investors needed

#1 You are not alone in this problem, pretty much everyone here has the same problem where they would like to work on their game project full time and be paid to do so.

Based on the project that I am a part of, here are my recommendations
1) Have a technology demonstration that you can show off, until you can proove that you have the team and talent that can create a game from start to finish no one will give a rats ass about your group.
2) Business plan & Elevator speech. This will allow you to get someone intersted in what you are doing and show them that you have a plan how to make their investment work for them.
3) Keep working on your project! People like to see progress.

Investors aren't stupid, they want to ensure that their money is going to come back to them (and with a healthy return).

Logan

#2 L. Foster's reply is right on. I didn't reply to this post because the grammer and spelling was so poor that I thought it was a joke. If it isn't a joke, please make sure you have an editor go over your business plan.

Jeff tunnell GG

#3 yeah i know about my grammar but the buisness plan has no mistakes :)

the recomendation which L. Foster gave are good but i cant make it to the point that i can show off with something really good the will draw atention becouse of the lack of time, so no one wants to invest in me and i get back to where i started. i have plenty ideas but not enought time to program them. so if there is some investor who maybe will be impresed by ideas it'll help alot. but where do i find them?!

#4 Here is how I would do it if I were you:

Dear Mom & Dad,
Send money quick!

Love,
Vadim

#5 Here is an alternative plan to give you 8-12 hours per day to work. It's not very healthy, but you are young.

1. Forget Sleep or sleep 2 hours per day.

2. Buy a lot of this - http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/caffeine/2967.shtml
Put it on your food and drink it with Expresso, after all you don't want to fall asleep on the job.

3. This should give you a good 8-12 hours of game development per day.

4. Optional. Sleep all weekend. This is recommended but not required.

Disclaimer: This theory looks sound on paper, but try it at your own risk because it has not been tested.

#6 thats funny :(
but the problem is much more global, its not just me.
and u think parents will just give u the money?
and what if they dont have it?
it looks like u have to be ritch just to develop a game. or your parents have to ritch so every month you'll ask for money. investors wont u to come to them after u made something but how can u make that something if u dont have time do it becouse u need to work?

#7 oh my god, people really drink this stuff?

#8 Well, I was trying to be funny, but this time I wont.
I will tell you with out a doubt:

1. No investor will invest in your game if you can not communicate at least half way decently in any language.

2. No one is going to come to you because they have too much money and want to give it to you so you can pursue this game you claim to have this wonderful, new, and original idea about.

3. If you truely want to make this game, you will - no matter how little time you have. You will find time.

4. Trying to make people feel sorry for you won't get you money. In fact it will drive investors away. Investors do not want to hear about your life problems. They want to know what your idea is and how it will make them money.

#9 I think you got a wrong impresion. I'm not trying to make people feel sorry for me. I'm just tierd of hearing the same sentance: "we wont invest in your game now becouse we dont think its ready for it...come back with a demo and we will think about it" over and over again. I just want to find someone who'll invest into my game, but no one is willing.

#10 Your probably not going to get anyone to invest in your game. So what's the solution?

1. Work on it in your spare time. Remember there are no deadlines and you can take as long as you have to, to make your game.

2. Get some more people to donate their spare time to help you.

Remember that some game development companies have hundreds of employees and still take 6 years to produce a game that they have worked on all day every day.

#11 So if you ever become succesful, every swinging person that comes into your office with the "next best" idea and has nothing to show you but an idea, you are going to turn aorund and give him thousands of dollars to develop it even though you have no proof of a. his ability to code the game, b. the ability to draw art for the game, c. the ability to stay and finish the game?

You are just going to write him a blank check?

I dont think so. If you would, you would soon be out of business.

Just because you can post on these forums is not going to mean that someone will give you money because you can post claiming you have all these hardships and desperately need money to continue your game which is the "next best" idea.

#12 Sad, but true. I'm not an investor, nor do I have money. I am interested in the stock market as a hobby. If I were to make several hundred thousand dollars over a period of five years or so in the stock market, this is what I would tell you.

There is no way I'm investing in an unproven developer without even a demonstratable product.

The only assets in game development are source code and art. Neither of those is really worth much of anything from a failed product. If something happens and the developer I invested in can't finish the job, I'm screwed. All that money is gone, and there is nothing I can do about it. The developer is most likely too poor to sue for breach of contract.

As much as I love games, this is one thing I just wouldn't invest in. I'd be far better off back in the stock market, mutual funds, commodities, or a lot of other markets. As insulting as may sound, any venture capitalist would be insane to invest in a college student without a demonstratable product.

#13 Maybe there is another way to demonstrate skills then a demo. If i prove the investor that i can make the project so he wont need a demo.

#14 Not a chance

#15 Finding time and still taking care of real-life biz isn't too much of a problem. You just have to be willing to say good-bye to your social life and (as one other poster mentioned) goodbye to sleep. I'm an insomniac, so working on a game hasn't interfered with my sleep since I never slept much to begin with. Saying goodbye to spending my free-time in night clubs, "hangin' with my crew" and\or spending time with my GF was the hard part, but even that hasn't been too big of a deal, my friends are tech savy enough that I just signed them on (we're trying to make some of the ideas we had back in school become a reality).

I don't have college to worry about though (been there, done that), just my jobs (yes, *jobs*). But damn.... I miss the night clubs..... And I think my girlfriend is probably going to murder me (litterally, I'm serious, she's crazier than I am).

#16 Vadim,

I think you should get out of the game business. Actually, you are not even in it yet, so that will be easy. You don't want it bad enough. Honestly.

Jeff Tunnell GG

#17 I agree with Jeff here Vadim, you have more important things to worry about right now (such as trying graduating from school at the top of your class) to be worrying about creating games.

Finish up your schooling, go work for three years, and if you still feel that games is your calling then you should go and make a serious effort towards getting into it. If you try to spread your efforts around too much at this state, you are going to seriously screw up your life.

These comments weren't made by us to be jerks, these are honest comments that you should take into serious consideration.

Logan

#18 From my past experiences with indie game development (still struggling to make it), the best advice I have is to form a strong team to build your demo. You are correct Vadim in saying that there isn't enough time in the day to develop games and go to work (and possibly school too). Even if you can squeeze in 20 hours per week - if won't nearly be enough. There are too many skill sets required to build a good game demo - programming, art, leadership, music, vision, design, etc.

You can't do it all by yourself.

You probably can't even do it with two or three people - all working 20 hours a week on the project. You really need to build a virtual team of people, like yourself, that have a passion for games and are willing to sacrifice some part of their life to take a shot at success.

Honestly, it's companies like Garage Games that are really giving us indies the best chance at getting into the game industry. Consider how the Torque Game Engine, the GG marketplace, the GG forums, and the advice from people that have succeeded in this industry (like Tim, Jeff, and Rick) each contribute to your chance at success. GG is removing many of the obstacles in our way but ultimately your success is in your hands.

It's interesting to compare the game industry to other entertainment industries, they all suffer from this "start-up" problem. Consider how hard it is to actually make real money as an actor or a musician. There are tons of people out there sacrifing alot to make it in all forms of the entertainment industry - and many of those people do indeed reach their goals. My point? The entertainment business has always been a hard industry to get into but people have been doing it for years and have been succeeding.

Don't give up.

#19 Some of u said i'd better quit and Jeff Tunnel even said i'm not realy in it. It's not true, i'm developing over a year already and i do have a team. A small one but its a team. I'm the programmer and the script writer, there are a modeler/artist and a level designer. They both study with me at the University.
I'm not giving up but the progress is very slow. The game will be finished but i dont know when, maybe in 20 years. Thats why i'm desperatly looking for investors: to work full time on it, speed up and finish it in a reseanable period of time.
I think everybody has the same problem. Or is it just me?
And here is a question to think about: The big companies, they all started like that and now when they achieved what they achieved, why dont they help small team like us?

#20 The big companies got where they are by making intelligent business decisions, such as not giving money to anyone who asks for it.

Get your game to demo state. It doesn't need incredibly flash graphics or anything; it just needs to show your game idea and prove potential. Then see if someone will fund your game.

Noone's going to give you money because you say "I have a good game, come fund me." Prove it.

One step along the way might be to actually set up a project here in GarageGames - at the moment your profile shows nothing about this fabulous game that deserves wads of cash.