Boy.... it's tough out there!

So its been a while since I have posted. The main reason is we have been very busy. The last few blog entries I made spoke a lot about our work on our internal IP code name Steam Jetz. We have made some awesome strides on that project and we have learned so much from it. We are now revamping the pitch to make another run at one of those three. After taking feed back from some really great people we are in a good position to re-pitch. As it turns out you cant really do anything with out money as all of the core team members are working for peanuts... nah I am just kidding we don't have any more peanuts...

Now with the main IP in a state of re-write how do we go about making a successful studio in an economy like this? The answer is not to complicated but its a mix of things. The first is size is the scope down a bit on the next project. The second is to gain a source of income solely for the business. Let's chat about the first one as it ties into the second one.

Right size scope for the right sized team. This was a hard learned lesson for me. Steam Jetz is huge it spans multiple forms of media and its more than a game it's a brand. This would be perfect for an establish studio with 30 – 40 in staff and a nice sizable budget. Which by the way does not describe our team. Now with that in mind we are working on games that are sized for XBOX Live Community Games or XBLA.

Now that we know exactly what we can and can't do as a core team, we know what type of contracts to go after. I am using as much of my networking skill as I can in order to rub elbows with people who need game development services. Several of them we had to turn away as either the project was to large or we had no access to contractors who could fulfill the role. I have the great fortune of living in one of the coolest cities in America.. Hutto, Tx Yes you have never heard of that and yes you pronouncing it wrong. It's HUT TOE not HOO TO. Anyways Hutto sits about 30 minutes away from Austin. And in Austin there is or well was about 75 game development studios at the end of last year. As you all know they have been taking some hits and closing up shop. This is a horrible thing for both the industry and its fans. But if you so happen to be in a position to help people who no longer have a job by offering them a contractor positions... things could work out just fine.

I have at in my backyard so to speak some of the top game development talent in the world. So when I get a contract that is larger than what we can currently handle I can expand my team at the whim to handle larger projects. Let me explain why this is such a good thing and why I encourage people to thought fully look at this solution. If you have a small core team such as our team. When you are awarded a project (usually you bid for them) you can guarantee the client that they will not be paying more for your over head cost. This means that every dollar they spend goes into making their project a successful game. The other benefit is that you will also be able to size your team to the project(s) at hand and not have to pay a large amount in wages. I will try and go deeper into this and what I am exactly doing to help pass on the business ideas in future blog post.

I can't help but post a video of a VERY early Alpha build of a project that we are working on. It's called Strike Force PSI. The client wanted a very simple game that can be used in advertising a product and service. In this build you will see that we have the main character imported (by hand) and we have all the basic game play elements in. All controls, gun, grenades, check points, level loading and so on. There is still a lot more to go on and we are awaiting a graphics pack from www.DAMI.lt to change everything except the main character. Enjoy...


Donald Harris
Creative Director
www.starlitskygames.com
donald@starlitskygames.com