[calvinthedestroyer]

I have a game_engine / game that I have been working off and on for a few years and it's getting to the point of becoming a real game. If I work on it steady for another year I think I'll have a nice game with a smooth running story line. Now what I was wondering is what are the steps for getting my game to a game system?

How to approach a game development company to have them product my game?

What kinds of licencing do I need to do it myself?

Where do I go to get development kits for game platforms?

Packaging? Cartridge hardware? Are there any company's that mass produce video games? (that will talk to an outsider)

How are most games funded?

There is also the question of what game system/s to use. My dinky little game would be great for the original Nintendo, but I don't think I can get licencing for that? My game is an EXE that will run on a windows PC, so I all ready have that platform covered

In theory, my game can run on any system although, running my game on an XBox 360 would be over kill

To do this right I would guess that my Business model would have to be focused at presenting an outstanding PC version of the game, that when presented to a game development company they would gladly produce the game (under their label) leaving me with a lump-sum sell-out cash amount or with commission from the sales of the game. Also (pipe dream) they might bring me on as a game developer

I found a nice read that can help spark some interest Independent video game development. Has anyone from Dream in code gone through this or any of these processes? What were your experiences? Good? Bad? Total Fail?

[stayscrisp]

Why try and get a publisher when you can do this yourself over the internet. There are tons of indie games out there that manage to get to the right audiences. There are even sites dedicated to others funding your game if it seems good enough (I will try to find a link).

What genre is your game? It is going to have to be pretty special before you can even consider sending it to a publishing company and even then I would doubt it would go any further than that.

[ButchDean]

You're thinking a bit too far ahead. DO NOT send your game to studios as it most likely won't get looked at. For games to be considered by them you will need to build a reputation first, and that is not easy to do. If it were I would have my own studio by now.

You have declined the XBox Live option, although your reasons aren't clear. If your game isn't quite ready for that then make it ready! Spend the extra time to make it worthwhile putting it on XBox.

Next, unless you plan on making games at a high rate I would not be thinking of this as a business yet. All of what you have said about making money from your game has terrible holes and unrealistic expectations. Let me point out my first observation, in that your code will not run on every console for some very detailed technical reasons. Also, certified developers have intimate knowledge of console hardware and its associated SDK - by virtue of your game already being written you will have not addressed these technical issues and your game will not be released on say even the Wii.

Build a website about you and your games and promote that. Keep up your game development activities, and if you're good and passionate something will happen.

Good luck!

This post has been edited by ButchDean: 27 August 2011 - 03:49 AM

[calvinthedestroyer]

Thanks for the replys.

So promoting the game myself sounds like the best thing to do. Should I put up a donate option like these guys did? I want to be the guy I went ahead and uploaded a copy of my game to my web site. It's going to need more, like it's own full blown page to get it some attention. I have the bcom45 compiler for porting the game to the PC (not sure porting is the right term)

The game is made from my Driving QBasic game engine (yes, Quick Basic) and is called Spy Hunter. So the whole XBOX live multiplayer thing might not fit for this game. My idea is to have the game mission driven with particular goals.
The game is listed here:
Dungeon Studio's software
Marked as NEW.

So far I like my little game engine and would like to rewrite it in C and add a sound engine when ever I get some of that stuff, what's it called? oh yeah, Free time You can do sound in QBasic but, I don't really want to. I'd rather use someone else's sound engine that's tried and true.

How do you guys feel about projects like what we see on source forge? From what I've seen it looks like a lot of stale projects. I'm not saying that my game engine is good but if other people like it would it be a good route to make it open source?

[no2pencil]

I know I've posted a bunch of links on this before (specific to Nintendo, & I've shown these to you ), but you must contact the game console company to apply for a developers kit.

An individual will never get a console developers kit because the criteria are far too large.

For Nintendo is was something like :

a.) Made $500,000 in revenue the previous year (in order to handle returns if your product is bunk)
b.) Have customer support staff (see item a)
c.) Meet their guidelines for ratings

So what most indie developers do is take their game to an already established (& most often foreign) game development company, pay them some agreed upon amount, have your game finished, packaged, published, & distributed under their name with your company name in the sub-credits.

& hope that they don't just take your game & rip you off.

Not that they could produce it right out, but they may say 'this is easy enough to reproduce' tell you no & just re-write it from scratch.

[calvinthedestroyer]

Yeah, I was hoping that things would of changed.

[no2pencil]

The harsh reality is that no one person can create a game by today's standard of gaming that can be profitable.

It isn't so much that a game is simply created, it's the amount of game play, graphics, on-line capabilities, & so on & so on that gamers have come accustom to.

You would have a much better chance of making a profitable adventure out of your game if you follow the previous advice given. That is make a website, selling the game yourself, for the pc. Even if you only sell one copy, it's much less hassle & more money then you would ever see trying to relase it for the Nintendo, Playstation, &/or Xbox.

** edit **

You can go the cheap rout, & just sell them game as a download, or for minimal expense, you can do like I did with Host Stopper :

$30 Copyright
$300 100cd printing publication

That included professional press of 100 cds, inserts, & jewel cases. I have a phone number for you if you need professional manual created, I never had this done, & then it may not be a bad idea to have a box created. All that's left is manual assembly & shopping it around to retail stores.

But you are dreaming if you think you can get it on any corporate console.

[reaper4334]

no2pencil, on 27 August 2011 - 10:12 PM, said:

I know I've posted a bunch of links on this before (specific to Nintendo, & I've shown these to you ), but you must contact the game console company to apply for a developers kit.

An individual will never get a console developers kit because the criteria are far too large.

For Nintendo is was something like :

a.) Made $500,000 in revenue the previous year (in order to handle returns if your product is bunk)
b.) Have customer support staff (see item a)
c.) Meet their guidelines for ratings

Not to hijack the thread, but I was wondering if Universities often get these development kits for the Game Development courses?

[ButchDean]

Just to add to what no2pencil said, another reason why studios will not touch the game is for very detailed legal reasons. Moving on, writing the game in any form of BASIC has completely killed any chance of it being considered by anyone for publishing. Although you may be puzzled as to the reasons why, you only need to look at the reasons why certain languages are used to make games for release.

Your game just isn't ready. I just viewed the source and there is no chance anyone will take that on, sorry. You will need to rewrite in C, C++, C# or Java depending on the target platforms.

[aaron1178]

ButchDean, on 29 August 2011 - 04:53 AM, said:

You will need to rewrite in C, C++, C# or Java depending on the target platforms.

I myself would use C++... I have been using C# with DirectX and there is just no support for it out there as Microsoft want game developers to use XNA. Where C++, even tough it is hard to learn, there is a tone of support and tutorials, even tuts and samples that actually come with the DirectX SDK

[ButchDean]

Yes, but targeting the 360 with C# and XNA there is already a platform on there to promote the game. Plus C# and XNA is a pretty popular starting point for many.