Hey Spooky, you gain no respect by poking fun at their operation. :(

You have a valid point with the fact that they are no where near the point where they should start considering their publishing options, but poking fun at their forum or "RockStar" dreams...that's just being mean.

That link you gave is not my site. I have searched and found many M-Works sites. Some were media stuff and music, all the way to other development teams. We think that the game will be done within a year now. We are using fragements of engines and putting them together now. We will be releasing a licence to the entity level editor so we can raise some money for marketing costs. I really do not know if we will be able to compete with any big guys, but we will try. Our team has also grown 6 people, and we have replaced some of our people around. We have also gone from a budget of $50,000.00 to $100,000.00. We hope to raise the budget after licencing the entity level editing system. I think that it will be a good start. I am just not sure that we can compete graphics wise. All the big 3 have the top of the line graphics, and they have multiplatforms and stuff, and that will not be a big factor against us. I really would like to have a fighting chance, but I do not really know how it will work out now that the producer for the game has fired 2 designers and replaced them. We are thinking of taking the project into our own hands and trying to get someone to help co-produce. I am designing and programming, and I hired some designers and stuff at first, and I had one take place as project producer so I would not have to deal with all of this non-sense. I am really annoyed at what is happening right now. I hope it will not effect the project, because we are on a tight schedule right now, and we are thinking of getting a new building to rent out for the time being. Here is what the game we are making will feature:

Game Name: Specter: The Hunted
Author: M-Works Technology
Project Length: 1 to 2 years
Expected overall project budget: $200,000.00

3D GAME ENGINE:
Engine Name: WoE Tech Engine
Created By: M-Works Technology
Date Created: From July 2005 to September 2005
Specifications:
1. Built off DirectX 9.0c
2. Primary Language in C++ Modified for the Engine
3. Supports particles, beams, fog, water, hair, and cloth effects
4. Uses Maya and 3DS Max formats
5. Supports Built-in WYSIWYG SpecterEdit (Entity Editing)
6. Uses scripts on objects for ease of use
7. Supports fast rendering and high resolution lightmapping
8. Requires at least 32mb of graphics, 64mb recommended
9. Built-in physics

GRAPHICS ENGINE:
Graphics Editor (Objects): 3DS Max
Level Editor: 3D World Studio
Entity Editor: SpecterEdit 2.0 BETA
SpecerEdit is a WYSIWYG editor that links scripts together, places prefabs, edits heightmaps, and places in-game objects

SOUND ENGINE:
Sound Editing: ?
We are doing all the sounds in our studio, and we are also using technology such as realistic computerized voices for some of the game's features. We created the technology and are not planning to release it.

KEY POINTS TO THE GAME:
1. 50 maps (20 already completed)
2. Arena Mode
3. 8 person online deathmatches
4. Advanced Enemy AI
5. 30 weapons (still need animated)
6. 20 enemies and bosses at the end of each mission
7. 5 characters: 2 standard, 2 unlockable, 1 secret unlockable
8. Intergrated to M-Works's server
9. All objects have physics and are destructable

The game will be something to look forward to, and it is will bring in some cash for the team for our next game which will just be a fun game: World of Wackos. We are planning by 2008 to have a publisher that we can rely on and we will not just be an indie team.

Reality check:

Quote: We have also gone from a budget of $50,000.00 to $100,000.00. We hope to raise the budget after licencing the entity level editing system.

Quote: Expected overall project budget: $200,000.00

Which one is it? :)

Do some market research. You'd be lucky to pull in 1000 USD with a entity level editing system...they are a dime a dozen and I doubt you could offer anything new to the field. Furthermore, the average price of developing a game for the Indie Game Festival was 50k...and these were complete games that, for the most part, deserve the "AAA" label. I have some serious misgivings as to where and how these numbers have come up.

Quote: I really would like to have a fighting chance,

If you are trying to fight with the big boys, you will lose. Period. Instead, try to carve a niche or aim at a smaller market. You don't have the experience nor resources to compete with them BUT you DO have the luxary of being able to make a profit with a much smaller market than the Big Boys do.

Quote: fired 2 designers and replaced them. We are thinking of taking the project into our own hands and trying to get someone to help co-produce. I am designing and programming, and I hired some designers and stuff at first, and I had one take place as project producer

If your internal affairs are in such disarray, it would be a miracle to complete anything in one year or two or one hundred. Make sure your internal teams is solid before you go and start talking about 100k budgets and competing with the big boys.

Quote: I hope it will not effect the project, because we are on a tight schedule right now,

Hate to dash your hopes by it already has and will continue to affect your project. If you feel you are on a tight schedule now, at the begining, with one or two more years to go by your account, I suspect after 6 months you will be at the breaking point.

Quote: 3D GAME ENGINE:
Engine Name: WoE Tech Engine
Created By: M-Works Technology
Date Created: From July 2005 to September 2005

There is no nice way to say this: This is absurd.
For starters, there is NO reason for you to make another 3D game engine. There are plenty of OS and Commercial alternatives out there. In the time it takes you to create one game loop you could have learned and created an entire prototype. Also, I have no confidence that a game engine that took 3 months to make can compete with anything out there.


FINAL ADVICE: Drop the scope of your product and drop multiplayer. Get a team together that can make a simple, low content, low featuer single player game FIRST and then build off of that team to make the multiplayer game of your dreams. Don't count on your budget coming from the resale of your games components. As a matter of fact, if you take my advice about starting small, the 10k you have already raised is more than enough. And most importantly, do NOT compare yourself to the big boys until you have something to compare with...all this attempt at being on top is premature and ultimetely takes focus away from what you want to do and that is make a game...A game...not "THE" game..."A" game.

crawl, walk, swim, fly...that's the way to success. :)

BTW, PLEASE tell me you have a design and technical document ready...

Expected budget is different then the budget currently given. We think that we can pull of a retail game right now. With a team of 30 now, we are going to do well. We have innovative ideas in the game right now that the big guys do not have. We are currently focusing on a great AI system. We have the whole internal thing under control right now. I was just at a meeting and we have that settled for now. I think that the development is going smoothly and we are hoping to make a good profit off the game. Most of the people working with us are independet contracts. I am now going to start an ad campaign once we release screens and more information on the game. We are going to look for ad space in magazines and the web later on once we have a proven to be good demo. We think that we can at least get a title out there that can compete to the extent that we have a little bit of a name. Nothing big like any 1 million dollar sales, maybe just 100k copies sold. We are aiming for this project to be the big jumpstart for us into the development world.

M-Works

I hate to be a killjoy, since you seem really enthusiastic and I always like to wish the best for everyone working on games. But I agree that your project seems way too ambitious for an indie, and is likely to fail if you keep going down this current path. In particular, I agree with this quote:

Quote: Original post by fastlane69
If you are trying to fight with the big boys, you will lose. Period. Instead, try to carve a niche or aim at a smaller market. You don't have the experience nor resources to compete with them BUT you DO have the luxary of being able to make a profit with a much smaller market than the Big Boys do.

Reading betweent the lines of your posts, your game seems to be what the big companies produce, only more so. I honestly think you can't compete with those companies with your budget. The way the most (if not all) successful indies take is by making a game that's different from the big budget titles, and profiting on a smaller number of sales. 100,000 sales is still a huge target to reach. I'm thinking about trying to go indie in a year or two myself, and my ambitious target would be more like 10,000 sales, which is still enough for a big profit for me. The business model that you seem to be following is suited to someone who already has big publisher backing.

And I wouldn't think about trying to advertise in magazines yet, that costs a large amount of money. Web based advertising can work if you are clever and can do it on the cheap; establishing a presence on on-line forums such as this one is a good start.

Have you read a copy of The Indie Game Development Survival Guide? It's got great tips on how to run an indie business.

Quote: Original post by spookycat
M-Works is this you M-Works Software Productions

Quote: Original post by M-Works
That link you gave is not my site.

Ok, appologies in advance if I've got this wrong, but something smells fishy here.

There are some very strange co-incidences...

On the quoted M-Works site, the author states..."On December 1st, 2003, the company M-Works launched off with the creation of games. I, Christopher Mogni, am only of young age. I am a minor, so I had to start off small."

Now in one of your previous posts here on GameDev.. (Here) you give your email as 'mogcon3@gmail.com'.

Then in this thread (Here) you post links to some screen shots, and along the top of the title bar you can see that the maps are in a directory called 'Christopher', and the screen shots have the exact same word 'Perspective' in the same font, and same position, as the screen shots on the M-Works web site.

Now I'm really sorry if I've got this wrong, but are you sure you're telling us the truth here? We can help you much better if you tell us it straight.

[Edit]

ok so more conclusively, this quote is from the 'Screen Shots' page on that M-Works web site...

"If you would like more information on the screens, please e-mail me at mogcon3@gmail.com."

[Edited by - WillC on September 30, 2005 6:32:15 PM]

I think this is a pretty clear case of a young lad dreaming of being head of a dev team, he already calls himself 'President' and I've found any team that give themselves grand names before getting anything running is more interested in the street cred of being thought a game developer than the ones who just get on and do it and let their work do the talking. If hes having fun then thats great for him, but he does seem to be getting lost in his mistakes :)

Can we see some more pics Chris and maybe a video of the game in action?

I'm with WillC....either that is his site or he is ripping off that site. WAY too many coincidences....compare this web content with what he has already posted:

Quote: ...will feature 100 different maps that you can explore in a fast-paced advanced FPS with online multiplayer gameplay and solo mission modes.

Quote: This game has fast paced militaristic like game play with upgrades and 50 missions with multiple levels.

Quote: We already have gained over two dozen developers that have contributed to coding a animation

Now here are some quotes from this thread:

Quote: We are to have 100 maps instead of the original 20

Quote: 1. 50 maps (20 already completed)

Quote: ... to a still small but growing team of 24.

Weird coincidence that the websites numbers coincide with the posters numbers..hmmm...

And if that weren't enough, from the main page:

Quote: We are currently looking for a publisher!

And here is the first post:

Quote: I am really having difficulty with trying to get games published as an indie game developer.

Here's my scenerio: Identity Theft. In fact this isn't his site for he has no site. In fact, he is using this site as a template for his ideas and none of what he says is true.

I don't know about you guys, but after all the careful advice we posted, I HATE being played for a fool :(

Please, PLEASE, make me a liar M-Works....

Look, the whole thing is messed up. Lets just stay on topic and leave this alone.

I dont think you are going to get much more help in this thread at least, youve been caught out, it seems you dont have a game, or at least anything that is near finished, you would appear to be a young lad with dreams that your skill cant meet at the moment. I can only suggest you continue trying to learn and not try and seek attention and waste peoples time. I mean other threads you have show things that you say you have only worked on for an hour, whats the point in that. And it really dosnt help when you are using game creation style tools to come on and claim your Ai is better than Doom3 and your lighting engine is better than anything else going, when I seriously doubt you have even written a single shader for your 'game'.

Now seeing as this is your 2nd account you have on here, your first being Gamedev 2, I suspect you will probably create a new account and try this all over again.