Outline the history of the team/company? i.e. when and how they formed, who were the members and why they came together.
Did any changes to the company formation and if so what are the changes i.e. new members, members exiting, new publisher/client/funding, growth of firm?
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This is the story of our company to date!
ReplyDeleteMe and two other partners started our firm almost 3 years ago. It consisted of:one - Doing the programming, game design
two - Doing the 3D work
third - Doing the concepts, texture.
It was a good setup because all 3 of us were Industry professionals having worked on several titles. Our initial project, which was more of a showcase of our skills
and a good first project for us to 'gel' together as a team. We worked on the project via a government grant for about 1 year. Unfortunately, at the end of the project we found that we weren't compatible and the team broke up. The project is about 70% done and development has been put on hold until I can find out what to do with it. Since it was a showcase project (less geared to making money, more geared to be used a showcase) and the 'team' behind it is no longer together, I felt finishing the project at this time no longer made little sense.
For a while, I worked with a partner in Singapore on some technology but that was unfruitful as well.
I am now working on small games for the iPhone and other smartphone or similar platforms. Currently I am working with Jason, who is also another industry veteran who used to work at Bioware. We are current using Torque (but not exactly liking it) to deliver our first game that is currently in Pre-Production. We hope to deliver it in 6 months. While we are working on the game, we are also doing side jobs to keep food on the table such as training, web work etc.
The firm was formed to create original content, so we are still trying out best to keep that idea going. We need to starting shipping products, and after 3 years or trying to ship something it can be frustrating but I believe that a good product out on the iPhone or similar platforms is the best way forward. From there, if thing go well..we will be able to hire more programmers and artists to work on projects in parallel but ultimately still on games that have a 6 month maximum production cycle.
At this time our biggest problems have been trying to ship a game amid all the turmoil both financially and team wise. Although we do have 'contacts' in the game industry, we have not wanted to 'use' any because we haven't had anything of note. Perhaps after we ship our current project, we will start talking to these contacts.
Hi there. Best of luck with your Ph.D. Here's a little information on our team, which I hope will be of use.
ReplyDeleteOur team started out with two people, one from the US (living abroad in Germany) and another from Australia, working remotely. We started on a volunteer game project with a large group of people, but it was mismanaged. We found we were two of the few people on the team getting any work done. We decided, as a means of motivating ourselves, we needed to see progress made and complete a project. We took a sabbatical from that project and decided to make a small adventure game, from beginning to completion, to learn what it was like to finish a project. We knew if only the two of us were working on it, it WOULD be done.
We ended up creating a remake of the first graphical aventure game for the PC--"King's Quest I". Upon release, it was downloaded 70,000 times in the first month, and became quite the media sensation. We went on to make remakes of King's Quest II and Quest for Glory II. We were granted the right, by Vivendi Universal to remake all of their old classic games. Over the years, our team grew from a two person operation, to a team of dozens. Many people enjoyed our work and wanted to be part of the team, and we hand selected people who were passionate,talented and had a strong work ethic.
We enjoyed remaking classic adventures, but also wanted to expand our horizons, and decided to make an original game--"Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine". We asked some of our hardest working team members, who had worked on remakes with us, to join us in this endeavor. We completed this game, and are now continuing with our next original project.
As for changes in the company formation, we went from working on remakes as a non-profit company, to also opening a for profit company, creating our own original IP. Most of our core members have remained loyal over the years. We are very selective as to who we bring on the team, and only add people who we feel have the appropriate drive to finish what they start.
As for publishers, our non-profit games are released with permission from Vivendi Universal. We have to run our work by them before release of our games.
With our commercial games, we have self published and then receive publishing deals upon release, which allows us to have our game translated and released in retail channels in other territories around the world.
We are continuing to learn from each game that we create, and are trying to make games that will appeal to an even wider number in our niche market of adventure games. We did market research before embarking on the development of our newest project, and hope to make a game that will excite a lot of our fans.
I hope this helps, and once again, best of luck with your research!
"Outline the history of the team/company? i.e. when and how they formed, who were the members and why they came together."
ReplyDeleteWe started back in 2004 through a government program designed to start people in a business. My brother and I chose to start a game business, since he was a programmer and I'd worked on game art in my spare time. Plus, we'd been avid gamers since we were born ;) We researched the indie game scene, developed a business plan and got it approved. Then, we spent eight months developing the game. I handed the art, sound and writing, while my brother handled the programming.
"Did any changes to the company formation and if so what are the changes i.e. new members, members exiting, new publisher/client/funding, growth of firm?"
No changes to the team have happened since that time, although my brother doesn't have the desire at this time to program another game. So, his role is technical support for when it's needed. Game development has fallen to my shoulders at the moment, as I work on my programming skills and enter the indie game arena as a lone developer. All of that said, the company exists to provide either one of us with an avenue to create and sell games. We expect each of our desires for game development to change as our lives do. Growth of the company is because of that not our primary concern, and is why we don't seek external funding or publishers.
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