I put stylus to tablet and came up with this beauty. I’d most certainly appreciate feedback, if you would be so kind.

They’re at the top of many people’s holiday gift list, but violent video games can change a person’s brain function and desensitize them to real-life violence, a new U.S. study suggests.

The study included 39 male undergraduate students who provided information about how often they played their five favorite video games and the levels of violence depicted in those games. The students were then assessed for their irritability and aggressiveness and were measured for a type of brainwave called P300, which is believed to be an indicator of physiological arousal.

Read the rest of the article…

I think people are far too quick to write off a web designer as “good” just because he can whip up some nice graphics. A website is a lot more than pixels, and that seems to be the first thing forgotten by people looking for a new site. (And forgotten by many that actually design the sites!)

A website is many things: A salesman, a user interface, an application. Does the site reflect your brand? Most web designers are able to churn out a pretty interface, but is it functional? Is it compatible with your audiences’ browser? Does it have a small enough footprint that a visitor will wait for it to complete loading? Does it drive the visitor to whatever is being sold? When they get to the product, does it effectively and efficiently sell the product? In our business, the sale of the product is done at the download level, not the monetary level — a sale is won or lost before the visitor ever installs it. No download means no sale. Period.

In addition, what is the long-term accessibility of the site? Does it offer user tracking? Download tracking? How easy is it to modify once you’ve got it? Do you need to modify a graphic every time you add a new section? Do you even have that graphic? Is the website designer willing to write copy for you in the future when you need it? How much would it cost? Did he write engaging copy the first time around? If not, why not?

Of course, not everyone is looking for all this, but unless you plan to take up the slack for whichever is missing, then you will need someone else to do it for you. If you think you can write your own copy, then by all means, get a template or hire a $200 designer. But just don’t forget that a website is more than pixels.

Do graphics make the game? Why would you think they made a website?

You may have noticed the frequency of my posts on this blog dwindling over the last couple weeks. And, if you are a particularly curious person, you may be wondering why. Well, I’m hammering out the final bits of a little project which I hope to release soon. I’ve been sweating 12-15 hour days with nary a break — and I could really use one — but I want to finish it before taking any time off. Unfortunately, my blog doesn’t have the same priority as, say, going to the bathroom. (Though, neither does eating, apparently.)

When I come back, rest assured that I’ll update my fair readers with the latest in independent news, game development commentary, as well as a retrospective of my experimental project and its continuing progress.

Just wanted to assure you I’m not dead.

Independent studio, Q Entertainment — the folks who brought us Lumines and Meteos — have announced they are going to create an MMOG. Details are unknown right now, but considering the massive investment and upkeep traditional MMOG’s require, I suspect Q Entertainment may explore alternative MMOG’s. Q Entertainment has birthed many puzzle games in the past, so we may find ourselves enjoying a puzzle-based MMOG in the future, not unlike Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates.

[ Source ]