Interview with Gamanoid about Navy Field

The Russian gaming TV channel Gamanoid has become a mobile publisher, releasing a simulator of naval battles Navy Field on Google Play. We talked with the general director of the TV channel Anna Sharonova about the project and why the media becomes a publisher.

To begin with, a little history. The original Navy Field was released in 2006. It was a multi-user online tactic for the PC. Three years ago, the official Russian server was closed by a local publisher, but Western servers are still supported. In 2014, the project had a full—fledged sequel – Navy Field II.

In both cases, the developer of the game was the Korean SDEnterNET. At the same time, as far as one can understand after getting acquainted with Navy Field Mobile, the novelty was developed by a domestic team. Therefore, the first question we addressed to Anna concerned exactly why the Russian team is making the mobile version of the Korean game.

Hi! It’s not entirely clear who the developer is. The original project was developed and published by the Korean SDEnterNET. And who is behind the mobile version?

Anna Sharonova
Navy Field Mobile is a joint development of SDEnterNet and Tyagunov.RU .

The Russian side is responsible for the software part of the development, partners from the Republic of Korea for the game design and graphics part. The parties jointly determine the general direction of the project development.

How did it happen that the Russian team started playing the game?

In the spring of 2011, Andrey Tyagunov (former marketing director of Nikita and game director of GFI, – approx. editors) there was an idea to create a social turn-based online military game using the graphics of the ships of the first NavyField. Around the same time, he invited SDEnterNet to try to implement this project and received the rights to use NavyField graphics in game prototypes.

Over the next couple of years, several variants of game prototypes were developed, starting with a turn-based strategy, ending with online battles in real time. All prototypes used Adobe Flash technology, which allowed the project to be a sufficiently cross-platform game with the possibility of integration into various social networks.

Unfortunately, the limitations of Flash technology at that time did not allow the team to make a dynamic and beautiful online battle on various devices. The features of social games did not allow making full-fledged online battles. But the steady growth in the number of mobile devices in the world attracted more and more attention. And at some point, Andrey and his partners decided to completely change the technology and focus exclusively on the mobile version, having prepared a game design exclusive for mobile devices based on the first NavyField. The team switched to Cocos2D technology and quickly made the first prototype for iOS devices.

Around the same time, Andrey met Gamanoid, which eventually led to a partnership in terms of promoting the game to the markets of Russia and the CIS.

How difficult was it to get the license rights to the brand of the original title?

Andrey’s team had to make several iterations in the development of a mobile game prototype before SDEnterNet believed in the project and provided official support in development and rights.

How many people worked on the game, how many support?

At the moment, 5 people are engaged in the game, plus, since a major update is planned for the summer, there are several vacancies for game programmers in the development team. And, of course, the Gamanoyd team, which includes PR specialists, marketers, testers, designers.

At what stage exactly did Gamanoid join the project?

Gamanoid was connected after the prototype of the game was created, after Andrey made and implemented the decision to go to mobile. After testing this first mobile version, the joint work of developers and the publisher began. The game was refined, supplemented, a new nation was introduced, the structure of the battle was completed – a lot of things were done before NavyField was sent to beta test, and then to “open swimming” (the game is already available on Google Play and will be released in the AppStore in the very near future).

What is your role as a publisher in this project, what are you doing?

First of all, we close all marketing and PR tasks, close all issues related to the distribution of the project. Our key task, and it is quite standard for a publisher, is to attract as many players as possible. That’s what we’re starting from. We have a team of marketers, designers, PR specialists, SMM specialists who know their job very well. Of course, we are engaged in testing the game and working out the monetization system. But if we talk about one of the typical images of “The publisher is a despot and a tyrant”, no, this is not for us. We do not interfere in the development process of the game, we do not seek to seize full control over the creation of the project, when the developer turns into a kind of tool for the implementation of all the ideas of the publisher without exception. This does not mean, of course, that we do not react to the development processes in any way and let everything take its course. No, we advise and recommend how and what is better to do, what changes to make, in which direction to develop the storyline, how to prioritize and so on. But it’s always a dialogue. And never – a strict prescription. Each side has accumulated both experience and expertise, and it makes no sense for us to pull the blanket over ourselves. We are partners working on the same project and interested in the result.

Why did the gaming media take up the publication of the project?

The answer is quite obvious. We already have a ready audience. Website Gamanoid.ru more than half a million users read monthly, the Gamanoid TV channel watches even more – than an unprepared army of gamers? Moreover, by promoting not only our own, but also partner projects, we are not only looking for, but also creating new communication channels ourselves, attracting a new audience. Last year, for example, we held an offline cyber festival: we took a ride through the largest cities of Russia, organized regional finals, and not just in closed cyber clubs. Central sites were specially chosen, where anyone could come. That is, on the one hand, they gave the regions an opportunity to see what kind of a new sport appeared with the prefix cyber, on the other hand, they organized a new pool of advertising opportunities for themselves. Why not? This year we will launch the second season of our festival, it will become even more global, which means that its audience capacity will increase in direct proportion to the increase in the scale of the event. So why not use this opportunity to advertise NavyField, for example? Nothing gets in the way. We have a lot of resources, and we are ready to use them at full capacity.

What are your plans for promotion? How much do you plan to spend on it?

In addition to connecting all our internal resources, which were discussed above, of course, “hromadye plans”. The details will be a little later, we must first wait for the apruva from the App Store. Yes, we hope you will see everything for yourself. However, if we talk about financial forecasts, according to our estimates, several hundred thousand dollars will be spent by the end of the year.

Are you looking for new games for the edition in Russia?

Not only looking, but also finding. In the fall, for example, we will be ready to present another project from Russian developers — Colonies online: expansion. This is a unique Sci-fi MMORPG, and it is fundamentally different from NavyField.

Thanks for the interview!