Development and funding question..

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

I have a project in the works that, I believe, will revolutionize the fps genre forever. I have been spending countless time learning UE4 and putting my full 110% dedication into this project. I am trying to build up a working prototype in order to get proper funding necessary to create this god-like image of a game. I will admit that I have recently hit a block in life that is preventing me from doing certain work and I am doing what I can just to survive, which in turn, has drastically increased my overall commitment to the project. I’m simply going all in. Due to my life’s history, I haven’t been able to pursue school to get a proper job in the gaming industry, so I’ve learned everything I know about UE4 on my own in my spare time. Greatest position I held within the “tech” industry is a manager at a computer repair shop in FL. So, my question is, if I’m doing everything I can just to keep a roof over my head and food in my mouth and can barely afford anything on the marketplace/forums of people’s artwork and mechanics, do I put my brilliant idea to rest? I simply can’t. In my opinion, it’s the best **** FPS PvP game ever thought of, and I’m sure others will think the same once it’s known and visualized. I just need a bit of help and direction into bringing it to life, especially now, while I still can. What do I do? I simply don’t have the time or money to learn absolutely everything about UE4 to make a full working prototype with the specifics of what makes the game so unique and attractive. Any input at this point is much appreciated!

If it’s of any concern, I’ve created a mind-blowing multiplayer map as a test-bed for the core mechanics, I’ve also got a few pages of documentation about exactly what the game is and consists of, I’ve also got other people’s inputs and the feedback is nothing short of astonishing. I just finished with the map creation and without a doubt, it will blow a lot of your minds away. It’s one of the most perfect multiplayer maps I would personally love to play on with the FPS mechanics I envision. As beautiful as the map is visually, the layout is even better. Access points, escape routes, bottleknecks, verticality, etc. were all just as much of an importance upon creation. Without a doubt this game will take off like never seen before, just getting the kick in the rear is the true obstacle.

Thanks to all for your time! I apologize for not keeping it short and sweet.

  • Brandon
2

Every single game developer, programmer, artist, QA tester, and gamer has a dream game idea they are sure would be the best game ever. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

Even if you have an amazing demo, you are very unlikely to get any funding even with a solid prototype. You’d need something closer to a vertical slice of what the final game could be like in order to get publisher on board, and that’s still unlikely, especially if you haven’t made a game before.

And even if you actually manage to make this amazing game, marketing is half of what makes a game successful, are you actually going to be able to sell this game and get at least 10,000 people to look at it?

3

I definitely wouldn’t say every single dev, but yes, the vast majority do have a “great” game idea brewing. The thing about my idea is that I don’t think, I know for a fact that this game will be revolutionary. I don’t have much faith in things these days, but with this, I haven’t felt so much hope before in my life. I’m simply going to do what it takes to get this done and out to the where it belongs. I’m not doing this for the money, fame, my future, etc… I’m doing this for my absolute love and passion for the gaming industry. I took most of my time thinking about this last night and I think I’ll just bust my *** with making a 100% playable demo, try to collaborate with other UE4 devs and see where I can go with this. I do understand how greatly ambitious this movement is and how difficult it will be to get this game to the standards I need it to be, but thankfully with the help of Epic Games epic move of setting UE4 free, my creations can go as far as the eye can see with the right amount of dedication, commitment, and intellect. Marketing of this game will spread like an incurable virus once up to standards. I have been doing research on the best marketing strategies in preparation for that moment also. I’m doing everything I can to make this a reality. I’ve got a great head on my shoulders. I can pull this off.

I appreciate your response, Zac!

  • Brandon
4

Just keep working on it and try to recruit a couple other people for royalty on the Got Skills forum section, and split it even. The talk about mind-blowing stuff in your description will probably turn most people off though, they will think you either delusional or egotistical and not want to work with you in either case. Instead, show screenshots and video of gameplay. Be prepared for non mind-blowing criticism.

You aren’t going to be able to raise the money, you’d need $350,000 or more just for the vertical slice, and it’s multi-million for a multiplayer fps. Not only do you need a polished vertical slice of the game but you also have to demonstrate the production process and logistics needed to complete it to publishing. That isn’t possible without a track record of published games and legitimate development studio. From your own statements you have trouble just managing your basic survival, there’s no way someone is going to entrust a large investment to you.

5

If you have something to show other developers and you have relevant skills that you can contribute to development you might be able to put together a team of other developers to help with the project. If you don’t have much to offer in terms of game development skills (basically, 3D art or Blueprints/programming skills) then it’s very difficult to convince people to join your project if they feel you aren’t going to do as much work as they will.

As for funding, remember that there’s Unreal Dev Grants that you can submit to.

6

I forgot to mention that I’ll be posting a video in a day or 2, and I’m always prepared for the worst criticism. I disagree that there’s no way to raise money for my game once I get it into a highly playable and immersive state. I currently have a little trouble managing my own basic survival because of medical issues that I can most definitely overcome in the future, so let’s leave that subject alone please. If I play life properly, I can invest a ton of time into learning new techniques and fields within UE4. I agree darthviper, that is why I must learn a bit more before I even think of having the confidence to ask skilled UE4 devs for work. Unreal Dev Grants is my goal, but I must have a valuable piece of work before presentation. I appreciate the words, fellas!

7

Uhm… I don’t know your exact situation, but from what I’ve read, if I was in your shoes right now, my focus would be to find an alternative form of income by finding a job to pay the bills and survive. By the sounds of it, the worst thing that can happen right now is that you can’t pay your bills and you end up homeless. Absolutely zero game dev will happen if it comes to that. Seriously. Take that passion you have towards game dev and apply that towards finding paid work (either as an FTE or contract work). Save as much of your income as you can.

When you’re not working at your job, spend your free time working on building your game. Make it great. The worst thing that could happen is that the project fails. If it does, you at least have something you can show people and it adds a lot of credibility to your abilities.

When it comes to finding funding from external sources, you’ve got a snowballs chance in hell. I’ve tried and failed each time. The unreal dev grants are nice and generous, but epic is swamped with grant proposals. Like, thousands and thousands of them. Your realistic chances of getting funded for a game project are next to nil. And, let’s be real here: it shouldn’t be your sole source of funding anyways, it should be that extra final push you may need to get your game out the door.

There’s always kickstarter, but that is a **** shoot. You pretty much have to spend a month leading up to your campaign, writing copy and creating media, and then another month running the campaign, so you’re already looking at two months of full time job effort to just finish a kickstarter campaign (if you want it to be successful). But, kickstarter is an all-or-nothing deal as well. What happens if you’re 90% there and the deadline passes? You spent two months doing non-gamedev work and got nothing out of it. And, what happens if the kickstarter goal is less than the necessary budget? You can’t go back to the well for another dip. And then you gotta talk to your backers and send them swag, which eats into your fundraising capital.

What about… venture capitalists? HAHAHA, yeah right. I asked them and they pretty much said that they don’t fund projects. Who can blame them? It’s extremely risky to invest in video games, when 99% of them don’t succeed. Don’t even bother to waste your time talking to a VC. If you do, they’ll ask you for a pitch deck, which you’ll then have to create, and to do that, you’ll have to spend at least a full day building, only to have them brush you off.

game publishers? they’re your best shot, but you also have to realize that they’re like movie studios. Everyone and their uncle has the next best idea and they get swamped with pitches. Game publishers will treat any company like an investor would. They’ll want to see who your team is. Why you’ll win. Why your product will win. Why you’ve got what it takes. Why? Because they’re going to be partners with you. The publishers don’t just write checks and forget about you, they will be spending their own time and money helping to build the product. They’ll figure out marketing, distribution, customer support, localization, packaging, sponsorships, legal, etc. That stuff costs lots of money, so they’d probably be looking at taking at least a 70% stake in gross revenue, maybe a lot more.

Angel investors? They’re much more like venture capitalists, but most of them are independent investors who are old white guys with lots of gray hair who don’t understand most technology, let alone games. They’re not a bad bet, but convincing them to give you money is not going to be an easy pitch, no matter what anyone says. Especially if you smell of desperation. Watch out though, any investment deals you make with any investor needs to be structured very carefully so that you don’t give your company away to get cash.

Friends and Family? These people are your actual best bet, provided you have any and they have the means to fund you. This is where you should spend your most effort if you don’t want to get a job. Be careful not to burn the bridges of your relationships though, particularly if your project fails and you can’t repay them.

Patreon? You can try, but it’s unlikely you’d get even a $1 without a huge social media presence and marketing push. Again, need to spend lots of time creating copy and media. I had zero luck with that. They have a discoverability problem.

Bank loans? Line of credit? Don’t waste your time, you won’t get it. Even with good credit. They want to see business activity and minimize lender risk, and they rarely ever give out unsecured loans. I tried this and it failed.

The best course of action is to just raise your own money through paid work and work on your game as a side project. That’s 100% okay, too! The ONLY thing that you cannot do is give up and quit. Keep trying. Make it happen. It might take 5 years or 20 years to get there, but if you’re persistent and work hard, you can do it. Good luck!

8

Best reply I could have hoped for. I really appreciate this. I have absolutely no questions regarding this subject anymore. You’re the man, Slayemin!

9

On point on everything. I would only disagree on one small thing.

“Who can blame them? It’s extremely risky to invest in video games, when 99% of them don’t succeed”

This is not very true, relatively speaking games with an average good team, and average marketing support with a moderate to very little indie budget with at least good planning (which is the basic requirements for any serious business, project or team) have far more chances of success in percentage or at least to break even than your average “Technology app” or “technology hardware” or any other investment which usually costs far more within this scope that these VC firms invest in. The “99%” of games that don’t succeed are those games that are simply spat out by the developers (notably mobile and even some of the games posted on steam these days) to make or miss that quick buck (mostly miss), even the devs themselves don’t believe in them it’s pure gambling. But since they are so overwhelmingly many and so easy to throw out there, I can see why it can quickly create stats which may show that most games are unsuccessful, but when you compare games with more heart and work put into them and look at those numbers, then it’s a different story.

I would agree with you not to waste time with VC firms, they are the vultures of the field half of whom have no vision, furthermore they will also not invest in people they will simply see you and your team as numbers (partners or not) this becomes another question mark especially in a field which involves art and creativity, in the long run even if you are successful it will backfire and it will back fire bad, unless a very special agreement is signed, but no way that would happen when you first approach them asking them for their support. Many other VC firms are simply scammers funneling money here, laundering there (in some countries), feeding their circles around etc… So yes I do blame them for their actions and choices of interest because as a “professional” group who is supposed to be in the “investment business” should do their homework and look at the numbers plus statistics and not simply dismiss an idea or an investment based on them “not understanding the medium enough” or because of some rumor in the streets, they are not even bothering to understand it, just as we do our homework and work hard for our teams and games you expect investor firms to do the same it is supposed to be their job, besides they are not investing from their own pockets most are simply “middle men” with large salaries and percentages, but most can’t be bothered, then again it’s a free world so they say.