Key development stages and products for your game

Now that you have a good understanding of the mobile games industry and the opportunities and challenges for indie devs, it’s time to dive into the key development stages and products covered in this course.

In this section we will look at:

• Each major development stage and what it means for building your game as a business.
• The products and services available to indie developers.

If you’re going through this course, you’re likely in the middle of developing your mobile game, or interested in kicking things off in the near future.

We’ve structured the majority of this course around different parts of the development process so it’s easy to identify when and where you need to think about essential tools, products, and methodologies.

Concept/pre-production

This is where you set your mobile game up for success. From a business perspective, your goal in this stage is to conduct market research, identify your potential audience, and understand who your competitors are.

This allows you to move into production with a clear sense of who you’re building the game for, how you can improve over similar games in the market, and what features you will need to be competitive.

Production

This is when you will start building essential business tools and services into your mobile game. Many developers make the mistake of integrating things like Analytics, Ads, and IAP too late in the development process - a mistake that can seriously hinder your game’s ability to retain players and generate revenue.

Your goal during this phase is to ensure that you’ve built monetization features into your core game loop, and you have the tracking framework to understand how players move through the game.

Launch

We look at launch as two distinct initiatives - soft launch and worldwide launch. The goal during soft launch is to test your mobile game and find your audience. Worldwide launch is what most people typically think about with “launch”, where you’re making the biggest impact.

Live Ops

After you launch your game, you need to bring in the right players, keep them engaged and measure success. In many ways this is where much of the work begins, and your goal is to optimize your game into an efficient machine that delivers outstanding player experiences while generating enough revenue to fund further development.

Finding the right tool for the job is a big deal as an indie developer. Many key products and services are expensive, difficult to implement and maintain, or simply not suited to smaller studios.

This list contains all the products and services we will explore in detail throughout the course - a mix of Unity and independent resources designed to give you the competitive edge in the mobile market.

Monetization

• Unity Ads. This is our comprehensive SDK for building ads into your mobile game. Usable with multiple ad networks, Unity Ads is the easiest way to seamlessly build banner, interstitial, or rewarded ads into your game.
• Unity IAP. This SDK makes it easy to build in-app purchases into your game - everything from premium content to cosmetic items. Our IAP system allows you to seamlessly build your game economy across multiple platforms.

Analytics & Insights

• Unity Analytics. Everything from measuring retention to tracking user installs and engagement - this is the main analytics suite used in your mobile game.
• deltaDNA. This tool lets you track specific events in your game and set up everything from A/B testing to difficulty balancing. Combined with Unity Analytics, deltaDNA is the perfect tool to understand how your players are moving through your game.
• Remote Config. This tool empowers you to change application configurations remotely in real-time; increasing iteration speed and facilitating deployment and tuning of software.

You should now have a good understanding of the key development phases and the significance of each section for building your mobile game into a business. Additionally, the essential tools and services needed to set your game up for success should now be clear as we head into the rest of the course.

In the next section we will explore the early concept and pre-production stage of development and how you can start setting your game up for success before you’ve written the first line of code.