How realistic is this goal? Cmon shatter my dreams now...XD
No seriously I'm really curious and I hope to create my own company and hire some of my friends since most of them are in my field or are in animation. My plan is to start on PC then go to macs then mobile platforms. on pc I can just create a website and set up a paypal account and tada start selling stuff like world of goo(Drm free or minimal). Anyways does this plan sound realistic? Am I getting idealistic? foolish? Does anyone own thier own company or something to that effects? Most of my games will be quirky indie games and the like with some unique things that I've always wanted to see in a game anyway just advise this poor game developer to be.
Alright My ultimate goal is to make my own indie company and make the games I want.
Quote:Original post by rubsnickNo, it does not sound realistic. You are missing many extremely important details.
How realistic is this goal? Cmon shatter my dreams now...XD
No seriously I'm really curious and I hope to create my own company and hire some of my friends since most of them are in my field or are in animation. My plan is to start on PC then go to macs then mobile platforms. on pc I can just create a website and set up a paypal account and tada start selling stuff like world of goo(Drm free or minimal). Anyways does this plan sound realistic? Am I getting idealistic? foolish? Does anyone own thier own company or something to that effects? Most of my games will be quirky indie games and the like with some unique things that I've always wanted to see in a game anyway just advise this poor game developer to be.
Can it happen exactly as you described? Sure. There is a slim, not quite 0% chance, that it might succeed.
If your plan involved business school, or if your plan involved completing several years at other game companies first, then I'd give it a slightly higher chance of success.
Incidentally, how are you planning to raise the money to hire your friends to do the work? It is one of the many very significant details.
Quote:Original post by frobQuote:Original post by rubsnickNo, it does not sound realistic. You are missing many extremely important details.
How realistic is this goal? Cmon shatter my dreams now...XD
No seriously I'm really curious and I hope to create my own company and hire some of my friends since most of them are in my field or are in animation. My plan is to start on PC then go to macs then mobile platforms. on pc I can just create a website and set up a paypal account and tada start selling stuff like world of goo(Drm free or minimal). Anyways does this plan sound realistic? Am I getting idealistic? foolish? Does anyone own thier own company or something to that effects? Most of my games will be quirky indie games and the like with some unique things that I've always wanted to see in a game anyway just advise this poor game developer to be.
Can it happen exactly as you described? Sure. There is a slim, not quite 0% chance, that it might succeed.
If your plan involved business school, or if your plan involved completing several years at other game companies first, then I'd give it a slightly higher chance of success.
Incidentally, how are you planning to raise the money to hire your friends to do the work? It is one of the many very significant details.
Oh.... I forgot the main thing... This is a side project mainly (initially) like I'll recruit my friends but side project basis sort of deal... If that makes any sense.... Once the first game is done see how it does and see if we can swap to the main company ya know?
Overall I know my plan sounds idealistic and idiotic but it's one of the few things that kind of keeps me going ahead. and I doubt you'd need Business degree or crap like that to run a Business that small. I mean My father has his own photography business and has no formal education. I have experience with business also and my best friend is a Business major so he can give me tips. XD
Nah but mostly I want someone to shoot down my plan so I can stop dreaming... why? Because I"m a pessimistic SOB.
Aim small and simple for your first game (e.g. little space invaders type game). Your main concern here is making it polished and professional. Meanwhile you must be creating a polished & professional website.
Plan out all the little tasks that are required to finish development for both. Be detailed with your plans. You want to have an idea of how much code you'll have to write, how much artwork and animation you'll need, how many sounds you'll require, etc. Time estimates are useful (multiply the total by your magic number... I think mine is around 4.0).
Enjoy making the thing. It's healthy to deviate from your plans (iterative development suits game creation), but be sure to revisit the planning stage if you notice you have strayed far. Put production on hold and figure out anew what tasks are required to finish.
When it gets near completion start releasing screenshots & videos and generating whatever interest you can. It's not done if it's not polished and professional, or if it otherwise doesn't feel complete.
The first project is about gaining experience, not money. Afterwards you have experience at every stage from start to income, even if this "income" requires classifying yourselves as "volunteers". The point isn't how much money you earned, but rather that you got any amount. At this point get creative and think critically on how your next title will raise that amount.
Don't be surprised if 10 years pass before you can make a living at it. Can you otherwise provide for yourselves in the meantime?
Plan out all the little tasks that are required to finish development for both. Be detailed with your plans. You want to have an idea of how much code you'll have to write, how much artwork and animation you'll need, how many sounds you'll require, etc. Time estimates are useful (multiply the total by your magic number... I think mine is around 4.0).
Enjoy making the thing. It's healthy to deviate from your plans (iterative development suits game creation), but be sure to revisit the planning stage if you notice you have strayed far. Put production on hold and figure out anew what tasks are required to finish.
When it gets near completion start releasing screenshots & videos and generating whatever interest you can. It's not done if it's not polished and professional, or if it otherwise doesn't feel complete.
The first project is about gaining experience, not money. Afterwards you have experience at every stage from start to income, even if this "income" requires classifying yourselves as "volunteers". The point isn't how much money you earned, but rather that you got any amount. At this point get creative and think critically on how your next title will raise that amount.
Don't be surprised if 10 years pass before you can make a living at it. Can you otherwise provide for yourselves in the meantime?
Quote:Original post by rubsnickQuote:Original post by frobQuote:Original post by rubsnickNo, it does not sound realistic. You are missing many extremely important details.
How realistic is this goal? Cmon shatter my dreams now...XD
No seriously I'm really curious and I hope to create my own company and hire some of my friends since most of them are in my field or are in animation. My plan is to start on PC then go to macs then mobile platforms. on pc I can just create a website and set up a paypal account and tada start selling stuff like world of goo(Drm free or minimal). Anyways does this plan sound realistic? Am I getting idealistic? foolish? Does anyone own thier own company or something to that effects? Most of my games will be quirky indie games and the like with some unique things that I've always wanted to see in a game anyway just advise this poor game developer to be.
Can it happen exactly as you described? Sure. There is a slim, not quite 0% chance, that it might succeed.
If your plan involved business school, or if your plan involved completing several years at other game companies first, then I'd give it a slightly higher chance of success.
Incidentally, how are you planning to raise the money to hire your friends to do the work? It is one of the many very significant details.
Oh.... I forgot the main thing... This is a side project mainly (initially) like I'll recruit my friends but side project basis sort of deal... If that makes any sense.... Once the first game is done see how it does and see if we can swap to the main company ya know?
Overall I know my plan sounds idealistic and idiotic but it's one of the few things that kind of keeps me going ahead. and I doubt you'd need Business degree or crap like that to run a Business that small. I mean My father has his own photography business and has no formal education. I have experience with business also and my best friend is a Business major so he can give me tips. XD
Nah but mostly I want someone to shoot down my plan so I can stop dreaming... why? Because I"m a pessimistic SOB.
If its mainly a side project its quite easy, just make the games and try to sell them, the hard part is to make enough profit to be able to live on it and running a proper company is naturally quite a bit more work than just creating and selling a product. (In many jurisdictions its perfectly fine to make and sell games without having a registered company, the main drawback of this tend to be that you have to pay income tax on the revenue rather than corporate tax on the profit)
If its just you and some friends splitting a small amount of revenue from the games regestring a company isn't really worth it since you'll have to pay income tax on any salary you take out of the company anyway, if however you start having expenses aswell it really helps to register a company to avoid some of the taxes since your revenue will be far higher than your profit.
Unless the games you want to make are games that consumers want, you probably won't get far. A business is about satisfying a want or need of customers.
SimonForsman, could you clarify for me.
By revenue you mean gross profit and by profit you mean net profit?
By revenue you mean gross profit and by profit you mean net profit?
Well, here's some thoughts from the exception to the rule.
I've wanted to make games since I was... about 3 years old. First boardgames, then pen and paper RPGs, then video games. I've dedicated my life to it (while getting real jobs to pay the bills).
A few years ago, I, like many foolish folks, decided that I wanted to make a big game. I posted on forums looking for help. Even that had unnatural results. I actually got several very talented people interested. We worked in our free time, and had weekly meetings on Skype. It was enough to have some cool music and screen shots. We even got to walk around in a bland environment once. The professional looking website is CRITICAL, as is constant communication and passion.
That lasted a couple years before falling apart with nothing to show for it.
Then, just over a year ago, I was contacted by an investor who found the images online (also VERY uncommon). After some brief negotiating (I was pretty willing to do anything to see this dream accomplished) they started sending money.
I moved a couple guys from the old team here, and we started working on a lame project for the investor. Still, we quit our regular jobs and we were game developers. We also got shipped around the country to meet with other developers and take training in game engines.
The money was good, but never regular or on time. We eventually started working on our own, much smaller project. The investor didn't care, and just wanted us to produce something (also uncommon, he didn't know much about the industry). NOTE: No formal paperwork was ever signed between us and the investor. (Very, VERY rare.)
Now, here we are. We've just launched a demo of our game on Facebook about a week after our investor told us that he was dropping us (again, rare, as normally they'd want something out of the quarter-million dollars they put into us).
Fine by us! Yes, we haven't been paid in over a month, but the game is just weeks away from being finished and at a point to make money. I'm very lucky to have developed a friendship over the years with this team. They've stuck by me through some seriously tough times, and we help each other out when we can.
So! We have somehow landed in a position where we will soon be making money, and we're completely independent. We were funded long enough to get on our feet, and we just have to hope that this game will be good enough to pay the bills.
In the end; can it happen? Yes, it absolutely can. Dedicate your life to it (I'm 33 now), but don't bet your life on it.
Oh! Have a look... please? :) http://apps.facebook.com/starfallfrontier
I've wanted to make games since I was... about 3 years old. First boardgames, then pen and paper RPGs, then video games. I've dedicated my life to it (while getting real jobs to pay the bills).
A few years ago, I, like many foolish folks, decided that I wanted to make a big game. I posted on forums looking for help. Even that had unnatural results. I actually got several very talented people interested. We worked in our free time, and had weekly meetings on Skype. It was enough to have some cool music and screen shots. We even got to walk around in a bland environment once. The professional looking website is CRITICAL, as is constant communication and passion.
That lasted a couple years before falling apart with nothing to show for it.
Then, just over a year ago, I was contacted by an investor who found the images online (also VERY uncommon). After some brief negotiating (I was pretty willing to do anything to see this dream accomplished) they started sending money.
I moved a couple guys from the old team here, and we started working on a lame project for the investor. Still, we quit our regular jobs and we were game developers. We also got shipped around the country to meet with other developers and take training in game engines.
The money was good, but never regular or on time. We eventually started working on our own, much smaller project. The investor didn't care, and just wanted us to produce something (also uncommon, he didn't know much about the industry). NOTE: No formal paperwork was ever signed between us and the investor. (Very, VERY rare.)
Now, here we are. We've just launched a demo of our game on Facebook about a week after our investor told us that he was dropping us (again, rare, as normally they'd want something out of the quarter-million dollars they put into us).
Fine by us! Yes, we haven't been paid in over a month, but the game is just weeks away from being finished and at a point to make money. I'm very lucky to have developed a friendship over the years with this team. They've stuck by me through some seriously tough times, and we help each other out when we can.
So! We have somehow landed in a position where we will soon be making money, and we're completely independent. We were funded long enough to get on our feet, and we just have to hope that this game will be good enough to pay the bills.
In the end; can it happen? Yes, it absolutely can. Dedicate your life to it (I'm 33 now), but don't bet your life on it.
Oh! Have a look... please? :) http://apps.facebook.com/starfallfrontier
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