Hello Chaps, I am a UK based business-man and entrepreneur and have experience in start-up businesses, fund-raising, project development and management. I am also a game fan but have no technical development or programming experience. For the past few months I have been conducting market research into the fesability of developing and self-publishing a MMOG. I am confident in my ability to produce a well written business plan but I am struggling to overcome a specific hurdle in regards to fund-raising. I believe that it would be relatively easy and inexpensive for me to conceptualise the game I wish to develop, create initial artwork concepts, story-board the major elements of the "game-experience" and essentially produce a decent pack (business case, financials & game overview) for potential investors. However (and it is a big, however) in my experience most investors are scared off projects that require substantial development. I can imagine a scenario where fund-raising is nearly impossible without some form of technology demonstrator at the very least. That means staff or outsourcing and both require cash; hence "the chicken and egg". Has anyone else faced the same challenge and how have you overcome it? By that I don't mean "tap up your friends" or "re-mortgage" or the obvious choices. Is there something more creative? For example is it realistic to offer things like equity stakes, future profit share schemes to get the right people involved in more of a gaming co-op to get a project to the point it can seek funds and secure its medium term future? Thanks in advance. [Edited by - animal_mutha on April 11, 2008 8:39:41 AM]

> However (and it is a big, however) in my experience
> most investors are scared off projects that
> require substantial development.

Investors are looking for 1) a saavy management team, 2) a proven growing & untapped market, and 3) a killer value proposition. In that order. Once they find that rare pearl then the size of the investment is a lesser issue.

So yes, if you have an admitted lack of managerial experience in the game development business and are aiming for an MMO-type of game as starter, then you might have scared off quite a few prospective investors.


> Has anyone else faced the same challenge and how have you overcome it?

Here are some books that might interest you.

Michael, David, "The Indie Game Development Survival Guide", Charles River Media (~ GBP 30)

Lieberman, Joseph, "The Indie Developer's Guide to Selling Games", VGSmart. (~ GBP 20).

Laramee, Jean-Francois, ed., "Secrets of the Game business", Charles River Media.

-cb

[Edited by - cbenoi1 on April 11, 2008 2:14:15 PM]

Also there is: Business & Legal Primer for Game Development

I would say that you should keep working at you presentation package (artwork concepts, story-board the major elements of the "game-experience" and essentially produce a decent pack (business case, financials & game overview) for potential investors). Along with what engine you will be using and developing a cost projection.

You might/could look into something like Metaplace to build a small/simple proof of concept.

*Double post removed*

Thanks for the responses I have been reading extensively over the weekend (a big up for the Slopermania website which was excellent) and do perceive a number of options.

Is the whole "garage" idea really practicable and realistic? Has anyone produced something commercially worth-while from a co-op?

Quote: Original post by animal_mutha
Is the whole "garage" idea really practicable and realistic? Has anyone produced something commercially worth-while from a co-op?

Its possible, if you do a small game (and build from there). Attempting to do a console game or MMO would be many times more difficult.

Some mutha wrote:
>Is the whole "garage" idea really practicable and realistic?

It depends on what you mean. It's extremely practical as a way of building up creds, of understanding the collaborative process.

>Has anyone produced something commercially worth-while from a co-op?

It depends on what you mean. There may be some garage games that have exceeded the break-even point, but what gave you the idea that this was a way to make money? Sure, a lot who engage in making such projects go into it with that idea, but the chances of accomplishing that are not that good.

> I have been reading extensively over the weekend (a big up
> for the Slopermania website which was excellent)

Besides reading Tom's and Dan's (Obscure) web pages, you might want to explore the IGDA (www.igda.org) and TIGA (www.tiga.org) organizations. The IGDA web site contains interesting documents & links on the business aspects of game development. There are similar but UK-specific links and information on the TIGA web site.

As in any other types of businesses, networking is key. You could come to the Develop conference in Brighton this summer and meet producers / developers / studio heads. And while not at it, look up the 'Develop' magazine (www.developmag.com).

-cb

Thanks for the continued feedback. I must admit to feeling a bit chuffed that Mr Sloper should respond to my first post.

I had envisaged doing a commercial project but one which doesn't rely entirely on the "garage ethos" I was hoping to achieve something a little like this (in briefest outline);

1. Design spec and brief.
2. Recruit one or two key members (CTO & Artisitic Director) on the basis of (i) equity in the business and (ii) future profit share scheme
3. Produce a technical test bed / Proof of Concept / Demo and supplement the business plan with concept art, story boards etc.
4. Fund-raise on that basis.
5. Employ the above and move away from the garage model to commercial model.

One idea I had was to recruit directly from our local University (which fortunately has an excellent Computing department). I also tried to look at Metaplace and it sounds excellent. Unfortunatley all the Alpha places are taken.

[Edited by - animal_mutha on April 15, 2008 9:01:07 AM]

Some animal wrote:
>I had envisaged doing a commercial project but one which doesn't rely entirely on the "garage ethos" I was hoping to achieve something a little like this (in briefest outline);
>1. Design spec and brief.
>2. Recruit one or two key members (CTO & Artisitic Director) on the basis of (i) equity in the business and (ii) future profit share scheme
>3. Produce a technical test bed / Proof of Concept / Demo and supplement the business plan with concept art, story boards etc.
>4. Fund-raise on that basis.
>5. Employ the above and move away from the garage model to commercial model.
>One idea I had was to recruit directly from our local University

This is an extremely common vision of a way to proceed, and one whose chances of success are not high. I still stand by what I wrote in my article #29, which I believe to be a more reliable way to proceed.