Hi everybody. I'm a not-so-young software developer with a successful career in a non-game industry. I'm considering spending my spare time over the next couple of years preparing for a move into game development as a new challenge. I know that one path is to start a company and develop games independently; that has been discussed in great detail and I thank you all for providing so much information about the difficulties and rewards of such a path. Another path is to develop "game development skills" and build up a portfolio demonstrating those skills. I've developed and released several small but well-received freeware games, with a few more in progress. I could continue to do that (it's fun!) and also dive into more in-depth mastery of the latest and biggest technologies. The idea there would be to get a job on a development staff. Again, there has been a lot of discussion about this particular path (but not quite as much aimed at somebody like me starting out with a reasonably advanced non-game resume). I have been toying with a third path though, and thus this message. I have various ideas for "technologies" that could be useful to various game projects. I wonder if it could be possible to work on one or more of those technologies (which are not complete games and may or may not end up with flashy graphical "demos") and leverage that work at a later time. Some examples of what I mean (none of these are necessarily super ideas): - Algorithms for building difficult-to-hack partial local state management for persistent multiplayer universes (main application being mmo games for wifi devices where network speed and quality can be quite suboptimal). - Procedural content generation, for example filling in "close up" detail on a dungeon wall rather than just showing a blown-up texture, or auto-generating space station layouts for space games. - An algorithm for taking a more-or-less arbitrary collection of meshes (like a car or a spaceship), and simulating damage to them, from denting or crushing, to ripping, breaking, and exploding -- by real-time geometry modification. And so on. I'm not really asking about the qualities of those particular ideas (although such discussion could be interesting, it probably does not belong in this forum) -- but rather if and how one could leverage such work into a profession. Are there companies that provide such "middleware" to game companies? I imagine such a relationship would involve a licensing fee (perhaps exclusive, perhaps not) plus an employment arrangement to integrate the technology into a particular game title. Intuitively it seems like such an arrangement could be sensible, but if no game company would ever take the time to discuss such an arrangement, there isn't much point in pursuing it. Alternatively, one could use a project like that just as part of a "demo reel" I suppose. Some ideas like this could be somewhat larger in scope, and would probably end up being part of the core of a game. For example, suppose one was to work for years on a super framework for the management of quests in an RPG type of game, with hooks for NPC behavior, and so on. I can't even imagine how one would interest a game company in paying for the code or the right to use it. Can you? Thanks for your attention to this long message. Any thoughts?

Myc,
So rather than the indy/lone-wolf path or the get-a-job path (both of which are standard, the latter one being the easier one 4U IMO), you, I gather, are contemplating a third path - that of a technology provider. Correct?

Well, that path requires you to actually build games so people can see that the technology is beneficial in building a game. That path can't be pursued successfully until after you've pursued the two paths you're choosing not to take. There've been other threads here before, started by guys wanting to do the same thing. You may be able to find those if you dig farther back.

You should look at other technology providers, see what they provide - because those folks will be your competition. See what credentials they offer, see the services they offer on top of the technology itself. Make a plan to offer better technology and services than they do.

Or seek a job in the game industry - and put this third idea on the back burner. A few years industry experience under your belt will prepare you for it better than you are at present.

Thank you for the response.

I will search for the previous threads on similar topics and research existing technology providers to see if it is credible for me to enter that arena.