Types of jobs in game development in South Africa

HavocXphere said:
Game dev is a very risky choice in SA imo...

Also whats with the creepy photoshop pic in the article?
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I'm beginning to think it's actually quite lucrative if you have a gem on your hands (see Stardew Valley for a recent, small studio success). Developing applications for business is just such a saturated market at the moment - it's reeeeeeeally difficult getting in new business. If you're lucky enough to land a contract, you'll be paid just enough to cover your costs on the project, with maybe enough to spend on a beer or two.

On the contrary, if you're lucky enough to have funding to spend 9 months developing a kick-ass game for a broad market and you can launch it on an ÃœBER distribution platform like Steam where the world eats up unique, cutesy games for breakfast, you're pretty much set. I'm strongly considering doing game development on some slack time at my company to try and find other avenues of revenue. I've got some unique ideas and I'm persistent, skilled and enough of a perfectionist to get a polished product out.
 
FarligOpptreden said:
I'm beginning to think it's actually quite lucrative if you have a gem on your hands (see Stardew Valley for a recent, small studio success).
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Well you know more about real world dev than I do so not going to disagree. However:

Busy working with some guys that invest in game startups professionally (think dragon's den)...and it looks pretty rough. They pretty much expect the bulk to fail, so as you say you need to have a gem on your hands. Which is fine for the investors...they just need one of their 20 investments to go big. But for the devs...well 19 out of 20 crash and burn. (The 19/20 is made up but probably about right)

Think a big part of it is whether one can distinguish oneself from the rest in an ocean of indie games.
 
[MENTION=23304]Jamie McKane[/MENTION] I just want to say that you are doing great! Your articles are 10 times better than what we had previously. Keep up the good work!
[MENTION=2498]HavocXphere[/MENTION] I'm an ex-game-developer with a new game on the cards (this time on my own, part time) and I didn't even know that there are investors for game startups in South Africa. I know it's a big favour but would it be possible to pm some more information my way? I would greatly appreciate it.
 
Solitude said:
[MENTION=23304]Jamie McKane[/MENTION] I just want to say that you are doing great! Your articles are 10 times better than what we had previously. Keep up the good work!
[MENTION=2498]HavocXphere[/MENTION] I'm an ex-game-developer with a new game on the cards (this time on my own, part time) and I didn't even know that there are investors for game startups in South Africa. I know it's a big favour but would it be possible to pm some more information my way? I would greatly appreciate it.
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He's lives in the UK. ;)
 
Solitude said:
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Damnit that sucks.
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You live in a digital age with digital connections that have shrunk the world down in size. I'm sure that Skype meetings can be just as handy as actual meeting, so don't fail to think big. If you have a great idea for a game, why not pitch it to some oversees investors? Why should the fact that you live in SA be any deterrent to a company not investing in you? In fact, it would be better, as the Rand/Pound exchange will be in your favour...just a thought
 
DieGrootHammer said:
You live in a digital age with digital connections that have shrunk the world down in size. I'm sure that Skype meetings can be just as handy as actual meeting, so don't fail to think big. If you have a great idea for a game, why not pitch it to some oversees investors? Why should the fact that you live in SA be any deterrent to a company not investing in you? In fact, it would be better, as the Rand/Pound exchange will be in your favour...just a thought
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Thanks DieGrootHammer, that's maybe a good idea. I don't just have an idea at this stage, I've got a prototype running but would love to go full time to actually get it finished. But can't do that without a salary unfortunately.
 
Been learning Unity for a while now, only taken it seriously in the last 2-3 weeks, never done programming before so slowly learning C# scripting as I go, but I am going to give Playmaker / uScript a go once i have a decent grasp on how the scripting works, which makes it easier for non programmers to script / use FSM's for gameplay etc.
 
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Solitude said:
I know it's a big favour but would it be possible to pm some more information my way? I would greatly appreciate it.
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Can't - all buried under miles of confidentiality rules & don't have enough influence to help you out anyway. Sorry

In general it doesn't seem like something you can approach in a frontal fashion though. Its very much a case of who you know not what you know kind of world. i.e. One of the investors generally knows the dev/founder personally from prior projects.

DieGrootHammer said:
You live in a digital age with digital connections that have shrunk the world down in size.
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Indeed. The things are spread out across multiple countries. It does seem to cluster a bit geographically though - kinda like silicon valley @ software dev.

As for SA being a deterrent - a bit...because its a long ass flight down there so difficult for the investors to be hands-on and guide.
 
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