Hello my name is Nicolas Cloutier and I have been in the business of video games since the late 90's. I am currently a consultant and also doing some producer work for game developer studios. I know this topic might have been covered over and over again in the last decade but I felt like it was maybe time to have a refresh. A lot of independent developers these days wake up one day and decide : OH I want to make a game ! Sounds like fun ! Well sorry to break your dreams if that happened to you but if there is one Industry that isn't FUN at all (ironic I know) it is the entertainment industry (more specifically video games!). It is by far the most saturated industry ever with the highest barriers to entry and the most stressful environment! So if you think you will be the next Valve or ID Software overnight... you better stop reading right now and chose another industry to work in. If all you want is to develop a nice title you will be able to maybe sell then read on! This topic is for you ! Most common mistakes someone who wishes to develop a game (great or not) are doing : - Think that making a game is fun because... its a game! - Forget about the business side (a game development studio indie or not is a business ... you need legal structures and a legal bank account if you want to hope to be able to get money from what you do one day...) - Think about making a $20M worth game out of nothing! - Does not have any project management capabilities or experience. - And the list could go on and on ! So what to do then ? Here is a few suggestions to make sure you startup on the right path : 1. Get yourself a legal entity with NDAs before you even start hiring people! (incorporation is ideal but registration could do at the beginning). 2. If you plan on going the professional way and hire professional people for your project then definately think about getting funds, take every penny you can find it will be needed soon enough! 3. If you have no project management capabilities, Hire someone who does! Your project needs to be planned even before the 1st line of the design document is written (someone who knows the PMI / PMBOK procedures would be a good bet). Might be exhausting but the more you plan BEFORE you put people to work, the more you will save in Money and avoid broken deadlines. 4. Never ever go the "ownership shared" route! I never encountered one single independent developer who did promised that to his staff that is still alive today nor who was able to develop a full product. And most of all a business with 20 employees and 20 owners looks very bad from an investor / publisher point of view. Stuck to the normal corporate structure and (if issuing shares) try to play with class of shares to be able to assign decent bonuses to your staff (see a corp lawyer for that). 5. Pick up a realisic project! Do not try to develop an AAA game from the ground up unless you have people on your team with prior experience doing so. If you had bad experience or good in the independent game developer industry feel free to share them! I am sure there are a lot of things I didnt covered here and I would like to hear your opinions.

Dont worry shinedown ;) Your joke was fine and I got it ;) Nothing to be upset about here, and I dont know the last reply was aimed at who either well like I said this topic has been covered a million times in forums I just wanted to get updated feedbacks to know what people were thinking about what I wrote ;) I might as well write a few primers in the next few weeks, thinking about it.

Nick

Nice stuff. Thanks :)


Personally I find it obvious, though, that making games isn't easy or fun. I don't understand how some of those people who start out could even think it's fun, well... actually I think I understand, heh heh. I think it might "become fun" when you actually know very well what you're doing and things are (becoming) easier.

I've seen that Tetris could be a nice little project, but I don't have a clue on how to actually start making it, except for the basic ideas and things that must be done. When it comes to "translating" the ideas into code I'm usually getting lost due to lack of experience, so I'm not even thinking about starting a Tetris of my own (as a struggling hobbyist who's already in his twenties). But then again, if I don't do it I'll lack the programming experience anyway, so that's kinda ****** up.

Any of you guys got some extra advice on how to handle it? I'm struggling to learn Allegro with C++ (MinGW). I generally know C++ but just lack actual experience.


My ideas for a Tetris clone are:
-- main loop that puts you into the main menu for as long as you don't exit
-- main menu with options like start game, options, exit, etc.
-- choose and go to chosen option, detect changes made, go back to main menu

-- when in-game let player press a key to start level
-- draw an open box that represents the container to fill with blocks
-- I could maybe draw simple block shapes using those Allegro lines and such, fill them up with color, and have them fall down by changing their coordinates, and using a fall speed value based on selected difficulty (or level number)
-- also detect player input to change the direction and position of the block and/or to make it fall faster. When player presses DOWN, increase fall speed.
-- register position when block is set to ground
-- next block falls, do same again, but check how it fits and if an existing line must be erased
-- if line or lines to be erased, give points based on amount of lines erased.
-- continue until screen top is reached: game over.
-- calculate and show points, enter name, show highscores, ask if player wants to play again, if no go back to main menu.


Looks logical to me, now to actually make the damn thing.

Well invalidpointer, it also depends how you define fun. It can be fun if you do that as a hobbyist and don't want to sell your game commercially. It becomes a bit less fun when you need to think about all the business stuff, deadlines and milestones, bugs, infinite headaches in addition to the stress your publisher might put on your shoulders.

So I was thinking about "professionally" making a game here. Not as a hobbyist... just the step after being a hobbyist (well who should definately be after but sometimes it isnt).

It is the same if you want to enter in a game industry job. Game development company main goal is not you having fun developing its products, its you being productive or youre out of the team ;) This doesn't sounds like fun to me ;)

So here is the context I was using describing making a game is not a fun experience. But damn its rewardful to see your finish product ! I guess thats why im still in here ;)

My 2.5 cents !

Nick

But nick, doesn't that go for all companies?(the part of only wanting good productivity).
But shouldn't you enjoy a litte of the experience, considering you pooring time and effort in?