Who to talk to about pitching a game idea

[RangerWickett]

Say I wanted to break into the video game/computer game industry, and I wanted to work toward getting an RPG/Fighting game produced, something akin to Dynasty Warriors or Onimusha 3, who would I want to talk to? Does anyone have any contacts in the computer gaming world?

 

[drothgery]

Sorry to be a hopeless pessimist here, but great ideas for video games, like great ideas for movies or novels or RPG systems, are a dime a dozen. Unless you already work for someone that makes video games (and in development, not tech support), or are able to fund development yourself, your idea probably isn't going to go anywhere, especially in RPGs, which are usually the most expensive to produce.

 

[RangerWickett]

And I reply that if great ideas are a dime a dozen, why are so many game companies penniless?

If I knew how to make a great game on my own, I wouldn't have asked. I'll have to go about this on my own, I suppose.

 

[Jeranon]

I'm a nobody, but your conclusion is correct. You'll have to do it yourself by either starting your own company or making it open source style.

It is true that ideas are a dime a dozen. You have to remember the other cliche that says something like genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Now regarding who to propose ideas to, you'll find it likely that no game developer out there will touch it or even listen to you. This is really to protect themselves legally rather than anything against you. You'll typically have to go work on their games and slowly subvert them to develop your idea. This is slow and you might burn out while doing so no matter how great the idea.

Game development companies are penniless usually because of evil publishers. So if you make your own company, I wish you the best of luck because your attention will be diverted to the realities of runing a company especially when you have to deal with evil publishers. If you open source, you may get developers, but I wish you luck getting people for the other game assets like graphics, models, sound, music, etc. You could set up your own company and self-publish, but either way, it's a tough job and I'm not talking about making the actual game. Also, with regards to the kind of game you plan to make, good luck if you plan to do it in the USA.

 

[Lizard]

And I reply that if great ideas are a dime a dozen, why are so many game companies penniless?

Because a great IDEA doesn't always mean a great game, and even a great game can cost 2 million dollars and never sell, because the market shifted in the three years of development time, or something in the same genre that was inferior but had more brand 'oomph' came along to push it out, or marketing/editorial changes turn the great game into a mediocre game sometime during development or...

I am speaking from real, professional, experience. I worked for GameTek (now defunct) from 1995 to 1997.

There is no really delicate away to put this: An idea, in and of itself, ain't worth diddly. If you go to a game company and say "I've got a great idea -- give me a hundred grand and I'll let you make a game based on it!" they'll laugh. If you say "I've got a great idea, pay me nothing for it, and we'll split the huge profits my idea will make when you've made the game for me", they will laugh.

The way the game industry usually works is one or several of the following:

a)A development house secures some venture capital, and begins developing a game. They then try to shop it around to major companies, who may buy it and pay the develpers just enough to keep food on the table -- if the game sells. Maybe.

b)A group of really skilled programmers, artists, and musicians (figure you will need a team of 5 to 10 people for even a simple game, or DOZENS for a really complex game. Yes. DOZENS. The age of the solo developer is over, except for some excellent shareware products) get together and form a company, which hires itself out to major game companies to do all the coding for them. If they're lucky, the plug doesn't get pulled on development before the game is completed. If they're VERY lucky.

c)A large, established, company has permanent game designers, etc, on staff. They come up with proposals, run them past marketing, get some prototyping done, and one in a dozen might get greenlighted for development. Of those, about one in four will actuall make it to the stores. Of those, about one in one hundred will see a profit.

And if you're working on console games, rather than PC games, you're double-screwed, because then you have to deal with the console manufacturer over endless issues of licensing, etc, not to mention getting a dev system to work with and learning the APIs which are unique to each console.

If you think you've got a million dollar idea, then, convince someone to give you about half a million. That will fund about a year's worth of full time development, if you watch your budget closely. (A game programmer will cost you 80K to 120K in salary *alone*. Add in all the overhead, and you're probably looking at 180K to get a lead programmer, and you'll probably need another 100K for a second developer. Artists are cheaper -- two artists for 75K each, say. You'll be doing the producer/game designer role yourself. You might want an accounant, HR person, or other admin type -- that costs, too, but not as much as not having one will. And a lawyer. You don't need a full time one, but you've got to have one ready to go whenever you need him, and you WILL need him. You might be able to contract out the sound and music work. You'll need an office, expensive computers, insurance, and all that lot. If you've got friends willing to work part-time for you for free, cool, but that kind of development work is notoriously unreliable, and if you constantly get new programmers coming on board as others leave, your code turns into a mess.

Outsourcing all development work to Russian or Indian development teams might save you some money, but opens up a whole 'nother can of worms.

There's other options. Places like Shrapnel Games specialize in bringing cool, 'niche' games to market, games which focus on gameplay, not graphics, but it's still "You develop it, then, we sell it." If you can do all the programming yourself and can get someone to produce even functional artwork, then, this might be a way to go -- but I got the impression you were looking at mass market, on-the-shelves-at-CompUSA type stuff. If your goals are more humble, it's doable, but no matter what, either you code it yourself or you pay someone to code it. No one is going to pay just for the idea, either cash-up-front or a share of revenue. The very best you can realistically hope for is, "Cool idea. Bring us a stable alpha in six months, and, if we like it, we might consider funding further development. If we're still in business in six months, and if our business plan hasn't changed, and if the new guy occupying this chair doesn't have a totally different idea of what's cool and what isn't."

 

[trancejeremy]

You could try to get a job at an video game company based on your credits as an RPG designer. Several have done it.

Then you just need to do that for several years, hopefully staying employed and your company in business. Maybe eventually you'll get high enough in the company that you can influence what games are being made.

(Me, I've never even managed to get a job at a company as a tester, which is generally an entry level and low paying job. I did manage to win a scenario design contest once, and got $100. Whee!)

Actually, I've also heard that really gifted level designers and modders for various programs (usually FPSes) have been hired as designers. Probably not given much free reign at first, but after a few years...

 

[annadobritt]

Say I wanted to break into the video game/computer game industry, and I wanted to work toward getting an RPG/Fighting game produced, something akin to Dynasty Warriors or Onimusha 3, who would I want to talk to? Does anyone have any contacts in the computer gaming world?

Ryan, here's a few sites that might be of help to you:

http://www.gamasutra.com/

http://www.igda.org

http://www.gamedev.net/

 

[Arnwyn]

You could try to get a job at an video game company based on your credits as an RPG designer. Several have done it.

Then you just need to do that for several years, hopefully staying employed and your company in business. Maybe eventually you'll get high enough in the company that you can influence what games are being made.

Yeppers. Either that, or get a degree (and Masters) in game design, then get work in the industry and work there for some years.

IGN answers questions like this all the time, and the constant answer is "work in the industry for some years (usually starting off as a low-paid tester)".

And Lizard is absolutely right - "ideas" for games (and anything else, really, such as pen 'n' paper RPGs) are worth nothing. It's the execution and results that are valuable. (I don't pay RPG companies for their ideas - I pay for the fully implemented ideas.)

 

[RangerWickett]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm just considering all sorts of options for things to do with my life. All I've narrowed it down to so far is that I want to entertain people, and that I probably won't be doing it through sports. *grin*

I can speak a bit of Japanese. I should practice that, and use it to my advantage somehow.

Oh, I know this idea is a little silly, since I am trying to do the improbable and don't seem very skilled at it, but I plan to learn.

 

[RangerWickett]

This doesn't mention any plot stuff, but it's basically me having a fantasy of how I'd like to see a game put together.


Scourge of the Burning Sky computer RPG brainstorm.
The Ragesian Empire completed its conquest of the world nearly a hundred years ago. One month ago, its immortal Emperor, Draco Coaltongue, was slain. Today, Leska, the Supreme Inquisitor of the Ragesian Empire, declared the Scourge. All mages not loyal to the Empire – or more specifically, not loyal to the self-styled Empress, are to be hunted down and captured. Those who resist are to be killed.

You are part of the resistance.

An epic fantasy adventure, with eight playable characters, each with a distinct storyline, Scourge of the Burning Sky finally unifies the best of console action games with table-top RPGs, letting you control not only your characters, but your destiny.





A bit cheesy, I know, but fun nonetheless. Because I had too much time on my hands, I thought I’d imagine up what would make for a fun gameplay style that would capture enough elements of D&D while still being functional on a console control pad.

Gameplay
I’ll assume we’ll be working with a PS2 controller, since it’s the one I’m most familiar with. The buttons of the PS2 controller are:

R1, R2 – right triggers.
L1, L2 – left triggers.
Directional pad.
Triangle, Square, Circle, X set up.
R3, L3 – analog joysticks/buttons.

The game plays in near-first person mode, like Prince of Persia, Kindom Hearts, or Tomb Raider.

L3 handles movement direction, and speed since it’s analog.

O can be the general ‘investigate’ button, X can be the confirm button, Square will toggle stuff of some sort, and Triangle will be cancel. It will cancel both menu commands and attacks, so that if you’re fighting somebody and you see a fireball coming in, you can run like hell. Ah, yes, square will toggle you to chase mode, where the X, Triangle, and O will trigger different movement types. Jump, Climb, and Swim. If you have a fly spell, jumping twice will activate it. If there’s not water around, pressing swim will make you dive to the ground (or land if you’re flying). Climb you have to hold while you’re climbing, making it difficult to perform actions without falling.

Start gets you to a menu, and the actual directional arrows let you choose stuff in the menu. In combat, the menu will be super-imposed over the screen, so you can try to keep running, but it’ll be hard.

Combat is a little complicated. Perhaps too complicated. The four triggers are each keyed to a ‘technique,’ and each character can have four techniques at a time. By combining a trigger with a direction on the R3 joystick, you can get five moves from each technique (up, down, left, right, and neutral).

Characters start with four techniques, but not all of them will have the full complement of five moves. You can learn new moves as you level up, and can even learn new techniques, though you would have to unequip some to replace them with a new one.

You can select a target to focus on with the select button. Hitting select will toggle targeting on or off, and while you’re targeting, the directional pad will move through possible targets. When you have a target selected, spells will focus on them, ranged attacks will go after them, and in melee you’ll tend to adjust yourself to face the target so you hit them. You can do nifty tricks with the selecting targets thing, at least with a few spells. If you shoot a fireball, it will tend to explode at the feet of the target, but if you toggle off select before it hits, the fireball will go off in mid-air.

If you use a ranged attack and don’t aim, it will just fly off straight away from you, which can be very bad.

If instead you hold select, you can use the directional pad to move a cursor across the ground, which will target a particular point in space. This is primarily useful for accurately targeting area of effect spells.