Starting up a Game Making Firm?

[SaintInix]

Just a couple of other factors to take into account.

Custom music and artwork - whether you're commissioning an independent person or hoping to get someone who can do these onto the team, people with these skills don't come cheap.  Nor can you rely on a low wage economy to stay that way - or it might be that the person finds a slightly better paid job elsewhere.  Building a business plan around low wages is fraught, in whatever field you are operating in.  And of course wages have to be paid up front, long before revenue starts coming in.

You mention assembling a couple of teams.  Managing a team is hard work, a couple of teams is double hard work.  If you are spending your time managing, then you have less time to contribute to game making.

I'm not relying on low wages, I'm just saying. In most groups of 'international' scope, there's someone who is from a low-wage area.

I think I worded it the wrong way, or it came across wrong.

What I was meaning, is that just as there are pitfalls and difficulties, sometimes there are good things as well.

Everyone also keeps taking this $1000 number as some sort of gospel. Yes, some games make that, or less. Not all games, and that's just game revenue.

Any one of those things I mentioned as side-line residuals are a long shot to make anyone any serious kind of money. Together, with a team of folks contributing, and working together, there's a lot more shots at the jackpot.

That's all I'm trying to say, no one is an island. It's been proven time and time again, a group of people in a garage can accomplish great things.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

From there, you'd find out that one person lives in an area where wages are low, and could focus 40 Hours a week on the game for a small dollar amount.

I'm just curious, how would you expect him to work 40 hours per week on the game during development in case you don't have money to pay yet? 40 hours a week is already full-time work.

That's all I'm trying to say, no one is an island. It's been proven time and time again, a group of people in a garage can accomplish great things.

If they work well together, else it would just be as messy or might even be more messy than a single person.

 

[BeardBro]

If they work well together, else it would just be as messy or might even be more messy than a single person.

I've collaborated on several projects in the past, and the only time I encountered this issue was when the group didn't have designated leader/designer. When you have a group working on any project - paid or unpaid - there have to be designated roles in order for the system to work. The musician does music. The artist does art. The writer writes. The coder codes. And the designer tells everyone what to make and arranges it according to the project's vision. Obviously, hierarchy is more difficult to establish when working with collaborators as opposed to employees, but it's necessary nonetheless. A project will always fail if there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

 

[SaintInix]

I'm just curious, how would you expect him to work 40 hours per week on the game during development in case you don't have money to pay yet? 40 hours a week is already full-time work.

If they work well together, else it would just be as messy or might even be more messy than a single person.

I might not have made that very clear.

There is going to be a time period at the start, where there is no income. At least, nothing you can really expect.

The core developers would have to put in a little time to get the initial project off the ground and released. At that point, if things look good and, the game is doing well, payment and scheduling can be changed, tweaked or re-negotiated.

I would expect an up-hill battle with this, nothing worth doing, or worth any money, is easy.

I just think the solo approach, while protecting yourself from some risks, closes more doors than it opens.

The main factor in getting any project like this off the ground, is chemistry.

The people working together have to get along, enjoy the work, and have fun. A group of people split down the middle, will never see eye to eye, or be able to work together well and compromise.

In which case it would be prudent to split the company into two teams, working on different ideas, or two completely different companies/organizations.

Of course, this is all speculation. All running on the idea of getting a game made, getting it out there, and actually making money from it. Just a discussion about how people would do things if they were able to.

I sense a lot of negativity, a lot of 'Won't work' attitudes. I mainly started the thread to get ideas on how to do things right, not all the reasons not to do it. Maybe I'm reading too much into some of these posts, just seems like it to me.

 

[Andar]

The core developers would have to put in a little time to get the initial project off the ground and released. At that point, if things look good and, the game is doing well, payment and scheduling can be changed, tweaked or re-negotiated.

That's only going to work if those core developers are friends who want to try that company.
Because no one who doesn't know you would place his worktime for only vague promises of possible payments in the future, especially if he could sell commisioned work while searching for a company that pays from the beginning.


If you plan that way, I have a different suggestion: recruit a team for a free game (that means the result will be freely available forever and no one will ever get paid) to get some experience in game development.


That will attract some people who are interested in getting that experience, especially if you can find people of different skill sets.


After that game is complete, you can ask those team members if you should found a company together - then you'll all know what you'll be getting into.

 

[SaintInix]

That's only going to work if those core developers are friends who want to try that company.

Because no one who doesn't know you would place his worktime for only vague promises of possible payments in the future, especially if he could sell commisioned work while searching for a company that pays from the beginning.

If you plan that way, I have a different suggestion: recruit a team for a free game (that means the result will be freely available forever and no one will ever get paid) to get some experience in game development.

That will attract some people who are interested in getting that experience, especially if you can find people of different skill sets.

After that game is complete, you can ask those team members if you should found a company together - then you'll all know what you'll be getting into.

I completely understand what you're saying.

It's a character flaw of mine, I go into too much depth, overthinking things to the point of getting ahead of myself.

I probably should have worked it over in my head a little bit more before bringing the conversation here though.

My ideas are all over the place, and I'm getting way further in the future than I should be.

First order of business is to gather a bunch of folks to sit down and brainstorm.

Thanks for all the suggestions, ideas and warnings everyone. It may have been convoluted, but I got my head wrapped around it finally.

 

[L.W. Flouisa]

Some thoughts that might help?

I remember at one point when I wanted to become exclusively the writer for games. Though realistically I know that sometimes coders get layed off, so if you're dealing with a small team one or the other of other jobs would have to fill in the work of the coder if they can't hire help.

How would you factor in things like if the writer/coder/artist lost interest?

Like I wasn't anticipating having to learn codiing (though now I love it as much as the writing aspect), and so I can't help but think if I had dove in head first, then if I had lost interest my absence would not benefit a company as a whole.

Just as an example.

Also yes even in novel/novella/novelette/short story/flash fiction writing, a lot of people these days talk about making the first book free to get your name out there.

Then there are other issues like whether the writer is experienced with non-linear storytelling. Especially if you have come from literary communities, than writing non-linearly seems like it be a struggle.

Hope that helps.

 

[Wavelength]

I sense a lot of enthusiasm here but also some inexperience, so I think you're setting yourself up for high risk.

I know that I for one would never even consider contributing my talents to a project unless one of the following are true:

• I'm getting paid for my work
• I'm friends with the developer (or they've helped me out in the past)
• I've seen enough of the project to believe in it - that's it's going to be fun, serve a good cause, be profitable, or all three

It sounds like you can't provide the first one.  I don't know whether you have good friends (real life or even online) who are interested in game dev - if so, that's a great place to start.  The third one will probably be your best bet to attract talent that you can't provide yourself.  But first you will need to put the rubber to the road and build as much of your game yourself as you can.  A demo would be great; a trailer is an absolute minimum.  It doesn't need to be perfect, but it does need to be good.  Getting that far will prove to people that you're serious about the project and it will make them want to be a part of something that they believe will be big.

Allow yourself to dream big, but don't spend too much time doing so.  Game making can be and usually is a grind.  Nose to the grindstone!  Focus on one or two games at once, and don't worry about how you're going to run your business until you have a business to run.  Produce what you can, as quickly as you can, and worry about bigger things only when you get close to them.  Find the right people to work with - skilled, reliable people who complement your skillset and have the same belief and philosophies that you do.  Don't expect them to work for nothing unless you can fully sell them on your game.

Best of luck!!