31 replies to this topic

[HappyHeathen]

While I certainly wouldn't say no to making money off of it, that's actually secondary. I just would like to see it become reality.

[Bacterius]

While I certainly wouldn't say no to making money off of it, that's actually secondary. I just would like to see it become reality.

I think he meant you are going to have to shell out some before raking in any. The basic idea is that a developer's time isn't free, and however awesome your idea may be, it won't become a reality in and of itself. You will need resources to achieve your goal, resources which you may not be ready (or able) to acquire or even apprehend. While I certainly understand your position on wanting to push forward and finish your project, it may be unrealistic and even outright impossible to do so if appropriate measures are not taken.

It is certainly worthwile to plan ahead but I believe you have your priorities wrong. You should first take a look at the bigger picture and carefully consider your next immediate move, which should probably be, "do I really want do to this".

[HappyHeathen]

Does this sound like a valid course of action?
I'm thinking first, I try to get a team that doesn't require payment up front (This is probably the hardest part)
Second, get that team to produce a demo.
third, Put said demo on Kickstart.
(I'm resisting a south park "profit" joke here)
fourth, if kickstart is successful, use that money to pay the devs for the demo, and the production of the game.

Edited by HappyHeathen, 28 April 2012 - 01:07 AM.

[HappyHeathen]

What I meant by my comment before last is, While I'd prefer to have a hand in making it, I'd also be willing to give it to a team looking for an idea, just so I could see it become a reality.

Edited by HappyHeathen, 28 April 2012 - 01:02 AM.

[SimonForsman]

Does this sound like a valid course of action?
I'm thinking first, I try to get a team that doesn't require payment up front (This is probably the hardest part)
Second, get that team to produce a demo.
third, Put said demo on Kickstart.
(I'm resisting a south park "profit" joke here)
fourth, if kickstart is successful, use that money to pay the devs for the demo, and the production of the game.

That pretty much won't work, If you pick a developer at random he is likely to have 10-20 ideas of his own that he wants to work on (a team will usually have hundreds of ideas, noone is actually looking for more ideas for games to make), You need to give people a reason to work on your idea instead of their own ideas.

Try to answer these questions:

What do you bring to the table that makes it a better idea for a skilled developer to invest their time in your project rather than investing it in their own favourite project ? (time=money, asking a developer to spend a month working for you without guaranteed payment is no different than asking him to invest a months salary in your company)

If your idea is unique, why do you think noone has made something similar yet ? How big is the target audience ? How much does the game cost to develop ? (If you plan on using free labor you should still convert the time into money for this purpose), how likely are you to actually sell enough copies to cover the development costs ? (These are questions that has to be answered, you're asking people to invest in you).

And most importantly, if you yourself are unwilling to invest in your own project (By pushing in money or your own labor) what signals does that send to potential investors ? (as i said a few times now, a developer working without upfront payment is an investor).

Edited by SimonForsman, 28 April 2012 - 02:48 AM.

[Tom Sloper]

Does this sound like a valid course of action?
I'm thinking first, I try to get a team that doesn't require payment up front (This is probably the hardest part)

Before we go on to any hypothetical steps after this step, let's acknowledge that step 1 is not only very difficult -- it's highly unlikely to happen.
If you can do step 1, then sure, the rest of your steps are reasonable. But step 1 is unreasonable.
It's an extremely common fallacy. "All I have to do is promise some people money, get them to believe me, and somehow motivate them to turn out a good result."
I don't know why so many people believe in this false idea.
For it to work, you'd have to be a very good con man.
Are you a very good con man?

[shadowisadog]

I have been developing games for years and I must say that the art to making a game is NOT about the features that you add. It is about what you can take away while still making the game fun/unique. You must remove precisely the right amount from your ideas to make the game a reality. This sort of skill is not easy and it takes years of experience to even begin to grasp. In addition you must know how to manage your time (and your developers time), how to prioritize, and a whole host of other things to be able to manage a game project.

Games are really complex systems where each piece must fit together like clockwork to have a solid title. You can not just throw a bunch of ideas and concepts together and think that you are anywhere close to being able to develop a game from it.

We are not trying to discourage you, but direct you towards more realistic expectations. Please do not try to obtain money for a title on kickstarter or try to convince a bunch of developers (if you could) to join your project when you are in absolutely no position to manage such a project. You need years of experience making more manageable games before you can even think of doing such a thing with any probability of success.

Edited by shadowisadog, 28 April 2012 - 12:00 PM.

[HappyHeathen]

Now, I realized from the get go that this would be difficult, and was probably a long shot. If I were already friends with programmers, that would make this a lot easier, as then they could work on the project, and also could show me how to do a few things so I could contribute to the project. If I wanted to start teaching myself game design in my spare time, where would I start, and how would I go about doing that?

[Tom Sloper]

Is there a format to follow with a GDD? Or at least an example of one I could use as a template?

[Opens mouth to speak...]

Disregard that, I'm already about 5 pages into the GDD.

[Closes mouth.]

Is there a way to show this to people to get opinions without the risk of it being stolen?

This is a legal question that's frequently discussed in the Business/Law forum. In brief: copyright your GDD, and get an NDA signed before showing it. But the foregoing notwithstanding, nobody's going to steal your idea.

If I wanted to start teaching myself game design in my spare time, where would I start, and how would I go about doing that?

Read http://sloperama.com/advice/designprep.htm and http://sloperama.com/advice/lesson13.htm

Edited by Tom Sloper, 28 April 2012 - 02:54 PM.

[HappyHeathen]

Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to throw in the towel on this one, for the time being at the very least. I just don't have the time or resources to make it happen right now.

[Jarwulf]

Over the past couple weeks I've been kicking around in my head an idea that I personally think can make a great game. I don't have any programming skills, nor do I have the time to learn them, but I'm stubborn and I want to make this thing a reality. Without going into too much detail it would be a shooter, 1st or 3rd hasn't been decided yet. It wouldn't really be open world, but would be open ended. Think along the lines of the original X-Com. It would be class based and it would center around co-op play. And finally, I know they're getting used a bit too much in pop culture right now, but it would be a zombie game. Let me know if anyone is able and interested in helping, and we can go over more of the details.

Theres actually a ton of Xcom tributes that have been developed or are in development. The original Xcom itself has two major remakes coming around the corner by big studios.

[HappyHeathen]

The parts that were going to resemble xcom were going to be the equimpent system, where you're limited on slots for carrying items as well as weight, and I was thinking about the in between missions, base management part being like xcom, but when I think about it, it's vaguely similar to MGS Peacewalker, However, like I said, I can't do anything about this right now, so I'm just keeping the write up handy until such a time as I can do something with it.