Essential Lessons Learned from Collaborating with Big Brands on Licensed Games

Developing a game based on a licensed property can be a dream come true, especially when it involves a franchise that resonates with you emotionally. Having had the opportunity to work on titles such as Bridge Constructor: Portal, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, and Lego Bricktales at ClockStone Studio has been a thrilling experience. However, the process of working on a licensed game is complex and challenging. It requires a significant amount of effort to establish and maintain a successful partnership with a major IP holder. Over time, we have learned several key practices that are essential for keeping our corporate partners satisfied while ensuring we have a positive experience. This article outlines some of the most important lessons learned from my time at ClockStone. Finding the right license for your game is arguably the most critical aspect of working on a licensed property. My first piece of advice is to remain open to opportunities not only within the gaming industry but also beyond it. It's easy to focus solely on your studio's work and miss out on potential partnerships that could align with your studio's goals. To identify a good fit for a potential collaboration, there needs to be a conceptual connection between the license and what your studio can offer. For instance, with Portal and Bridge Constructor, we found a meeting point in physics-based puzzles and the Aperture Science setting, which could be translated into puzzles as a series of tests. The idea was to combine two different types of puzzle games into one experience. Identifying this core conceptual crossover was crucial, but we took it a step further by investing significant time into prototyping the game – around 60 hours – before even pitching it. While the license and crossover seemed to work well in concept, it was essential to determine if it was the right license in practice, which is where prototyping played a vital role. Deciding how much resources to invest in a project like this upfront is a significant challenge, and not everyone may be able to dedicate extensive time to every project. Nevertheless, I strongly advise doing at least some prototyping to see if the concept works in practice. This not only helps confirm that you've identified the right partner but also strengthens your pitch when you eventually approach them. Having an experienced publisher or partner can be instrumental in getting you in touch with the right people to arrange a licensing collaboration. In ClockStone's case, all our licensed projects were initiated by our publisher, Headup Games (now part of Thunderful). This approach is not the only viable one, but it highlights what a partner can bring to the table and how they can facilitate obtaining a license. A publisher has built long-term relationships over time, dealing with a higher volume of games than a developer, which puts them in contact with platform holders, developers, and other industry facets regularly. This gives them contacts and a relationship of trust that makes it easier to get the attention of potential license partners and be taken seriously. If you don't have contacts or the capacity to build them, you need a partner who does. If you have a great list of contacts and the time to attend events, network, and build your relationships, that's excellent. If not, consider partnering with a publisher who has pre-existing relationships and regularly attends industry events to build their contacts. This can take a significant load off your shoulders. If a publisher is not the right fit, there are other options, such as linking up with a consultancy company or a business development support company. The good ones will have excellent contacts across the industry and can help connect you with the right people when pitching your idea or finding the right partner. Our project with Bridge Constructor: Portal kickstarted our licensed collaborations. In our first meeting with Valve, we presented a pitch video and a 16-page pitch document. The document primarily contained information about Headup and ClockStone as companies, the Bridge Constructor brand, and our successes, with only a brief overview of the game concept itself. This experience shows the value of showcasing that you're an established company that thinks about business aspects, not just proposing a game concept. Having the backing of Headup certainly boosted our credibility. When it comes to communicating the game idea, it largely depended on a one-minute video. This teaser featured mockup gameplay set to actual music from Portal to set the tone. Although a minute may seem brief, the amount of work that went into this pitch video was immense, totaling 169 hours, including conception, prototyping, graphic updates, and capturing and cutting. When creating your pitch, there are a few key pieces of advice to consider. First, think about what you are selling. If the license you're working on is humorous, and that's key to your proposal, it must come across in your video. Are game mechanics the most important aspect, or is it an audiovisual experience? Your pitch needs to be in a format that best highlights that key aspect. Another crucial factor is to ensure you show that you 'get' the IP. Think about the emotional quality of the IP you want to work on and capture its essence in your pitch. In our pitch video for Bridge Constructor: Portal, we made it in the style of an Aperture Science video, mimicking the style and humor. However, remember that showing you're a fan of the IP and understand it is not enough on its own. Your focus should be on the meeting point between the license and what you bring to the table. Remember, you have something to sell. I want to emphasize again that doing prototyping work can significantly strengthen your pitch. It's one thing to present a cool idea, but having playable proof that it can work will really help strengthen your pitch. Of course, it's not enough to just secure the licensing deal. You need to know what you're talking about, which requires research and dedication throughout the entire process. With Lego Bricktales, we were excited about the project, as Lego had deep connections to childhood memories for most of us. It's also an enormous brand, so there was a lot of pressure to get it right. In terms of research, we looked at existing Lego games to see what had been done and what hadn't been covered well. It turned out that while there were many Lego games on the market, only a few actually captured what we thought was key to their appeal: building. So, we approached it from our gut understanding of Lego and what we thought was essential about it. How you conduct your research will depend on the license you're dealing with. If it's a game series, you play the games. If it's a comic book series, you read the comics. And so on. I think the important thing here is not to view this as a one-time task but as an ongoing, immersive process. As you work with your partner, you should be open to recalibrating your idea of what is important when it comes to that license and how it should be represented. With every decision you make, you have to think about whether this represents the values of your partner. By treating your knowledge of the IP as an ongoing process, each of these decisions will help you develop a stronger compass. You should ask your partner for any additional material they think can help you. Be aware that depending on the partner, the amount of information and the degree to which they will be hands-on will vary. In this case, your work immersing yourself in the IP will be vital in finding your direction. You should ensure you check it with your partner, with a playable build, for example, to make sure you're on the same page and further refine your direction as necessary. Overall, understanding the appeal of a franchise is crucial. You have to strip away all the marketing and reduce it to its core. For Portal, this was clearly the experimental science aspect, while for The Walking Dead, it was the claustrophobic and constantly threatening feel. An IP never has only one audience, so we're always trying to find what catches our attention and keeps us engaged with the property, then apply that to our games. Remember that working with a license holder involves many moving parts. This means you need to take a realistic view of your timeline and plan accordingly. Things will move slower when partnering with a giant license holder. You have to understand that reviews and checks by those responsible for approval take time. Depending on the company, a person might have to cross-check with colleagues, other departments, or at a management level on what goes and what doesn’t. Again, this takes time. Accept this fact and plan accordingly. Of course, it's essential to stay in touch with the license holders throughout to ensure you're on the same page. You'll need to set up communication channels and have relevant people to talk to. Have regular check-ins where you discuss what's going on. Provide transparency. Find processes to check adherence to brand guidelines. Just be aware that communication and approvals take time, and wheels don't turn as fast in bigger companies. When it comes to communication, you need to interpret this as broadly as possible. Communication does not just mean calls or emails. Communication transcends writing or talking. Sharing screenshots is communication, sending a build is communication. With every piece of communication, you should be clear about what you are sharing and what you want from it. If you share a build with placeholder visuals where the focus is on the mechanics, make sure your partner understands that. Spell out clearly that the purpose of this build is not for a check on visual style but to refine the mechanics, and that you need feedback on that. You don't want your partner panicking, thinking, 'Why isn’t the presentation up to scratch?' Preparation is key to ensuring effective communication. Your time and your partner's time are limited, so you need to think about communication long before a scheduled meeting takes place. You should allot time in your day-to-day work to collect and order information ahead of a meeting because this is important work that takes time. Make sure the information you need to get across is prepared, that you can clearly communicate your progress, issues, and challenges, and be clear about where you need help and how they can help you. Collaborating with a major license can be intimidating, but it can also be exciting as you get to be part of something that meant so much to you. You'll have to learn how to do your research, be detail-oriented, and work alongside a big, lumbering corporate structure, but the results can be something you'll be proud to be a part of.