Serious Question needs serious logical feedback

Lance Stucker · 2016-09-30T18:04:56

Should I build a game for a bigger company that is already successful, with many sources that can help produce the game? Or should I kick start the game and get funds to make the game and hope I can be successful on my own? First option. Saves a lot of time with game development, advertising will be funded by the company, risk of rejection but if accepted, I will gain a small portion of the revenue. Second option. Takes a lot of hard work to organize a good team, hope kickstarter provides the funds or its a lot of free time until published, a huge portion of revenue goes to myself. Now, the way I see it, maybe both are good options and it comes down to less time for less money and getting over the fear of rejection or a lot more time and a lot more money with fear of advertising not being enough to get the game going. What would you do? Build a game for a successful company already that will add to their business? Or make the game on your own, using your own art and your own sources? Does anyone have experience with option 1 or option 2? I think I will try option 1 and if it fails go to option 2 cause option 1, if accepted is a lot less money but if it does really well, a lot less money can still be $100k or more for the game. Please don't ask for specifics for my game. I'm not interested in sending my idea off because I can't win the race if I compete against someone with an already organized team and I have already put in a good amount of time into the project myself. I can manipulate the project to be for another company if I want to and hope they like it so I can work for them and be successful.

Games Business and Law Business

Started by stucker.lance85 September 20, 2016 05:32 AM

13 comments, last by Isvar Arthur 7 years, 6 months ago

Katie

2,255

September 24, 2016 09:32 PM

The "Tell me how to make my game with no money and when the idea is so secret I can't tell you because you'll steal it" type questions.

If you keep answering these things, people are going to keep punking you with them.

jpetrie

13,220

September 24, 2016 11:36 PM

There is a point at which such conversations become fairly clearly an unproductive waste of time, but I don't think this instance is there yet. Nor do I think they are unproductive in general. Perhaps a bit naive, sure, but I still think it's fine to assume good faith on the part of the asker and deal with the fact that that assumption was unwarranted when it actually happens.

Tom Sloper

17,200

September 25, 2016 02:01 AM

Upvote to Josh's reply. "How to make my game with no money" is usually a good-faith question. I have
less patience with "how to make my game by promising volunteers they'll get paid someday" questions,
but there has never been a rule to stop answering either of those; the idea that newcomers would stop
asking either type of question if we weren't answering them would have to assume that said newcomers
actually observe (somehow, magically) that such questions have been asked in vain previously.
As for "my idea is secret" questions, those are certainly naive good-faith questions.
It's to be hoped that newcomers would find that these have been asked and answered before, but it
can't be realistically expected or reasonably enforced.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Orymus3

18,866

September 25, 2016 11:23 PM

As someone with experience in both options, I can safely say this:

The very way your question is formulated indicates you've only just started thinking about this. Don't get me wrong, this may have been in the back of your head for the past few years, but it wasn't in the front of your head all the time for long enough.

The question is simply too broad without a shadow of a business plan in mind.

If you truly intended on proceeding with B, you'd not be asking a question here to gauge people's motivations and interest, you'd be much more determined on the 'HOW' than on the 'what's best'.

As a result, and without more information (none is required really), A is definitely what you should be doing: pays the rent, teaches you stuff, while you can start thinking about how you'll make your own thing, if you're even still interested in doing so after a while.