I'm a software developer and I've had this idea for 8 years about developing a football trivia game that would run on PCs and Macs (American football - NFL, NCAA). I got the idea after getting addicted to this simple baseball trivia game that used to be on the MLB website. Every year or so I get all re-excited about the idea of writing a football trivia game, work on it for a month or so, then fizzle out because I don't think it would ever make any money if I tried to sell it. I'm not looking to make a ton of money or anything, but I'd at least like to make a little from it. So the basic idea for the game is that you pick a football play and the program asks you a multiple choice question. If you answer the question correctly, the play is executed in a successful fashion (i.e. a completed pass). If you answer incorrectly, the play is executed unsuccessfully (i.e. a run for no gain). Running your defense works similarly. There's a whole slew of other features that I can explain if anyone asks. So basically, I'm wondering if anyone out there would have even the slightest interest in such a product. I'm kind of into sports trivia, so obviously this type of game would appeal to ME. But who knows if it would appeal to anyone else out there. So I'm basically just trying to see if this idea is at all worth pursuing, or if I should just scratch it and try to come up with some other idea. So is there anyone out there that thinks this is a good idea?

Quote: Original post by "jsclev"
I'm a software developer and I've had this idea for 8 years... I'm basically just trying to see if this idea is at all worth pursuing, or if I should just scratch it and try to come up with some other idea. So is there anyone out there that thinks this is a good idea?

Let me get this straight. You've been thinking about this for 8 years but you think it might not be worth pursuing. Why don't you just, you know, pursue it already? If nobody else has done one in 8 years, and you still wanna do it, well, it sounds to me like it's worth it for you to do it.

It's been done. I think it's the scottish guy who does football commentary for the BBC - some sort of DVD game.

Wow lmao, you have been thinking of it for 8 years? Just do it already, it seems like something you just want to do but are worrying about making money off it, dont worry about that, just make it already and who knows, maybe you might end up making something off it. If not, YOU FINALLY MADE IT.:D

Quote: Original post by Swattkidd
Wow lmao, you have been thinking of it for 8 years? Just do it already, it seems like something you just want to do but are worrying about making money off it, dont worry about that, just make it already and who knows, maybe you might end up making something off it. If not, YOU FINALLY MADE IT.:D

Exactly. "Just do it already."

I know, it sounds ridiculous, 8 years. Let me explain a little more. I've used this game as a mechanism for learning programming languages over the last 8 years. I learned VB, MS Access, C#, Flash, and Java from working on pieces of this game over an 8 year period. So it served its intended purpose, which was to get up to speed in languages very quickly that I had to use on the job. I had never intended on turning it into a finished, polished product.

It's only been in the last couple of months that I started thinking about trying to sell it. But I'm looking at quite a bit of work (plus some monetary costs) to actually turn my game from the current prototype stage into a full-fledged, polished game that I can sell. The bottom line is that it's not worth it to me to spend the time and money to turn this into a sellable game if there's absolutely no market for a football trivia game. So maybe a better question to ask is: Can anyone out there point me in the right direction for how to market my game?

Quote: Original post by jsclev
So maybe a better question to ask is: Can anyone out there point me in the right direction for how to market my game?

Who would play a football trivia game? Hmm. Tough question. "Who are football enthusiasts?" (Correct.) "Ignoring the Obvious for $800, Alex."

Four words, jsclev: E. S. P. N. Send my cut of the profits to Brooklyn. [smile]

Quote: Original post by jsclev
it's not worth it to me to spend the time and money to turn this into a sellable game if there's absolutely no market for a football trivia game. So maybe a better question to ask is: Can anyone out there point me in the right direction for how to market my game?

Okay, well - I thought the question was about whether or not you ought to make your brainchild a reality.
Making it to make money off it is an entirely different matter.
You can make your brainchild easily enough, but selling it is going to be very difficult. Read the publishing FAQ at http://www.sloperama.com/advice/article60.htm

I'm pretty sure Madden 08 Wii has a trivia mode included. Not sure how popular it is (but you could ask around on forums to see how it is). I'm sure there are lots of people who would play a well made trivia game, especially if it featured online head to head competition.

The nice thing about a football game is that you don't have to worry about localization since no one outside of the US is going to care about it!

tsloper: I read the publishing FAQ that you referenced. Very informative.

dashurc: I will follow up with the Madden 08 trivia mode. Also, that's a great idea about head to head online play. My current program is a standard desktop based app. I will definitely think about what it would take to modify it to support some sort of online play - it would be some work, but certainly not out of the question to support a web-based format.