Starting a new games company

Curly Campbell

I don’t suppose anyone out there is interested in trying to start a new games company? Personally I’ve been trying to get into the games industry for a while now as either a designer or a tester but without any success, so it seems the only option left open to me is to try and start my own company. I’ve already written a design for a game myself but I’m not a programmer. My idea is to get one or two programmers and maybe an artist together and come up with a demo and hopefully get backing from a publisher on the strength of that demo to make the game.
If no ones interested then maybe someone could suggest to me where I could find people who might be interested or if you have any other advice on starting my own company I would appreciate that too.

Or should this be on a different board maybe?

CivilServant

I'd be interested to see where this venture leads but first you got to give me some stats on yourself. Are you in college? Are you finished college? Do you have any programming, graphic, sound or business skills?

You can PM me if you want or just reply here.

Curly Campbell

I'm 24 years old and I have a degree in economics. I have some basic programming experience in BASIC and C but that's about it, not good enough to even think about trying to program a game. I have no business experience at all. All I have really is a burning desire to make it in the games industry, a lot of ideas and a willingness to take risks and work hard to make this thing work.

CivilServant

Well that's pretty good. I'm 22 years old, hopefully will have a computer systems degree this year. Able to program in C/C++ and some other languages as well. Play lots of computer games, a small interest in the programming side of things but I wouldn't want to stuck doing it for the rest of my life.

I would be interesting in being part of a games company. But listening to someone who is in the industry, it's a pain in the butt. Well for the programmers anyway. They get worked like slaves and pay is paltry. But then I though maybe I could work through and past that. And I thought of where the peak may lie, and I thought of John Cormack, granted he's the best programmer in the world and he knows out to optimise his C/Assembler code inside out. But really is that what you want?!

What do you want? To experience the games industry or (me being cynical here) make a lot of money. I know what I want!

Now I just think I want to play the games, not create them. Too many headaches. Maybe I'll move in financial services or something....

I digress, what are your thoughts on the games company?

Curly Campbell

I just want to design games and the only way I can do this is by starting my own company. Existing companies are too conservative when it comes to new people and new ideas. I'm not doing it for the money, although I think if the company fulfils its potential it will make a lot of money anyway.
Are you able to program a game then? WOuld you be intereested in the idea?

eire_insane

mate i would be intrested in this as i am finished school now and i am going to collage to study computers so i can be a beta testa if i can help then just say the word.

Also what type of gmae where you thinking of making then its a demo right and what company.
I play loads of games as well and i have tons of ideas not a mega fan of racing only Rage Racer on the ps was the only one i really like i get sick of the rest any man i am here if you want a beta tester or another designer.

Oeneus

eire_insane, have you ever heard of fullstops? you know...Dots?

CivilServant

I'd be interested to see what your intial plan is. What your design and business plan look like. Maybe we can meet up? PM me or post here. I'll be check back on boards at around 5 so if you want an answer today, you know when to get me.

Curly Campbell

Originally posted by eire_insane
mate i would be intrested in this as i am finished school now and i am going to collage to study computers so i can be a beta testa if i can help then just say the word.

Also what type of gmae where you thinking of making then its a demo right and what company.
I play loads of games as well and i have tons of ideas not a mega fan of racing only Rage Racer on the ps was the only one i really like i get sick of the rest any man i am here if you want a beta tester or another designer.

Thanks. I'll keep you in mind for beta testing if it ever gets to that stage.

Figment

If you are serious about this, and dont see yourself getting bored and moving to something else when work needs doing.
Then you can mail me.
Id be willing to come on board as artdirector/designer.

alan@spoiltchild.com

tHE vAGGABOND

I was going to be nasty and post something taking the piss here, but I thought why? You seem to be thin on programmers. So here is something a few of the dev team here at SI put together about actual games development, you may find it a intresting read.

I want to make games. Can you help me get started?

---

What tools do I need to program a game?
This varies somewhat from game to game depending upon the genre in question, but generally speaking you will require the following items to make a game.

Compiler
A compiler is a program which takes several text files containing 'code' and converts them into an executable program which can be run upon a PC.

Drawing Package
This is simply a paint package within which you can draw buttons, sprites etc. for use in your game.

Text Editor
This is the program that you will use to create the files containing your 'code'. Most professionally produced compilers will come with an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) which contains a text editor, however some free compilers (such as the GNU C one) require you to use a separate editor.

Depending upon the approach you take these may either cost you nothing, or several thousand of pounds.

I would recommend that anyone who is simply casually investigating programming for the first time simply download one of the 'older' Borland compilers. This will allow them to experience the joys and frustrations of programming without spending any money. Once they are sure that they enjoy the challenge they can consider upgrading to a newer and more fully featured compiler.

I've listed the most common development tools below and a brief assessment of their advantages and disadvantages:

Program - Advantages - Disadvantages

Visual C++ - Commonly used, well supported -Only on PC/Xbox, Not for beginners
Visual Basic - Easy to use - Slow and large executables
Delphi - Easy to use - Slow and large executables
GNU C++ - Free, Good x-platform support - Hard to use
Metroworks - Good x-platform support - Support varies platforms

How can I learn to program?

There are two common ways to learn programming, one is to go to university/college and take the relevant classes, the other is to purchase some books on the basics of programming and teach yourself.

If you are looking towards games programming as a potential career then I would recommend the university approach. The main reason being that it will help you avoid various common programming pitfalls that you might fall into should you take the self-taught route. Furthermore you will also find it much easier to land a job with a qualification behind you.

If you are thinking of programming a game as a hobby then I'd suggest purchasing a few books on the basics of programming. Any from the following list would be a good starting point:

What language should I program my game in?

The most commonly used languages for developing professional are 'C' and 'C++'.

These are fairly advanced languages which beginners can find quite hard to learn initially, simply because they are very low level and don't supply many building blocks to use for making games.

Languages such as Visual Basic and Delphi can give a much friendlier approach to games development for beginning programmers. These are much more visual and it is (relatively) easy for someone to get a basic demo up and working quickly using these.

I would recommend using Visual Basic if you have no prior experience of programming or if you have some programming experience then I would suggest using the language you have the most experience in.

This is important because the most common reason quoted for giving up programming is simply 'I don't seem to be making any progress'.

So now can I write Quake 4?

No I'm afraid not programming is a very complex business and takes quite a while to master, initially you'll have to be very patient.

I recommend starting with very simple games such as 'tic tac toe' and 'connect 4', these will teach you the essentials of game development such as designing a User Interface, basic Artificial Intelligence and how to draw to the screen.

Once you're confident at creating a simple game such as these you can start making games that require animation such as a simple platform game or a scrolling ‘shoot-em-up’.

Finally, once you've done that you'll probably be fairly competent with your coding and ready to move into the realms of 3D game development (should that be your aim).

As a final word, never get too cocky and assume that you know everything there is to know about games programming - I've been doing it for around 10 years now and I'm still learning new tricks.

more articles of this kind

snake_eyes

look if your gonna make any sort of decent game that you can sell and make money out of, your are going to need a team of developers - not just one. Now not only are you going to need a team of developers they are going to have to be good, experienced programmers. Also they are probably going to have to specialise in a "language" like DirectX. So these guys are fairly thin on the ground and aren't gonna work on your project unless you can supply the mega bucks the games houses supply. Also because the market is moving so fast your game will need to have a similar level of graphics and playability as other titles due for release around the same time as yours. Therefore short development times are necessary. Most games houses aim for completion in around 9 months, but they frequently run well over that. So your going to need to be able to pay a team of at least five experienced developers for about a year. That will cost serious bucks ( Anything up to half a million Euro ) . Your plan should include that. Does it ?

Rockiemalt

http://www.creativeireland.com/
hope that helps.. i wanna be a 3d animator & this site is kinda useful

Curly Campbell

Originally posted by Figment
If you are serious about this, and dont see yourself getting bored and moving to something else when work needs doing.
Then you can mail me.
Id be willing to come on board as artdirector/designer.

alan@spoiltchild.com

Thanks. If/when we get to that stage I'll get in contact.

Thanks vAGGABOND and Rockiemalt for the links btw.

Curly Campbell

Originally posted by snake_eyes
look if your gonna make any sort of decent game that you can sell and make money out of, your are going to need a team of developers - not just one. Now not only are you going to need a team of developers they are going to have to be good, experienced programmers. Also they are probably going to have to specialise in a "language" like DirectX. So these guys are fairly thin on the ground and aren't gonna work on your project unless you can supply the mega bucks the games houses supply. Also because the market is moving so fast your game will need to have a similar level of graphics and playability as other titles due for release around the same time as yours. Therefore short development times are necessary. Most games houses aim for completion in around 9 months, but they frequently run well over that. So your going to need to be able to pay a team of at least five experienced developers for about a year. That will cost serious bucks ( Anything up to half a million Euro ) . Your plan should include that. Does it ?

This was what I was worried about. Is there no way that people who have never worked on a commercial game before would be able to program one?

tHE vAGGABOND

You will find most people in the games biz started making a mod or other free add on for one game or another...

Some of the CS team now work for Valve as far as I know.

Brandon Rienhart made the King of the Hill mod for Quake 2 on his own, and from that he got a job in the Unreal Tournament team, and now works on the Duke Nukem Forever Team.

In my own Company Sports Interactive all but 2 or 3 of us were members of the community before we got jobs here. Some of the lads were making Save Game Editors, others Data Updates and so on...

Its much easier to get into games having made something useful for a company as a free update for the community than making a demo and trying to find 100 grand somewhere or a publisher to advance an unproven team 100 grand.

You get the message.

snake_eyes

Originally posted by Curly Campbell

Is there no way that people who have never worked on a commercial game before would be able to program one?

Well while it would be possible, it makes it much harder, and will certainly take much longer. Even big games houses buy in parts of the software, such as physics engines and the like because while they could let their own programmers lose and hope they eventually come up with a decent engine it would work out more expensive and take far too long.

Any programmer can write a game, but only great programmers can write great games.

A java developer might take five or ten times longer to come up with a 3d game than an experienced DirectX programmer. Thats your problem.

Keeks

It takes an extremely long, long time to break into the games industry when starting from scratch, especially as a designer without capital. As you have already seen Torc Interactive have been around since 1998, and still are only at the development of demos stage.

The best thing to do is get a couple of like minded programmers (i recommend at least 2) together to develop a game engine and let it grow from there. A complete list od availble (commercial and free) 3D engines can be found here

tHE vAGGABOND

end of the day, if you are serious about working in the games business you have to move to England/USA to get experience..

Just like I did/Shinji did and everyone we know over here in the games business did..

Look in the games trade press (unsure of shinji has the jobs section of www.gamesindustry.biz up and running yet) and there are plenty of jobs floating about, but they want good experienced people in Programming/Artist roles..

Oeneus

I don't know about you guys, but I just can't see this actually going some where at the end of the day. There's not enough experience.

tHE vAGGABOND

everyone has to start somewhere ffs...

Every brilliant team and great programmer has to have a first project and has to get experience somehow

Figment

Im just looking to flex my design muscles a bit. I dont mind what the projects is.

You dont always have to keep up with the latest technology to have a great game. The Idea and playability is most important.

Samba

I was just offered a job with Vivendi as a multi-lingual games tester, but the downside is i want my summer holidays and they want a five month contract.

I'd be very interested in discussing a few things with you, not only on the games side of things but also on the business side, i made an attempt 2 years ago to set up wholesale/retail wine company in ireland.

Curly Campbell

Just to update people on the situation:
I've decided to get the design doc completed before moving any further, otherwise I don't think anyone will take the idea seriously. Hopefully it shouldn't take longer than a month or so. I will raise the idea again then.

Magic Monkey

Originally posted by Samba
I was just offered a job with Vivendi as a multi-lingual games tester, but the downside is i want my summer holidays and they want a five month contract.

Samba, are you fluent in a second language, or did they accept you with just English? Just curious, as I'm wondering would they take people on with only English; not many computer games jobs around these days...

Samba

Yes i have Fluent french and that was a very important factor.

i seriously doubt that they hire people with only one language as people with two languages test the games in both those languages, saves the company time and money


you can always try though, The company is vivendi-interactive, look them up in the phone book, sorry i dont have the details handy