The Art of Raising Capitol

from my experience now i can only advise you to not spend any money at all for your indie projects, only if its really, really nessecary!

for my current project utz wollewutz i bought some sounds and music really cheap! the rest is almost all selfdone stuff. now that i have contacted several publishers the offers they made make me laugh, they are so unrealistic. my game is finished, 99.99% bugfree, comes with manual, fansite, is multilingual, pretty unique and so on. meaning the publisher has zero!!! risk at all and zero!!! money to put in compared to other projects.
however with the contracts you get offered you even have problems getting the money you invested back. iam happy when the game is sold and i am not in the reds with the invested money for this project. and the stuff i bought was really, really, really cheap.

so for my next projects i plan on using as much open source software as possible. even improve my own art skills so i dont have to buy expensive stuff everywhere else. you basically have to be a master of sound/music, code, modelling, mapping, 2d gfx if you are an indie or you will have problems to make a living.

the next thing you have to keep in mind is that when you buy stuff everyone and their mother wants to be mentioned in the credits or say, you can use my stuff until you sold xxxx copies then i want to get more money. this is insane.

dont get me wrong, i just want to advise you not to spend money on indie projects. unless you have THAT killer idea THAT will definitaley sell its not worth it.

you probably have to pump out 1 little crap game a month and sign unfair contracts for each one to make little money that adds up in the end to make a living or you have this superdupergameidea and can finish it.

maybe some others can give their experience too. iam even thinking about not going to a publisher at all and selling the game on my own, this will probably get me more money even if i sell only 10 copies at all.

in my situation i wasted like 4 month working fulltime, if i would have stood in the city selling sausages i would have made more money - but its not only the money that makes me doing this.

You've done it the wrong way, Ulf. Publishers don't want to pay for something that is already developed. People want what they don't have. A [censored]-hot demo that will will take until just before next Christmas to complete is a far better sell. They'll want to input their own ideas too.

Be careful with open source. Avoid GPL. Publishers want what they can buy lock, stock and barrell. You'll probably see a clause in the contract they present to you about that. They'll want the copyright. Make sure everyone who does work for you has a contract that stipulates "work for hire" as well. Otherwise you might find that you don't have anything to sell. Anything you absolutely don't want to give them, list as royalty free, licenced material (you can licence material to your own company). However, they will expect some bang for their buck. Obviously, they are the ones taking the biggest risk.

Four months is very short for a video game you made yourself. Commercial titles are usually measured in man-years. If you made it for yourself, because you liked doing it, then that's fine. If you want to make it for someone else so you can make some money, then you need to balance what you want to do with what your source of funding has a demand for. Unless you are a proven, multi-million selling superstar, then you can do anything you like and make megabucks.

i would not say its the wrong way i did it, because iam doing what i like to do - iam an indie.

if you develop a game for someone else then you are more a programmer than a game developer.

the main problem these days is that the market with casual games is flooded. i would say my game does not have many competetors, but lots of people who like playing this kind of game. there are already 2-3 games like this selling very well.

the topic is about get funds for your own game as far as i understood and i highly recomend you not to do, because its not easy selling your ready made game. but i dont understand why, if i walk into the city and see the pc shelves i can find at least 20 really crap casual games with horrible art/gameplay that just sell because of a cool name/cover.

capital = $$
capitol = washington DC

Sorry

@jetpack..

... Eh.. I made a concerted effort to use the right word. Oh well, you know what I meant .

@ ulf

What I plan to develop isn't quite a game (only in the sense that its not "playable", though it is interactive).

However, my main reason for needing capital is to develop it, as I have'nt seen more than a handful fo developers willing to build it and have faith that it'll sell.

Because it's not a game, I am confident it would, but I could explain the concept of SkySpace till I was blue in the face, and still not be able to sell a programmer or leveler enough to help me build it, let alone 2 or 3 of each so that it doesnt take a year to build.

I imagine, and have thus far been right to assume, that the only way I'd be able to keep them long enough is with financial incentive. And probably a decent bit of it.

What I'm building now has two main bodies in its cost analysis.. the labor and marketing. Marketing is straight forward. This particular item will need heavy exposure volume of exposure would be direc/prop to volume of sales... just like every other impulse item.

I know when and where to put the birdie, marketing wise, but I have to build the software first.. I can't do that without developers.. hence the return to the beggining of this vicious cycle... acquiring the funds to pay the troops to build the bridge that leads to progress on SkySpace.

Mind you, if you saw the design, you'd see the revenue far outweighs the cost, but even on paper, I struggle to imagine the development team that's eevr been sold on solid concept alone.

Or at least I have yet to encounter them. So my contingent is to become able to speak plenty of their language: money.

I've come to the understanding I dont havta like em, we dont havta walk hand in hand.. or have the same dream.. I just need to be able to speak dollar to em ( while not being a bunghole boss) and I'llg et things done.

Hence my inquiry as to how some of you got working.

@fastlane... shure the publisher does take a risk, but look. they can see and test a finished game like mine for example before! they publish it. they should have enough knowledge to not license a crap game from me. that is the whole point.

i just wanted to say that a hobbyist should not spend too much money because he cant be shure that the game will sell well enough that he doesnt end up in the reds. but thats just my opinion.

Adding that qualifier "hobbyiest" makes all the difference and in that we agree. If this is a hobby to you, you shouldn't sink too much money into it because you won't get it back. Of course if you have money to burn, then by all means sink away.

But what you say about publishers is true but even then it's a risk. After all, they may find it fun and it won't sell or they may find it boring and it will sale. There is no guaranteed way to know what a product will do and therein lies the risk. I'm only taking exception to your comment that it is ZERO risk to the publisher when there is alway risk.

The boostrap method is not really possible, or at least I am not finding it to be.

As I do not program, it would be immensely difficult to prototype even. Rest assured, though, if I could, this would not even be a discussion, lol.

My specific item requires a comparatively small amount (roundabout 20k.. 25 at most), most of which development costs.. that I based on the last time I went scouting for developers. It's a small amount compared to what it will generate (it has a target revenue that it either will or wont hit to completion by end of term), but it's an amount that would have to come from a loan of some type, most likely.

Why couldn't I boostrap? Well, mostly because I don't have all the skills needed to do so, and I've never heard of anyone that does, who would do even prototype level working for free.. or even cheaply. Almost everyone's mercinary, busy with a project, or both.

I wish that was the case, though. Then maybe I could boostrap it enough to build something that visually demonstrates the design, so that I could either sell SkySpace or acquire the funds to put it all the way to manifest myself ( which I'd much prefer).

I have, however, come to the conclusion that that isnt.

Well.. I guess I don't not program..

That's a little innacurate. I have the time to learn it, like I had the time to learn other programming languages and if I end up getting mad enough, I'll do just that.

But supposing you had an idea pertaining to mechanical engineering.. would it make more sense to round up and consult established mechanical engineers or go get a masters degree in mechanical engineering so that you could build it all yourself and answer all your own questions?

At this moment I'm expanding my programming knowledge, and if I beat the punch learning it versus drafting a dedicated programmer, then I'll craft the entire shabang myself (though I wont be paying myself by the hour so it still wont take me 8 year to finish it).

I don't think anyone would give money for anything. But if I knew how to go about presenting what I have put together (des. docs.. visual aids, demos etc), I wouldn't be asking around to find out how everyone else went about getting the funding for their games.

That.. was my inquiry.

Mind you.. games can be bootstrapped, because they don't really have set costs, but this really can't be.

It costs money for the artwork to be done, the lines of code to be written, the server and client software to be written and compiled, and it costs money to be advertised. Very little of it can be winged without money, though I am carrying that torch as far as it'll go, currently.

It has costs for things that can't be avoided, thus the need to acquire the funding. Conversely, I'd be pretty foolish to expect it "given" because I need it.

If that were so, you're right, we'd all be pretty well off. My current dilemma (though it wont be much of one for much longer if my current pace of learning keeps up..) is that even the smallest of the small prototypes would take quite a bit of work and expertise, most of which (granted not all) I don't have.

This is not so different than any of your projects.. I've only seen one person build a game, start to finish (though what I'm crafting isnt a game..) by himself.

Though it was in terrible shape that still was a marvel, (for fear or reprisal I wont mention who it was or what game it was, but I think you all can remember a certain person who's game got thrown to the lions here, because it was.. well.. like jelly as games go.. though it was an impressive effort he put forth) in my opinion.. but an absolute rarity.

I think my point is that it's passionate, but woefully innefficient to go it alone. I'm sure I'm not the only one who agrees.

Mind you, I could. I have the zeal for it and I'm selfish enough, under the right circumstances. I'd even do it right, as I am a perfectionist at everything I do, and as my "baby" there's no way I'd put crap out there for the world to see.

I don't put the ICEman seal of approval on any of my models until they are done completely right.

But I'd rather work with a team of those who have a reasonable certainty of what they're doing in their field of expertise. I'd rather us build a relationship.

I'd rather dish out contract payment+bonus for outstanding product. Why? Because that's how entertainment software is made.

Bill Gates made Microsoft, but all its software products were made by his league of extraordinary geeks. Not just him.

As I have found, good troops respond well to money, and not much else. That part is a simple understanding.

Paid troops=hard work=finished, functional, well made product/prototype.

I.. suppose you could count my animated (not programmed) versions as prototypes, but they only seem to serve in demonstrating the idea.. very well too. I'm good with visual aids. my emphasis here is

I could go in front of an angel this moment, now.. with what I've crafted for it.. then build it all myself.. spend all his money.. pay him his principal+return+bonus (I do business the japanese way sometimes..) a year later.. and keep all the taxable profit myself.

I'd rather build this with a team, I'd rather build what comes after it with a team, but if I continue to have no luck in that effort, I most likely will boostrap-toothpaste-hammer-and-nail it.

I'd rather it not be my own personal infernal machine, though. Surely that has to make some sense.

i agree that if you have that! idea that noone had bevore and this idea will sell well. you should after checking pros and cons risk that probably. but be careful not to ruin your personal life for an idea.

@ fastlane: as for publishers i got offered some contracts and always there is some sentence that says like "if someone complains about the product or an damage to our image is done, you have to pay for that" i cant translate this a 100% but it works like this: image a company licenses your game, you signed such a contract, then a testmagazine somewhere gives the game 3% out of 100% possible and finds like 3 bugs in the game. this article is published. then imagine 3 customers complain about the game. further imagine your game wont sell.
this scenario is not uncommon.

the publisher can then sue you(at least in germany) for a) the money he possibly lost due to the image damage caused by you b) you have to pay for all copies the retail store sends back to the publisher.

now i dont see where there is a risk for the publisher? their contracts are made so that they have really zero risk, believe me. even if the game sucks they can come back to you and sue you for money. that thought in mind compared to the low revenues most publishers offer are really insane for a indie. thats probably why a lot of them go for self publishing online.

@ ulf

Exactly, bru. I weighed most of the pros and cons out when I came up with the idea.. shortly following the " holy crap.. that's a great idea" stage.

Also.. as a bit of a gestive sidenote:

I've ruined my personal life for every other reason.. why not one that wont cheat on me

Fastlane is offering really solid advice.

I only have a few things to add.

1) Raising Capital is not an "Art" it is a "Science". You will need factual evidence that you will be able to produce a product using the funds. You will also need to supply solid histroical evidence that your game will sell x number of copies.

2) Think past just raising the funds. How are you going to pay that money back and what is the acceptable return for the investor. They are thinking in dollars, you need to also.

It's really not about the game it's about the money. If you can not demostrate that concpet to the person you are asking money from, you will have a hard time getting the funds.

Ken

@ fast and nard

I agree, completely.

These are steps I have already gone through, and go through repeatedly for freshness. Again, I know enough not to think that just a blank toilet seat idea will get attention.

My "How" most refers to.. who sought investors, who ran side businesses to raise the money, who sought mob loans (jk).

I've heard some people say they wrote grants (in my private convos with people over the years).

I think, though, I may have answered my own question somewhere in this. Still, this is good info for others.

I'm looking for resources more than an idiots guide to getting an investment.

@ phemox Yea I dunno about those steps taking a year each.. especially not for SkySpace xD. It isnt nearly as big a project at a game would be, and wouldnt require a fraction of the millions a game would.

The prototyping is doable, though. I'm just an animator, but I've sat down for weeks at a time thinking of what I could do with just that.

My problem then becomes that I don't know of any specific individuals to bring it in front of.

Here's how you get capital:

1. Figure out what you want to sell to whom.
2. Write a business plan. If you can't do this, forget it. Would you give someone your money if he or she did not have a plan? Read up on business plans. This can't be stressed enough.
3. Learn to make a cash-flow projection and budget
4. Have experience or a team who has experience collectively.
5. Hit the pavement and anticipate disappointment.
6. Go back to step 1. Don't stop trying.

That is so not-easy. You will have to spend probably as much time on the business plan as you do on your game. I should know, I have done it. My business plan has taken over 5 months to develop. It's gotten a few slightly positive "hmmm"'s from different firms so far. I do not have false expectations that it will bring anything. But if you want to try, you have to be very very serious and hardworking.

Read up on starting a business and developing a plan. The cash-flow projection is critical because it shows how money will flow out (expenses) and back in (profit). People want to see a strong, realistic cash flow projection.

If this sounds like a headache, focus on making the coolest indie game you can and enjoy the creative process with a couple of other people. A good indie game can open other opportunities. Look at Media Molecule - they made the indie game, Rag Doll Kung Fu, and got a contract to develop the awesome title, Little Big Planet, for the PS3.

Good luck!