I started watching you when I was learning C++. Back then I made a pet project and published it on YT. 2 years after a publisher saw that video and proposed to make a real game out of it. So I opened a small studio of 3 people and we've been working on that game for 1.5 years now.
Gotta say I'm impressed with some of the cuts where the lighting changes completely but you're like mid-sentence and it doesn't even sound like it was interrupted at all.
One of the first kickstarters I backed was for a "visual novel"/ rpg style game via an "indie studio". They got tens of thousands of dollars to make the game via the kickstarter, but then suddenly writers were leaving the project, and no one was doing what they were supposed to, and all the money vanished into someone's pocket and no actual game was made. They didn't even have enough "game" to make a demo--just some lore and art (which they'd used on the kickstarter video to sell the project). The two people left on the project at the end just dumped all the art and writing assets into a pdf and gave that to the backers with their apologies. Someone definitely made money off of that. It felt like a scam, but in retrospect I think it might have been a combo of wildly poor management, unprofessionalism, and people who maybe didn't have the skillset to do what they were attempting and learned while they were working on it that THAT was the case.
This was great and I really appreciate the video Mark. We are actually opening up a coworking space through our non-profit in Edmonton for game developers because it's so hard to make a go of it at the beginning. Our own studio is also a cooperative so trying to make this work in a very different way than some others.
@@MarkDarrah Thank you for making this. Some really interesting points and I've shared it with my co-founders as we finish up our Canada Media Fund application. I've added Triage Games to our list of studios across Alberta and I'll be reaching out shortly from my Interactive Arts Alberta account because I think you're doing something super fun and unique in the ecosystem!
Fantastic advice! I've had some friends start talking about this and I pretty much started asking and answering these questions. I'm not sure if it'd happen but it makes me feel I'm on the right track.
very solid vid, thank you very much for this a little bit unrelated, but you made quite an emphasis on having to wear many hats in smaller teams and that it's preferable (if not crucial) to find people who are multi-talented. i've been wearing many hats in the industry for several years now and while it's obviously advantageous for a small-sized studio/company, it's also quite taxing on employees. "wearing many hats" really feels like a subtle way of saying "having a single person do several people's work but still get a single person's paycheck" which is quite predatory and f***ed up. imho apart from solo dev, one should only be wearing more hats than one if it's an indie team of passionate people without any budget trying their best to deliver a game at all costs. if you actually pay people salary to work on your game and those people do lots of different stuff that usually requires an additional person to handle, you should pay them accordingly. one should not think of making people "wear many hats" as a way to get free value out of them on top of what they actually get paid for. this is honestly very sad that only in gamedev such practices are very common and even reinforced, it's hard to imagine someone from general it to do anything like that sorry for a wall of text lol and thank you again for the vid, looking forward to the continuation
You are making a new game. I hope you talk about how different it has to be to avoid a copyright claim. I'm still sore about WB patented their nemesis system.
@@MarkDarrah that's a diplomatic response sir ... No one can complete +90 % of DA inquisition with The Descent dlc on less then 48 hours ... With max difficulty settings ( without golden nug however will takes longer ) .
54 minutes on the questions to ask before starting a studio.
I started watching you when I was learning C++. Back then I made a pet project and published it on YT. 2 years after a publisher saw that video and proposed to make a real game out of it. So I opened a small studio of 3 people and we've been working on that game for 1.5 years now.
Learned tons of things including porting to mobiles
Wow! Amazing!
That's exciting! Best of luck to you!
I'm coding too while learning, wish me luck ❤. Congrats dude
Gotta say I'm impressed with some of the cuts where the lighting changes completely but you're like mid-sentence and it doesn't even sound like it was interrupted at all.
I am a master of sub par edits
One of the first kickstarters I backed was for a "visual novel"/ rpg style game via an "indie studio". They got tens of thousands of dollars to make the game via the kickstarter, but then suddenly writers were leaving the project, and no one was doing what they were supposed to, and all the money vanished into someone's pocket and no actual game was made. They didn't even have enough "game" to make a demo--just some lore and art (which they'd used on the kickstarter video to sell the project). The two people left on the project at the end just dumped all the art and writing assets into a pdf and gave that to the backers with their apologies. Someone definitely made money off of that. It felt like a scam, but in retrospect I think it might have been a combo of wildly poor management, unprofessionalism, and people who maybe didn't have the skillset to do what they were attempting and learned while they were working on it that THAT was the case.
If they made 10s of thousands of dollars as opposed to millions, I don’t expect it was a scam. Just people without experience
I think I know that Kickstarter as well. Maybe we backed the same.
This was great and I really appreciate the video Mark. We are actually opening up a coworking space through our non-profit in Edmonton for game developers because it's so hard to make a go of it at the beginning. Our own studio is also a cooperative so trying to make this work in a very different way than some others.
Thanks for watching.
@@MarkDarrah Thank you for making this. Some really interesting points and I've shared it with my co-founders as we finish up our Canada Media Fund application. I've added Triage Games to our list of studios across Alberta and I'll be reaching out shortly from my Interactive Arts Alberta account because I think you're doing something super fun and unique in the ecosystem!
Oh, is this an amalgamation of the other vids that were in parts?
Yes. I'm holding it in case I REALLY need something and I haven't gotten to record anything.
@@MarkDarrah Got it!
Fantastic advice! I've had some friends start talking about this and I pretty much started asking and answering these questions. I'm not sure if it'd happen but it makes me feel I'm on the right track.
Good luck!
very solid vid, thank you very much for this
a little bit unrelated, but you made quite an emphasis on having to wear many hats in smaller teams and that it's preferable (if not crucial) to find people who are multi-talented. i've been wearing many hats in the industry for several years now and while it's obviously advantageous for a small-sized studio/company, it's also quite taxing on employees. "wearing many hats" really feels like a subtle way of saying "having a single person do several people's work but still get a single person's paycheck" which is quite predatory and f***ed up. imho apart from solo dev, one should only be wearing more hats than one if it's an indie team of passionate people without any budget trying their best to deliver a game at all costs. if you actually pay people salary to work on your game and those people do lots of different stuff that usually requires an additional person to handle, you should pay them accordingly. one should not think of making people "wear many hats" as a way to get free value out of them on top of what they actually get paid for. this is honestly very sad that only in gamedev such practices are very common and even reinforced, it's hard to imagine someone from general it to do anything like that
sorry for a wall of text lol and thank you again for the vid, looking forward to the continuation
It’s totally dependent upon workload.
You can have someone doing 2 or 3 jobs but still working a normal week
This was such a good, thorough video, it feels like you could charge for it. Lots of solid information, advice, and everything.
5$ please!
You are making a new game. I hope you talk about how different it has to be to avoid a copyright claim. I'm still sore about WB patented their nemesis system.
I wouldn’t worry about that patent. If someone wanted to do something similar, they likely could
Thanks for the vid!
Thank for watching
FYI, first chapter is mislabeled as Who instead of Why.
Thank you!
Do you believe me sir when i said I'm the best dragon age ( all games) player at the world? ( by gameplay).
It’s possible
@@MarkDarrah that's a diplomatic response sir ... No one can complete +90 % of DA inquisition with The Descent dlc on less then 48 hours ... With max difficulty settings ( without golden nug however will takes longer ) .