Original Post
As I see it being a designer is 30% talent and 70% attitude. Indendant designers are mostly amateurs, simply because a) they are unpaid and b)they lack experience. The secret I believe in making it into the industry lies with how profesional you are, how passionate you are in what you are doing and most importantly how dedicated you are to the cause.
Everyone on this forum is sitting with a greedy glee in their eyes, rubbing their hands and hoping (or rather believing) there idea is the next best thing. They believe everyone will join their projects, and some do, most misguided and after the first fallout about character "a" and "b" a few people decide they will rather do their own project. Others believe they will actually get paid for this work and that royalties is a synonym for profanity.
Oh yes, the good old royalties. Once we get a publisher you will get loads of cash. First of all is getting a respectable technollogy demo complete for the publisher. This means a) a working engine showing of your enviromental engine and in-game features b) your 100 page design document (which will likely end up with the other 2312321312 copies in storeroom z2423) c) an intro movie (which is possible the most important part of your presentation) and d) a list of the members on your team and what they''ve accomplished, their skills and games produced so far.
A tough cookie to crack. Especially since it is hard to actually schedule a meeting with a publisher (not even mentioning actually producing the goods)and don''t even think of sending it by mail or e-mail since it then really goes to storeroom z2423. Also the lower quality the game (or rather team) the less funding you''ll get. To produce a AAA quality game it costs about $2 million, so obviously your first game will not be the best thing out there in any case. Unless Bill Gates is your dad or you find Osama Bin Laden for the reward.
So how the heck do you actually make it big. Simply by working hard, being professional and listening to your fellow members criticism. You are a team and a team needs a leader. Someone who''ll listen to others and be able to take out the big old axe if necessary.
First of all do a good research about for who and what you are making. I bet almost no one here knows that girls make up 49% of the gaming community. Always listen to what the people out there wants as they are the ones that will play your game.
Okay that is just a lot of small facts. Anyone please feel free to add their opinions.
