This might be a stupid question, coming from someone not even in the industry (just business).
Why can’t someone use Unity3d, MANY asset bundles, and a couple generalists to create a decent game? Then you’d have gamers who like games, creating a simple theme and storyline. In your case, I’m seeing maybe 30k in start-up costs and from what little I’ve seen of the asset bundles like toon level kit, you could create a fun, bright, entertaining game for almost nothing…
People do this every day.
actually one of the most popular browser FPS Games right now called “BeGone” was made using some assets http://www.nplay.com/, I believe the player characters are from http://www.dexsoft-games.com/models/characters_modern.html, the FPS/Third Person Setup/Controller are probably from Unity’s Free Demo Assets, and few other things put together…
Overall doing this speeds up development time, and saves us indie devs a hell of alot of money… as long as you can make an awesome game using those ready made assets, i don’t think anyone is going to care if it was a purchased asset or not. If a game is good, a game is good…
So, to follow up… I’ve got 30k… And a great idea for a game that serves a user base that is underserved. Essentially I looked for a while and found that with a little tweaking, there is everything out there I need. It isn’t simply a game though and requires some software that isn’t being used in games right now.
To put it plainly, I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel. That takes too much time and expertise that I don’t have. I’m looking to buy 4 wheels, a chassis, this engine (works in and out of the metaphor) some seats, fill them with recently graduated generalists or maybe two specialists. In this metaphor, I’ll be driving the car and paying for the gas.
There must be something I’m missing. I’m 93% sure it’s not as easy as I’m making it out to be. I think this idea would do great on kickstarter too. Once people realize it’s potential and see an expansive business model, I think they’ll put up 100k+… One thing is I definitely want it to be a PS3 and XBOX game as well as MAC/PC/Linux.
It has a scalable business too with revenue streams from various sources, not just sales/downloads.
Anyway…
You’re really dancing around what the game actually is, aren’t you?
The assets are rarely what make a great game. You could replace the assets in any time-less classic with placeholders and the player would still have a good, fun gaming experience.
Buy whatever assets you want/need, but know that it’s really the way you glue everything together that matters in the end.
I know how competitive this market is. And to do this right it’ll take years of coordination and effort by an indie team willing to get their hands dirty. Like I said before, I have 0 programming/development experience. Soon I’ll have about 30 pages of GDD ready to start pitching.
@libera-me,
When you say glue you mean the expertise of a good team right? Or do you mean storyline and thematic elements? I’m fairly confident a couple nerds could cherry-pick aspects of RPGs and organize some thoughts. Also, we could probably just hire a writer for a couple days on contract to shore it all up. Also, as an RPG and because of the demographic served, we’d be looking to make it simple, slightly retro, and very easy to understand which is the antithesis of current games.
Another thought… Stupid question alert - The assets come as sets of blank models correct? So the art overlaid is really top notch to increase sales?
What I’m getting at is, I played the toon level kit demo and in my head I’m thinking, why can’t someone put a character right in the demo, add an intriguing storyline and sell it…
Also, does the 100k sales figure trigger some ridiculous profit-sharing clause in the agreement? I saw that Unreal has a 25% for sales above 50 agreement. That seems a bit steep. I’d rather pay the 1500 and do a 25 after 50 with unity.
By “glue” I mean the actual gameplay elements – you know, the game itself.
All the assets in the world won’t help you make a good game if you don’t know how to combine them in a fun, entertaining way. That’s where research, development and programming comes in, and it takes a lot of know-how and experience to get that right.
There are tons of games built from free/low cost assets, but rarely are they great games in their own right. Anybody can download a bunch of assets and stick them together. It takes dedication and experience to create something worth playing and possibly even paying for.
To be frank it does seem like you’re getting ahead of yourself a bit… as someone without any development experience, the last thing you need to worry about is what happens when you hit 100k sales.
You want to make a PS3/Xbox game and you have 30k , thinking you might get 100K .
No , this is far more expensive then what your thinking .
Your generalizing things too much. Yes it does seem simple in theory but there’s a whole slew of things that could go wrong. You’re going to have to do a lot of research before going further with this. Also if you’re only in this for the money and nothing else, it will show in the game.
Throw 30k to my team, and I can make you a great game (within reason). However, as others have stated, getting things on PS3 and XBox has significantly higher costs beyond the license in Unity. You actually have to get approved by these companies, have secure facilities, etc, etc.
Also, we can’t really give you much advice on “what you’re missing” if you aren’t telling us “what you’re doing”.
Making a game is relatively easy. Making a good game is a bit tougher. Making a profitable game is something else entirely. And we have no idea what you want to make.
Let’s be clear… I’m not planning on putting a game together with a bunch of friends and expecting to play it on my PS3 next weekend.
I understand the limitations of hardcopy PS3/XBOX titles. I want to approach it from a Mobile-PC/MAC-Console track. And as for timeline, I’m expecting YEARS. Possibly a year for demo alone. Proof of concept should be easy, but there are a lot of aspects to this game separate from the game itself which is why I came here to even see if something like that is possible.
It seems that it is. I’ve seen a lot of portfolio demos that prove a decent looking game is possible.
I want to approach it from a business, art, and science aspect. As if to say that I’m not just looking for the indie experience to say look what I did. I respect those who can do that, but since I can’t I’ll be looking to make money from it. So unity provides a good base for the art aspect of the game/company.
Thank you to those who choose not to mince words. I respond well to direct criticism. Too many people blowing smoke where it doesn’t belong.
As for the game:
The setting is cartoon/anime, with the classic RPG elements like class/race, interchangeable weapons and armor, and basic RPG sprites.
I want it to be a simple world with three themed castles where dungeon crawling will give players an increased level of difficulty. Maybe 10 levels in each castle. Every third level with a mini-boss and a main boss in the tenth. Quests in the main world that take the player all around with a few mini-games and class specific quests.
I want it to be a three party system where a player could play a single-player campaign or up to three-player campaign, but either way there are three players. Kind of like final fantasy, but like madden how you can jump in and one player controls the quarterback while the other controls the runningback.
One important concept will be the analytics. Essentially it’ll be so detailed that I would know how many times my attack missed, was blocked, etc. This will be the science aspect.
It’ll be an ode to classic RPGs. VERY simple.
Funny you should reply because my game’s name was originally Pillar… Coincidence?
Well making a PC/Mac version is possible, making a Console version is not possible with your budget. Also doing both a Mobile version and a Desktop version is not possible (well it is if you are willing to risk money on many low cost providers), but the realistic plan for Consoles in your situation is Desktop first. Mobile is a different arena, with different controls, constraints and things that work.