Looking for some advice In creating a structure for a Studio

Started by
6 comments, last by Jonathan Smith 11 years, 3 months ago

Since I was 12 or 13 I wanted to create a business that would be base on the game industry. To make a long story short I am now 32 and have not made that dream into a reality yet. I learned about crowdfunding awhile ago and decided that I was going to go with my original plan and make games. My goal was to find a team put the project together and than make a campaign to rise the funds needed to start the studio and get the project launched. Now in my life experience I learned if you don't particularly have the skills and you got a lot of money being put into something. Than you need to find the people that do. While I was putting together the business plan and was working on the capital needed to start up and yearly experiences. I went to find someone to that offers their services to help ensure that the studio would have a better chance to succeed. I was fortunate enough to get some feedback for what I was doing from a professional. I came to realize I was doing this the wrong way. I was setting this up to be a big disappointment. Not just for me but for everyone that would have came on board. Even if I were to be successful the studio would have burned through the capital raised so fast we would have been back to square one and the project or worst projects would have died with it. I was back to square one I am facing two problems. One is if I get this started now the chances of me failing are too high which can be crushing to many people not just the team. But those who back it up believing in it. The second is this business is my dream I have been wanting this happen for a long time and now I am being to stubborn to put it back on the shelf. I am going to make it happen no matter the question is how.

I went through some restless nights about this and than it came me. It is an answer to a old question that kept coming up in order for this business to happen. You see I was always told a good business solves a problem and the game industry is entertainment you are providing a person an outlet to be entertained. In others words now this is just my opinion you are giving them a want not a need which is why this industry is a though business. It can also be a tough industry to get into as well let for example. When I graduated from high school I wanted to learn computer programming to make games. At that time I lived in southern California so I went to some of the collages around me to find out what courses I would need to take to reach my goal. In the end I was told that it would be a waste of my time there is no career in games and computer programmers are going to be a dime a dozen in the next 5 yrs because every one was going that route. Even now

there are a few schools that just recently offer a game degree programs. But these are non traditional schools and they are very expensive. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford it. Almost every development company want you to have a minimum of year developing a AAA title with another company. This is the problem the way I would like to look at it is this. There are sparks of talent out there that never get a chance for what ever reason. For some they can't afford to build their portfolios or go to school and others there portfolio just gets discarded because their resume showed no experience. So my vision is to create a structure base that would follow the principle on what I would like to call Project Doppelganger. People in certain positions will be mentors to others/Doppelganger

and help them improve their skills to become one of them. So a game designer would help mentor someone else to become a game designer. Artist for artist, Programmers for Programmers and so on. Once that person achieves that goal they become a mentor themselves.

The other part of this project is the company helps cover the cost of the Doppelgangers career growth Tuition for school, Training programs, Software and hardware to assure they would have what they need to succeed. Of course this would go for anyone in the company.

The list can go on and on but hopefully it makes some sense. The reason for me posting this is I don't want to just jump in and take the chance of seeing it fail . I want it to be successful and may be something that the industry has never seen before. So for now I am looking to get some feedback on three questions and maybe adivice on how to make it happen.

So for every certain position there would be this doppelganger. Should the company make the choice of who that mentor would have or should he be apart of the process and be able to make that final choice?

For people who were given this opportunity want to make sure they don't just run or to use the company for what they needed and go to another. Would it be fair to set guidelines such as paying back tuition losing royalties until certain obligation are meet?

The company still has to games and bring in capital from it so these people still has to develop while being a mentor What would be a good approach to recruit such a person to be a this mentor should there be a schedule to just let them do what they have to do to get the job.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. As for myself I know I will eventual need to find a mentor as well just need to figure out what my role will be in all of this.

Advertisement

Moving you to our Business and Legal forum...

- Jason Astle-Adams

Jsmith, you wrote:

for now I am looking to get some feedback on three questions and maybe adivice on how to make it happen.

1. So for every certain position there would be this doppelganger. Should the company make the choice of who that mentor would have or should he be apart of the process and be able to make that final choice?

2. For people who were given this opportunity want to make sure they don't just run or to use the company for what they needed and go to another. Would it be fair to set guidelines such as paying back tuition losing royalties until certain obligation are meet?

3. The company still has to games and bring in capital from it so these people still has to develop while being a mentor What would be a good approach to recruit such a person to be a this mentor should there be a schedule to just let them do what they have to do to get the job.

1. I recommend you worry about mentors for your people later, after you have people, if you have people who need mentors. Better than hiring people who need mentoring is to hire people who are smarter than yourself. And hire experienced people, rather than trying to grow inexperienced people -- the money would be an excellent investment that'll save you a lot of money in the end.

2. No. Talk to a lawyer with experience in business/employment law.

3. See my reply #1.

You also wrote: "Looking for some advice In creating a structure for a Studio" - I recommend you read my FAQ 29: http://sloperama.com/advice/lesson29.htm

I recommend you start small and take it slow.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

I argree with you to a certain extent. Yes I need experienced people if you have too many people that are inexperienced it would be choas there would have to be a balance. You say "Hire experienced people rather than trying to grow inexperienced people -- The money would be an excellent investment that'll save you a lot of money in the end." Yes you would save a lot but than I would be just like everyone else. I not saying to just take in just anyone. An artist does have to show an artistic ability. A designer to show their creative writing and so on. The most important thing that these people need to show. Is the passion for games and what it is they what to be. I know I have alot to do to put this together. I need to make sure every thing is set accordingly before allowing money to be put in. In the end I know all of it is going to be worth it.

[quote name='Jsmith72680' timestamp='1356847258' post='5015660']
For some they can't afford to build their portfolios or go to school and others there portfolio just gets discarded because their resume showed no experience
[/quote]

And yet somehow plenty of people get jobs as rookies. I think this is partly kind of industrial darwinism: the fittest candidates are making it into the jobs. Someone who "can't afford to build a portfolio" either has something more important going on, or not enough focus and drive to actually achieve their goal.

If you look at the two big-hitters in the game industry, programmers and artists, both fields can effectively build a portfolio "for free". There are free resources aplenty for aspiring artists and programmers (I should know, I make heavy use of both categories). Libraries, tutorials, forums, meetups, networking...it's all available. There's been several thorough discussions on these boards in the past about whether it's even worth it to go to higher education for things like computer science, given how many resources exist for aspiring programmers.

Ultimately, I just don't see this idea as filling any particular need. Especially when you make the comment:

I not saying to just take in just anyone. An artist does have to show an artistic ability. A designer to show their creative writing and so on. The most important thing that these people need to show. Is the passion for games and what it is they what to be[/quote]

This is effectively saying exactly what studios look for when they hire juniors. "Show some ability (like a portfolio perhaps), show lots of passion, we'll pay you entry-level to be an entry-level member".

I think the reason that most job postings you can dig up require experience is that the really ambitious self-starters are already knocking on doors to grab up the entry-level jobs. No one has to advertise for those.

I guess you have to ask yourself what you're really looking to establish. Is this a game studio first (with what sounds like pretty standard hiring practices for entry-level jobs), or an educational framework that happens to produce games as a side-effect?

Hazard Pay :: FPS/RTS in SharpDX (gathering dust, retained for... historical purposes)
DeviantArt :: Because right-brain needs love too (also pretty neglected these days)

When I wrote this post. It was late at night and I tired. Unfortunately I did not know how to delete it so people had a chance to read it. I than responded to a reply in haste. I realized I did it where it would not get the answers I was looking for at the time. while poorly explaining what this concept means and how it could turn out to be. This is a topic I will re post again but when it is ready to be explained in a way where a person can see where it is going.

When I wrote this post. It was late at night and I tired. Unfortunately I did not know how to delete it so people had a chance to read it. I than responded to a reply in haste. I realized I did it where it would not get the answers I was looking for at the time. while poorly explaining what this concept means and how it could turn out to be. This is a topic I will re post again but when it is ready to be explained in a way where a person can see where it is going.

Is this a request to close the thread?

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

I would say yes and thank you for your advice.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Advertisement