Full Control is a small independent studio founded in 2004 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. They have specialized in the genre of turnbased strategy games and have several productions in their portfolio, including their upcoming project, Jagged Alliance: Flashback, and the recently released, Space Hulk, a turnbased video game adaptation of the popular Warhammer 40k board game. Andreas Sørensen, the community manager for these two games, shares lessons from managing the Jagged Alliance: Flashback community.
First Encounter with the Jagged Alliance Community
After a hectic month of planning and discussions, the Kickstarter for Jagged Alliance: Flashback went live in April 2013. Even though we had been warned that the Jagged Alliance community was a very demanding bunch, we weren’t prepared for the massive amount of questions and demands that were coming our way.
This was our first Kickstarter and since we were in the middle of developing Space Hulk, we only had around three people dedicated to getting this project up and running, as well as supporting it when it was live on Kickstarter. We were only in pre-production of Jagged Alliance: Flashback, so we didn’t have much more to show than concept pictures and a general design of the game.
Kickstarter Challenges
First challenge with that approach was that people did not really understand the concept of pre-production, and they expected an almost finished game design document with all details already in there. The second challenge was connected to the first; if you have a very general design, people will automatically ask questions about the deeper levels of the design, which at this point was sitting in our heads. Lastly, Jagged Alliance is a hardcore strategy game with very advanced systems and a complex design, so naturally, the community wanted answers for something like “Will the weight of bullets influence the movement speed of mercenaries?”. JA1/JA2 have been modded for more than 20 years and turned into completely different games, which is also why it still has a huge following.
We spent the first two weeks of the campaign answering thousands of questions and putting out updates to try and explain the overall ideas we had for this game in smaller and more manageable chunks. The community was doubtful of our ability to pull of this game, having mostly done iOS games in the past. They wanted a lot more info before they were willing to support our project. As it’s over a year ago now, I can’t say exactly where the tides changed, but I’m pretty sure that our high focus on making the game moddable and working together with some of the modders and designers from the old games made all the difference. The questions didn’t stop though, and it was a battle all the way to the end of the project, where it was funded seven hours before closing time. We have 13k+ comments on a project with roughly 7,500 backers. I can honestly say it was one of the most exhausting, but also exciting, months of my life, which is also why we’ve limited ourselves to a maximum of one Kickstarter per year.
However, this article is not about our Kickstarter. It is about what you have to do to manage a community with an existing fan base that have high expectations for the game you are making, but I felt it was necessary to describe how it all started and take it from there.
Remember, Don’t Feed the Trolls!
Some keywords to remember about community management is communication, expectation management, and honesty. Naturally, communicating with the community is a big part of managing it, but there is a lot more to that than you may expect. You have to understand where people are coming from when they give you feedback, have requests, or ask very demanding questions. You also have to keep you head cool and stop yourself from getting too carried away in heated conversations, as such discussions rarely end up in your favor.
I generally let people write what they want, as long as it is backed up with proper arguments and are adding value to the conversation. Since the release of Space Hulk and running the Kickstarter, I have only had to ban one to five people, and that is mainly because we engage in the discussions and try to keep them on a sober level. If I feel enough has been said, we simply lock the thread. I don’t believe in deleting threads, as I do not think it is good to hide things away.
I also handle the support for both of the games, and my general approach is to be polite, address their issues as fast as possible, and remember to follow up as soon as I have an answer. The same goes for visibility in the forums: I try to answer most posts, but of course, it is not always possible, as I have a lot of other tasks to cover. Thankfully, the team is good at helping out when in need.
Pick Your Words Wisely
Now on to expectation management. One thing I have learned is that you need to pick your words wisely when mentioning features, plans, and ideas you have for the future, because people will most likely see them as promises rather than just ideas. Therefore, it is wise to add a big fat disclaimer to go with the road maps you create, stating that even though you plan to add x number of features, it is not sure they will all make it in, as they may end up not fitting with the project after all. Alternatively, you can choose not to mention all details and then add it as a bonus, if you are not certain it will make it in.
Another element to consider is the fact that most people know very little about game development, and therefore, it is important to take the time to discuss some of the suggestions they give you in more details. You have to argue that you are prioritizing because of e.g. budget or a higher focus on the combat experience, and try to make them understand that some of the elements they want in can cost up to $100,000 to implement.
A lot of features may seem pretty straight forward, but seen from an art, animation, or coding perspective, it can be a huge task. It’s easy to add a quest system, but if you want to add several levels of depth to it, you need to make art assets, additional coding, special animations, and create multiple story layers. This is just an example, but it’s really important to spend time on.
Be Honest
I personally think you can go a long ways with being honest with your community, especially when it comes to delays and other elements that do not go as planned. However, there are just some situations where you are not able to give a straight answer either, because you are bound by contracts or because other stakeholders have a say in what you are allowed communicate. A lot of things happen in the background, and people generally have no idea how much it costs to make a game and the harsh terms game developers sometimes have to abide to. It is not always pretty, and I am sure people would be a lot less demanding if they actually knew what it took to make a game…at least I hope so. Thankfully, most people are very nice and great at giving you good feedback and a pat on the back 🙂 Game developers need hugs too!
Care for the Customers
There is no right way to handle a community, because they are typically comprised of very different segments that have different needs. But if you spend time engaging and listening to the community while making sure that you are doing your very best to deliver and give straight answers, then you are well on your way already. Get personal with your community and make sure to do your best to reply on posts and support cases. That is what most people are looking for. They want to feel that you care, and you should; they are your customers and they are the reason you are able to have this career 🙂
Follow Full Control’s current and future projects on their Twitter and Facebook, and look forward to Jagged Alliance: Flashback’s release. You could also find out more about the game’s development on their Youtube channel.
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