Working on a independent game

Hey, just had a look at your project.. Looks very interesting, and seems to have quite a lot of work/effort put into it! Some of the models look very, very cool.. Turn base strategy? So you're competing against Strategic Studies Group (SSG) then ? [;)]
And yeh, you're right about starting small. Unless you have the extreme talent of the id software guys, a small team can't really compete with large developers.. there's just too much content required for games these days. I'm wondering if the only way to break it into the games industry independantly may be through middleware, or gameboy advance/nokia games... I'm sure 3-man game teams of the C64/Amiga days are soon to be a thing of the past. [:)]

Hey you can always try.
All you need is a good idea and you'll be able to compete with the larger companies.
I thinks it's best to aim high even if you know you can't get there it will result generally in a higher quality project.

It is infact ants who are the true rulers of this world!!!

Metatron, I've been thinking of starting my own independant game as well, got any advice on getting started?
I think what your doing is really good, getting into the industry in your own way, being your own boss.
nice work on your game, I really like the vehicles and the large mechs, good luck with it.

Souri: Extreme talent of ID? are you drunk?

Lead paint: delicious but deadly!

Thanks for the responses.

GBA and mobile phones are the way to go for a 3 man team. A team that knows what there doing could put out a very good game in 6 months. Also if you complete a game for the GBA it could look good in your CV/resume as well.

The current team I am working with are locals. So we can have meetings at someones house. That's a huge plus in my books. I have worked with online teams and the pace is a lot slower and communiction is difficult (getting your idea's across etc...)
We are also a 4 man team one artist, two programers, one marketing person.

I would really like to work at SSG (Warloard 3 was awesome). That's part of the reason I am making the game. I like strategy games so if I complete 3 strategy games and if I go for a job at a company I can show them 3 completed projects (I want to complete 2 more games in 2003). The games I am making are about the same quality as master of orion 1/2. A good employer can see past the quality of the games graphics and see the capablities of the team members (maybe). Or the option I like the most is going independent and selling the games myself. Most of the games I enjoy playing are the old classic's (Civ 2, Moo, Moo 2, Masters of magic, warcraft 2, warlords 3). I play the new games by I find myself going back to play the classics a lot.

Some advice on game making.
If your the lead designer have a clear picture of what the final game is going to be before you start. Write the core game's features down and stick to them. A design document plus ruff concepts for the screen layout and art should be done so as to communicate a clear picture to the rest of the team. I done my first 40 page design document and 20 concept picture's in a week (modifications to the document were added later). Also durring the process of the game feature's were droped (250 research options got canned :)) Also don't aim for lots of content plus extreme quality (say warcratf 3 level which is very high). I say strike a balance of maybe low content and very high quality (which means maybe one race 10 missions, one terrain type done very well) Compared to warcarfts 50 missions 4 races and multiple terrains(all done very well).

quote:Originally posted by Fluffy CatFood
Souri: Extreme talent of ID? are you drunk?

Well, let me know why you don't think they're talented [:)]

Kenneth Scott is definately one of the most talented skinners around in the industry. If you had a peek through all the Quake 3 skins, you can see they were leagues above anyone else's work at the time.. more stuff on Kenneth Scott here: http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/skins/gbu/kenneth-scott/interview… and http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.5/uc/ and http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.32/feat/

John Carmack. I don't think I have to say anything there..

Paul Steed (well, he isn't in ID anymore, but we're talking about what ID has done in the past) - he's a renowned low polygon modeller and animator, it's amazing how much form and shape he can capture with the lowest amount of polygons.. he's released some books on modelling and animating too - he definately knows his craft, and has some really fast/great ideas on how to build.. great knowledge of human anatomy too.. really shows in his work.

Those three guys are at the top of their field, I reckon.. and then you have other extremely talented guys too, like Kevin Cloud, Paul Jaquays, Tim Willits..

A bit off topic, but I had to say, even though no one will notice this.
Michael Abrash is ex-iD staff, and he works on DirectX nowadays for microsoft and I'd have to say he's a bloody smart coder as well.

On topic though.
There seems to be some good work in the artistry area and hopefully there's the game behind it all to back it up and I can get a closer look! I'm interested as to how detailed the design of the game is at this early stage...

I have to say the big problem with being an independent, is it's hard to attract like minded people that want to work for nothing. Especially when you start talking about them bringing along their own equipment, and communication over the net isn't all it's cracked up to be considering time zone differences. The best way to get something done is to get people in your area to help you out, even if it lowers the quality of the product.

The ability to attract good people to work with will grow as you get a reputation.

Usually being an independent also means you have very strong ideals of your own game design methodology, which can create conflict (I know it has for me in the past).

Yes it is difficult to find a good team to work with.
The team I am working with is local. You have to learn to work with other people and not get too attached to your game design. The team is not getting paid and everyone is like the boss. So by having a lot of bosses bossing people around doesn't work. You have to explain your ideas, talk and listen to your members. When the programmer goes what the hell is this feature, you have to sit down explain the feature and how best to implement it. At the factory I worked at the boss would give orders and you would follow them. In a independent team you don't have to follow orders for who is the boss. But the team has to be united in a common goal and a lead designer is needed. The designer has the clear picture of what the game should look like when completed. The designer then needs to communicate the ideas clearly too all the other members of the team. When the team has a good idea of what there making and are happy with the workload it might involve then you can proceed.

The goal is to complete a game and not the game. If we don't get the game perfect the first time we can always do a better one next game. "The game" means you want to make it the perfect the best. But at the end of the day that would take ages to make the perfect game (like duke forever, team fortress 2). Make a fun simple game.

I am doing some alpha testing at the moment. The next stage is the beta testing with my brothers playing the game. They will give the game a good test out. When I started to test the game I came up with even more features to put in. Then I realized we would be working on the game for another 6 months. So at the moment I am just smoothing out the bumps and balancing the game mechanics (and hopefully make it fun to play).

If you want to know what level my game is at then check out this site. http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/
My brothers are playing Avernum 3 at the moment and they are addicted. I want to play but I am to busy working on my own games. My game is about the same quality as Avernum.

Here is a list of independent game makers/review sites as well.

http://www.dexterity.com/articles/
http://www.garagegames.com/
http://www.simusoft.com/

http://diygames.com/news/
http://www.madmonkey.net/page.cgi/index

wow, you managed to impress me. great work and best of luck. ~ never looked at this section of the sire before...