Hello folks!
I'm happy to tell you that I'm making a new game concept.
Enough with the research. It's time for action!
I'm not gonna tell you about the concept itself ... yet. I want to talk more about the development process.
I'm happy to tell you that I'm making a new game concept.
Enough with the research. It's time for action!
I'm not gonna tell you about the concept itself ... yet. I want to talk more about the development process.
The budget
Money money money, it's so funny because we can't seem to do without it. Sure you can collaborate with some people you found on a forum, but i really had enough of that. The search for team members, all the work has to be done beside the dayjob, all the different process and communication methods, ... |
working around it
1 Development studio that does most of the work. Kinda sounds like heaven. Just lean back and let them do all the work. But even this has it's consequences. Not even a professional game dev studio can guarantee a good result and secondly, money.
Money determines everything. No budget = no labor = no game.
Money determines everything. No budget = no labor = no game.
You all know the numbers. I don't have to tell you how much video game development can cost. If you really have no idea please check the breakdown of shovel knight before you start to pay for development.
So how and where can you save money in order to complete a project?
Cheap labor
Find people that live in poor countries or countries where you pay the least taxes.
So how and where can you save money in order to complete a project?
Cheap labor
Find people that live in poor countries or countries where you pay the least taxes.
It's worth looking for the cheap labor if you can save 5/6 of your total budget. The other side of the coin is that you have to be careful with the laws of the country and the reliability of the employee. And don't forget the time difference either.
Chinese people are cheap and hard working employees, but the hardly speak english and are very reserved.
In my case Eastern Europe is the best option.
Cheap, trustworthy, max 1 hour timezone difference and they speak english.
The bottom line is to do your research because it will save you a lot of money.
Profit sharing
If you can't pay people up front or during the development, you might want to try profit sharing.
Profit sharing reduces the risk of the development and decreases the chance that your project runs out of money.
Some downfalls of this is that you need to make some good agreements before you start to work with people. Put it all on paper because you don't want to spend money on a lawsuit. Gamasutra, sitepoint and sloperama gave me some good advice.
Things you can do yourself
Try to figure out wich things you can do yourself.
Gamehouse has a good article about marketing on a shoestring budget.
If you are an artist, then do the art work yourself. If you are a programmer, then program.
Game designers and project managers can do the managment and the marketing themselfs.
Rather than spend money on the things, try to do it in your spare time.
Chinese people are cheap and hard working employees, but the hardly speak english and are very reserved.
In my case Eastern Europe is the best option.
Cheap, trustworthy, max 1 hour timezone difference and they speak english.
The bottom line is to do your research because it will save you a lot of money.
Profit sharing
If you can't pay people up front or during the development, you might want to try profit sharing.
Profit sharing reduces the risk of the development and decreases the chance that your project runs out of money.
Some downfalls of this is that you need to make some good agreements before you start to work with people. Put it all on paper because you don't want to spend money on a lawsuit. Gamasutra, sitepoint and sloperama gave me some good advice.
Things you can do yourself
Try to figure out wich things you can do yourself.
Gamehouse has a good article about marketing on a shoestring budget.
If you are an artist, then do the art work yourself. If you are a programmer, then program.
Game designers and project managers can do the managment and the marketing themselfs.
Rather than spend money on the things, try to do it in your spare time.
Free stuff Everyone likes free stuff. Free stuff is handy when it comes to the finance of your project. Free management tools Free reversion control software List of analytic tools Free advertising calculator Free marketing? |
Crowd funding?
Ah yes crowdfunding. Places where indie developers can get there money without the help of publishers. But starting a crowdfunding means setting up a whole campaign.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time to get your money. Here are some tips and a guide.
Pre-production and pre-visualisation
What can you do before production? Before the money starts rolling.
So you got your design document ready and you have some art examples to back it up. But you don't really know if your idea is any good. So you start the development and playtest your first prototype. As soon as this starts, playtest questions start to pop up.
The danger in this is that your development isn't gonna be straight forward. You will probably have to change things along the way. Redoing the work that has been done and spending more money on the development.
There is a solution to this.
Many designers and developers know it as paper prototyping.
I personally think you better go directly for pre-visualisation. Instead of doing everything on paper, do everything in photoshop or illustrator. The big advantages of this are that you can show it to everyone, you can send it to flash and make a real simulation of how you game will play and look. And the biggest advantage of all, you have no constraints from materials or laws at all. You can pre-visualize EVERYTHING.
Ah yes crowdfunding. Places where indie developers can get there money without the help of publishers. But starting a crowdfunding means setting up a whole campaign.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time to get your money. Here are some tips and a guide.
Pre-production and pre-visualisation
What can you do before production? Before the money starts rolling.
So you got your design document ready and you have some art examples to back it up. But you don't really know if your idea is any good. So you start the development and playtest your first prototype. As soon as this starts, playtest questions start to pop up.
The danger in this is that your development isn't gonna be straight forward. You will probably have to change things along the way. Redoing the work that has been done and spending more money on the development.
There is a solution to this.
Many designers and developers know it as paper prototyping.
I personally think you better go directly for pre-visualisation. Instead of doing everything on paper, do everything in photoshop or illustrator. The big advantages of this are that you can show it to everyone, you can send it to flash and make a real simulation of how you game will play and look. And the biggest advantage of all, you have no constraints from materials or laws at all. You can pre-visualize EVERYTHING.