Hi there community,

I'm producer at small game development team, from Kiev, Ukraine. I've already found investments on 2 of my mobile games (like $20k each), without having any prototype, just the idea. At the end we've finished these games and they are at publishers, we work with them right now. So investors are pretty happy with the results on this stage. But now we have time for building new project and my investors don't want to invest more until previous games will start gaining money. This is fair.

So now I want to run a quite big game as a service, publishers already loved my concept but still need prototype to tell fo sure if they will work on it. And here's the question - is it possible to find soldi amount of investments (like $150k) on such early stage as a concept? Does anyone have experience or thoughts about that? Should I continue my search or better concentrate on attracting investments on development of the prototype?

Thanks for your replies in advance!

Hi, gamearx. Since you're asking about funding, I moved your post to the Business forum. You asked:

1. Is it possible to find the solid investments in a game on the stage of concept?
I've already found investments on 2 of my mobile games (like $20k each), without having any prototype, just the idea.

2. now we have time for building new project and my investors don't want to invest more until previous games will start gaining money. This is fair.
So now I want to run a quite big game as a service, publishers already loved my concept but still need prototype to tell fo sure if they will work on it. And here's the question - is it possible to find soldi amount of investments (like $150k) on such early stage as a concept?

3. Should I continue my search or better concentrate on attracting investments on development of the prototype?

1. You've already done it, so clearly it is possible.
2. It is "possible," but it is not likely. Now you are talking about a much higher level of risk. Your track record is too short to make the investors feel comfortable enough to risk that kind of money.
3. You're not ready yet to go to that higher level of funding. Keep doing what you're doing with your first 2 games, and do what you can on building a prototype of your third one, either without funding or "on a shoestring" (using your own money and whatever money you can dig up by other means).

Hi Tom,

You're very right here. I just wanted to hear if maybe someone did find the investments on big project on such early stage, because the less thing I want to do is to waster my time on finding these investments right now especially if have no chances. So I wanted to know whether we have chances or not. And for the last few days that I've spent on finding the answers I got many replies from different people, mostly investors who said that I definitely should do a prototype first.

And yes, I personally showed that it's possible to find investments if you have just a naked idea and plan, but it works for less risky projects with small budget (up to $20k) and really good share. So conclusion here is: if you want to make big games - better start with prototype and some graphics. If you don't mind to make few small games - you can find investments if you need them, it's just a matter of time and inner desire.

Good luck to everyone and thanks!

You should always prototype first, even if it looks simplistic and ugly.

The best laid plans on paper don't mean anything unless the prototype reveals its fun.

While it is possible to get the funding, you may end up with fewer sales if the end result is not as fun as it should be.

Practice makes perfect, and I trust that before you receive $150k investments, you'll have started applying this.

Well, i would say if you have your one of a kind idea why don't you try putting it on the kickstarter inorder to get fundings.