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F8al 4ce

Interesting.... ["Starting a Game Company"]

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Yes, I know it is of the most shunned of taboo for a n00b to post a new thread, but this was a fairly interesting web page, and since myself and a few of my friends have assembled a small theoretical software company, we’ve been working on our first game
(an MMO of course, they usually last a long time due to constant updates,) just wondering what you guys thought about this page, does it sound credible?

http://www.bookofhook.com/Article/GameDevelopment/StartingaGameCompany.html

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Granted the thread, which mostly has to do with a page that is about as useful to starting a game company as dating advice is to a real date (I can say this knowing what I talk about, I've taken buisness and accounting classes and had dates), is decent, but the page isn't really. And with the pointlessness of the page, who give a fuck about the thread, aside from a really vauge mention of a new and possibly fruitful software company. If I had said this thread fails it, that would have been different.

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The guy who wrote that article has started several game companies as far as I know, so his opinion is an essentially valid one.

As for the validity of this thread, this IS Everything Else, the random topic repository of Doomworld, so I don't see a problem.

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Bloodshedder: I'm a negative person. And I don't plan on stopping that.

Linguica: While the article is valid and useful at most points some parts of the Buisness Formation section and most of the Accounting section are only feasable in some circumstances, much like a dating guide. And from now on I shall do my best to remember that Everything Else is a place where this sort of thing is alright.

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Relevant link: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article910.asp

HobbsTiger1 said:

some parts of the Buisness Formation section and most of the Accounting section are only feasable in some circumstances, much like a dating guide.

And I'm guessing you've set up a successful corporation and didn't need any sort of advice like this, right?

This is describing what is the best possible practice; it's not always feasible to set up a corporation, but in the large majority of cases, it is the best idea. To stick with proprietorships or partnerships and ignore advice like this is foolhardy.

Perhaps you could specifically point out with what you think isn't very helpful? When I read it, pretty much everything jived with what I've learned in college so far.

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As someone who has set up a successful company (albeit not a computer game company, and not in the USA), I can say that a lot of that rings true, and the advice looks generally good. In fact, some of it advises things we didn't do but later wished we had done, or had to do retrospectively.

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It certainly is a worthy thread; it even revived Julian from the dead!

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If you follow that article to the word (not accounting for the quality of your work), it's more possible your game would be a success than if you didn't.

Sound good?

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Julian Hope said:

<3 <3

Yay, he's alive. <3

Oh, and good article too.

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I always think that starting with an MMO is the wrong way to go and a good way to set yourself up for failure, since they are so demanding and your morale won't boost until you have something to show for your hard work, ie: a game. I would start with something simpler. I've seen a lot of these MMO projects on pixelation.

I'm at this stage.

And as I've said before, I still think that, if you have no prior experience, bang out a couple good mods to get a feel for things before you try to become "legit".

it will take a while, I don't care how long it takes actually. I've heard this advice elsewhere on a site I found very useful and has tons of information.

http://sloperama.com/advice.html

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Janderson said:

What's with your deformed peckers?... well at least they hang to the left :P

You say that like it's a good thing.

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Julian Hope said:

<3 <3


And the word quickly spreads across Doom-related IRC channels all over the world: Julian is officially NOT dead (yet).

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Julian Hope said:

Maybe we could stay on-topic... mmmh?

OK, er, starting a game company is interesting. So is ellipsis using four dots.

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Honestly I think a lot of the time it'd be a bad idea for a group of freinds to get together and start a company. Unless for instance, you've got together before and put out a mod for a game or something, that you've worked together on and finished.
That way, you know you're not gonna lose interest 6 months down the line, and you have a chance of actually getting somewhere with it.

Not that I'm saying anything against the original poster, but if you're gonna get up and start a company, it needs planning.

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Sorry for responding late and therefore, thread bumping, but I had to say that’s a lot of input, thanks guys for all the useful tips and links. J My condolences for being rather vague on the issue. My friends and I have actually been doing this for say……five years now, just putting crap together. As for planning, our goal is an MMO, currently we are making a simple first person/third person adventure called Black Wind, in which you play as a Anubis (casting leprosy as a spell has always been a fascinating concept to me) who comes to the earthly realm to basically wreak havoc on mortal life. Anywayses we are mainly focused on replay value and depth, (i.e. leveling up, combining spells to make new ones, random enemy placement, etc.). We would like to copyright our hopefully soon to be company name “Meatloaf Software” (the logo is a meatloaf, cooked medium rare with an arm coming out of it sticking itself with a fork.) As for mods, that would seem like a reasonable step, perhaps some half life mods, or even doom mods.) anyways, I just wanted to say thanks a lot for the info and links, really good stuff.


P.S.
I noticed there was a fanart section on doomworld, I am the senior animator/artist, and I was wondering, do you guys host art directly? Or from a source such as deviantart? I would like to contribute.

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F8al 4ce said:

As for planning, our goal is an MMO

Yeah that goal is far away. Please god do not try and make a MMO unless you have a big company and a lot of cash to burn.

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The last thing the world needs is another MMO. Not to mention it's a very hit-or-miss market.

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