If You Could Make A Game (Start a gaming company)...?

[Hagan]

You've come into a significantly large some of money and decide you want to develop a game; what kind of game would you want to create?

Criteria listed below:

• What genre would your game be based on (FPS, MMO, etc)?
• What implementations and ideas would you want in your game?
• Where would you want your development company to be based?
• Would you prefer to remain an Indie dev or become a broader; more popular development company?
• Would you want to use a well-known publisher, or publish your own games?
• What would your expectations be from your staff (employees and employers)?
• Would your game use in-house graphics, or use existing graphics Engines?
• What would you want your consumer to feel/experience playing your game(s)?
• Would you allow for/want a 'Demo' of your game to be released, before its official release?
• How would you want your game to be advertised (made commercially known to the public)?
• How will the working environment be... (Strictly work or workers having more free-roam)?

*Any criteria/suggestions welcome, and will added as/when necessary*

*Purpose of this thread, is to see different opinions and ideas on this topic -- may be useful to someone -- one day*

[Tsar]

battling to sleep I see

[Hagan]

battling to sleep I see

Sort of... But not the reason.

[Solitude]

• What genre would your game be based on (FPS, MMO, etc)?
RPG
• What implementations and ideas would you want in your game?
I want a game with a ton of dialogue and where your decisions drastically alters parts of the game. Think of something like Mass Effect/Dragon Age but with the difficult decisions of Telltale's The Walking Dead.
• Where would you want your development company to be based?
Hmmm somewhere closeby, like Honeydew or Wilgeheuwel.
• Would you prefer to remain an Indie dev or become a broader; more popular development company?
To make the game everything I want it to be it will probably require a big team and financial backing from a publisher. But you started this thing off mentioning a significantly large sum(*) of money so I will say a team of about 15 people will be nice and I'd like to stay indie.
• Would you want to use a well-known publisher, or publish your own games?
This is a tough one. I don't want to publish the game myself and I don't want to make use of a big publisher. Hmmm a publisher will probably make things easier in the long run.
• What would your expectations be from your staff (employees and employers)?
To give their best. I won't ask for long hours but I'd like to see results. I'm a programmer currently and at our workplace we are judged by what we accomplish. I like that. There isn't place for slackers and we aren't overworked.
• Would your game use in-house graphics, or use existing graphics Engines?
I would definitely make use of an existing graphics engine. There's no point in reinventing the wheel.
• What would you want your consumer to feel/experience playing your game(s)?
Emotion. As simple as that. Love for the characters around you. A feeling of loss if something bad happens. A feeling of wow when you see the results of one of your choices. A complete sense of awe when you speak to a friend and hear that his/her experience was completely different to yours.
• Would you allow for/want a 'Demo' of your game to be released, before its official release?
Yes definitely. I don't play demos myself but I can see the value.
• How would you want your game to be advertised (made commercially known to the public)?
I would leave it up to the publisher. Definitely would like previews by the gaming sites and magazines out there.
• How will the working environment be... (Strictly work or workers having more free-roam)?
Workers can do what they want as long as they get results and be available when they must be available like for meetings and such. They can even work from home if they want to. As long as you do your work.

Did you happen to come into a significantly large sum of money by any chance Hagan?

[Hagan]

• What genre would your game be based on (FPS, MMO, etc)?
RPG
• What implementations and ideas would you want in your game?
I want a game with a ton of dialogue and where your decisions drastically alters parts of the game. Think of something like Mass Effect/Dragon Age but with the difficult decisions of Telltale's The Walking Dead.
• Where would you want your development company to be based?
Hmmm somewhere closeby, like Honeydew or Wilgeheuwel.
• Would you prefer to remain an Indie dev or become a broader; more popular development company?
To make the game everything I want it to be it will probably require a big team and financial backing from a publisher. But you started this thing off mentioning a significantly large sum(*) of money so I will say a team of about 15 people will be nice and I'd like to stay indie.
• Would you want to use a well-known publisher, or publish your own games?
This is a tough one. I don't want to publish the game myself and I don't want to make use of a big publisher. Hmmm a publisher will probably make things easier in the long run.
• What would your expectations be from your staff (employees and employers)?
To give their best. I won't ask for long hours but I'd like to see results. I'm a programmer currently and at our workplace we are judged by what we accomplish. I like that. There isn't place for slackers and we aren't overworked.
• Would your game use in-house graphics, or use existing graphics Engines?
I would definitely make use of an existing graphics engine. There's no point in reinventing the wheel.
• What would you want your consumer to feel/experience playing your game(s)?
Emotion. As simple as that. Love for the characters around you. A feeling of loss if something bad happens. A feeling of wow when you see the results of one of your choices. A complete sense of awe when you speak to a friend and hear that his/her experience was completely different to yours.
• Would you allow for/want a 'Demo' of your game to be released, before its official release?
Yes definitely. I don't play demos myself but I can see the value.
• How would you want your game to be advertised (made commercially known to the public)?
I would leave it up to the publisher. Definitely would like previews by the gaming sites and magazines out there.
• How will the working environment be... (Strictly work or workers having more free-roam)?
Workers can do what they want as long as they get results and be available when they must be available like for meetings and such. They can even work from home if they want to. As long as you do your work.

Did you happen to come into a significantly large sum of money by any chance Hagan?

No... lots of travelling this month allowed me time to think about many things - this included.

[DCWarhound]

• What genre would your game be based on (FPS, MMO, etc)?
RTS and turn based
• What implementations and ideas would you want in your game?
A ton of customization of characters and weapons,the price of ammunition and weapon wear and tear will keep powerful weapons balanced with the rest
• Where would you want your development company to be based?
Close by,somewhere in SA or Canada if the economy keeps going downhill.
• Would you prefer to remain an Indie dev or become a broader; more popular development company?
Indie
• Would you want to use a well-known publisher, or publish your own games?
Publish my own,game will not come in retail version and will be download only (from either the official site or steam)
• What would your expectations be from your staff (employees and employers)?
They need the qualifications to do their work to the best of their abilities
• Would your game use in-house graphics, or use existing graphics Engines?
Existing engine that needs to be highly mod able to deal with unsupported code and to be adaptable when future hardware comes out (higher resolution and higher quality textures as well as improved physics and effects)
• What would you want your consumer to feel/experience playing your game(s)?
Addiction,a sense that there is always something to find and do in the game.The user should not be able to comprehend all the things that they could do in the game so they will stay interested.
• Would you allow for/want a 'Demo' of your game to be released, before its official release?
Yes,the demo will have most of the games key features
• How would you want your game to be advertised (made commercially known to the public)?
Steam and other apps and that gamers make use of,also hype trailers that get recommended by youtube and google.
• How will the working environment be... (Strictly work or workers having more free-roam)?
Very free,developers will have a deadline to do their work.They can do whatever they want as long as they are done before the deadline is reached.

[Wlad]

Interesting thread:

• What genre would your game be based on (FPS, MMO, etc)?
RPG
• What implementations and ideas would you want in your game?
Like Solitude I would want to develop something where your choices have consequences and impact how the story of the game unfolds. Does not necessarily need to be open world, but the story has to be non-linear with multiple different paths/endings.
• Where would you want your development company to be based?
If locally, I would like it to be in a smaller town somewhere along the coast. Not that I have a love for the ocean or anything, but I would prefer working on something like this in a secluded environment surrounded by nature and not man-made structures.
• Would you prefer to remain an Indie dev or become a broader; more popular development company?
I would try to stay indie for as long as possible.
• Would you want to use a well-known publisher, or publish your own games?
I would self-publish, but might consider partnering with a publisher as long as certain conditions for the partnership (IP stays mine/my company's, no DRM if on PC, etc.) are met.
• What would your expectations be from your staff (employees and employers)?
To give their best without overworking themselves. I would also expect them to work on their own and not need constant supervision.
• Would your game use in-house graphics, or use existing graphics Engines?
I would start out using an existing engine and then customise it to suit the needs of the task at hand.
• What would you want your consumer to feel/experience playing your game(s)?
A lot of varying emotions. Anger, pain, loss, joy, etc. I would want the game(s) to have a psychological effect on the player. I also want them to have fun while playing the game.
• Would you allow for/want a 'Demo' of your game to be released, before its official release?
Most definitely. I would also make the game completely open to modding and release the tools to the public.
• How would you want your game to be advertised (made commercially known to the public)?
Mainstream gaming websites. Would try to get someone to come up with some clever viral campaign as well.
• How will the working environment be... (Strictly work or workers having more free-roam)?
Very relaxed environment. Will have an entertainment lounge with consoles etc. where staff can unwind when they have some free time or finish with a task ahead of schedule etc. Basically as long as the work is done on time, almost anything goes. Even if I never see a staff member at the office but his/her work is done on standard and on time, I would be happy.