Day Two - Roundtable

InstantAction Dealmaking

While it was billed on the schedule as “Pitching Your Game for Funding and Publishing” to be ran by GarageGame’s Producer Joshua Dallman, the session ended up being hosted by Randy Dersham, InstantAction’s Producer, who talked to us more in depth about getting your game up on the platform. This was probably a last-minute decision, but I think it was a good one, because there were still some unanswered questions from the area of publication.

So what is GarageGames looking for in InstantAction games? The first thing is differentiation – what’s the hook? What’s the main thing that makes your game different for the dozens upon dozens (soon to be hundreds upon hundreds) of games Randy has already seen? Do have the money and resources available to finish the game? If not will it take a large chunk of change? If you have a big budget with a small scope, that’s not good – and neither is a small budget with a big scope. Can you really make the game happen? You will be pitching your team as well as the game. If GG thinks you won’t be able to execute on the game, that’s a no deal situation. If you’re uncomfortable sharing so much information about your game and company status to get the proper exposure for consideration, GG is more than willing to go the NDA route. Or you can just trust Randy not to take your concept to the folks at the Garage and start working on a game based on it. Randy seemed pretty trustworthy in my eyes, but NDA’s are probably still a good idea.

The IA contract is a boiler-plate contract with most parts pre-written, and the ability to include and toss out parts you need and don’t need. Will GarageGames fund your game for you? Possibly. They do have a fund to draw from when it comes to lending grants to developers to complete their games. This means you could get up to 30% or 40% upon the deal, with the remainder paid upon milestone deliveries. Royalty rates run from 20%-50%, with payments starting as soon as the game is made available for purchase, which means you start earning money right away. The royalty rate varies based on several factors, such as the size of the grant GG gave you to help float your title and whether you choose to keep your game exclusive to the InstantAction platform. Long-term gameplay value is highly sought-after for IA titles, as the community will be persistent and GG wants to keep people playing. Adding upgrades, rewards and downloadable content is also a way to negotiate your contract for a higher royalty rate on your next title.

One issue important to developers is IP and GG’s control over your game. While you completely retain your IP, GG does assume some control over your game. There are some instances where they will direct your game in ways to better suit the IA platform, and they also reserve the right to kill a project at any time, so make sure you make it clear in the contract what sort of creative control you would like to maintain so GarageGames knows when a project has strayed too far for their liking. If they feel your game needs to be upgraded in some way, they can do so on their own, however they will not do it without your permission.

Conclusion