Creating a Video Game

selling "the idea" is fairly difficult. of course it happens, but it's not common by any stretch. like virtually all entrepreneurial endeavors, video games are generally 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

if you want to do it yourself, it really depends on what type of game it is. is it a web parlor game or a pc-based single-player game or a large-scale multiplayer game? budgets can vary from $50K to $50M - huge swings.

creating a video game or video game company is not materially different than creating any other piece of software or software company. no magic involved - just regular old hard work .

if you want to "have it made" there are a zillion small shops that'd be happy to build it for you - provided you can write the check.

doody

 

Microsoft released a developer's kit for X-Box for the common person, I think the fee is very reasonable. You can code yourself or higher a programmer. You'll also beed a graphics person. Unless of course you know how to do both..it's just your time.

 

This thread kind of reminds me of "I've got a great idea for a restaurant/bar/club but no experience, how do I do it?"

Basically, you're probably better off going to work at an actual game company and learning the process before you decide to start shopping this around. Asking questions here will only get you a glimpse of the top of the glacier.

 

It's been a long time since a single person has done a major video game. Development projects can be as large and expensive as doing a major movie. You can go cheaper, but the difference in production values and game play will be apparent.

The exception is probably the puzzle genre (sudoku, tetris, etc). Those can be done more simply.

 

You would probably have better luck shopping the idea or getting funding if you produced a demo first. I'm sure you could hire a developer to do this for not a ton of $$$. You would need to make sacrifices on quality and features, but it would get your point across better than "so I have this idea..."

 

Possible? Maybe.

Likely, no way. With the increasing costs of video games, even the big houses, EA, Sqare, and the like are sticking to tried and trued formulas (sports for EA, typical RPGs for Square) to guarantee as much as they can they will make a profit. There are numerous articles out there talking about how its sad that the types of games are getting smaller because it costs too much time and money to takes risks.

In order to have an almost definitive hit it has to be either First Person Shooter by valve, id, or epic; 3d fighter by namco or the Dead or alive people; RPG by Square Enix; real time strategy by Westwood(now EA) or Blizzard; sports games by EA; or anything from Nintendo using its franchise characters.

I'd go as far as to say that most VCs would see the risk of beating these establish developers at their own game as too risky to invest in, and given the track record of indy companies lasting long, too risky to NOT make something that fits within these bounds.

I'd agree with a previous poster and try to either join an existing company and try to influence the powers at be or find someone who has say so and try to get them to accept your idea but I don't think your cut would be as good as you like.

Disclaimer:
I'm a 23 yr old semi hardcore gamer(Atari, NES, SNES,Sega, N64,PSX,PS2,Xbox,x360, PC under my belt) with an MBA. Take my words for what they're worth.

 

Shawn,
Don't sell yourself short. You obviously know the market and competitors. That is a HUGE part of making a business successful.

Baasha,
You appear to be thinking of the game and worrying about how to make the game. The technology for making the game is well known. I would worry about the business aspects of the company. If you can't develop a successful business model it doesn't matter how to make the game.

 

I dont know alot about the Video game world, but I do know a bit about pinball machines. The new thing there is one can create a virtual pinball game, immages, rules, sounds and all. This used to require a team of specialized designers, programers, and artists a very long time. I understand once this game is designed virtually, it can be programed to run an actual game. I believe its virtualpinball.com but dont really know as I prefer the real McCoy.
I have talked to people who've done this and its all cutting edge technology yet apparently attainable.

 

I know a little something about this - most of the responses already are dead on, but here's my opinion.

Getting VC funding for a video game idea is about as likely as getting VC funding for a movie idea. There is one kind of person who gets VC funding for a video game - someone who has a rep in the industry and has already put out some quality work that has earned a lot of money. In other words, you will never get VC funding on an idea. Ever.

As for the actual development, for consoles you have to get the developer kit from the manufacturer. As others mentioned they range in price and are not always available. For example, if you want to develop for the Nintendo platform, good luck - they are VERY strict about who they let make games. Sony (especially in years past) was much less strict which led to a big selection of games for the PS1, many of which were junk but the quantity caused people to buy that console which in turn brought the quality developers. Developing a game takes many thousands of hours of work.

There is one way that you could make this happen.

Learn to use a program like 3DSMax. Then look into the game engines out there. I do not know what is currently the hot ticket, but for example the Quake2 engine allowed the developer to script things (so you can make your own situational events, etc). Nowadays, if you want to use something like the Unreal engine, you are going to pay a big licensing fee (probably 6 digits or more) to the owner of that engine, and with that fee you get the tools you need. Bottom line is that there are engines that allow you to use a 3D program like 3DSMAX to develop environments. Then you can use existing graphics programs to develop your textures. Combine that with a game engine that allows the average joe to create "maps" and script events, and you could come up with a prototype. It will not be very polished compared to the latest out there today, but it will work.

Gameplay is king. Many of the best games did not have the best graphics. If your gameplay is unique, different, interesting and if you can sell it, THEN you could approach a large game development company to take on your idea and fund it, probably with you in the "architect" role. A much longer shot would be impressing a VC enough with your prototype for them to give you funding. Quite simply, in the game industry it is so competitive and there are so many pitfalls that I doubt any VC is going to give an inexperienced person money to develop a game - thats why its more likely you'd get a deal with an existing game house.

Honestly, you probably have a better shot putting your efforts into making money on scratch tickets vs. this idea. Not to throw cold water on it but it's sort of like asking how to get money to start a band - its a loooooong shot.

 

Go for it.

You have nothing to lose and you'll learn a lot regardless.

Make a nice little demo and show it around. If its good you'll know immediately. 10 minutes of gameplay go a long way.

 

There are some original, successful game ideas - Katamari for example

 

Very true(very weird but very fun). It was a big help having the backing of Namco though.

 

www.gamedev.net

This site has everything you want to know about game developement.

 

One more piece of advice; talking to my son's friends there seems to lots of people wanting to be game designers. You dont have to be smarter, better financed, or more connected; You have to WANT it more to be the last man standing.

 

I produced ill-fated games about the Reno Air Races, WWII top secret fighters and an Indy-themed simulator game. Hated every second of it, esp when it came out half-assed and 3 years late. (http://gameinfowire.com/game.asp?gid=193)

Like stated before, many games are built on a basic game engine that is used by many others. Building a new engine is a ***** and a half, and usually takes about 2 years to perfect.

Maya, Lightwave, 3DSMAX, are all tools of the trade. Geek-machismo will draw people swearing that program X is better than program Y. It is all these geeks have so let them pontificate.

Companies like Intergraph made boxes specifically for game development as well that can go cheap.

Get to know your rep at Viewpoint, he is going to be your best friend.

Find a publisher. They are fickle, so get three or four as back-up. I do this with women too.

Getting funds is not easy, though the cost to profit ratio is enormously high, the business tends to attract people insanely bad with money.

Excellent game designers still make sub-100k rates. Like sweatshop labor that lives with their parents, it's great!

Even big companies fold. Often. I was with Virgin, Blizzard, Fasa, Crow, Interplay, and many others in the 'gaming' industry.

 

There was a petty gang of Hungarians that wanted their own mob. They realized that to be in power you didn't need guns or money or even numbers. You just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn't.
- Verbal Kint

the video game business is a really neat space that is patently unlike 99% of the software industry - but it is NOT for everybody. like any and every "hits business", the success rates are scary, and a lot more games fail than succeed. although it was hard, challenging, scary, and rewarding (psychically and financially), i enjoyed every minute of my time in it. but i'm not in it anymore, except as an advisor.

doody.

 

real-time cooperative gaming and the style of gameplay was genre-defining.

 

What's a reasonable rate to pay a programmer to code a simple PC game? When I say simple I mean very very simple, about on par with Tic-Tac-Toe or one of those Simon-Says sequence games.

I'm developing a simple 'game' for a psychology study I'm continuing from college, but I honestly have no idea what to pay. There's a game design school very close to me (SMU Guildhall) where many of the students would be fully capable of something this simple while they may also need the easy cash from 1-2 days of work. All of the graphics and sounds were created by me, ready to go.

$50/hr or would it make more sense to pay for the project completed @ $250-300?

 

You can get someone from India or Europe for a lot less. $20/hr. Check out elance and rentacoder. Only go with people with good history.

 

For a very small project like mine, would it make more sense to pay by the hour or for the whole project completed? $25/hr vs. $300 altogether?

 

it largely depends on (a) how well (level of detail) spec'd out it is and (b) the experience base of the coders. lots of variables.

doody.