I am getting frustrated. I have asked in <Help Wanted> for people from San Antonio, TX and surrounding areas. And only one guy answered :( I can't believe it. There is Austin in an hour away from us. And there is a bunch of developers. And nobody ... I think I should start to look for people from related industries or even from colleges. Programmers, artists, etc. And if they are interested - work with them on mods or small projects. In this case we can get experience and we will probably become a solid team. Do you think it might work? How can I approach that people? Where can I also look for? Thanks.

I am from Austin actually, I go to UT.

Here is some advice...

1) Nobody is going to work for free. I am not in the industry, but I do have my own projects and engine that I am working on. There is no real incentive to take time out of what I am doing (both school and games), to help you out, even if you have a really cool idea. I have ideas too.

2) That being said, you maybe could find some people to help you, at local clubs. Austing Game Developers has a club, as does UT. But, to get help, you should have already started the project, or have money to give them.

yep, best way to get talent: offer a competitive salary and and exciting project.

the bane of a hobbyist developer's existence is that they don't have money to spend on their project, and the people they want to work with are also hobbyist developers. each hobbyist has their own projects that they want help on so you end up with a bunch of people all wanting to work on their own projects and wanting to get help from other people with _their_ project. the only sucessful strategy i've seen get around this problem is to make real life friends with other developers and then develop a game/project idea _together_. generally most hobbyists have a hard time getting motivated to work on something that they didn't have a hand in designing.

-me

As above you get staff by paying them. Alternatively if you can't pay then you need to attract people by earning their respect. I don't know what your level of skill is motorsep but the best way to get help is to show that you are capable of contributing to your own project (meaning start doing the job and others will join you).

Guys, you are all saying the truth. When I see people trying to get others involved in project that does not exist I get upset. At the same time I am not asking for help. I am just trying to find out about developers in my area. Do they exist or not??

2 Anonimous poster: I did 2 logotypes for free. www.ovmsolutions.com and www.escuelaelectronica.org. Now they want me to work for them on a contarct basis for money. UT is University of Texas? How can I find out if they have game dev club in UT San Antonio?

2 Palidine: The only way to make a real life contact - to find people, call them and meet somewhere. That is what a part of the question was about - How can I find such people in my area? And the only way from hobbyist to professionals is to follow the leader and hide a pride for awhile. Later on their ideas might be used in a company as a foundation for a new projects. That's my IMHO. That is what I believe in.

2 Obscure: Thanks for advice! The only thing is I have to have core team locally. And if that people do not read game dev resources how can they hear about my project? That what I was asking for. How can I find local people? They might be artists, programmers, musicians, etc. And they haven't been introduced to industry. I was thinking to introduce local talented people to industry and gather them under one roof.

http://www.austingamedevelopers.com/

thats a good place to begin looking.

P.s.

You say you want to start a game studio... I hope you realize that you will need 200,000$ cash minimum to even begin to do this. Maybe you are independently wealthy, I dont know, but I just want to make sure you understand the costs involved.

Thanks. I understand it's price but without business plan I don't know how much I need. And if I would be wealthy - I would be posting in jobs section :) I am looking for venture capital or angel investors.

I strongly doubt the existence of fair venture capital for the development of a game. The investment risk is extremely high and the ROI of most non-celebrity developed games is extremely low. Angel investments are interesting and rare; however, I think you would have better chances with purchasing a house, mortgaging twice and securing a bank loan. Of course, this is assuming you have previous successful entrepreneurial experience, and solid business and marketing plans. Actually, you'd be better off working in the videogames industry for awhile in various positions until you're financially ready to breakout on your own.

Adraeus is correct. There is more chance of winning the lottery than there is of getting VC/Angle investment in a start-up game studio unless you are already friends with a rich angel investor.
They wont touch you unless you (or a memeber of your board of directors) have proven experience managing a business; and you (or a board member) have relevant industry experience - have made games and managed game developement.
In addition you will need employees with a proven game dev track record and almost certainly a prototype.

Even with all the above it is actually still virtually impossible to gain significant investment in a start-up studio unless the founders are already independently wealthy. Investors are happy to invest in companies like 3D Realms or id software or Lionhead - all the companies that don't need investment because publishers are falling over themselves to fund their development. None of the investors want to fund financially unstable start-ups.

[Edited by - Obscure on February 27, 2005 9:02:03 AM]