How Can I Sell My Game Idea?
So I have this great idea for a game. How can I make money with it?

I've heard this question in various forms. There have been a couple of great responses to this question lately. I'll mention the one that was just posted by my new employers, NinjaBee. Also, Thomas Warfield recently responded with the most sensible explanation of why you can't get someone else to make your game for you (unless you pay them a lot of money to do it).

Last night, after the Utah Indie Game Dev Meeting, Steve Taylor said, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could somehow get all the guys working together to make a game... it would be AMAZING."

I said, "That kinda defeats the purpose of being indie, doesn't it? Everyone is here because they are working on their own game." Which wasn't strictly true - but in general, I didn't think these guys were casting about looking for IDEAS for games. I think out of that group of 30 people, you could have EASILY heard 300 different killer game concepts that had real potential for either commercial success or artistic satisfaction.

Ideas are important, but they are only the first step. It's like making the decision to go to the gym regularly and get into shape. Man, that sure is an important decision. But without the follow through and the tons of work, it's pretty worthless.

So how DO you make money with your game idea? Turn it into a full-fledged game. Or at least a partially completed game. What, you were expecting an easier answer?

One of the things that I have found is that once you've got SOMETHING concrete and playable, you are in a much better place for recruiting help. Even if your game is full of crappy programmer art, of you have beautiful visuals but the logic of the game is extremely basic. The very fact that you have something to show makes it REAL to people, and goes further to express your vision of the game than an idea that you spend two hours explaining.

So get out there and do it! Make a prototype, for crying out loud. If you've never done anything like that before, then that's all the more reason you should give it a try. Give your dreams a concrete form in reality. It's still no guarantee of making big bucks or anything like that, but if nothing else, it's good practice. Especially if one of your dreams is to make a living designing and creating games.

Labels: Game Design

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:37 PM (Permalink)