I ask for anyone's advice, many thanks in advance. I think I may have come up with a new game-concept, I'm searching through all possible indie gamesites and haven't found anything like it yet. I'm very sure it won't be the next Tetris, but it will be fun. My problem is that I'm totally new to the world of gamedevelopment. I'm a gamer, but I couldn't program if my life depended on it. So I come directly to the experts in the field for some advice: where do I go from here? This concept would be perfect for the new Nintendo Revolution-controller, but something tells me it's not evident to just send it to Nintendo, right? And how do you guys prevent someone from just ripping you off? In my normal day-life I write scenarios for sitcoms, and thus far I've been ripped off twice. Absolutely hate that! So is the gamesindustry also known for this? Any advice is welcome. What are the typical traps of the industry I should avoid? What is the best way to go if all I have is a concept and some - rather ugly - graphic designs? Many thanks to anyone who's willing to help me set the first steps on the right path :-)!

You'll find this site should answer most, if not all of your questions.

However, a quick and dirty answer follows:

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My problem is that I'm totally new to the world of gamedevelopment. I'm a gamer, but I couldn't program if my life depended on it. So I come directly to the experts in the field for some advice: where do I go from here? This concept would be perfect for the new Nintendo Revolution-controller, but something tells me it's not evident to just send it to Nintendo, right?

Right. Most unsolicited design documents get filed in the shredder for reasons of legal security, so the chances are your idea wouldn't even get looked at.

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And how do you guys prevent someone from just ripping you off? In my normal day-life I write scenarios for sitcoms, and thus far I've been ripped off twice. Absolutely hate that! So is the gamesindustry also known for this?

Well, you can get people to sign NDA's and stuff, but ultimately you can't copyright an idea. You can copyright character names, graphics, and the implementation of an idea, but the idea alone is completely worthless.

On the flipside, developers and publishers have their own ideas. I'd be less worried about people stealing your ideas, and more worried about getting people to look at them in the first place.

Thank you, Sandman, very helpful site indeed.

I'm afraid sandman is correct. There are thousands of people out there with ideas but the commercial publishers/developers won't even look at the ideas - unless they are backed up by a team with a proven track record of making games. For a full explanation of why read http://www.obscure.co.uk/faq_idea.shtml

You could always try to recruit a hobby team to make your game but it still wouldn't get onto the Revolution (it would have to be PC).

Don't get your hopes up.
Most likely, the only way your idea will ever see the light of day, is if you implement it yourself. If you haven't made a handful of games already, no one will even consider making your game for you. If you have some skills to contribute (not just ideas, everyone has those), you might be able to assemble a team to make it yourself.

That's the short version. The long version is probably a lot more discouraging.
Anyway, as Sandman said, I really really doubt anyone are going to rip off your idea. Everyone has ideas, but only a rare few have the ability to make them real. (And those people tend to have a few dozen ideas on their own already, so they're not likely to steal yours, even if you beg them to [wink])

Still, good luck with it.

Thank you all for the reactions on what must be a stupid question to all you guys already inside the business. Appreciate it very much.

Ok, so much for my pipedream :-)! Anyone care to join me and become the next EA :-)))))?

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Original post by TotalNoob I'm very sure it won't be the next Tetris, but it will be fun.

I'm not sure how dedicated you are to your idea and getting it made, but just because you're not a programmer doesn't mean that all hope is lost. Something you may find useful to do is to prototype it using paper, chits, dice or whatever you can think of to capture its essential flavor, or parts of it. This will first allow you to roughly test what you're thinking of, and secondly allow you to winnow away whatever doesn't work. This document discusses a process called the MDA Framework which is a formalized way of analyzing your idea and finding ways to test and improve what works.

The path from there is very hard, as others have noted, but I wouldn't rule out the idea of trying out your prototype on others to see if you can get interest and buy in. Your idea might have to first see life as a zany card game, for instance, before it becomes a video game (and don't laugh, classics like Master of Orion, Warcraft, Civilization and even Doom have been made into board and card games). I honestly think that 75% of your job after you have any idea is breathing a vision for people so engaging that they want to be a part of it (the rest is just keeping up the energy to continue doing it even after setbacks)

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And how do you guys prevent someone from just ripping you off? In my normal day-life I write scenarios for sitcoms, and thus far I've been ripped off twice. Absolutely hate that! So is the gamesindustry also known for this?

I'm not sure how it is in your industry, but there's a high concept to implementation lag in game development, often even for simple games. So I've often heard it said that ideas are a dime a dozen, its implementation that counts. Having said that, I've heard shareware or small-game developers report having to be careful with ideas because the turn around time from concept to game is shorter. I'm not sure how real the reasoning is, but I think you lose more by trying to keep your idea to yourself-- the chance to improve it through constructive criticism as well as the opportunity to really distinguish workable concepts from those that are just "your darlings."

Anyways, good luck!

Oh, I should probably have added above that if your idea is good, you should definitely stick with it, and try to get the game created. Don't give up [smile]

I'm not sure if you'd want to do this, but there are some non-programming ways to make a game. You can make a mod for a game with considerably less programming. Also, there are many programs that allow you to create games. My personal favorite being Stagecast(absolutley no programming and almost no learning curve. It is a little limited though.), but alot of people seem to like Game Maker(I believe that it requires some scripting though). Of course, they have *many* downsides, but its better than nothing. At the very least, it could let you see your own idea come to life, which could be worth it.

Good luck, and don't give up!