Entrepreneurship and Gaming - A Chat With Yacht Club Games

Entrepreneurship in the gaming industry is not the most common practice. Gaming is largely run by the big name publishers and developers, and the most successful startups tend to be acquired quickly while those who have difficulties tend to fall apart. Having said that, in the last 10 years there has been an independent game revolution, with young, upstart developers channeling their passion into smaller, but still extremely rewarding games. One such developer is Yacht Club Games. Formed in 2011, Yacht Club Games is best known for its 2014 smash hit Shovel Knight, which pits the titular character against 8 enemy knights and the enchantress, in a fully realized world that would fit in perfectly with NES classics. It consists of old school graphics, gameplay mechanics reminiscent of Mega Man, Ducktales, Super Mario Bros. 3, and one of the best soundtracks in the last few years. What’s so impressive is that even while it is a love letter to gaming of old, it creates its own identity, one that I look forward to see growing over time. Given this was Yacht Club’s first official release, I wanted to learn more about the process of forming a company and becoming successful. I was fortunate enough to correspond with Sean Velasco, designer and director at Yacht Club Games on the formation of the company and building a business in a sometimes unforgiving industry. A special thanks to him and his team for their willingness to speak with me and for crafting a classic in Shovel Knight.

Currently Playing - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and NieR: Automata 

I cannot remember a period of time with this much excellence at once, 2017 is already shaping up to be an amazing year for games.

                      

                                

      (Promo art of Shovel Knight and his enemies. Credit: Kickstarter.com)

1.      Where did the idea behind Yacht Club and Shovel Knight come from? How did you all start up in the industry?

SV: We all started in different ways, but our paths mostly crossed at another developer called WayForward, which is known for licensed titles and classic side scrollers. As players that loved these kinds of games, we were all drawn to WayForward, and we developed many titles. But after several years, we decided we wanted to break off and do our own thing. That’s how the idea for the Yacht Club came about. Shovel Knight was born from the idea of making a classic NES style game that was built around a single mechanic. We chose it because we thought it would be a good Kickstarter game, and something we were passionate about and also capable of doing ourselves.

2.      In the early days in 2011 how was funding acquired? I know Kickstarter played a huge role by 2013, but did Yacht Club go through a similar process to tech firms with venture capital or self-fund?

SV: We weren’t really assembled as a company until shortly before we put the Kickstarter together, around November of 2012. Until then, we were all working full-time jobs at other companies and doing YCG stuff on the side. We never tried to get capital from other places, but if the Kickstarter had failed, we might have tried.

                              (The titular blue knight himself. Credit: Wikipedia.org)

3.      How did you enjoy working with Kickstarter? Would you recommend it to future game developers? It seems like one of the most viable funding locations for games.

SV: Kickstarter is cool because the power goes into the hands of the developers! But, it’s a ton of work to launch a Kickstarter and communicate with your backers and audience. Publishers and self-funding can work really well too, but Kickstarter is certainly viable. I’m not sure if we would do it again, but it’s certainly a great funding model if used correctly. Just be aware that it’s a project in and of itself!

4.      How did you find and recruit your team? What channels do you think are the best ways to find strong developers and business minds?

SV: Our team came from WayForward, where we were already used to working together as a team on various projects. Working alongside people is the best way to find like minds, even if it’s on something smaller. For people with no team, I would try to join a game development club, meet other devs that are already working, do internships, anything to try and meet people and get familiar!

                                 

(Shovel Knight’s villains have also gotten moments in the sun. Here we see the latest downloadable content Specter of Torment. Credit: Gamespot.com)

5.      In the beginning of the company what were the hardest obstacles to overcome? How did you and your team maintain focus throughout the early process when uncertainty is high?

SV: We are a team that has historically managed to stay focused through crazy development schedules and company drama. This practiced focus discipline helped us to get Shovel Knight done. But we worked crazy hours, testing our sanity. We worked with very thin resources, testing our finances to the limit. As time went on, it felt like we were all going to go insane. And we did! Some of us are still recovering…. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

6.      This may seem a bit broad, but how did you segment your target audience? Shovel Knight clearly hit hard with a lot of passionate gamers, but how did you know that was the group you wanted to make a game for?

SV: We tried to make Shovel Knight for ages 8-80: for kids that have never played a platformer, for lapsed gamers, for nostalgic players, for everyone. That meant we had to carefully balance difficulty and try to make our game intuitive and easy to learn. We built something that we really loved, and tested it with lots of players, adjusting along the way, even if we disagreed with their feedback sometimes! In the end, Shovel Knight became appealing to players of all ages, but I think the difficulty is still a turn-off for some.

                              

 

(One of Shovel Knight’s biggest influences – Mega Man. Credit: USGamer.com)

7.      I love the early investment in the Nintendo Switch, but do you ever see yourself developing for bigger platforms such as iOS or Android?

SV: Shovel Knight is a game that demands tactile control methods, so iOS and Android are a poor fit. It just wouldn’t be playable! But we still think that touch screens and other control methods are cool. There is definitely interest in doing something someday. We’d just need the right game.

8.      What recommendations would you make for future entrepreneurs in the gaming industry?

SV: I have no idea, haha! We got really lucky, I think. I guess I would say: make sure your team is great, you all know what you want to make, your games are great (and confirm it with many, many non-biased parties), your marketing is great, and never ever give up! Success has a lot to do with persistence. Note: I started a company and failed before we ever started Yacht Club Games!