Since you're a business guy you wont be assembling a team of engineers. You have no idea who to interview and how to interview them. What you need is to get a lead engineer with experience leading teams and let him or her to the team building for the engineers. Same for the artists and designers.
Out of curiosity, how do you plan to get a team of people to make this game? You say you have lots of business and finance experience but no money. I'm really curious how you intend to do this because I've been in a similar situation of trying to put together a team without money. It's not easy.
Roger, got it. First thing is to get leads for the major programming departments.
The team will have to be recruited on vision. The vision is there is a desperate need for this title in this one specific genre because so may developers have delivered up titles that didn't even come close to meeting the needs of the community. The developers really don't understand the community, especially that it's a split community, with each segment wanting something different. And they don't take the time to really find out deep down what the community wants.
Anytime you find a niche in the marketplace that is being underserved, there's money to be made there. I could try to make the next Call of Duty, no way, I'd never even get close. I could try to make some simple mobile game, no to that too, that market has too many different options / way too many competitors. But in this one genre, because of what the devs have done to the gaming community, there is a vast unmet need that could be filled.
The no money thing is a problem, that's for 100% sure. But when there is the promise of earning a large market share "in this one niche", there's also great rewards to be had. So people will be doing some "free work" for the chance at "great rewards". The structure of the company won't be "salaried" positions. It'll be based on profit sharing. Get more people in the game, get more money.
My biggest fear isn't finding people to help. I know there are a lot of programmers that may have tried or may want to try to accomplish a survival title like DayZ.
My biggest fear is keeping them working on it, getting it accomplished in a reasonable timeframe, and what to do with the "this guy worked 5000 hours on the game" but "this other guy worked 50 hours on the game". When it launches, we can't bring everyone on board. 5000 hour guy is obviously in. But what do you do about 50 hour guy? I have to find a way to structure it so people know up front that if they put the full effort in, they're in for the full rewards. But if they're not in it full time, then they get some money and are sent on their way?
I'm thinking that the leads of each department would determine who gets the positions once the company launches. So the lead art guy would choose X number of artists, and we bring those on staff. Everyone else just gets a smaller payout and moves on.
What do you think?