Noel Stephens

How To: Create your own game company, Part One (Download Squad)

Nov 30th 2005 12:38PM While I truly encourage people to make their own content I feel that there is an underlined misunderstanding here that has plagued the game development community for years. While I agree with most of this article, building your idea, making sure it is designed properly, and finally getting something concrete to shop, I don't agree with hacking something together using 3rd party technology that gets you familiar with game design and development but does actually give you a final product. Most of the tools described above are not multi-platform compatible. This means if you shop the idea to Microsoft they would more than likely want it to be on the 360 if you wanted. Same with Sony... if you go the PC route then you should use something like Unreal to get a prototype up and running... it is free and has a huge community. In regards to my final fear about where this article is heading: With today's video games, the AAA type, they are becoming more and more complicated and require huge teams due to all of the required content. If all you are trying to do is make another Java based game on the web then that is a completely different market... if you want to make a AAA title then look at existing engines that exist out there and move accordingly. However, the fear that I have is that this article supports the "duck tape now fix later" mentality that has plagued the development community for ages and here is why: 1.) When you develop a "prototype" typically it is on a VERY tight budget with VERY limited time and resources. This means cutting corners and not thinking the foundation through properly. 2.) If you actually sell the concept to a publisher their first response is typically: "Well you have a working version... just add more levels and you will be done... here is half of what you say you need and you have half the time to develop your game." 3.) After both of the above occur, the new game company owner proceeds to hire people telling them how great things are going to be... knowing their product is duct taped and has way more work than it appears is needed. 4.) In comes the death crunch and burn out syndrom. You hire people... crank through them getting them to work 14-16 hour days 6-7 days a week with the tight budget and deadline... and maybe... just maybe... if you hired the right people and you keep the morale of the team high enough... you will get a product that sells above 250k units. The reason I am writing about this and warning about this method is there are other means to developing intellectual properties. If you really want to sell an idea then make a really good CG that emulates the gameplay as well as the visual style. This gets the point across and with some good music and SFX will also inspire. You are selling the idea... just as you are in a prototype.... but not selling something that doesn't exist... prototypes tend to have more "smoke and mirrors" than appears. My final thing to say about this is: Not all proto-types bomb and there are some TRULY talented people that are fortunate enough to have the time and resources to get a properly designed and implemented prototype together. In these cases, which are few, the above concepts could prove to be useful. However, I warn to those who have never created a game or are new to the industry... the game industry has changed... if you are wanting to start a company... learn the business side, understand intellectual property laws, and start figuring out who you want to fund your project as well how you are going to approach them. Make a great CG with a laid out milestone document as well as fully, not skeleton, design document and that is good as gold. If you have never been in the game industry... get a job in the game industry to get some experience first... most publishers won't touch you if you have never developed a title.