This is a follow-up to my last entry (Fighting the Status quo that's killing my start-up), which to be earnest, hoped that it would turn out to be entirely different, and would only serve as a cautionary tale at best (opposed to this one); although the cracks were clearly visible at the writing of that entry. Yet it turned out to be more of a nightmare than anything else, while the weight of it all–combined with inner struggles–laid heavily on my shoulders.

Moreover, it cannot end here, as my belief in this project surpasses any negativity I might have, as the goals that it set to serve (both in terms of game design and being culturally significant–depicting important issues), and the changes that it is set to bring to the industry (of a scope that is yet to be determined), are far greater than myself.

I was naive

Oh boy I was . . . I thought I could find a suitable place for the whole venture, as it needed to be built up entirely from the ground. Had moderate hopes, as I already had a general overview of the industry, thus knew where to start. Even got somewhat encouraged (something I tried to stay away from, until it was 100% real), as I started to crunch the numbers, and found out about the advantages and disadvantages of each "game developer friendly" country in the world: some were better, some were worse. But there was one particular destination that caught my eye. It even prompted me the idea that I could just simply waltz in to the scene, ask around for assistance, and make a sound decision, by ensuring the right prerequisites for the startup (both economical and industry), and be done with it . . . [Obviously, the difficult part, of making a game that is, would have come afterwards.]

You see, I was lured in by the prospects of the Canadian wonder (same can be told of the UK), how different, easy and welcoming it looked at first glance (even at second, or thirds), compared to other major destinations in the industry (take US for a stark difference). Everything about it looked all too good to be true. Haha! Turns out it is indeed too-good-to-be-true. Technically, it all boils down to what your business connections are: If you're not one of the big players of the scene, it doesn't matter if you've got the funding already in place. Unless you've a name that you can leverage, or have powerful friends in key positions, then good luck my friendo! You'll definitely need it, as all doors will be shut in front of you; no matter how hard you try. What this means that regardless the ease-of-access for investments (technology, agriculture, etc.; for some reason video games, as a type, aren't part of it), one cannot do business without the consent of an overseer*1. To put this into a personal-perspective: This is another nightmare that plagues me in the living; of what I wish, it was just a mere exaggeration, but it-is-not.

*1 [Strictly speaking of business investments, not via an accredited program. Which is a whole other beast in itself, as it has more bureaucracy than The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and as a result, often takes a year or more to go through, and also exempt of the video game industry; so no point of knocking there either.]

So what did I learn?

Not much. Technically-nothing. Nothing that would move this venture forward. And as aforementioned, this is really something out of my reach (for now anyway). Which frustrates me tremendously, as I'm not the kind of person who easily gives up.

The only thing worth pointing out is that the whole idea of doing a start-up in Canada (or anywhere else vaguely close to hot-spots, like again the UK) is a big-ol'-fat-myth (for foreigners that is, as far as I'm concerned), and that the industry (the established companies) represent an unreachable objective . . . Most of my inquiries were disregarded without hesitation, or in a few cases I was led by the nose, or were all in vain (although I'm appreciative of their suggestions), or was told after "careful considerations" that said project didn't fit the bigger picture of their (otherwise unrestricted) portfolio; or whatever-else-reasons they could find. This baffled me (excluding the fact that in average, that 1-2% rate of correspondence happened between 3-4 weeks after my initial inquiries*2), as the video game industry is of the bigger markets on the planet (cashing in around $140 billion in 2021), so naturally, some interest in this field would be apparent–or so I thought.

*2 [Would note that in some cases I attributed this to the fact that there was no direct line of communication between me and said entity, as my inquiries mostly landed in landfill inboxes. Often, replying to known addresses weren't better either. Even to the ones that were sent back as a reply. The latter kind of reminded me of how large companies have one-way email communication. One day, I hope to achieve to change this.]

You see, in order to pull this whole stunt of a studio, one–needs–to have business partners. But for some "magical" reason, video games, in a country that not just supports the entertainment industry tremendously (like the UK), but is one of the biggest players in the world, and for-some-totally-unfathomable-reason, acts like a mere illusion, and cripples the incoming capital right from conception (again, in the niche perspective of game development); powered by the fact that nobody is willing to cooperate with indie (self-proclaimed) developers. Sadly, this still holds to be true, even after having contacted numerous gaming associations; all of whom boasted the unity and cooperation of said industry–of which I haven't experienced nothing at all . . . Well not much that is for sure. Obviously, the fault is my own, and I should only look for the reasons within. But this whole experience of mine sort of undermines their core values . . .

To be fair, on one side, I completely understand the potential issues with liability (of said ventures, as most turn out to be a dead fish in the water, and nobody wants to waste their time), but at the end of the day, the seemingly open and welcoming arms of a booming economy just further cemented my frustrations as an indie developer: There's no way in, and you are on your own*3. Which sentiment I got used to over my life, and always managed to come around somehow–generally speaking. That being said, when the stakes are this high, you just simply can't base a business on pure what-ifs. Especially knowing that this would be the first title of a new studio; which elevates the level of risk even further.

*3 [Which is ironic, when you see how often, even big $100 million+ projects fail tremendously, due to poor quality of design/execution; can think of Google as of late. Again, I can only extrapolate from what I know: There must be an issue with my lengthy reasoning of competitors, positioning, design features, etc., in this new amalgamation of a game–not fully the one I'm writing this entry under.]

And it's not that I don't have any plan(s), experience, knowledge (may it be gaming or business related), or have not put down enough evidence on the table for reassurance over the years, to at least give some leverage to my reasoning: That I can actually see this through . . . But after reaching out to countless of VCs, trusts, entities, publishers, people, etc., there's nothing positive I can add to this; well, if you don't count that now the GDD is thirty-three pages long (new, drastically altered and detailed). And I've the foundations of a passable story. This whole exercise made me go nuts, and in some ways, made a bigger fool out of me.

So why's this a big deal anyway? Why bother?

It all comes down to resources: time, money and labor. We all know how difficult making a game is (assuming that you've a vague knowledge of the topic, and the intricacies that it involves). How often we hear about delays, awful planning, etc., that plagues the industry, and potentially flawed and unfinished products, inhuman work conditions and fiascoes (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077 wink-wink). Then there's the problem with budgeting that generally speaking, you've only a limited amount of, which then translates to tight schedules (that needed to be abided). Which in turn means: planning and structuring of staff/office equipment, hiring of said staff, etc. (disregarding remote hires for now). As everything takes time (especially hiring), getting up to speed (to full production, in the scope of a start-up), takes a considerate amount of time and doesn't happen overnight. And let's not forget the associated costs of establishing, running a business (like payrolls, accounting, taxes, etc.), or just simply planning/executing the entire production. Oh, and let's not forget that your product needs to be marketable, new and refreshing, and, and, and, and . . . It's already hard enough to conceive a game, just for the fact how vague the creative process is, so please leave it alone; without any-added "bonuses", such as the headache of poor business planning and prospect of resources.

It truly feels that the whole project is at an impasse, as now I can no longer guarantee that under current circumstances (my base of location/labor shortage, the whole covid situation, the state of the semiconductor industry, and more) the project wouldn't be able to keep the proposed budget or deadline (if my projections are correct); simply because of the aforementioned reasons. Moreover, the fact that there isn't a coherent team already behind the project (only two persons). Otherwise, I'd be still somewhat optimistic about this venture. But there's only so much a person can do: altering the ingredients, make changes here and there, looking for (desperate) solutions–even a miracle.

[Furthermore, it's not that chances are different in any-other favorable destinations either; some have such extensive criteria that one might think that the concept of foreign investment (may it be in any other industry) is completely unbeknownst to them (or at least has to be planned ten years prior; which is insane if you ask me).]

All in all, what I'm trying to say is that the future isn't bright for this particular project, and my idea to change this is more apparent than ever. One day perhaps, this all be different. One day . . .