Hey guys, it’s been a while since we are posting anything here. In the last post we mention projects we are working on, one of them is called #ProjectUna. Now we proudly announce our new working title, previously called ProjectUna. Ciel Fledge!
Learn more about Ciel Fledge in our upcoming devlog post! or follow our twitter for bits of spoiler on the game here: https://twitter.com/studionamaapa
Hey everyone, what’s up? How’s Studio Namaapa today after the release of Nusakana? Are they just slowly fading away into obscurity? Hell, no! We are very much alive and well and still kicking ass. In fact today, I, Num, want to make an announcement that this year, we are going on to tackle 2 projects at the same time! Not one, but two, folks!
Soo, what are they? Well, if I just tell you the detail now it will be less dramatic isn’t it.
The first project, is something we are working with a fellow Indonesian studio, can’t tell about it now since we are still under non-disclosure agreement. So the first is still top secret until further announcement.
The second project, is another we are also working on, by our own internal good old “now veteran” team, with the help of an intern programmer by the pseudoname of rikuotanakaID. Now this is the one I’m going to tell you folks about. Let’s call this one tentatively #ProjectUna!
Let me guess what you folks are thinking right now…
“Another god damn fucking RPG in RPG M****r project?”
Tooot, wrong!
The engine we use might be the newest iteration of the infamous, most-often hated, some says satan-incarnate in the form of game engine that nowadays often used by irresponsible noob to flood the market with shitty RPG with its equally shitty stock engine asset. But rest assured, we only utilize the engine, since it’s now apparently a better engine than it was previously. Better yet, it have multi-platform support and written in an actual, working and useful language (unlike the previous with its hipster language).
And NO, it’s not an RPG in the sense of traditional, typical classic RPG with its usual “retro” top-down sprites. It’s something completely new. Inspired by some of our good old favorite games. I won’t disclose anymore info about the project right now since it’s still really early in development. But here’s two screenshot to get you clueless about what the game really is:
Well that’s all the announcement there is, welcome #ProjectUna! See you in the next blog post where I might be spilling more info about Una and the other secret project. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!
Hey, long time no blog post, this time I want to share my experience developing Nusakana in a post-mortem style post. Sorry for our english reader, the post-mortem will be in Indonesian language first, I will create the english version sometimes later, but if you do curious to read the post mortem now, just slap the wall of text below on google translate for rough translation.
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Halo perkenalkan buat yang belum kenal, gw numfanklewhat, developer game dari Studio Namaapa. Udah sekitar sebulan sejak Nusakana rilis dan di kesempatan ini gw ingin share post mortem Nusakana buat evaluasi kami sebagai tim, dan juga buat temen2 sesama game developer utamanya yang masih baru merintis.
Berawal dari terbentuknya Studio Namaapa sendiri, mungkin dengan adanya kalimat “Studio” banyak orang beranggapan kalo kami ini beneran studio mapan yang udah punya kantor sendiri, tiap bulan gajian, dan berbagai ke-glamor-an lainnya. Tapi percayalah, nama “Studio Namaapa” itu sendiri sebenernya bisa dibilang sekadar keren-kerenan aja. Aslinya kami ini cuma 2 orang, itu juga kerjanya nomaden, berpindah-pindah, kadang di rumah, di kantor, di kampus, di tempat umum. Sampai saat ini gw masih kepikiran mungkin cocoknya kita ganti nama jadi “Studio Nomaden”.
Kenapa sih sok banget lu bikin studio? Kebanyakan gaya lu nyet. Mungkin ada yang kepikiran kayak gini. Sebenernya gw pengen bilang karena passion, tapi itu terlalu basi sebagai alasan. Tapi ya, emang aslinya karena passion sih. Gw dari kecil suka main game, terbersit di pikiran gw, “wah asyik juga ya kalo suatu saat aku bisa bikin game kayak gitu”. Gw juga yakin zazon (wltr3565) mungkin seperti itu juga awalnya. Hingga suatu saat kesempatan itu datang sekarang, langsung gw ambil.
Dan sampai sekarang, Studio Namaapa masih berjalan dan sudah berhasil merilis game perdana kami di Steam, Nusakana. Yang bakalan gw bahas di bawah sebagai tema utama post-mortem ini.
Jadi Nusakana, apaan sih Nusakana? Yang belum tau silahkan google atau beli langsung di halaman steamnya dimari: http://store.steampowered.com/app/401290/
Sebenernya Nusakana ini agak unik, karena game ini lahirnya dari chattingan rada gak jelas sebelum gw dan zazon bahkan kepikiran untuk ngebentuk Studio Namaapa. Waktu itu gw inget banget ada game mancing PS Vita yang tema mancing dengan karakternya bener-bener out of place, literally “fishing with lolicon waifu”. Lalu gw asal nyeletuk aja, gimana kalo kita bikin game dimana cewek2nya itu jelmaan ikan? Akhirnya entah gimana diskusinya malah jadi seru (dan makin ancur) dari situ. Dari ide awal bikin breeding game dimana lu miara “fish girl” ini, sampe kebentuk jadi fusion JRPG open-world kayak sekarang.
Sejak chattingan itu, kira2 akhir tahun 2012, gak tau kenapa gw dan zazon malah makin intens ngembangin gamenya, padahal gw sendiri sama zazon belum gitu kenal deket. Berawal dari brainstorming dan gambar2 mock-up, itupun tanpa planning yang jelas. Masuk pertengahan 2013, bentuk gamenya mulai keliatan dan kita berdua makin intens developingnya. Waktu itu pikirannya ya udah kita nothing to lose, mari coba bikin game komersial, utamanya sebagai pengalaman dulu.
Tahun 2013 – 2014, developing on-off, kami developing disela2 kesibukan sehari-hari. Gw bertanggung jawabnya utama ke desain grafis, sedangkan zazon programming. Ada satu unsur yang kurang, musik. Disitulah kami mulai mencari2 anggota baru, dan ketemu Jasmine, composer dari amrik yang asli bener berbakat abis. Gw seneng banget dia mau jadi bagian perjuangan kami developing Nusakana, tanpa mikir “duit” sebagai tujuan utamanya.
Masuk awal 2015 Nusakana di greenlit dan development hampir selesai, dan dari situ kami makin pede buat bikin studio sendiri, terbentuklah Studio Namaapa yang di legalisir jadi badan usaha sebagai wadah kami berkarya di game development kedepannya.
Nusakana dirilis sebagai PC game (tadinya pengen mac dan linux juga berhubung enginenya gak support akhirnya PC doang). Kenapa gak android? kan lagi ngetren game android sekarang bro! Mohon maaf sebelumnya ya tapi bagi developer independen yang kecil, play store itu sangat gak ideal saking banyaknya game yang dirilis tiap harinya. Dari game sampah modal reskin, coc clone yang biaya adsnya sampe milyaran bahkan lebih gede dari biaya developmentnya biar bisa featured terus di frontpage, sampe game yang bener2 bagus, tapi tersembunyi ditumpukan sampah2 tadi.
Chance elu sebagai developer kecil yang passionate bikin game2 bagus (original tanpa nyontek dan reskin tipikal game arcade dan action mobile) untuk sukses financially itu kecil banget kecuali dalam beberapa kasus lucky 1 in a million atau lu dapat investment dari venture capital. Apalagi Nusakana dimana gamenya RPG dengan playtime 50 jam lebih. Selain alasan diatas juga alasan practicality dan kenyamanan. Gw lebih milih orang main game kami secara tradisional aja, beli dan bebas main dan akses kontennya ketimbang mesti maksa bikin gamenya jadi f2p bullshit yang penuh dengan ads dan clickbait lalu jadi ketergantungan pake rumus2 CPM ini lah itulah, cari2 user lah.
Tadinya kami juga pengen rilis di console, karena main game RPG itu enak banget pake gamepad sambil duduk di sofa atau tidur2an depan tv. Tapi berhubung sangat susah masuknya (Indonesia gak dianggap sama big 3 console) dan gak punya koneksi, ya udah kami fokus ke PC aja. Kebetulan juga dengan adanya Steam dan kemudahan yang diberikan sama Steam itu ngebantu kita banget. Meskipun Steam sekarang udah kayak Playstore 2.0(makin saturated). Friendly reminder you missed the indie success bus for about 3 years ago.
Jujur soal marketing sebenernya gw dan zazon gak jago2 amat. Gw pribadi adalah orang yang malas urus sosmed, apalagi gw juga bukan socmed whore yang cuma modal postingan tolol bisa dapat ratusan like. Untuk marketing kita cukup standar aja, bikin akun twitter dan fanpage fb untuk gamenya, posting gamenya di forum2 yang sesuai dangen target audiencenya dan coba untuk maintain secara konsisten halamannya. Kami juga bikin devlog yang awalnya di post di blogger sampe pindah nge-devlog di website sendiri.
Begitu dekat launching (dan saat greenlight) kami approach situs2 yang keliatannya bakal minat ngecover game ini, dengan cara apa? cara tradisional lewat email langsung ke editor atau contact personnya. Gak usah kebanyakan gengsi nunggu diliput macam seleb aja, langsung kontak semua yang berpotensi ngeliput game kalian. Cara ini sebenernya agak hit and miss tergantung mood editor dan kepopuleran gamenya juga sih, tapi dengan cara itu game kami berhasil diliput situs yang lumayan bonafid kayak siliconera.
Marketing di lokal? Perlu gak sih? Sebenernya gw pengen bilang perlu, tapi ngeliat realita sales di lapangan, segmen buyer dari indonesia itu kecil banget. Bahkan untuk Nusakana, lebih banyak buyer dari Thailand ketimbang dari Indonesia. Entah dari gagal marketing sampe gamenya begitu obscure atau orang2 indo masih mentalitas bajakan dan “good game = 3D grafix super reality muh eyesss”. Saran gw sih untuk marketing game, lebih baik fokus marketing di luar negeri dulu, US terutama, karena untuk PC game segmennya paling banyak dari situ. Marketing lokal bisa belakangan, atau sekedar untuk bangun fanbase. Biasanya kalo di luar negeri udah terkenal, baru deh diklaim sama orang lokal sebagai “Karya anak bangsa”.
Beberapa situs game lokal dan blogger juga youtuber indo juga sebenernya mantep banget, gw gak pernah kenal atau kirim email ke mereka tapi mereka dengan senang hati nulis artikel dan ngecover Nusakana. Jadi di kesempatan ini gw juga pengen bilang, thanks bro! Semoga mereka yang udah pernah nulis artikel dan ngecover Nusakana baca post mortem ini juga.
Ada yang baik2nya tentu aja ada “asshole”nya juga. Gw juga ada pengalaman buruk dengan salah satu oknum press game lokal yang cukup bonafid. Jadi tuh orang PM ke gw langsung di facebook minta key steam Nusakana untuk review, ya gw dengan senang hati kasih mengingat reputasi situsnya. Sampe sekarang udah sebulan lebih dari sejak rilis Nusakana gak ada kabar lagi reviewnya. Semoga orangnya baca postmortem ini, karena gw mau bilang kindly FUCK OFF! Saran buat temen2 hati2 dengan beggar review key model gini, apalagi dari situs “bonafid”, kalo mereka request key lewat jalur gak resmi dengan janji2 indah lebih baik tolak aja daripada makan ati. Orang2 model gini buat gw lebih parah dari scammer yang emang niatnya nipu.
Publisher
Publisher, perlu apa nggak? Gw gak ada pengalaman soal ini jadi mungkin ya tergantung kebutuhan aja. Publisher biasanya ngebantu urus PR, marketing, sama paper work yang dibutuhin untuk publish game lu di beberapa webstore. Tapi yang jelas semua publisher pasti minta share dari profit lu, entah 50:50 atau 70:30. Dan gak semua publisher itu bagus, ada publisher useless yang cuma pengen dapat share dari kerja keras lu doang, ada juga publisher yang bener2 ngepush game lu supaya coverage dan exposure makin banyak. Jadi pinter2 aja kalian mutusin mana yang terbaik bagi kalian. Bagi gw sendiri, gw merasa kami belum perlu pake publisher, selain PR dan marketing masih bisa kami manage sendiri juga gw sebenernya agak malas share profit dengan publisher, apalagi dengan forecast revenue yang gak begitu wah, makin kecil aja lah nanti porsi keuntungan kami.
Nusakana dirilis tanggal 20 November 2015 kemarin, memang ada sedikit masalah ketika launchingnya dengan adanya minor bugs yang cukup mengganggu, tapi secara keseluruhan launchingnya cukup lancar. Mungkin saran gw, jika kalian mau launching di steam, usahakan para beta tester ngetest gamenya lewat beta access steam yang kalian provide sebagai devnya. Jadi kalo nantinya mereka mau masukin review, lebih terpercaya dan legit dengan play time asli saat beta testnya. Jujur gw sempet sakit hati dengan beberapa review negatif yang bahkan main gamenya belum sampe 30 menit (dimana gamenya bukan gratifikasi instan 5 menit udah hore2) tapi main ngejudge aja dengan hal2 yang gak relevan dan klaim fitur gamenya gak ada padahal aslinya memang gak langsung disuguhin di detik awal.
Gw gak bilang harus pake review bayaran ya, tapi percayalah review positif dan negatif itu hidup mati bagi developer, apalagi buat developer kecil. Karena orang2 cenderung ngejudge dengan sekedar melihat angka. Usahakan kalian antisipasi hal2 yang berpotensi bikin gamenya direview negatif dari jauh2 hari.
Mungkin banyak yang berpikir wah game development pasti modelnya gede, sampe puluhan bahkan ratusan juta. Untuk kelas game developer independen gw dan zazon modalnya minim banget bahkan bisa dibilang cuma modal nekat doang. Asal lu punya keahlian yang menunjang, gak perlu keluar modal gede kecuali lu hedon yang perlu produk macam a****e sama ultra high end equipment stuffs buat developing gamenya dan sering wara wiri ke macam2 pameran.
Tanpa mempertimbangkan overhead cost (listrik, makan, transport, sewa, dll) karena kami emang “nomaden”. Total estimasi biaya yang kami keluarin untuk modal bikin Nusakana dari awal sampe akhir mungkin sekitar 18 juta sekian. Breakdown costnya $1000 (pas rupiah masih 12,000 jadi sekitar 12 juta) untuk buka akun bank badan usaha, 4 juta bayar notaris karena kami ingin punya badan usaha legal, dan 2 juta biaya rupa2 dari ongkos legal, greenlight, transport, akomodasi, marketing dan peralatan pameran. Bahkan $1000 nya itu pun uang pinjaman aka hutang.
Untuk profit Nusakana, bisa diliat estimasinya di steamspy, memang gak gitu glamor dan belum bisa dibeliin BMW M5 tapi di bulan pertama kami bisa nutup cost dan bayar hutang $1000 tadi, dan ngambil potongan profit kami, serta masih bisa disisihkan sebagian uangnya untuk “kas perusahaan”. Baru dibulan kedua (desember) ini kami bisa ambil murni keuntungan tanpa potongan macem2. Garis bawahnya, dari segi profit gw rasa lebih dari lumayan mempertimbangkan posisi kami sebagai anak ingusan yang bener2 “buta pasar” dan baru mulai terjun ke dunia game development.
Demikian post-mortem yang agak lumayan panjang sebagai bahan evaluasi bagi kami buat teman2. Maaf kalo ujung2nya gw malah jadi curcol, di segmen closing ini gw akan sedikit berbagi tips juga buat temen2. Sampai ketemu di blog post gw yang lain dan devlog project terbaru kami, Terima Kasih!
Usahakan punya tim yang solid dengan komitmen dan konsistensi tinggi. Lebih baik bekerja dalam tim dengan skill standar tapi pekerja keras, daripada tim skill dewa tapi orang2nya toxic person
Buat time table sebagai acuan kerangka kerja, dari sesi planning, development, sampai rilis
Tentukan potensi target audience gamenya, sebagai acuan marketing
Biasakan bikin forecast, entah forecast jadwal rilis, revenue atau lainnya. Dan siapkan beberapa rencana “plan B” untuk antisipasi ketika keadaan dilapangan tidak sesuai dengan forecast yang ada.
Beta testing itu sangat perlu, usahakan punya beta tester dengan berbagai background dari casual, hardcore, sampai non-gamers. Kesalahan utama Nusakana itu beta testernya hardcore gamers semua, tapi tampilan gamenya begitu casual. Gak sedikit casual player yang akhirnya nangis2 karena gamenya terlalu sulit.
Backup, entah lewat auto backup pake program, cloud etc. Gak ada yang lebih sakit daripada kehilangan data atau data yang gak sengaja ke overwrite
Urutan sosial media yang relevan dalam marketing game: Twitter, Tumblr, Forum developer (ex: tigsource), Facebook
Hi everyone, it’s been a while since we last post our devlog here. Well I bring good news: Nusakana development is finished and now we are in pre-release state, preparing the stuffs that need to be done (primarily technical stuff on steam and marketing). We’ve also already set up Nusakana’s page on Steam that you can access here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/401290/ It won’t be long until its actual release! So don’t forget to follow the page and add it to your wishlist!
And back to the main topic… So for this devlog, there will be no technical stuff about the game at all. Instead, we, the devs, will just write everything we felt through the development of the game. Thank you all for always reading and see you in another devlogs on our future project.
Numfanklewhat (Game designer, writer, artist/graphic designer)
It was started from a silly chat between me and walt on certain online forum. That was the beginning of Nusakana, almost 3 years ago. I still remember when we were talking about certain handheld console fishing game starring a complete unrelated, unusual even, cast of characters from Japan. From there, I don’t know what happened or what gets into me. Me and walt started to develop mutual trust with each other, even though we aren’t really close at that time. We were just slowly, though steadily, working on the game, I work on the graphics side while walt working on the programming side, together we also concoct the story and gameplay of Nusakana. Until at some point we say to ourselves, let’s do this seriously and make this happen.
I met Jasmine when we posted a recruitment thread on RPGMaker web, looking for a composer to work on the music for Nusakana, with specific genre: Bossa Nova. At that time the only missing piece on our team is the musician. I was so desperate at that time that I’m thinking of recording my own “terrible playing” of musical instruments to fill in the music for Nusakana as a last resort. Obviously as we are starting as “indie” we have no budget at all to pay for any musician nor promising a succesful project with tons of profit, so in the perspective of any composer or musician they probably saw us as “who is this upstart unknown developer?”, “like i want to spend time with some no-name devs from unknown country”. I’m a very skeptical man, bordering pessimistic maybe, but my thought is not without reason, there are possibilities that we will be just ignored considering of our no reputation and new kid status. But there’s nothing wrong with trying right?
The reception we got in the contrary, is quite overwhelming, I got lots of PM from many composers and musicians asking to fill in the role. But from many of them Jasmine is the only one who is stand out, with her vast experience and love for bossa nova and latin jazz music. We immediately clicked and she got to become the third member of the team. She is a very talented musician with a nice personality, she should’ve got more fame and recognition with her talent, that I hope Nusakana will help her reach.
From then on the three of us work together and giving all our best for Nusakana. Of course it’s not always smooth sailing on the ocean, there are times when we got into conflict, even over the most irrelevant things. But that’s just a part of the journey, conflict is a way for us to become more mature, developing mutual trust and to accept our team mate for what he/she is, their weaknesses and strengths. A chance to learn and know each other better.
Around the halfway of the development process, me and walt decided to form a legal company, for reasons such as legality concerning of our works but mainly to be more serious on our journey in the game development world. we form an independent game development studio called “Studio Namaapa”, a name that will probably be considered silly by native Indonesian speakers. Honestly we thought of changing the name but by then it’s already too late since the press have been writing about us using that name during our greenlight campaign. We just get along with it and it’s pretty much grow on us.
Now that Nusakana is finished, and ready to be released, I’m overwhelmed with proud feelings. We have gone through lots of things, discouragement and ridicule by people, pressure and obstruction from the “elite clique” of senior gamedevs, but we stand tall and finished our works no matter what those people says! It’s been an awesome experience from me, and I’m sure too for both Walt and Jasmine. I also want to give thanks to lots of peoples that have followed and encouraging us until the end. Especially our devlog readers, facebook fanpage and twitter followers. For me you all are not just numbers to brag. You are all individual that showed care to us, to our works. And for that I give my heartfelt thanks.
I hope that Nusakana can be received well and can give people both entertainment and inspiration. For me personally, I hope Nusakana can be our stepping stone to grow sustainable game development studio, that in turn can help us making more games that the people love. Thank you guys!
wltr3565 (Game designer, writer, programmer)
2 – 3 years since the game was first developed, huh? I was at high school when this game was in its planning stages, but really, I lost count how much time I’ve poured for Nusakana. That is how much I care about Nusakana. So much conflict and hardships we have gone through for Nusakana. We love this game. We fought over which line is better, debate the importance of something that actually a pain in the butt to implement but Numfank insists “for the sake of glory”. Looking at now, we’re near the end. The game is gold. Now, nearing 20th November, it’s time to let you guys enjoy our work. Our work for Nusakana is near the end, but it marks the beginning of the new adventure for you guys. And this is our new start too, now that we will have one game released to the crowds. Enjoy Nusakana, folks.
Jasmine (Composer, musician)
I have to say that, as a composer, I have been very fortunate. Though I have worked with a mere handful of game developers, the few that I have had the opportunity to grow with have done nothing less than better me as a composer and a person.
I met Walt and Alfi 3 years ago. When I stumbled across their game, the last thing on my mind was ‘work’. I was in college, writing music on the side, and perusing the rpg maker forums simply because that was where I had gotten a few hobbyist offers from before. What instantly drew me to Nusakana was the style of music they were looking for: Bossa Nova.
A game with primarily Bossa Nova music? That blew my mind.
To get a better idea of what they were asking for, I decided to play the demo which, to my surprise (and delight), contained gorgeous, pre-selected tracks that further instilled a desire to take on the task which they needed met. I knew that jazz (or something that sounds akin to it) came naturally to me, so I blindly sent in an inquiry. Lo and behold, they thought I was a good fit. I had no idea that Alfi/Walt had already received numerous advances before me, either. Knowing that warms my heart even more!
Since then, it has been a delightful struggle. Writing jazz, or a piece convincingly so, has been the most challenging style of writing for me yet. The music for Nusakana pushed me in unimaginable ways. Working with Walt and Alfi, two people that expect nothing less than their best, inspired me to always aim higher than what I felt I could do. This aspiration to never settle moved me to write outside my comfort zone – even go as far as completely re-composing older pieces (3 weeks from finishing development, haha). It has infected how I work in other musical endeavors and how I approach my self-confidence in writing. Add to that an uninhibited level of camaraderie housed in honesty and trust, I believe that Alfi, Walt and I more than developers. We are friends that have a passion for making games. It won’t be the last, either. I’m sure of it.
I hope you guys are ready, because very soon, you will experience the dedication, desire, and faith of three hearts, compiled into a wild adventure.
We are already Nusakana bound. I hope to see the rest of you there!
Hi everyone, it’s num. In the last devlog we estimated that Nusakana will be ready for release around the end of September, but oh boy, how wrong we are. The game proved to be even more larger than we thought it is originally will be. During an internal beta test we did, the playthrough almost clocked to 30 hours, and that is with all the knowledge of the game beforehand, no blind run. With that experience on hand, we estimated roughly that the regular gameplay will take probably around 30 – 50 hours. During the test, we also discover a lot more bugs that is pretty major and could hamper the gameplay. But rest assured, all of those are now in the past, we have completed the the beta testing! Although, it mean that the game need to be delayed further… But it’s for greater good, we swear!
With the game now confirmed to be playable and actually clearable, we are moving on to the polishing phase, adding missing features, functionalities, and preparing the game to be released on Steam. One of the major functionalities we add is xbox360 gamepad (x-input) compatibility. By default, the engine we are using doesn’t support x-input, so if you want to play the game using xbox gamepad (which is pretty much standard for gamepad on PC gaming nowadays), well, it will be pretty messy since the control is not configured properly and there is no way to change the gamepad key input. But thanks to Gamepad Extender script from Lone Wolf and the edit from wltr3565. You can now use xbox360 gamepad when playing Nusakana properly! Not only that you can also change the gamepad key input if you wish so! Isn’t it pretty neat?
The xbox360 gamepad compatibilities is one of the many functionalities we are going to add and polish further. Hopefully everything goes well, and we can release Nusakana… Well, I don’t dare to actually estimate when it will be released, since the last time we estimate… It’s going off chart and delayed. But for sure, we will release it before this year end, that’s my promise! See you in the next devlog, and thank you for reading!