Where to get funding?

Hey so I was just wondering, where do y’all get funding for your projects and junk? I’ve got something in the works but right now current projections place the price of work and man hours at over $40,000, and I literally have $1.02 in my bank account. I know there’s and GoFundMe and all that, but I’d love to know if there is a more reliable option than crowd funding.

My company is funded 100% from myself and a couple private investors (some old friends of mine).
and GoFund are, honestly, worthless. Great for marketing, but, terrible for funding. Too many people have been burned over the years and no one really invests unless you already have a near finished product (there are acceptions, of course, to this “rule”)
Most people find funding themselves is the path to go. Also, learning as much as you can, so, you don’t end-up paying someone to do the work you could be doing, will, save you thousands.
Having a steady job, funding yourself, your programmers, 3d guys, production of ANY kind people … website… etc etc … i mean, know you will end-up paying someone at some point. Or you can work on your game alone for the next 10 years. Honest answer.

TLDR: invest in yourself, invest yourself in your project. Learn as much as you can. Find examples and go from there. Come here and ask questions.

Never, ever, ever, ever rely on Crowdfunding for anything. Think about this…

Plan A: hire a bunch of ppl, pay them to do it all. Complete work. Release project on (lets keep it simple) Steam.
^ Then what? no updates, no new versions? No additional content? Who will do it? You going to go find those people again and hope they will do more work? I am sure they may, but, you release something its your baby now. When players cant connect to a server, then what? You going to wait a week+ before someone can get hired in to resolve? You will want that resolved in like seconds, right?

***Plan B: ^ all that up there, but, you learned all the required programming along the way and can stand on your own 2 feet when it comes to a “break fix” situation.


I would pick Plan B in respect to being able to resolve issues and “better” my brand and product without paying someone else so i don’t, essentially, fail.

Edit:
Generally people don’t invest in a person. The best way to get someone to invest is to be a real company, not some gamer tag from xbox (not directed at YOU DIF Studios, just a general statement is all). A real company with an EIN and all that will get you a lot more call backs then “can you give me, personally, 40k ?”

Yeah I’m not skipping out on any of the learning at all. I try to stay very involved in everything that goes on.

Yeah crowd funding really just seems like a waste of time.

I hear what you’re saying about being self funded and all that, but 40,00 isn’t really something I can just pull out of my butt hahah. Hell even a spare $100 is hard for me to come by.

I have considered going to the bank for a loan, but chances are I’d be in debt for the rest of my life hahah. Gosh I hate money lol.

If you want investors with no past experience of making good games by yourself, your best bet is making a vertical slice prototype of your game. And then passing it around to publishers. I wouldn’t even consider getting a loan without getting to that point first. We’re at a time in our industry where even great games that get a decent amount of press can flop hard.

Well, i mean, your company is only worth as much as it has. In other words; if you cant come up with even $100 extra cash, and, your looking at about $40k investment … i think that sums it up right there.
If your company is legit, and, you cant show the bank even $1 income in your companies name, then, you are a non-profiting company and they wont give you the loan. Just honest experience there.
I am wondering your 40k mark, what that is to include? That sounds about right honestly.

Yeah I really didn’t think the bank would give me a loan anyways, plus I’d have to pay them back and I’d basically be back at square one with my money problems. Augh, this is one hump I can’t seem to get over.

As for the 40k estimation, assuming I can’t find anybody willing to work for royalty, most of it comes from an estimated cost of man hours. Around 960 hours of total work, and I was basing the 40k on a $40/hour rate. Plus devkits if we don’t get pre-approved for some.

I know, that’s just the trouble though, I don’t even have enough money to get a prototype through yet. I need a prototype to (maybe) get funding, but I need some money to get a prototype done. It’s such a frustrating circle lol (granted I don’t need nearly as much for a prototype, but I’ll still need mor than I have.)

nice tip ZacD, i’m planing to do that with my project, any ideas where we can find indie publishers to pitch our projects ?

thanks!

I’ll fund it if i like the concept/teaser/prototype…

i’m finishing a game for a mexican company, i will contact you when i have my prototype ready. (it will be a third person shooter with 8 maps single mode story and 3 multiplayer maps).

Would you really? Gosh, well I found a way to build the prototype for free, so when I’m done (maybe in a month or two), would it be ok to send you everything I have at that point?

Sure, just send me a PM when you have something to pitch to me.

I’ve been funding my game by working over time, a lot of it. If you can just keep your expenses low, and work some over time you can come up with some decent money. That depends entirely on how much you make though. So it may not be a viable option. Of course I haven’t spent time with friends or family for the past 3 months. They all think I’m a ghost. That’s what happens though when you can’t get any direct funding. Not to mention I’m getting really sick of working over time haha.