Monsters Ate My Condo post mortem

[PikPok]

Hi guys,

Monsters Ate My Condo (http://pikpok.com/games/monsters-ate-my-condo/) producer/designer Andy Satterthwaite did a post mortem on the game for Casual Connect (http://casualconnect.org) magazine.

You can read the article in its entirety (and see some early art) starting from page 28 here (http://issuu.com/casualconnect/docs/winter2012?&viewMode=magazine&mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Fl ayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true)

Enjoy!

[DaGreen1]

Edited due to stupidity on my part. Pay no attention.

[David Phan]

Thank you for sharing the post-mortem, I've added it to my growing list of mobile game post-mortems and I also snagged MAMC for my iPad.

Is there any chance of getting any of the following information on MAMC?

- Team Size (I think it was 4-5?)
- Budget
- Development Duration
- Development Tools/Technology

Oh, if you can share any "what went right/what went wrong" about things outside development like pricing, marketing and PR for MAMC, that'd be cool.

Understandable though, if y'all prefer to remain low key on the numbers and strategies.

Regards,
DP

[PikPok]

Now that's a shame. I love your game, and if he worked on it, he has my deepest condolences.

Er, what?


Is there any chance of getting any of the following information on MAMC?

- Team Size (I think it was 4-5?)

The core team was 3 or 4 people throughout most of development, but they were supported by additional resource from concept art, animation, sound, QA, and usability as required.


- Budget

Cannot divulge.


- Development Duration

About 4 months I think.


- Development Tools/Technology

Mostly proprietary tools and technology including our own engine.

We did use FMOD as a sound solution I believe though (and have used it across most of our titles).


Oh, if you can share any "what went right/what went wrong" about things outside development like pricing, marketing and PR for MAMC, that'd be cool.

Don't have much to add in terms of what went right/wrong outside of the article.

Working with Adult Swim and having them do TV advertising for the game was a big boost. They have been a great partner creatively, and we continue to work with them on other titles.

Despite the critical and financial success to date, there is perhaps a case to be made that the business model as a paid download without IAP was flawed given the market is shifting away from that. Most of our upcoming titles are being created as free to play with ad support and/or IAP

[David Phan]

Cheers for the extra information. Much appreciated.

And yes, the consideration for paid vs freemium is a tough one to make for game genres that have not been traditionally built from the ground up for freemium such as puzzlers and platformers.

This may be wishful thinking, but if Apple changes how app discovery and rankings work within the app store then that may actually benefit paid apps more as we'd get away from this "buy your way into the top 25 as a freemium" strategy.

DP

[DaGreen1]

Er, what?

Oh wow. I feel like an idiot now that I have a clearer head. I thought the guy died. My bad, ignore my post then.

[sifter]

Excellent story, I loved MAMC, really interesting to see how they put it together. Felt very polished for 4 months of work.

[drelbs]

Great article, thanks for sharing!

MAMC is one of my 3-year-old's favorite games!

I especially liked the concept art - it's neat to see how the game evolved.

[psk]

Interesting, could you talk at all about the tool chain for your animation ? it looks almost flash vector like, but i assume its not really - is it bitmaps?

[PikPok]

Interesting, could you talk at all about the tool chain for your animation ? it looks almost flash vector like, but i assume its not really - is it bitmaps?

We basically use Maya to animate "3D" flat components. We used pretty much the same technique for TapDragonDrop.

[PikPok]

In fact, seems like we are doing a live stream presentation covering the company and looking more closely at the art behind Monsters Ate My Condo at 12.30pm NZ time today, which is 5.30pm PST Tuesday (just a couple of hours away).

Link here

https://www.facebook.com/mediadesignschool/app_450898481606617


Edit: hmmm. Or not.

Edit2: on now.

[PèreGoriot]

Dear Mr PikPok,
Your game crashes on old iHardware (iPhone1/iOS313). Please, fix it soon ! Thanks.
___
Monsters Ate My Condo [adult swim] (os31)
"[UIScreen scale]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x5563e0', 'NSInvalidArgumentException'"