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Need advice on starting a studio

Started by Gerry1980 Dec 19, 2006 at 6:56 AM 7 replies 1.2k views

Original Post

Gerry1980

Dec 19, 2006 at 6:56 AM

First time poster and not sure if this is the correct section. Please move if not. Before I waste anyone's time making them read through this. I will be based in Slovakia, Europe, so any people interested in what I have to say, should ideally be from Eastern Slovakia or surrounding areas. I know there's some FANTASTIC developers in my area. (see Elveon, Two Worlds, and Stalker). Anyone is off course more than welcome to advise, it'll be much appreciated. I'd also like to hear from the experiences other startups all over the world because you never know if we could be useful to one another. I've always had a burning desire to own my own game development studios and I'm finally in the position and stage in my life where I can give it one hell of a go. I've come here for advice from the much more experienced game developers that's been around the block a few times and really know all the pitfalls and anything else that could go wrong. I REALLY want to do this right from the start and if it fails, I can at least be happy in knowing that I did everything humanly possible to make it work. There's a few advantages I have which other startups probably don't and also a few disavantages. Going for me: 1. Office space won't be a problem since I own a massive (paid for) house with several big unused rooms that can be converted into space for the developers. We'll never have to worry about making rent or being "kicked" out. Hell, I even have a jacuzzi you can go relax in after a long day of developing! :-) 2. I don't have to work for at least the next 15 years after inheriting some money so all my focus can go on developing our ideas. I have 15 years to make this work before having to go back to work. (/shudders) 3. I already own most of the major development kits (Maya, Visual Studio 2005, 3d Max, LightWave) and can invest in a few others if needed. I'm contemplating buying Zbrush at the moment (probably will) 4. Maturity, Well, I'm only 26 but realise that we'd have to work our butts off for many months without any guarentee that we'll actually have something good. I'm willing to work day and night to realise my dream. 5. I can afford to invest in about 10 development PC's. More if reallly needed. 6. I can afford to pay for advanced training for people if needed. Hopefully it won't be :-) Against me: 1. I obviously cannot pay anyone yet so it'll be very hard finding people than can commit alot of time to this. 2. I can code in C and C++ but nowhere near the level required to develop a game. Although, I'm working about 6 hours a day trying to improve my coding skills. It's getting better. 3. Location location location. It probably would've been easier if i was based in the US, but there you go... 4. Despite spending 100's of hours reading up on the industry, I still have no real inside knowledge of how things really work. Anyway, these are just a few things. Any words of advice and encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Also, if you're in my area, interested and have useful and proven skills, please get in touch

Tesl

Dec 19, 2006 at 8:18 AM

Quote:
Original post by Gerry1980

1. I obviously cannot pay anyone yet so it'll be very hard finding people than can commit alot of time to this.

I was kind of suprised to read this line, you made it sound like money was no issue (can buy many development machines, all the software, big house. big inheritance etc) then suddenly you "obviously can't pay anyone" yet?

If you're in a strong enough position financially to start a game studio, I'd say you have to start hiring people right away. If your a good manager and have decent business skills, you might be able to pull it off even without having the experience yourself. However, that would still be a tough thing to do.

If you're not willing to actually go out and hire people, then it will definitely be tough for you. Without knowing more about your current financial situation (which confuses me a little already) I'd probably suggest for you to make sure your financials are in order before even starting, then really going at it. Realise to make your first game your probably going to have to fund everything yourself, and if you hope to sell many copies expect the cost to run into the millions. It's unlikely anyone is going to help you out financially until you have something solid to produce/sell.

Best of luck with everything, but if your only 26 I'd suggest learning more about the industry first and doing this later. Whether thats actually work in the industry (advised) or not, it should definitely help out in the long run. Why risk everything now when you could be in a much stronger position in a few years time?

jjd

Dec 19, 2006 at 10:18 AM

Hi Gerry,

the short answer is, "you're not ready". It sounds like you have a dream and have recently come into some money. Good for you. Don't fritter either away. As Tesl pointed out, it is a little incongruous to say that you can live without working for 15 years, but you cannot afford to pay people to work with you. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Basically, you need to get some experience before you attempt this. Even if your financial resources are enough, you are going to make a mistakes and they will cost you money. Work in a studio to learn how a studio works (or, at least, how it shouldn't) so that you don't have to learn the hard (expensive) way. Their are a lot of miscellaneous costs in a studio that you probably haven't even considered. It all mounts up, and I bet your 15 years of independence will be greatly reduced.

I hate to rain on your parade. I have a similar dream, so I hope we can both get where we are going [smile] Invest your savings, and get some experience in a studio. After a few years you'll, be in a much better position to achieve your dream.

Gerry1980

Dec 19, 2006 at 10:53 AM

Quote:
Original post by Tesl
Quote:
Original post by Gerry1980

1. I obviously cannot pay anyone yet so it'll be very hard finding people than can commit alot of time to this.

I was kind of suprised to read this line, you made it sound like money was no issue (can buy many development machines, all the software, big house. big inheritance etc) then suddenly you "obviously can't pay anyone" yet?

If you're in a strong enough position financially to start a game studio, I'd say you have to start hiring people right away. If your a good manager and have decent business skills, you might be able to pull it off even without having the experience yourself. However, that would still be a tough thing to do.

If you're not willing to actually go out and hire people, then it will definitely be tough for you. Without knowing more about your current financial situation (which confuses me a little already) I'd probably suggest for you to make sure your financials are in order before even starting, then really going at it. Realise to make your first game your probably going to have to fund everything yourself, and if you hope to sell many copies expect the cost to run into the millions. It's unlikely anyone is going to help you out financially until you have something solid to produce/sell.

Best of luck with everything, but if your only 26 I'd suggest learning more about the industry first and doing this later. Whether thats actually work in the industry (advised) or not, it should definitely help out in the long run. Why risk everything now when you could be in a much stronger position in a few years time?

Didn't mean to confuse you. I came into a lot of money and instead of blowing it all, I want to use it wisely to pursue a dream of mine. I budgeted for the development PC's and X amount for development software to start out with. That's it. The rest of the money I have to live on until this either works, or die a natural death. I'm moving to Slovakia in the near future for family and personal reasons.

I thought about what u said and will look at paying employees and also profit sharing if the game sells. I'm still based in the UK and will look at contacting game companies to see if they can use any help. Sega is just down the road from me and they're always looking for testers. I can work there for a year and use all the money I earn to pay employees.

I'll make this work somehow.

coding penguin

Dec 19, 2006 at 1:13 PM

hello, im from slovakia. it relly suprise me when you write SLOVAKIA :) i like to join your studio but ehm... i have actually 14 years.you say you have 15 years so lets say i will join 10 years past :p
i wish you good luck with your dream

Gerry1980

Dec 19, 2006 at 1:43 PM

Quote:
Original post by lulul
hello, im from slovakia. it relly suprise me when you write SLOVAKIA :) i like to join your studio but ehm... i have actually 14 years.you say you have 15 years so lets say i will join 10 years past :p
i wish you good luck with your dream

Aah, Banka Bystrica I see. My house is in Kosice. Brush up on those coding or art skillz and you'll be working with me in no time!

JohnBolton

Dec 19, 2006 at 4:18 PM

I suggest you go to the Game Developers Conference in March. That way you will get to meet and talk to people in the business. GDC also has the Independent Games Festival, and you would want to talk to those people and find out how they operate their "studios".

Coming from Slovakia would be expensive, but it will be money well spent if you are serious.

Tesl

Dec 19, 2006 at 9:53 PM

Quote:
Original post by Gerry1980
Sega is just down the road from me and they're always looking for testers. I can work there for a year and use all the money I earn to pay employees.

I'll make this work somehow.

Of course, working for a year as a tester will probably only give you enough money to pay a single entry level tester for a year ;)

Though I admire your determination, you don't have to do everything now. Sure, I want to be running my own businesses and starting my own companies too, but I'm willing to spend the next 5/10 years learning more about the world before doing it myself. I'd suggest you do the same thing.

If you have enough money for the next 15 years, if I were you I'd be investing most of that now* and trying to find work in the industry. By growing your investments and gaining real world experience that should put you in a great position to be able to both do this and succeed at it.

* - Be sure to do your prior research before investing in ANYTHING, of course! =)

HinataHyuga

Dec 20, 2006 at 8:15 AM

Keep working and planning for the future. You can pull together a team of programmers and artists but you really need to have everything planned out. No one is going to start a project knowing that they won't get paid. You have to at least offer a minimum wage and promise more if the game sells.
Just my 2cents.
Hinata

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