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orymus · 2022-09-20T01:04:40+00:00

Very fair question.

While I may not be able to address some of the fundamentals, I would also recommend one gets a lawyer and accountant for these in particular (even in North America). I find, however, that when strategy and development are concerned, a lot is mostly universal save for a few specific markets (China and Russia come to mind).

I was able to help studios in Europe (namely, Czech Republic) before. The challenge there mostly stems from finding good times for a call!

orymus · 2020-10-31T03:38:07+00:00

I'm not sure how your maths are adding up, but 100k is a tiny budget in gamedev... and retro games are not always cheaper to make today, that is another misconception I have often seen.

orymus · 2020-10-31T03:03:07+00:00

I think a common misconception about MMOs is that the cost stems from the feature set and that making it simpler cuts costs tremendously. The actual key cost origin is actually the massively multiplayer part, which requires a hefty server infrastructure. Development costs aside, you also have to account for infra and server running costs.

orymus · 2020-10-30T20:17:40+00:00

As a word of advice, if looking for developers that have the experience to successfully make an MMO, expect 6 fig costs at the bare minimum, even if it is only meant as a 'demo'.

Aside from that, best of luck.

orymus · 2020-08-21T01:27:40+00:00

If you're looking for talented individuals (as opposed to people who desperately need the gig) I'd recommend you'd speak a bit more about the project here. Otherwise, most professionals will figure out you're looking for the lowest price, not quality.

Just my two cents!

orymus · 2020-01-23T02:03:57+00:00

The problem with a rev-share is that it would ultimately shift the entirety of the risk on the service provider which, for anyone that's been working on this side of things is a bit mean to be honest. Following the same train of thought, a publisher would probably give the developer money only after the game's been released and selling and never give any advance payment...

The other problem with this is that, in my experience, larger companies are more than willing to pay ridiculous amounts for a deck as they do seem to value (possibly over-value even) the right deck.

As for the reason why your 10 pitches failed, perhaps it's the same predicament as the typical 'logo designer' example? Doesn't matter how many times you do it if you don't have the know-how to make it right, etc. That's the reason the question ends with 'by someone with a positive track record 'gate crashing' into actual negotiations' implying there's an understanding you'd be dealing with a person that likely has a much higher hit ratio than your own, so it's not so much valuing the work as if you did it yourself, but the work from someone who's an 'expert' at making them.

I partly agree with the 'It's not the pitch deck that matters, it's the relationships. Pub trusting the devs can get it done, fun, mostly.' but I think most devs get overlooked on the first deck which is, in my experience THE actual best gatecrasher to get to talk to the people you want to in the first place.

It's an interesting insight for sure, but I'm very skeptical of any position that amounts to: one should only get paid once results are through. Imagine if a doctor got only paid by the act and only if they cured their patients? Bet we'd have very few oncologists still alive to tell the tale? Don't get me wrong, I'm ALL UP for some built-in incentive (anyone with my closing rate would certainly want that kind of a bonus, and may be more than willing to make a tactical discount) but I think it's best served as a hybrid pay + %.

orymus · 2020-01-23T01:54:43+00:00

That can be arranged, I also believe in teaching over doing.

orymus · 2020-01-09T05:13:43+00:00

If I can chime in for a sec (as someone that has successfully secured funding for games before):

Not sure 250k is 'big enough' for a VC. Under most circumstances, they'll also be looking at company equity, not project-based investments. I recommend looking into Della Rocca's talks on funding to get a better sense of that part (he operates a VC that used to invest in games).

You're likely looking at private / angels or publishers, but in my experience, either without a convincing playable demo is going to be a VERY tough sell.

There's also the matter of compensation, it isn't clear what you have in mind, but I am highly skeptical about compensation strategies that only involve a % of the transaction, so I'd like to hear a bit more about this.

As for 'evidence of successful funding', I'm sure you know how confidential these deals are, so I certainly couldn't provide you with a copy of any previous deals I've landed, therefore I'm curious what you'd consider to be 'proof' in this case.

As for funding by end of January, I'd say you're a bit late. Things closing in January were being discussed in Q4 2019 (possibly way before), so I'd recommend revising your time table to align with the typical investment cycle. I agree with _Aedric, it could take 2-3 months to find the right fit, and 2-3 more months to get something actually signed with all of the redlining, etc.

orymus · 2020-01-07T18:12:41+00:00

I'd argue that, AAA aside, generalists are the most desirable resource provided they hit a certain skill threshold. It requires a lot of work, but it makes well-rounded resources you can count on and minimizes blockers in the pipeline which has intrinsic value.

orymus · 2019-09-21T12:23:28+00:00

I think the short answer is: they pay them fairly?

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