In the just released Episode 6 of Grab It, we were lucky enough to speak in-depth with Mark McDonald, the CEO of Appster, about the indie game development scene. McDonald is a gold mine of information about setting up a successful app making venture - from partnerships and investment, to activation and monetisation - having grown from a team of two to more than one hundred in just a few years. At 22, he is about to roll out Appster into 39 more countries, bringing the company's globe-spanning sphere of influence to 42 nations.

The in-depth interview offers some truly invaluable tips on not only how to get started and how to set-up your own indie studio with the foundations for success, but also how to monetise and grow your game effectively. And for those of you not about to get into game development, it offers an amazing behind-the-scenes perspective on the processes that drive the biggest and best iOS games to huge success.

The full interview can be found in episode 6 here, but we thought we'd offer up a very small snippet of the lengthy conversation below, so you know what to expect:

"I think the two areas where indie games have to innovate are in pricing and marketing. The quality is there; it’s an execution thing. I’d love to say their developers are doing a bad job and they should come to us, but that’s not the truth because the indies make some damn good stuff! But marketing is a function of a startup and as I said, you have to treat your game as a startup. There’s product design decisions that allow you to grow virally, but there’s also understanding partnerships, positioning and joint ventures. There’s a whole range of different things that indie developers can do in regards to guerrilla marketing really inexpensively and to get their initial downloads and their initial usage.

Below you will find a trailer for Episode 6 so you can see all the other content it has to offer, such as a world exclusive Magic The Gathering making of...

If you were wondering who we are, we’re a AAA digital magazine dedicated coverage of the indie iPad gaming scene. We’re trying to not only push the boundaries on what a digital magazine can be by making the reader experience feel like playing a game with dynamic and interactive video, audio and animations, but we’re also full of hours and hours of exclusive developer interviews, footage, images, insights and more.
    - Episode 1 - Includes The Making of République (*free sample issue)
    - Episode 2 - Includes The Making of Oceanhorn
    - Episode 3 - Includes The Making of Monument Valley
    - Episode 4 - Includes The Making of Last Inua
    - Episode 5 - Includes The Making of World of Tanks Blitz
    - Episode 6 - Includes The Making of Magic 2015 - Duels of the Planeswalkers
    - Grab It Presents Nihilumbra - Classics Collection

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