Business Plan
Sub-Header
Ultimate Goal: To establish a self-sufficient company, capable of: - Producing the games envisioned by the team to their full potential. - Helping small studios and indie developers produce realise their visions. - Making enough profit to become a full time venture for the team (first 5 at least). To reach our goal, there are stages that must be passed. The difference between making a profit and making a living: - This is a more significant milestone, as it represents the point where we are making money fast enough and consistently enough in order to survive. This means being able to quit part-time (or full-time) jobs, not having to invest additional funds, and being able to “save” money, and not just live by the check. Reaching this point is all about consistency and quality control. Having an office, dedicated work hours, setting and meeting deadlines. It will also likely mean expansion into other fields, such as merchandise and events. - From here we can produce online games, more easily handle merchandising, and take on clients (advertise ourselves to do such). This is essentially where Salaries kick in, and we can formally hire people as staff. The difference between making money and making a profit: - It’s one thing for one of our games to make some money, but to make a profit is a milestone, to which our continued efforts leads to more money coming in, then originally (and continually) invested. It is only once we reach this stage, can we move on to make greater investments (ie. Business office, additional help, team expansion, etc). - From here we can afford to invest more time and money into quality, like help with sound, debugging, code optimisation and artistic diversity. It would also be possible to start looking at wages, even though it’d probably be fixed bulk sums rather than a continuous stream. Making Money: - This is the first real sign of success, but don’t be fooled, it is still a long way off. Once we start making money, our responsibilities only increase, and our need to maintain quality and production will too, (one game a year making £100 on the market would cost us more than making nothing in tax handling and other processes). We would have to keep working on or releasing new products, so there will be a lot of pressure. - From here we would start looking into contracts and re-imbursements, while everyone would still essentially be volunteering, there would be room to offset the costs (such as travel, equipment and prioritisation). Making Games: - Before anything else on the list, we must first make games. Can’t sell anything without a product. Making games, especially free to play, will help advertise us before we start releasing sellable products, it also helps out our portfolio, for working with others or for individually getting jobs (even non-profit titles, once they are on the market vastly increase your odds of landing a career role). This is an important major step which we should all be aiming for unanimously. - In addition to the obvious reasons, building a portfolio also means building an “audience” we can start advertising ourselves properly once we have something to advertise. Building an audience means we can also advertise associates work, and therefore more likely to have them further advertise ours once it’s ready. To grow symbiotic relationships is the goal here, but we must first have something to offer. Making Demo’s: - There is more importance to making demos then one might see at a glance. The obvious would be production practice, player testing opportunities and viability of concept testing. Other benefits include the opportunity to release teasers, sneak images/videos/story about concepts that are theoretically months or even years away. By releasing demos, it helps towards building an audience, and also keeps the company relevant between actual game releases. A “lite” version of Starlight or United They Stand, might maintain interest while full versions are still under construction. Demos also help fill space on the website, and should be maintained separately from working on full projects, as long as they do not hinder them. - From this point, the website can be advertised more thoroughly, while the company has yet to solidify and take root, we can start to generate interest from here, that’ll build up once we reach the game making stage and beyond. Right Now: - We are at a stage where we have “some” demos, and some “near-complete” lite versions of projects, but even if we finish them, we don’t have any means to advertise them efficiently, which is why the focus has been shifted slightly towards the website, currently our best and most under-utilised tool. - The idea is to continue to develop the website and use it to build a following, through news, teasers, online playable demos and eventually game reviews and pre-launch news/awareness. (Upcoming AAA, upcoming indie games, etc). - I am currently building a platform to advertise ourselves, through the display of online games. HTML mini games that visitors to the site can play, then eventually simple Unity games that can be accessed by some (who have the software) using Unity Webplayer. From there, video demos of games that can’t be put directly online like the Silent Symphony demo, which will lead to download codes and links to access via the app store or steam based on the product. - The priority is cleaning up the website so that it properly represents us as a company, while many features will be kept on ice for now, all the “face” features like the homepage and Gallery need to be finished, before I can shift over to Demo development. The schedule I posted shows an estimated timeline for games development, which can start from the moment the website is unanimously approved. - Starlight is the most important demo to be produced, and should be in the app store by March, though, if we work hard, we can have the demo out in a few weeks, and the full version by March, but that’s down to the input as a team, not specific individuals. - Besides that, there is Stasis, which is an easily advertised 3D demo that could be played directly from the website, and due to its production story, can tap into pre-existing audiences, to draw focus to the website, and our greater body of work. - Hissatsu: Ninja Road, Oath keeper: Conquest, and the RAD games (Rapid App Development), are all key demos for finishing the online platform that will be used to show off Starlight and the page in general, hence, I will be finishing some of those first, so that more people are drawn to the website. A PVP or at least PVC UTS would be great and not too hard, but ambitious and would require discussing with the rest of the team. Demos as it stands (in order): (note, RAD games are completed once fully playable, but full versions of the games will only be made upon request) - Rad: Season 2 o Stratos-fear: space shooter, near completion. o Beat the boss: 2D fighting game, near competition. o Candle-light: Top down maze game, under construction. - Hissatsu Ninja Road: 2D adventure game (expansion of Beat the boss mechanics) - Rad: Season 1 o The Deleter: 3D racing style Unity game (needs cleaning) o Archer: 3D Unity shooting/target practice game (under construction) o CG Tactics: 3D turn based Unity game (under construction) - Stasis: 3D Unity puzzle game, (needs cleaning and further development) - Star-lite: 2D iOS puzzle game, (needs refurbishing) - Starlight: 2D iOS puzzle game, (coming soon) - United They Stand: 3D TRPG, build upon CG Tactics for Unity (coming soon) - Silent Symphony: 2D iOS game - Get to the Choppa: 2D platform game - Oath Keeper: castle siege OR conquest - NSDI