1 Hour Video Game MBA Charlie Cleveland Founder, Unknown Worlds Natural Selection 2 Handouts available so no need to take notes March 2nd, GDC 2011
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Mark Twain
Natural Selection
Natural Selection 2
Roadmap Direction Starting Growing Meaning Q&A
“Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.” Hasidic saying Part 1: Direction
Make mantra mantra: A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell...containing mystical potentialities.
Hypothetical mantras Change the face of games Kick butt in air and space Celebrate nerd culture Expand reach of core games
Unite the world through play
Success is in your DNA
Value categories of offerings Experience Service Good Commodity Value Competition Transformation $0.01 $0.25 $1 $3
Wii Strategy Canvas
Part 2: Starting “Get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.” Stanley Kubrick
Define the nightmare Describe your worst case scenario. Be vivid. How bad would this be? 1 to 10 (temporary/permanent) Percentage chance? What would you do to get back to where you are now? Describe your best case scenario. Be more vivid. How GREAT would this be? 1 to 10 (temporary/permanent) Percentage chance?
Find your soulmate(s) Max McGuire, Co-Founder
Don’t write a business plan
Begin at the beginning
Bootstrap
Sell your by-products
Making money takes practice Zen of Sudoku Decoda Constellation donations NS2 pre-orders Overgrowth bundle Holiday sale Despair
Launch now 1. Take your best shot with a prototype 2. Release it 3. Iterate quickly
NS2 Engine Test
Parkinson’s Law “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Part 3: Growing Fall down seven times Get up eight times Japanese proverb
Old marketing “funnel”
Marketing is like fire
2. Touch it with a match 3. Fan the flames 1. Gather the driest tinder 1. Find people most likely to buy 3. Help them spread the word 2. Give emotional experience Marketing is like fire Fire Game
Have $10,000/hour ideas
Profit is like oxygen
Small, fat and happy
Size/Innovation Pattern Small company Attract innovators Success and growth Become large Attract risk averse people Install bureaucracy Highly innovative people leave Reduced innovation
Hire when it hurts
Strive for new problems
Recharge your batteries
“People say that what we are seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think this is what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.” Joseph Campbell Part 4: Meaning
Trust your passion
“The business you can succeed with is distinctly and utterly you and yours. It is unlike any other business in the world. Being in business is not about making money. It is a way to become who you are.” Paul Hawken Business lets you become you
Make a dent in the universe
Remembering Seumas Seumas McNally February 10th March 21st, 2000 placeholder Questions?
Charlie Cleveland “You never forget a beautiful thing you have made. Even after you eat it, it stays with you always.” My Life in France, Julia Child 1 Hour Video Game MBA What game do you want to be remembered for?