If you don't know who Lonnie is, take a moment to go watch his YouTube videos on mobile gaming. They are pretty freaking entertaining.
First time I contacted Lonnie was through @ADarkRoomiOS Twitter account in June of 2015. This was a cold/out of the blue interaction which led to a whole lot of nothing (unsurprisingly). I decided to reach out to Lonnie because he was a YouTuber that I've watched in the past. I always loved the hilarity of his videos and figured I'd send him an ADR tshirt as a means to say hello.
My next attempt at cold/out of the blue interaction with Lonnie was through email in July of 2015. I knew that A Dark Room wouldn't be a good fit for his challenge, but decided to send over promotion codes for my other game The Ensign. Here was the email I sent over.
Subject: I'm the creator of the #1 game A Dark Room iOS, and would like to see you rage quit on The Ensign
Here are a couple of redemption codes for A Dark Room and The Ensign.
A Dark Room:
3WNNR7MLJ4FJ RLH6TK3RNJLY
The Ensign:
NXTERX3JRLLY 6434LF7FA4TR
It'd be great to laugh at you, as you die over and over again in The Ensign (a brutally difficult text-based rouge like). A Dark Room probably won't be as interesting to do a Let's Play on, but The Ensign should be quite entertaining to watch. Best of luck, looking forward to hearing your funny comments and seeing your tears of defeat.
Amir
Let's talk about this email a little bit:
- It's as short as I could possibly make it without losing context.
- I send of redemption codes with the email. The biggest mistake I've seen developers make, is sending off a cold email without redemption codes. It's a cold email, so it's very very unlikely they'll reply to it. So just send over the god damn redemption codes with the first email you send out.
- Few people have time to read an email. So I make sure bold specific sentences. It gives the reader the opportunity to skim the email for the bold sentences and see if it's worth reading the email as a whole.
- I make it a point to show Lonnie that I did watch his videos by stating that A Dark Room is probably not a good game to showcase (it's a slow boil game that doesn't fit the content of the videos he puts out).
Even with this well crafted email, I didn't get a response. Look, when you're trying to cold email people who have over 700k+ subscribers on YouTube, you're swinging for the fences, manage your expectations accordingly.
The next attempt of cold/out of the blue interaction with Lonnie was through another email in August of 2016 (over 11 months later). Here is the email:
Hey man,
I emailed you a little over a year ago about The Ensign (the pre-sequel to A Dark Room). I got another game out called A Noble Circle, here is a gameplay video of one of the more difficult parts. It may be a good game to play on your YouTube channel.
Here is a redemption code for A Noble Circle: NJ9L4NA39P3F
I hope you give A Noble Circle a shot and end up enjoying it :-)
An indie game developer that loves what he does, Amir
Let's talk about this email a little bit:
- Again, it's as short as I could possibly make it without losing context.
- This time, I included a 30 second gameplay of A Noble Circle which I uploaded to YouTube. This gives Lonnie a quick way to get a preview of the game without too much investment.
- I made a point to include that I emailed him a year ago about The Ensign. Giving an indication that this wasn't the first email (and hoping he remembers me).
- I included a redemption code with the email.
- I bolded the parts of the email that I felt were important.
Guess what? No response. Keep in mind that at this point, A Dark Room has already "went down in history" as being a #1 App. Even with all the notoriety I have, I still wasn't able to get his attention. What chance do you have? I'm not trying to be mean, I just want to manage your expectations.
After that, I gave up. These interactions spanned ADR making it to the #1 spot, cold Twitter interactions after @ADarkRoomiOS had 1500 followers, free ADR tshirts, two emails, two new games.
But I kept watching his content, because I enjoyed it. A few weeks ago (August 2015), Lonnie posted a video called "Am I Quitting LonnieDos". That was a huge blow to me personally (especially since he's one of the few people that creates really really good content about mobile gaming). My "inner mentor" wanted to reach out to him (I knew he was young, so I figured I may be able to send over some old man wisdom). Here was the email:
Hey man,
It's me again. I saw your vlog titled "Am I Quitting LonnieDos", and was wondering if I could interview you for a book I'm writing.
It's about surviving as a content creator in the world of gaming (the primary audience is indie mobile game developers). The book is doing very well so far, especially since my audience knows of my success in the App Store/creation of a #1 game.
I wanted to give game developers some perspective on what all is required with the "let's play" content you create. I know it can be incredibly difficult, with a lot of hustling required (mad respect to you and the hard work you put in). Thought I'd give you a medium to talk about it (hence the interview).
So, in short, can I interview you for my book? It'll give you a soap box to rant from and I think indie devs will enjoy seeing your perspective.
I also reached out to him from my personal Twitter account, letting him know that I sent him an email. This wasn't a marketing attempt, this was me simply identifying a struggle I've felt myself with content creation, and a genuine attempt at giving someone else some hope.
To my astonishment, he replied to the email.
Hey Amir,
Yeah, that sounds really cool! I'd be glad to do an interview. Thanks for the interest! (and the kind words!)
Just let me know however you wanna do it and l'll be there.
Thanks again.
This was the follow up email I sent.
I'll just send the question over to you tomorrow. Here's a free download of the book btw, feel free to share it with whomever you like.
Also, sorry about the random emails throughout the year(s). I know you probably get a bunch of devs trying to email you about their games. Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the response (and as I said before, appreciate the effort/hustle you have).
I'm assuming I'm a little older than you (I'm 32). Out of all the things I've seen in people, the grit/discipline that's required to do what you do will take you far in life (even if it's away from content creation on YouTube). So remember that. Take care dude. Don't sweat the haters and the existential crisis of being an "insignificant" human (we all go through it from time to time). Expect an email tomorrow with interview questions.
These emails I sent to Lonnie (in fact every email I send to every person) are backed with genuine intent and consideration. Something you can't fake. So don't take this as a means to interact with Lonnie (or any anyone else I've interviewed for that matter). Find you're genuine voice, it'll be different than mine. It's most definitely not the bullshit templated emails you spam everyone with.
Alright alright, I'm off my rant. Here's the interview with some more commentary:
How old are you? What's your professional and educational background? note: The more information you can give the better (everything from growing up to now). This is a means for the audience to realize that you're a human being and build some empathy before the questions come.
I'm 21 years old, 22 next month. I graduated high school in 2012 and went to a community college in Florida for a little over a year before dropping out. It was around that time that my YouTube channel kinda started to "take off" or whatever, so YouTube is the only "job" I've had up to this point. Which is weird.
My Two Cents
I usually don't recommend dropping out of college, so if you're around Lonnie's age, don't take what he said as gospel. But if Lonnie were to come up to me and say "hey, I'm thinking of dropping out." I'd say "yes, do it." Why? Because he's demonstrated that he's got the discipline to "do stuff" with out the need for structure. He's self motivated, and has an incredibly long content creation history that proves that.
Holy shit, 700k+ subscribers on YouTube, 8 years of content, 300+ videos on your vlog and 1500+ videos on your mobile gaming channel. That's crazy. Can you speak to how much work goes into a single 5 minute video? From preproduction/concept, through filming, editing, and uploading to YouTube? note: I don't think anyone realizes the immense amount of work that goes into this.
I guess the whole video process varies depending on the type of video. For the gaming videos that most people probably know me for, it takes around an hour of filming and then maybe 2-4 hours of editing and getting it up online. Not much pre-planning since the commentary is all improv. The workload for a single video isn't too crazy, but when I was uploading 2-3 gameplay videos a day, it definitely ate up a lot of my time.
My Two Cents
Take a moment to internalize the sheer amount of time his invested in building up to 700k subscribers. This was an eight year process. It took him a good five years just to find his voice with mobile gaming and hit critical mass. Overnight successes are few and far in between.
How'd you consistently do this for so long? Especially with the low view counts at the beginning? What was your drive and end goal? It's obvious that you put in a lot of hard work to get where you are. How much did luck play in your success?
I've always loved making videos, so it wasn't hard to keep doing it. I've been doing YouTube for over 8 years now and the first 5 were just for fun. My goal wasn't ever to make it a job or anything; just did it for fun. It just so happened to work out as soon as I needed it to weirdly (when I left school). I believe that luck is a huge factor for success on YouTube. I guess I just stumbled into the right niche at the right time and just kinda went with it.
Throughout this ridiculously long journey of content creation, what was one of the happiest moments (the more info, the better of course)?
Hitting 100,000 subscribers was pretty cool. I feel like that was when other content creators started noticing my existence, which was a new and cool feeling. My parents got me a cake for hitting that milestone as well. Which was super silly, but also meant a lot because it sort of felt like in their eyes, I was doing something legitimate. (If that makes sense.) They obviously didn't grow up with YouTube and the internet and whatnot, so I know they had trouble fully understanding what I was trying to do. But at that point, even if they couldn't fully wrap their head around it, it felt like they were proud of me.
My Two Cents
Dear Lonnie's parents. You should be very very very proud of your son. I mean he's been interviewed for a freaking book!
What was one of the saddest moments (the more info, the better of course)?
There are a lot of discouraging moments, but the only real "sad" experience I've had being on YouTube would have to be when my last relationship ended. It was difficult enough by itself, but having to almost constantly be in a good mood (or pretend to be in a good mood) in order to upload videos regularly was rough. Plus our relationship was very public, so it was hard to want to explain something so personal to my audience online as I was going through it. I still get comments about it daily.
My Two Cents
Thank you Lonnie for this candid response. We now live in a very public world (with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Pintrest, et al). I have no idea how you keep the two separate.
How did you get into recording yourself playing mobile games? Any interesting story behind that (it seems like it took you about 2 years to even discover that you wanted to do gaming videos, and another year to find that you wanted to do mobile gaming videos)?
I got into making mobile gaming videos pretty randomly. I tried out console gaming first, but quickly realized that the videos were more entertaining when I was reacting to a game I had never seen before for the first time. So I started doing some iPhone gameplay videos on apps that I had never played before. Then I saw that those videos were getting more views than basically anything else that I had ever uploaded, so I went with it.
My Two Cents
I hope this doesn't come as a surprise, but success takes time. You'll have a lot of false starts. So keep experimenting.
I'm pretty sure your inbox gets flooded with devs asking you to play their games on their channel (present company included). What's the absolute worse thing a developer can do with regards to pitching to you? note: Again, it's okay to be brutally honest about this kind of stuff.
I guess the WORST thing to see in an email is, like, when a PR person forgets to even put your name in the template that they're copying and pasting to a bunch of people at once. I get a bunch of emails that say something like "Hello, [YOUR NAME HERE] We love your channel!" It's pretty funny at the same time, though.
My Two Cents
You already know how I feel about sleazeball marketers.
What's the absolute best thing a developer can do with regards to pitching to you about playing their game on your channel?
Just make a cool game, really. If the game is cool, I'll play it. If it's not, I won't. I don't need much convincing. I guess screenshots and/or videos can help me determine that faster.
How do you feel about premium games vs games that are free + IAP/Ads? Why are people so hesitant to fork over a small amount of money up front?
I think both models can be done right and both can be done wrong. Since I'm a YouTuber, I don't mind paying money for the games that I play. I guess some people just don't value mobile games that much, which is sad.
What are your thoughts on the quality of mobile games vs other platforms (personally, I feel that most mobile games are trashy, ad/IAP ridden cash grabs)? Is mobile gaming doomed? Or am I blowing things out of proportion.
I think that, while there is a lot of junk on mobile, there is equal amounts if not more junk on PC/consoles. I think there are a lot of amazing games on mobile. I play mobile games way more often than anything else. It is "doomed?" I doubt it. But I could definitely be wrong.
My Two Cents
From Wikipedia:
Sturgeon's revelation, commonly referred to as Sturgeon's law, is an adage commonly cited as "ninety percent of everything is crap". It is derived from quotations by Theodore Sturgeon, an American science fiction author and critic; while Sturgeon coined another adage that he termed "Sturgeon's law", it is his "revelation" that is usually referred to by that term.
I'm starting to build my games "in public". I'll release barely playable versions of new IP (intellectual property) to the App Store, and iterate on them/update them monthly. I keep them for free during the early stages, and then start charging once I feel it's worth it. It's working (specifically A Noble Circle), and I'm getting a lot of positive feedback from this approach. How do you think this angle to game development would affect content creation? Given the pressures of releasing videos on a regular basis, it may be cool to revisit "coded in public" games and see how they've changed, no?
I think that's a really cool approach! I don't think I've heard of anyone else doing that before! As for how it would affect content creation, I guess you could be running the risk of some idiot like me only playing the game in it's early stage, showing that off, and then never going back and showing the improved version. Which wouldn't be the best case scenario for you, or any developer who wanted to test games publicly. From my perspective, that could very very easily happen. I play a ton of games all the time on my channel and most of the time, I don't revisit them. There just isn't enough time.
I grew up playing games in front of a TV, staying up all night with the volume turned way down so my parents couldn't hear... getting lost in the stories they told and all the awesome adventures that lay ahead. Do you think mobile games will ever capture that kind of feeling? Or is it simply the wrong medium for those kind of games?
I think stories in games on mobile are valued less because, since there are SO many games, people's attention span has been shortened. When I let a friend use my iPad, I've noticed they click into a game, play for a minute, click out and jump into another. A lot of people seem like they go to mobile gaming for immediate stimulation for short bursts of time. That said, I do think there will always be a minority of people who will gladly dig deeper into the story-driven titles.
My Two Cents
See my chapter on Make Games for Mobile. I go into a lot of these very valid observations that Lonnie has made.
There will be other content creators reading this book (specifically marketers/ad men). Any tips you have with regards to marketing and growing a user base (I've covered the "don't be a sleazeball, spammy, lazy marketing person" in a chapter)?
I would recommend not only hitting up the bigger YouTubers/streamers to check out your game, but also don't underestimate the content creators with smaller audiences. I've seen a few games grow followings on sites like Mobcrush that I'd personally never heard of, but I saw a bunch of my friends streaming it all the time, so I tried it myself. You never know which of the big guys are watching the little guys.
My Two Cents
Something I should have done. I spent a year contacting Lonnie. And only with sheer dumb luck and perfect timing was I able to get this interview/attention. Contacting smaller content creators will yield much much better results. So start there and get those early wins.