The Precipice of Change!

We're currently standing at the precipice of change in the creative industry; Of course, the gaming industry is always changing and moving in one direction or another; as is evident when observing how typical game-design have changed over a small period of years.

So the big question on everyone's lips is this "What's this change you speak of, and what’s my stake in it?"... OK so maybe not on everyone's lips but lets be frank, I’ve peaked your interest! Yes it's true I’m afraid; We are currently entering an age where focus is being placed on enhanced console-gaming. A world where motion controls are the homecoming kings and queens. And the regular controls are being gradually left behind.

This also means that game design is being forced in a specific direction. And i know, i know... "Motion controls are just a fad, it'll pass eventually!"; Yes this is true, motion controls have been around for many years and have only recently begun to gradually raise to the top.

However, this will impact the creative industry, and sub-sequentially the game-developers for years to come.

It's not all "doom" and "gloom" though; Because we know this is going to happen, we can adapt to the situation and begin to develop games before people even know that they crave them.
There is of course an inherent risk involved in this approach, so naturally the stakes are pretty high.

The reason behind my commitment to my cause is in actuality not one of necessity, but one of desire.

I have a desire to create my own company and produce games that will be enjoyed throughout the world. But i could equally be apart of another company's developer team.

I want to be able to look down on a product or at a forum and say proudly "I helped make this!" and i want to be able to do it repeatedly and with greater success each time.

By observing the current market, we can establish what exists and what the audience/consumers wish to see, it is my belief that by combining what has been established as good design with new elements that the public have yet to experience but crave.

You could say that my "Window of opportunity" stems from the fact that while bigger developers focus on whats tried and true; i could easily get funding for a smaller project that can rival the bigger ones simply by being daring and enhancing upon their model of success. The problem with doing this is that it sends ripples up the creek, and eventually the bigger companies will feel secure enough to "copy" your approach.

But there will always be competition in the creative industries, This is because most project are constructed upon the same existing model-frameworks. most FPS' games, for example, usually employ the same base-mechanics (such as WASD moment, interactive objects and CTF-gamemodes).

I feel that the correct approach to this is to alter the base-model each time you begin a new project to keep things fresh; with consideration of course. It's a bad idea to throw out a mechanic or function that works; simply because it's tried and true.

And as i mentioned above, this is a "high risk/potentially high reward"-approach and failure is always an option, but as Master Yoda said to Luke Skywalker; "There is no try, there is do or don't".

The cost however, and consequences of a failed product, is somewhat of a stain on your resumé. In worst cases it would potentially mean bankruptcy for a smaller development-company. In cases such as these, it's important to find alternate funding that can keep the company afloat until a successful product is released.

Now i could go into details about my current project; but i choose not to since that would compromise project-integrity; This is a public blog after all!

Now, we all know that one guy (or maybe your are that one guy) that thinks "I don't care about the evolution of the industry". Well you should!
Waaaay back; in the beginning when we first began to ride the computational-highways into "digitalized" entertainment, we were lucky enough to only have one game. Don't get me wrong, at the time it was awesome in every single way; but as time went on and we began to establish a wider market; that meant we also had to step up our game (pun intended).

Sure, we've all been there; we've all said to ourselves "Hey, time has nothing to do with it... some games will be awesome until the end of days" and we would be right! But have you ever tried going back to those "top-notch-of-their-times" games we loved when we were younger?

If you have, chances are that you remembered it differently, and you weren't as entertained now as you were back then. This is because we crave new and exciting things. And as old things become even older we tend to become spoiled with new performance and visual enhancements.

So you see; you should care about the evolution of games and conventional game design because in the end, you (the consumer) are responsible for how the industry adapts/evolves.

The process of developing games can be considered a "war on two fronts". Firstly there has to be a desire for that particular type of game; This is were consumers such as yourself must take action, Voice you wishes throughout every available media! Give cause for production!

The other end is the developer-side; We need to gather information and prototype mechanics to be sure that what we deliver is in consensus with your desires.

In contrast to that there is a opportunity here; Not only for a up-and-starting company, but also for the members of the project group.

You see, before any company evolves into a corporate giant, they usually start out as groups of independent developers.
Indie(Independent) developers don't have the financial backing that bigger corporations do and because of this, they cannot compete with AAA-titles.

But at the same time; This allows them to pursue new and unexplored territories, which is why they still hold a big portion of the market in a iron grip.
Because they can explore these territories they also gain greater insight on what works and what don't, A leisure that bigger companies usually don't have.

Indie games can help establish a previous un-tapped type of games, and because of this Indie games usually pave the future of game development. Good ideas are invested in, and bad ones are avoided. Because funding is relatively low, this is a good way to establish working parameters for a specific target audience.

Because Indie games usually explore "previously undiscovered" areas of the market; They have little competition (with the exception of similar game types of course!). Because of this they generate relatively greater revenue than what conventional games do. This can be considered a "gap" in the market, that people didn't even know existed.

However! Even if this is considered a financial opportunity, it is hard to give even a rough estimate of potential revenue that can be gained through this method of marketing. This is due to the fact that by moving further away from conventional design can cause both larger and smaller gaps in target audience, All i can say that is from my own observations is that my project is probably not gonna be the best game ever released, but still generate enough revenue to further allow us to create new games.

So what is to gain from this "project" I'm working on?

well... new (and existing) stakeholders/members of the project may be offered a financial compensation upon successful launch of the game. This is dependant on how well it sells and what resources are available to the company... the goal is, of course, to adequately compensate all members of the project, but short of that, the only thing that can be gained through working in this project is insight and experience. 

Im sure there are people who are thinking "Why not do it yourself and keep all the profit?". Well first of all I am hardly a graphical artist, and anything short of stick figures and geometrical figures is pretty much out of my league... but it is also my belief that projects can only benefit from additional points of view. Having more members can, of course, be difficult to control, especially when no clear hiearchy has been established, but it will potentially pay off in the end.

I also intend to try and circumvent many problems by inducing a strict "no-change" policy after a certain date. Changes after that, shall be discussed and comtemplated provided that they have good reasons.

Don't get me wrong, all projects start out a special way, but change drastically during production. The end-results usually end up quite different from the original idea. 

The cause of this is that as the project progresses sacrifices/revisions are essential to ensure good quality. This is mainly because ideas and opinions are always changing; and an idea that seemed good yesterday might sound less perfect tomorrow. I do not believe my project (or my idea) to be any different in this matter.

As with every project, new participants would have to invest time and skill into the project. Since this can be considered a "kickstart" for a company there is no promise of monitary compensation other than a share of the profits upon successfull launch of our first product.