Who’s Who: Crendel Studios

App2Top: Hi! Tell us about the studio – how did it all start?

Georgy Prokudin: Hello. It all started in March. Then I decided to get a job at the Murka company, and I was given the task to make a small game. It was necessary to enter gestures on the computer with the mouse – all sorts of triangles and squares – and that they were recognized. Each new level was shorter in time than the previous one. I did this task and went to the company. They told me there, since you have a lot of ideas, we’ll take on the position of a game designer. I came to the game designer a week later. I was told that I was not suitable. I say, so what, am I going for a programmer position? And they tell me that the vacancy is already occupied. Well okay.

I started developing my idea myself. I called my friend Sergei, with whom we studied together (fortunately, we are boys, and we can start doing everything impulsively, without preludes!), and we started making a game. They did it for two months. Two months later it turned out that we can’t do animation.

App2Top: Are you both programmers?

Georgy Prokudin: Yes, we are both programmers.

It turns out that we didn’t have graphics, we didn’t have interfaces. It would seem that interfaces are very easy to do. But it took us a month, probably, and while we found a freelancer, it also took a month.

Sergey Proskurin: We were very lucky to find a prototype of an interface from some toy that was given away for free. She couldn’t get out, and the studio distributed all its resources on the Internet. We adjusted the interface a bit for ourselves, and it helped.

We probably found the sixth designer in a row. We’ve tried them a lot. They immediately said that we have a small budget. And, of course, someone agreed, and someone did not.

App2Top: How much was usually requested? And how much could you afford?

Georgy Prokudin: There were such rates: one person asked for 3000 hryvnias. Another asked for $1,000 dollars. Another one is $800. And another one is $300. And then we found a girl who could do everything for us for 1600 hryvnias, in rubles it’s about 4 thousand. For this amount, they drew everything for us, and they drew it very beautifully. So we are grateful to this girl.

App2Top: And what did they do? Did you develop the engine yourself or did you take ready-made packages?

Sergey Proskurin: Unity 3D. It’s cross-platform, it had everything we needed.

Georgy Prokudin: We connected analytics, decided to make the game free and put ads also from Unity – Unity Ads. We took this idea from Hipster Whale, who made Crossy Road. They embedded this advertisement and earned their million in three months. We decided to be just as cool! (Laughs). By the way, I learned about this from your resource.

App2Top: And why exactly did they decide to do this project – about robots and fritupley? As far as it always seemed to me, is it a little difficult to make a fritupley with a team of two people? Servers, the need for support. Why didn’t they start making the final application?

Sergey Proskurin: Our game is absolutely single, there are no servers. It’s just that the distribution model is like this: it is free and with in-game purchases, which we, in principle, do not extort, but which can help inexperienced players in passing. It’s like with the second Cut the Rope. “Skill” players can pass without pouring money into the game at all. And those who want to get through quickly can buy some kind of “bun”.

Georgy Prokudin: We have advertising, but it is not motivated. It doesn’t pop out by itself. If you wanted to get additional energy for pumping the robot, then you watch an advertisement, and you get a “bun”.

We took the idea from such cartoons as Megas XLR and Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. Megas XLR – I loved it very much, this cartoon was shown on Cartoon Network. And Gurren-Lagann is a very popular anime.

App2Top: It all started in March, and when did it end? When was the project released?

Georgy Prokudin: The project was released on September 11.

There was an interesting story with the release. I’ve read a lot about marketing. I read Galenkin’s book [“Marketing of games”, Sergey Galenkin, – approx. editors], read a book that AppTractor advertised [“Pump money!”]. I felt savvy and very cool! As a result, a list appeared, it consisted of 900 e-mail news sites, 800 review sites, from paid VKontakte groups, which I numbered in descending order of usefulness, from forums (but this is so, as a last resort. At each forum until you register, it takes a lot of time). Moreover, all addresses are “live”, verified.

Then there are YouTubers, we have 1200 of them…

App2Top: Is it Russian-speaking?

Georgy Prokudin: No, of course not. I googled YouTube in different languages, set different geolocation, and chose the most popular ones.

Well, only Game Jams remain at the extreme. We participate in one Games Jam, which is only for Unity.

In general, it seemed to me that I was doing everything possible to promote. As a result, we agreed on articles with a lot of people on powerful sites. Everyone has been informed that the release is scheduled for the 11th, get ready to write about us.

Before that, the App Store did not approve for 10 days, I was afraid that it would say something about the age ratings of the game, for example, Windows Phone obliged to give our game 12+. And initially we put up 9+.

Anyway, this moment has come…

The 10th came. Everything is ready. And everything would have been fine if Indie Game Magazine hadn’t written about us a day earlier.

The fact is that we wrote to IGN, and they said that the game is cool and will give information about it to the IGM editorial board. We thought that since IGM is a subsidiary of IGN, it’s a lot of traffic! And in a hurry at night they poured the release on Android and Windows Phone.

By the way, Windows Phone appruvnul us from the third time. The first time he said that our rating is not the same, the second time he said that the game does not start, and then we poured out exactly the same option, and they started it. Then, however, it turned out that we do not have the certificates that are needed for Russia, for South Korea and for Brazil. PEGI was needed there. Naturally, we did not provide them: there was no time. Poured like this. Therefore, the game is not available on Windows Phone in Russia, South Korea and Brazil. To play it, you just need to change the country in your Microsoft account.

And the coolest thing is that Apple approved us the same evening (after 10 days of waiting).

The day after the release, we Googled the name of our game – Robot Conquer. Ten pages on Google were dedicated to her! And all – unique texts! German, Italian, French, Arabic, Ukrainian, Russian websites wrote about us! Who just did not write.

Sergey Proskurin: The game, for a second, is localized into 17 languages.

App2Top: Have you ordered localization?

Georgy Prokudin: I went on VKontakte, for two weeks I wrote to a lot of people. And who could – he helped. Thus translated into 17 languages. For example, if I wanted to translate into Chinese, I applied to specialized Chinese language groups. And those who learn Chinese – it was fun for them to help us. Up to the point that the Chinese themselves proactively offered us help. By the way, of all the languages, the Chinese wanted to help us the most. And they checked each other – that is, one translated, and the second slightly corrected. Since one checked the other, I am sure that everything is fine there (+ Google Translate I double-checked everything).

Then we made a list of stores. We have a list of 90 stores. We posted on Yandex, Amazon and a bunch of others.

App2Top: And how time-consuming was it? They usually swear that there are so many stores, it can take a lot of time.

Georgy Prokudin: Three days.

App2Top: For all 90 stores?

Georgy Prokudin: Yes, except for 20 Chinese. Because we didn’t know how to register there. (Laughs).

App2Top: And what did all this (publications in the media, stories) lead to?

Georgy Prokudin: There’s no need. On the first day we had 60 downloads, on the second – even less. (Laughs). And here I look, they wrote about us wherever possible, but it didn’t affect the downloads. And that’s all marketing? It is written everywhere – no one shakes! Although everything was done correctly, it was of little use. Only now we understand that it was all about the schedule, which was not liked by everyone.

And we started buying traffic. We did not purchase it from services or boosters, but simply purchased paid advertising on Vkontakte. I’ve read a lot about the fact that paid advertising on Vkontakte sucks, it’s very bad, but we decided that it would be better, given our small budget.

Sergey Proskurin: We bought ee in groups that are specialized specifically for games.

Georgy Prokudin: And it gave us 1600 downloads for 6000 hryvnias. That’s about $260. 10% of the users remained on the second day, after which we immediately began preparing a game update focused on player retention.

If we talk about our experience with buying traffic, then at first I thought that it ($260 for 1600 downloads) is very expensive. And we started calling traffic services. And they said that a softlonch for 1,500 installations costs $3,000, reaching the top costs $7,000-9,000. One installation in Russia costs $1, one installation in America costs $3. Naturally, it was terrible.

After that, we went to Habrahabr. There was an article with publishers. We started writing to them. Two publishers unsubscribed us during the day. The first one is Bobaka, but they only make children’s games. And the Gameshock company, which produces social games, also wrote to us. And, it seems, everything is fine with them, but they say that they are engaged not only in social networks, but also in iOS. And for each application they said it had collected 2 million installs, there were 40 ratings in the store at most. This alerted..

Since Gameshock are engaged in social games, they asked to screw the social media API. But our game is sharpened for touch: you need to draw in it. And I asked how, because it would be inconvenient to draw with the mouse in the browser. We were told that it was necessary. It will be inconvenient for users, and we will offer them to download the application to their phone. And they will switch to the mobile version.

Moreover, the owner of the Gameshock company himself is a great guy. He talked to us very well for literally an hour.

App2Top: And what was decided?

Georgy Prokudin: We decided to wait for the “Babaka” to unsubscribe. And they should also write about us in three popular public places, and on a good YouTube channel they should also give our advertisement with a game video. They gain 100 thousand views, there should be an effect.

But at the same time, the fact that we spent that $260 – it certainly gave us some kind of plus. It was a kind of softlonch that helped us to identify errors and shortcomings.

App2Top: Such a question: what do you expect from the publisher? You, in principle, have now bought a little good traffic inexpensively, you have started normally for indie. Why do you need a publisher now?

Georgy Prokudin: This is a last resort, for a rainy day.

Sergey Proskurin: It’s just that we are now looking at ratings in stores, and they demotivate us so much… We are flying down at breakneck speed, losing 100 positions a day. And everywhere they scare in the articles that if you miss this moment of the start, then it is very difficult to climb up.

App2Top: Look, your first downloads are due to an infusion of money. Many people rely on what they are constantly pouring in. From your words, I understood that you expect the publisher to pour into the project so that it brings money. By the way, once we touched on the topic, what about IAP sales?

Georgy Prokudin: Nobody bought IAP for a week. But we earned as much as $9 on advertising.

I forgot to tell you, we have free versions on iOS and Android, and paid versions on Windows Phone. BUT this is due to the fact that we could not insert Unity ads there. Simply because very few companies advertise on Windows Phone. That’s why we made a paid version. And surprisingly, on Windows Phone, our game was bought 14 times for $ 2.5 in the first week.

App2Top: What are your development plans? I mean, not for this project, but in general? If this project fails, what will you do next?

Georgy Prokudin: New games! I have more than 70 ideas written down in my document. As soon as the idea comes, I immediately write it down for the future. Everything is subject to review!

Sergey Proskurin: We want something small, with simple graphics and catchy gameplay.

Georgy Prokudin: Yes, now we want to do something with catchy gameplay. Because in this project we have put too much on the schedule.

Initially, the project was planned as a meditative toy in which you need to draw smoothly and kill enemies. Such a passive-aggressive game. And we have achieved this. Although the game is a little more dynamic than we expected.

App2Top: That is, you plan to go into minimalism.

Georgy Prokudin: Yes, in the next project we plan to go into minimalism in graphics. That is, it should be beautiful, but not as pretentious as this one. We have a lot of details here.

App2Top: I see. Thanks for the interview!

And here at this link you can download a list of review sites compiled by the studio.

Alexander Semenov talked

Deciphered by Irina Smirnova