During Casual Connect Europe, Andrej Golovkov and Ivan Krechňák spoke about montetization and optimization using data analysis. In reflection of how monetization worked when he first started, Ivan stated, “Companies had their business model based on advertising which was the main income”. It was thought that charging for online games was impossible. Now, there are many possibilities. Andrej gives this advice to companies: “Don’t be afraid to try various programs (of data analysis) in your game”.
The gaming industry is full of diverse backgrounds — nowhere is that more evident than at indie game studio PowerPlay Manager: Co-founder and CEO Ivan Krechňák does not exactly come from a gaming background.
As a medical doctor, Krechňák would use his free time to offer external support for a couple of gaming companies, but it wasn’t his primary focus. “(I was working) as a doctor and during the night shifts I sometimes had to stay awake and needed something to pass the time,” he says. “I found online sport manager games and started playing them. After some time I started writing to the authors with ideas for improvements. They implemented many of them and that’s how it started.”
As he continued spending his free time working with game companies, he saw the potential of the gaming industry. Wanting to forge his own path in the industry, he established PowerPlay Manager in 2007.
While it might seem like a bit of a leap to switch from medicine to gaming, Krechňák says that his time as a doctor has helped him to better understand what people need and the importance of talking with them to figure those needs out — something that has helped him in his pursuit of making games everyone can enjoy.
Krechňák definitely seems to understand PowerPlay’s audience. Under his leadership the studio, which focuses on sports games, has already released 11 successful games on browser and Facebook platforms. The company also won the Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Award in Slovakia, where they are based, for being the fastest growing company in 2014 — something Krechňák considers a personal highlight of his career so far.
Building a Team of Excellence
While Krechňák has excelled at understanding what people want, understanding how to manage a team initially proved a bit more difficult. “I cannot expect the people around me to do things (in the same way) that I do,” he says. “I was expecting that, but I was wrong. They do it their own way and (it) may sometimes seem worse, but, in fact, it’s just different.”
While he had to refine some of his management abilities at the beginning, one thing he knew for certain was that any team he built had to be picked carefully and be made up of skilled people. One of the people he chose was Andrej Golovkov.
Golovkov is currently the lead game designer for PowerPlay Manager and is now supervising five projects. He caught PowerPlay’s attention while he was a student. “I had been developing my own project outside of school — a tennis online manager,” Golokov recalls. “(PowerPlay Manager), which at that time had a hockey manager, noticed me and my partners”. After a series of interviews, Golovkov ended up joining the company.
One of his great successes at the company was when he recommended creating a game for Facebook — something the company hadn’t yet done at that point. “This opened up new options for us and I have to say that this game has become our most successful one. That’s what makes me proud.”
However, just as with Krechňák and management, Golovkov had some hard-learned lessons at PowerPlay as well. “We implemented changes (to a PowerPlay game server) that damaged the economy and were very difficult to reverse,” he says. “In the end we were able to restore the balance, but we lost a lot of players in the process. But we learned our lesson that we cannot change the economy willy-nilly on established servers of our games.”
Similarities and Differences
Along with their shared experiences at PowerPlay Manager, Krechňák and Golovkov share other similarities as well.
Both enjoy sports, which makes sense considering the focus of PowerPlay Manager’s games. They also enjoy creativity, the process of game creation, and seeing how much players enjoy their games.
However, it is perhaps their differences that are more interesting.
While Krechňák receives most of his inspiration from real life and sports, Golovkov tends to receive it by playing a variety of games on various platforms. Krechňák starts the creative process for a game with the sport they’re planning to make a game out of while Golovkov prefers the peace and quiet of home where ideas simply come to him.
They face different challenges too. Krechňák’s biggest challenges are in making sure that game development expenses don’t outweigh what the game is likely to make — while still ensuring the game is high quality. Golovkov on the other hand, currently faces the challenge of designing a good viral loop.
They also have different takes on the future of gaming. Krechňák believes that tablet games will rule. “I expect more complex and complicated games to be a trend. Nowadays it’s very simple gaming that is trendy but (old trends tend to return).”
Golovkov believes the future belongs to new-era game consoles. “People will no longer want to look at screens and monitors,” he says. “I think 3D digital maps and displays around us will come into play — maybe even game rooms.”
Making it all Work
While there may be differences between Krechňák and Golovkov, it simply proves how versatile and adaptable PowerPlay Manager is. While one may solve a creative block by dropping the problem and simply coming back to it later, the other can solve it by brainstorming or talking it out with others.
While both may go about their work in different ways, both are helping prepare PowerPlay Manager for the future. As Krechňák says, “We will, of course, adapt.”
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