Investor Wanted: An indie developer from St. Petersburg is seeking funding to promote a mobile tank game

We continue our series of articles about projects that need investments or publishers. Today's material is dedicated to the free-to-play arcade game Tanks World: Arena. Its developer, Sam Tyurenkov, has prepared a business plan for potential partners. Let's share it.

Main Points:

the producer of AMT Games independently developed the mobile arcade Tanks World: Arena;
a working prototype has already been published, test purchases have been conducted, and initial business metrics are available;
the developer aims to attract 5.6 million rubles (around $88,000) for the refinement and promotion of the project;
the developer plans to break even in 2.5 years.

Editor's Note: The text below is published with slight editorial adjustments (mainly concerning the document's structure; parts on the mobile gaming market in general were excluded). The author of the material would appreciate feedback in the comments on both the project and the business plan.

1. About the Developer
2. About the Project
2.1 Description
2.2 Key Principles
2.3 Technical Features
2.4 Development Plan
3. Financial Plan
3.1 Goals
3.2 Business Plan, Requested Amount, and Current Project Metrics
4. Competitive Advantage of Tanks World: Arena
5. Potential Risks
6. Contacts

1. About the Developer

Sam Tyurenkov

In recent years, I have mainly focused on production tasks at AMT Games on a mobile project with a multi-million audience — Battle for the Galaxy. Moreover, for the past five years at the company, I have also been involved in business development, marketing, web development, level design, and user support in mobile and desktop game projects. All my professional experience is detailed in my resume here.

2. About the Project

2.1 Description

Tanks World: Arena is a minimalist tank game featuring duels in small arenas. The metagameplay involves upgrading your tank. The game is noted for its short gaming sessions and low-poly graphics.

2.2 Game Concept

In developing the game, I adhere to the following principles:

the core game mechanics are available for free, but additional benefits are offered through in-game purchases;
simple controls: most actions are performed by tapping the screen with one finger (button presses, movement, and other actions);
short gaming sessions, allowing for a match to be played in just a few minutes;
there is metagameplay, which occurs outside the main game process and involves "managerial" actions;
vertical screen orientation allows for one-handed play. The game can be played in public places (in a store queue, on public transport, etc.);
accelerating progression with money: completing the game without IAP would take decades, thus creating value for offers that speed up progress;
low entry barrier: the game has a gameplay that is easy to learn and accessible to beginners, with difficulty increasing as the game progresses.

2.3 Technical Features

Mobile devices are significantly weaker than personal computers, requiring the use of simplified graphics and optimized computational functions.

To reduce server load, given the instability of mobile internet, simple and fast operations are proposed. For instance, instead of simultaneous multiplayer games, asynchronous multiplayer against AI with characteristics of a second player is implemented.

Additionally, the game should have a small size (up to 100 MB) to increase the likelihood of installation by users visiting the game's page.

2.4 Game Development Plan

The game's prototype has the following features implemented:

a combat system with progressively challenging AI opponents;
seven battle arenas;
client-server interaction for account registration, user progress saving, and purchase allocations;
one type of tank with an upgrade system for parameters and abilities;
optimized 3D graphics rendering for mobile devices;
a joystick for finger control and other user interface elements.

Within two years, features will be added to diversify gameplay, improve user conversion to buyers, add depth to the game, and so on. Planned additions include:

increasing the number of playable tanks to eight and balancing their parameters and abilities;
adding an additional game location;
increasing the number of game modes (adding asynchronous multiplayer, periodic events);
strengthening monetization (adding special offers and additional advertising);
refining interface elements and some secondary screens;
introducing new optimization techniques and solving emerging issues;
creating new promotional materials for marketing campaigns.

3. Financial Plan

3.1 Goals

The project's goals over the next 2.5 years are:

returning investment with no less than 20% profit;
creating a self-sustaining product that generates revenue and reaching operational breakeven;
achieving metrics necessary for scaling;
scaling the project by increasing marketing expenses.

3.2 Business Plan, Requested Amount, and Current Project Metrics

The prototype of Tanks World: Arena is already available in three major Android stores (Google Play, Samsung Galaxy Store, and Amazon App Store). It provides analytical data on the product's key metrics. The results of further development will be clearly displayed on graphs. I anticipate that the project will fully break even in two years and five months.

The monthly cost of developing the game by one person is 90,000 rubles.

To gain organic users from the platforms themselves (Google Play and App Store), marketing must be managed independently. Even at the prototype stage, an advertising campaign should be launched, with a budget that grows alongside performance metrics.

The expenses for advertising campaigns will start at 30,000 rubles monthly. They should reach at least 200,000 rubles per month within a year (using advertising channels such as Google, Facebook, and Unity Ads).

Traffic acquisition will influence the game's ranking for key requests on trading platforms and attract more organic installs, as it may appear in top 10-100 selections across various categories, which in turn presents an opportunity to request special placement from platform managers.

Furthermore, as the number of users grows, there will be a need to increase server capacity, which may also rise from $30 (current costs) to several thousand dollars per month.

Thus, I am seeking investment support amounting to:

2.16 million rubles for two years of game development;
3.5 million rubles for marketing during the development period;
340,000 rubles for associated expenses (company registration, server payments, unforeseen equipment and software costs).

An important and attractive aspect for investors is that the full investment amount is not required immediately and can be provided monthly in necessary volumes according to the financial plan.

The expected indicators in the financial plan represent a pessimistic scenario, yet they are the most realistic for achieving within the next two years. Core metrics for mobile games include:

user return rates on day 1, 7, 30, 180, 365;
average revenue per paying user and average revenue across all users;
user conversion to paying customers.

Improvement in these metrics will also impact the game's position in popular game rankings, leading to more installations with lower marketing expenses.

Test purchases of a small number of users showed an interest in the game, with about 12% returning the next day and about 6% still playing after seven days.

Examples of app install purchase costs in Google ad campaigns

Test campaigns for acquiring users for the game prototype from the US and UK showed an installation cost of 9 rubles, and considering VAT deductions and possible errors in the financial plan — 15 rubles per user.

Depending on channels and traffic quality, user cost can reach up to $10, but these channels will not be utilized until initial goals are achieved.

4. Competitive Advantage of Tanks World: Arena

Currently, I have launched the game prototype, wherein new content and features are regularly added, while key user metrics are tested through small cohort target user acquisitions.

Once the test cohorts start showing desired results for key metrics, user acquisition can be scaled globally.

It will take about a year to complete the project. I plan to minimize development and server costs, using most of the available funds for marketing and user acquisition.

Key strengths include:

low cost of development (at least ten times cheaper than studio-based);
high quality of the product, thanks to technical skills and production experience;
a unique game that does not copy existing titles but borrows effective game mechanics from various successful projects;
low entry threshold for players: the game can be easily learned and mastered by different age groups;
other characteristics revealed in the game concept and technical features.

5. Potential Risks

A. The project is entirely executed by one person: me, so one of the risks is my efficiency. This risk can be mitigated by insuring my efficiency and life.
B. Technical implementation challenges: the risk of the game being temporarily unavailable due to high server load or attempts at hacking and data damage. This risk can be mitigated by increasing hardware capacities, conducting security tests, creating backups.
C. Lower than expected performance indicators. The number of organic users and conversion rates cannot be precisely predicted. Actual figures may vary positively or negatively from those stated in the financial plan. Partially, this risk is mitigated by low development costs, partially by the ability to halt financing at any stage, and partially by the ability to return investments with more delay than planned.
D. Copyright infringement. All existing code, 3D models, and other game elements were either created from scratch or distributed under a license allowing commercial use without royalty payments.

6. Contacts

You can reach me at this email address: sam.tyurenkov@gmail.com

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Editor's Note: If you also want to be featured in this section, write to alexander.semenov@app2top.ru.