So first off, I'm new to all of this. I'm a regular 9 to 5er with a day job in the web industry as a Product/Project manager. I'm a gaming enthusiast and been around the block in the MMO world as far as gaming and testing. I have an idea for a game and I really believe in the concept and I'm trying to go about getting the project off the ground. My original post can be found here: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=525344 Within that a discussion was started about finding a proper graphics engine to begin working with. It came to my attention that 3D engines are either opensource or commercial, with the commercial licenses being upwards of a million dollars. I'm stating the obvious when I say, I don't have that kind of money. I don't even have $60,000 for a lower end engine. I've had varying opinions on opensource engines with some comparing them to cars, opensource would be a junk car that could run but not very well and not for very long. That was the metaphor that was used. So I'm at a bit of a crossroads here. I don't want to ditch out on this idea because of money. There has to be a way to get this game started, so my idea was the follow, and I need to know if its likely or feasible or if I need to start brainstorming an alternative plan. Is it possible to develop a small scale demo/proof of concept on an opensource solution, have concept art, have a few 3D models and a list of features that can then be taken to a group of potential investors? Do funders generally look for a close to finished product prior to throwing money at a project? If I had a decent community backing going into an investor meeting, would that make a difference? Would it be easier and more plausible to create a 2D game that could be used to show investors that my team can ship a product, bring in a community so that we could in turn receive funding for a 3D project? Is there a better way to go about this? I honestly do believe in the vision I have for this MMO, I just need to know how I can get it off the ground. Thanks for your help.

Have you read the following articles yet? These (and the others provided by the same authors) are a good starting point for basic information:

Preparing a product pitch
Preparing a game demo
Both from Obscure.co.uk Articles

"I Have A Game Idea!"
Game Submission
More about submissions
...and the other Game Design FAQs at sloperama.com

You may also want to check out the IGDA Game Submission Guide.

Thank you for these links, I've already read the first one and this is a world of useful knowledge. If there is anymore insight, please drop me a line!

You don't actually need to use the games planned engine to produce a demo.
Use something simple like torque or ogre to produce the demo and then once you have a publishing deal then you can licence the engine that you need.

For instance if you wanted to licence the Gamebryo engine you could start by modding oblivion to show a proof of concept to an intended publisher.

As for what publishers look for a belive the the origonal LBP demo that media molecule showed to Sony was a simple 2D platformer.

I belive Monumental also offer their MMO engine for prototyping for free then once the number of users reaches a set number you have to upgrade to the full comercial version.

No offense, but if an idea/concept is all you have so far, then you're wasting your time even asking.

This used to work in the mid-1990s, a friend of mine actually got a 7-figure amount of money with nothing but dressing up and talking a lot of bullshit about the coolest idea on earth. However, like with 95% of the projects at this time, hype turned to failure, and the investors found their money burned. All but the most stupid investors have learned from that.

I very much doubt that you'll find anyone giving you money for an idea or a concept today, unless you can present that you have a team with profound technical knowledge already working, a serious business plan, and a concept that looks realistic and still promises large revenues (kind of a contradiction), and something they can lay their hands on. A "9-5 guy having an idea for a MMO" is not precisely something that falls into this category.

Even if you do find an investor, it's not all gold. They'll come with a hundred requirements and conditions these days, and they'll ask a HUGE share of your prospective revenues, especially if you don't have considerable assets of your own.
Obviously, your mileage may vary depending on where you live and who you talk to, but I've once been told something like "your concept and your work so far is worth at most 15k to us, so assuming we give you 100k, we expect 90% of the revenues, seeing that we carry the entire risk, blah blah". This was, by the way, for a 3/4 implemented product, not for a mere idea.

Quote:

Original post by samoth No offense, but if an idea/concept is all you have so far, then you're wasting your time even asking.

No offense taken. But everything starts with an idea and a concept. I'm not going to let a burned industry stop me from at least trying, so that's where I'm at right now. I want to at the very least a demo and a presentation together, I've never done it before, but I know a lot of people that deal with funders on a regular basis that I will be talking to before I make a pitch to anyone. I know it's best to take your idea to a publisher, but beyond them for funding, is it possible to get VC or angel funding to publish the game independently?

A presentation given at Casual Connect Europe 2009 by Jussi Laakkonen, Starting a new (game) business may give some useful hints. I browsed through the PowerPoint slides some days ago and they mentioned various funding options also. It's not all related to your situation for what I gather, but some things like acquiring the initial funding may be of interest.

The presentation lists some useful pointers to other resources for more information on these issues.

Quote:

Original post by rokked everything starts with an idea and a concept.

An idea and a concept for a money-making enterprise.
One game is not a money-making enterprise. What's your business idea? After that one game is made, how are you planning to make money back from it? And then what after that one game is done?
One game idea is not a business plan. What is your plan?

I see what you're getting at, so yes, these are things I will come up with. But I need clear starting point before I can thing about how I'm going to sell the product. I have no business plan because there is no product. But I will take your advice and get one together prior to speaking to anyone about funding.

And as a starting point, I have taken your FAQ's advice and begun writing up a product spec for the game. This will be easy for me since I've written thousands of specs in my professional life for commercial websites. So at least I have that, if its a step in the right direction, I don't know, but at least it makes the game more tangible than an idea.

I think the big thing you need to ask yourself is can you do the project without funding? Or, do you have any means of funding yourself?

If you are developing an MMO, you should be able to put something together on the cheap as a version 1 of the game. It may not be the hottest looking game when you are done, but you can bring your concept to life and possibly attract paying subscribers (or advertisers if you are going that route).

As you earn money from your game, re-invest it's earnings into new versions. It's not only a great way of attracting new subscribers, but offering major enhancements on a somewhat regular basis will keep current players interested.

If you do enough digging, you can probablly find all the tools you need to do the work yourself for less than $2,000 (maybe even less than $1,000 if you really look hard).

Heck, even some of the software you need you can get for free. Caligari Truespace is now completely free and you may be able to use it.

I can't answer your question about where to get funding as I don't know. However, we are in a poor economy and I think investors are less likely to bet on long shots right now than any other time. So, if you want your game to move forward, start working on it with what you have available to you now.

If your game is as good as you believe it is, you should have no problem selling it to players.

John