Why Make Licensed Games?
- Every game is a lciensed game
- Publishers need developers who “get” licenses
- Greater sales reliability/lower risk
- Repeat Business
- Amaze case: 10 years, 100+ titles, 30M+ Units
Core Business vs. “Filler business”
- Track record of day & date delivery
- Reputation for capturing franchise look & feel
- Sepcially honed staffing, product pipeline, and production practices
For licensed games to be a core business for a developer you will need to accomplish these things. To do this, think of your business as a “service.” This means:
- Provide capacity – Publishers may not have the internal resources to do the game so an external developer can take a lot of problems off of their hands.
- Provide solutions – R&D, concept development, production, development, test, script, etc.
- Make publishing partners & licensors successful
- Service is NOT acquiesence – It’s your job to protect your partners from their own misjudgments. You are an expert. Don’t be afraid to push-back if you think that they are asking for something that doesn’t make sense.
- Clear expectations are key to a key to a good partnership
You will need your staff to buy-in to the idea that you are a service organization and establish a culture of partnership & ownership
- Find and train staff who love working on licensed properties. Avoid auteurs and individuals who feel like they are looking to work on the next [insert specific game here]
- Find & train communicators/collaborators (production staff who are experts in both dev & service)
- Find staff who can handle redesigns and revisions
- It’s important that leads are able to communicate effectively with external partners and exude passion.
Anticipate problems. If possible, every project should have an AP as well as a Producer. Hone production practices for the licensor pipeline and short timelines, such as:
- Strong & Speedy concept and proposal talent
- Facile tech – this can be hard because the games are often very different in terms of genre. Consider licensing middleware instead of trying to have an internal engine.
- Rapid prototyping capability
- Easy iteration
- Easy ramp-up/outsourcing/contractor pools
Some case studies:
PROBLEM: Ungameable subject matter
SOLUTIONS: Get into the head of the fan-base. “What kind of experience will the fan base want?” Remember, licensed games are not about metacritic ratings. They are about giving the license’s fans what they want. Consider alternative approaches to genres & mechanics. Examples:
- Lord of the Rings with a trun-based tactics mechanic
- The Sims with a more story-focused mechanic
- Indiana Jones with a “burst of gameplay” mechanic
(Of course, this assumes a fairly accomodating publisher/licensor)
Also, spend time with the licensor to understand the proposed gameplay. Demo sample gameplay from published games to help licensors understand the vision. Gently help them understand that they are not experts in game development. Partners that understand this are much easier to work with.
PROBLEM: Multiple stakeholders / licensor gauntlets
SOLUTIONS:
- Expect delays.
- Accept that “best guess” forward progress is better than no forward progress. Licensors will often create delays due to their own indecision. Don’t be afraid to just take the best path you can identify. It will often force them to make the decisions that they are waffling on.
- Force each stakeholder to identify a “point person” who is empowered to make decisions on behalf of the stakeholder.
- Set clear guidelines for approvals and timelines, ideally in the contract. Also, make sure that the publisher and licensor deliverables are called-out in the contract.
- Schedules & budgets are your ally – it can be effective to point out to the publisher that changes will have time/cost impacts, but do this sparingly. Publishers/licensors hate hearing this frequently.
- Shame can be your friend – you can, if absolutely necessary, go over your producer’s head. This is a last resort, but is something that you may have to do.
PROBLEM: Design Restrictions aka “The Rules of the License”
SOLUTIONS:
- Identify the ruels early
- Identify the intention BEHIND the rule. (Make sure that you understand why the rule is there).
- Educate the licensor on how rules will affect gameplay
- Figure out ways to bend the rules, by contriving explanations for game situations that can be explained within the context of the license, even if it’s a bit of a stretch
PROBLEM: Change-Orders (that publishers don’t want to pay for)
SOLUTIONS:
- Get it in the Agreement
- Set expectations – try to make it clear when something becomes a change order
- Communicate clearly to minimize large scope changes
- Let the little stuff go. If the request is small enough that it doesn’t have a big impact on the project timeline/budget consider doing it without asking for more money. Remember that the relationship is more important than the gig…usually.
PROBLEM: Trust Issues
SOLUTIONS:
- Partners must prove themselves able to handle straight truth and transparency
- Accept that “shit happens” and that the two partners are going to need to be willing to work through things together.
PROBLEMS: Canceled & shifted movie dates
Most movies ship when they are supposed to, but sometimes they don’t (80/20). This can be a death-knell for a one-projecty studio. To avoid this problem, it’s important to have an excellent biz dev team that is able to quickly bring in new work, if necessary. Also, try to have a variable-size workforce. One good solution that allows this without having to do layoffs is to have sister studios that you can loan people to and from. Finally, try to include “kill fees” in contracts.
PROBLEM: Day & Date Movie Releases
The projects often provide little pre-production time which can lead to poor design and/or inaccurate schedules. To mitigate this risk, try to get the client to go along with something that you already do well or that is similar to an existing product.
These projects also have a risk of perma-crunch due to their tough deadlines which can lead to staff burnout. To avoid this, try to keep the project scope small, consider outsourcing and/or working with partner studios. And make sure that you have strong pdoruction processes that you stick to.
These projects also create the risk of getting stuck in a vicious cycle where you get poor game reviews, which can make it very hard to find work. Be smart with the game design and scope. Build a game that plays to the team and studio’s strengths. Try to work with a savvy, collaborative partner that understands your challenges and will avoid creating risk.
Finally, these projects also run the risk of being buggy when they ship, due to the short timeline, and introducing legacy technology issues into the code-base. Be sure to commit resources to core tech and tools investment and do technical post-mortems.
The “3-Bullet Take-Away”
- Specialization – Focus on creating these kinds of games. Make sure that your business, production, and development processes are all tailored for this type of game.
- Service – Think about service as being equally important to development prowess itself.
- Culture – Everyone in the studio should LOVE finding the “cool” in any license.
