We think it goes without saying that here at CloudKid, we love making games. We also love playing games. We even love making sure our fellow cube-mates have seen this video for this really cool game that we’re playing. This one, on my screen. Look here. I’m serious. You need to – no stop doing that, download this game right now.
So, we decided we would share our wealth of information with you…as well as give us an excuse to talk about games.
It’s been a crazy busy couple of months at CloudKid HQ. We’ve been hard at work on a ton of exciting projects, and can’t wait to share more with you all in the upcoming months (we promise, the blog is officially coming out of winter hibernation!).
In the meantime, we couldn’t contain our excitement about one of our favorite organizations, Children’s Media Association, making its official Boston debut next week. CloudKid’s very own Dave Schlafman had the pleasure of presenting a talk to their NYC members back in December, and we’ve been itching for more CMA in our lives ever since!
Well, the wait is up, as CMA’s kicking off Boston membership with a happy hour mixer after Sandbox Summit next Tuesday. We’re honored to be involved in bringing this amazing organization to our city, and can’t wait to attend this and future events with fellow Boston-based kids’ media folks.
We hope to see lots of you there on Tuesday!
Moving episodic content off of the TV and into new formats is not a new idea; online streaming, DVDs and DVRs have undeniably changed how and when we watch shows. The real potential for innovation, though, lies in much more than the ability to watch the same content on a different platform… it’s about no longer being beholden to television, and its current monetization structure, in the first place.
With the successful launch of Netflix’s original, House of Cards, and the highly-anticipated release of cult-classic (and TV cancelled) Arrested Development, it’s clear that there is a market for original content to thrive off of the TV set. Children’s content is a natural component of this potential, as kids, perhaps more than any other demographic, clamor to watch and rewatch their favorites (and many parents would be willing to pay for subscription services to ensure their ability to do so). With Amazon Studios actively developing 5 pilots with key players in the children’s media space, and Netflix announcing a new original series to be created in partnership with DreamWorks, it’s clear that some key players have seen the potential, and are investing heavily in it. And last week’s Kidscreen made it clear to us and fellow attendees that other major companies (Hulu, Google) will also be throwing their hat in the ring for what promises to be the next wave of children’s original content.
Our biggest concern, and excitement, in all of this potential is to see whether or not this new, “original” content will actually be all that original. We strongly believe that web content has the potential to be so much more than 11, 22 or 45 minute instances of passive consumption of video content. With the new distributors relying on more of a subscription-based model for monetization (vs. ad money and international sales), the time to take risks, and give viewers fresh, ground-breaking content is now. We think there’s a ton of potential here for the power to shift into the relationship between content creators and viewers (as evidenced by Amazon’s asking for public opinion on which pilots to pick up for series). We hope the masses push for more innovative, unique formats that creators will love to make, and viewers will excitedly pay for. Who knows… traditional broadcasters may even be forced to follow suit if new stakeholders push the envelope for what viewers expect from innovative, cross-platform content.
Only time will tell if we’re going to continue to see more of a TV 2.0 on the web, or something truly “original”. Here’s hoping it’s the latter!
Last fall, we teased our work with Romotive and told you a little bit about Romo — the amazing smartphone robot whose character we helped bring to life. We’re excited to announce that Romo’s latest app hit the app store this week! This new update includes a lot of awesome work that we were proud to be a part of: Romo’s redesign, fun character animations, and a cool interface for seeing when other Romos are nearby.
If you haven’t already invested in a Romo, you can pre-order one now. We hope you have as much fun playing with the app as we did helping create it!
By this point, you’ve heard a lot about our beloved (albeit negative) little cloud, Nimbus. As we mentioned many-a-time, Negative Nimbus was our first self-published, original app release. We poured a ton of time, energy and love into the production, and learned a lot in the process of releasing it to the masses. And as they say, hindsight is 20/20, so we thought we’d share five key lessons we learned along the way:
1) Devote time, money and resources to marketing: While we put a lot of energy into outreach, we realized early on that marketing, like production, requires talent, expertise, and ultimately, a significant budget. While we were proud of what we were able to accomplish internally on our shoe-string budget, we’ll definitely be putting more strategic resources toward the marketing of future self-published titles.
2) Release on as many platforms as possible at once: We were eager to get our game into the hands of users ASAP, and went with a tiered release of iPad first, followed by iPhone/iPod and finally Android devices. This meant a lot of separate marketing pushes, and an overall spread-out of “buzz” and resources. If we could do it again, we’d wait it out and launch on multiple platforms at once, so everyone who hears about the game in a single marketing push has the ability to try it out.
3) Figure out a free strategy: For Thanksgiving, we decided to thank our supporters by going free for a few days. Our downloads that weekend were upwards of 15,000/day, which confirmed that free games have the potential to reach so many more users. While we still struggle with the best way to monetize free games (as most developers do), it’s something we’ll consider more thoughtfully now that we’ve really seen proof of the contrast between free and paid downloads.
4) Use resources smartly: Whether you’re a giant company, or a smaller independent studio like ours, it’s important to use your resources as effectively as possible. As we got further along in our marketing efforts, we learned what avenues were dead-ends, and conversely, where our efforts were paying off. In purchasing ad space, for instance, we quickly learned that one site in particular led to many more click-throughs than all the other sites we tried combined. This made it easy for us to specifically target that site in subsequent marketing pushes.
5) Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box: One benefit to being completely new to self-publishing was our willingness to take risks in our outreach efforts. Eager to learn, we tried everything from guerilla marketing posters with QR codes, to purchasing ad space on a variety of sites, to creating a weather utility app starring our characters for cross-promotion. We also played with the pricing structure, eventually introducing a lite version with a paid upgrade for all content. Our hunger to see what worked help us form relationships with key outreach partners and gain insights that will undoubtedly inform future efforts.
These are just a handful of the many lessons we learned through launching Nimbus. Perhaps our biggest takeaway, though, was in rethinking how we define success. While the app hasn’t left us flushed with cash, we view it as a huge success both in terms of quality of the content we produced and the impact it will have on our efforts as a studio moving forward.
Continuing our annual tradition of recapping the past year’s highlights, we put together a hit list for 2012. It was quite the year at CloudKid and included some amazing accomplishments:
As you can see, 2012 was a great year for us. We’re already full steam ahead into 2013’s projects, and are wicked psyched for another productive year here at CloudKid HQ. Stay tuned!
2013 is off to a great start at CloudKid HQ! We’re thrilled to announce the soft launch of the “social app” we mentioned in last month’s post. Meet Emogo – the emotional avatar! While Twitter and Facebook provide information about what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with, Emogo lets you share how you feel with your friends, family and followers in a fun, unique way. CloudKid helped conceptualize the product while also creating the branding, UI design and all artwork for the Emogo avatar assets. CloudKid partnered with NYC tech incubator, Soho Tech Labs on the creation of Emogo.
The streamlined “public beta,” which is only available via desktops and tablet browsers, allows people to create their Emogo avatar before the app is available. Stay tuned for more info on the official launch, and in the meantime, create and share your very own Emogo!
Last week, CloudKid’s very own Dave Schlafman had the pleasure of presenting to members of the Children’s Media Association. His presentation, which was advertised as “Talking Tech: Spotlight on Transmedia – Fizzy’s Lunch Lab and Beyond,” took attendees on Dave’s personal transmedia journey. From growing up amidst the cross-platform blockbuster brands of the 80s, to attending the SIM program at MassArt, to making a career out of being comfortable working in whatever medium came his way, Dave’s talk gave insight into what transmedia has meant for him as an artist and as the Co-Founder of CloudKid.
A large chunk of Dave’s presentation focused on how CloudKid defines transmedia. We see it as much more than just cross-platform content. It’s an opportunity to build out narratives and worlds in a way that conventional mediums like TV episodes alone don’t allow you to do. It’s evaluating what type of content really works best for what you’re trying to communicate. Dave supported these points through various examples of CloudKid’s work. From the Peg + Cat website to an exclusive sneak peek of our top-secret upcoming web series, the work shared highlighted our process of creating content that allows for a number of gateways into an experience.
All in all, the night was a success! There were tons of thought-provoking questions during the Q&A and lots of awesome takeaways from live-tweeting on CMA’s twitter feed (circa December 10th). Dave’s presentation also ended with a prompt that we though y’all might want to ponder: “Knowing the technology that exists today, what would you create for your nine-year-old self? Go make it!”
Back in October, we told you all about Fizzy’s latest gaming experience, Fresh Pick: The Search for the Next Lunch Labber! We’re super excited to announce that Fresh Pick has finally launched on PBSKids.org! The game and cinematic-packed experience is also available for iPad, Kindle, Nook and Android tablets.
We put a lot of time and love into creating Fresh Pick, and we’re so excited that it’s now available across so many platforms! From self-leveling games to extensive analytics, Fresh Pick included a lot of firsts for us, and as always, we’re excited to hear everyone’s feedback.
Think you have what it takes to be Fizzy’s next apprentice? Check out Fresh Pick and put your skills to the test in your very own quest to become the next Lunch Labber! Oh, and don’t forget to tell us what you think!
It’s been an exciting three months here at CloudKid. During this time, we’ve been focused on producing internal and independent projects. We’ve been working very hard on these three very different projects that have enabled us to take big risks and expand our skills.
1) Negative Nimbus – Nimbus is CloudKid’s first independently produced transmedia property. After launching the iOS game in October, the reception and reviews have been fantastic. Since the launch, we’ve added two new worlds, dozens of comics, new achievements, and Game Center compatibility, and expanded to Android. A Nimbus-themed weather app is also in the works.
2) Social Sharing App – We’ve also been building a truly unique social app and website that revolves around avatars and social content sharing. While not implicitly designed for kids, this experience utilizes many of CloudKid’s design and user experience strengths. It’s a collaboration with a NYC-based tech incubator and is slated to launch early 2013.
3) Sci-fi Web Series – Finally, we’ve been producing a general audience live-action/animated web series that follows the story of a government researcher. The narrative unfolds via a variety of content including video logs, animations, audio clips, and documents. It’s been our most ambitious and challenging project to date, and is slated to launch in 2013.
While these projects are very different from one another, they have one thing in common: they were designed for all ages, not just kids. These new projects have utilized the skills we’ve developed while producing children’s media, but they’ve pushed us to think about a broader audience. In the coming year we hope to produce more content for tweens, teens, and beyond, so we can continue to challenge ourselves as filmmakers, artists, and technologists.
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