U-235 Studios No More

- Mike

These startups comprised of veterans willing to make a go of it, will most likely arise as established developers close their doors due to next-gen being unable to compete for resources - funding and talent.

I think the startups will succeed where the studios have failed because they have initially smaller resource requirements and willing to be more progressive with their development efforts - not just aim for the fee-for-service middle or be willing to settle for it.

It should all balance out in the end.

I sitll think independant studios really have to think smarter and shouldn't compete head on with much larger studios that have deeper pockets with games in a very competitive genres like the FPS one. There's nothing wrong with aiming high, but it's a tough road to even get noticed, I'm sure.

(Of course, an exception would be Project Offset with their MMO game, but those guys are pretty experienced and have some *incredible* talent to boot).

I think they would be far better off starting small, with small budgets but with a high quality outlook - think indie film development, low budgets but still high production values. They should be thinking about becoming or starting off as indies, working on low-budget original titles to be marketed and distributed via the internet. Instead of immediately aiming for next-gen releases when they just don't have the experience.

With a successful indie effort or two under your belt, you should have the credibility, experience and funds to attempt something like a next-gen title - instead of biting off more than you can chew. Or you may find that it is more of a fit for you, and that the indie / PC space might just take off over the next couple of years - or get far less risky in the way of marketing your title to the masses. Regardless, you will find that you will actually finish a title and release it, and even if it is not successful, at the end of the day you have a credit to your name, you might even have a credit of a critically acclaimed (well-known) indie - and you would have spent far less doing it.

I believe that is what Gridwerx are now doing, putting their RPG shooter on hold so as to do smaller budget titles for internet release - a far smarter approach for an inexperience team, but also a smart approach for an experience one as well.

They appear to have a realistic appreciation that their title will be a niche one but that if executed well, it should garner sufficient interest to make a profit, and just as importantly, make IM more attractive for publisher/investor investment for a more ambitious project later on.

Call it instinct or a hunch, but they seem to fit your model CF.

I agree with you. It's funny, you read all the research that says "start small, limit scope, do things within your funding constraints", then you get a rush of blood to the head and think, "heck no, we're different, we're special - people will sit up and take notice if we build an awesome demo" - but I think the best advice I can give to indie start-ups is as follows:

- A publisher will not walk up and give you a bucket of money without a track record -

So if your goals are to get a team together to showcase your skills to get jobs in the industry, go for it. But if your goals are to create a commercially viable venture, then you should follow some fundamental entrepreneurial investment rules:
1. Build for cashflow - once you have cashflow, you can feed yourself.
2. Work within your capital (funding) limits. Unless you have a rich relative that died and bequeathed you $5-10M, no white knight is sitting there waiting to kick in the rest. That really limits your development options.

Of course, going down the casual gaming path is a risk too - a lower barrier to entry means every man and his dog can enter the market and build something. Then it comes down to quality - how well you build your game and how good your fundamental addictive gameplay is. Tetris is horribly addictive for such a small game size.

What I tend to find though, particularly from students of game development, is that casual gaming just isn't cool. It's not cutting edge, it has none of the glamour (sic) of doing nice character models and animations, cool effects, groovy AI and immersive worlds. And I understand that. I really do.

But sooner or later you have to make a choice between building a showreel to get into the industry with a bunch of mates and trying to establish a commercially viable indie games development company (for those without dead rich uncles leaving them the farm).