Ninjas vs. Pirates: An Adventure in Game and Business Planning
by Jon Jorajuria · 03/11/2006 (1:16 pm) · 3 comments
One of the hardest aspects to the project myself and my business partner have had to undertake has been balancing business and game planning. I am writing this to share my experience and hopefully help a few people along the way.
Business Plan:
DarkCombat Entertainment grew out of a guild that has played many MMOs. We started the company because we were tired of major game companies producing what they thought gamers wanted. Often times major companies mirror the entertainment industry and produce cookie cutter games based on "market research," rather than making games based upon customer suggestions. Keeping this in mind, we founded DarkCombat Entertainment with the simple philosophy...Make affordable games that are available to all based on reasonable customer ideas and suggestions.
Once we had our philosophy, we decided what our ultimate goal was; in our case it is to make an MMO/FPS/RTS game on a very large scale. We decided to create a road map to our goal and realistically determined what we were capable of creating now. Once we determined where our starting point was, we implemented our plan. The first game was set to be a learning experience then each game that followed would build upon the previous game until we reached our long term goal. We set a 5 year business plan around four games.
From a financial aspect we decided early on that we would finance this project ourselves. We did not want to be financially dedicated to outside people or entities that could influence the decision making/planning process of our games. At times this has proven hard especially when people want to help finance a project they think they can make money off of.
We also decided that we would only work with people that were excited about the project and shared our beliefs. This included both volunteer and paid contract positions. We believe that while money helps move a project forward, people who believe in it give the project soul. From an interaction view when people believe in the project there is less head butting and conflict. In addition we treat the people who are working on the project with respect and fairness. They are helping us get started, it is only right that we give back to them. A simple thank you or even a small token of appreciation goes a long way.
The last and on of the most important parts for us was to create opportunities. Find what you are good at and share it. We are very strong at music/sound and video for games. We have started working on projects using these talents to help finance out gaming company. Another place where I see people going wrong is a fear of rejection. If you have a pie in the sky idea but you are fearful that the person who can help pull it off will say no, don't let that stop you from asking. You may be surprised at the answer you receive, hell they may even say yes. Also don't be afraid to release something even if it is not perfect, you generate interest in your project which allows you to create new opportunities.
Game Plan:
Ninjas vs. Pirates started off as a learning experience that quickly grew into a full length that we have decided to take to market. It has grown bigger than we expected but we have still stayed within scope of the project. We have a core team that has bled over to the game development side from the business side, and that has been largely due to wanting to keep the game goals inline with the business goals.
One of the biggest things that kill a game is scope creep. Early on we decided to make a simple but fun game that our friends could enjoy. While our websites are getting hammered with visits, we have still remained true to the original scope. We did expand the art to be better suited for commercial release and made the environment more complex, but we have not had any major scope creeps.
We started to develop Ninjas vs. Pirates on TGE 1.3 and even though TGE 1.4 came out mid way through the project, we have not upgraded. The reason for has a lot to do with game planning and staying on target for our release date in summer 2006. For our next game, we will use TGE 1.4. We did enhance the game with TLK, but since there was not a need to do major code reworking, it has proven to be an excellent enhancement.
Again we chose people who were excided about the project, and I believe that excitement really shows in the game. Everybody has a say in the game, however the project manager decides what can or can not go into it. There needs to be a leader, and there needs to be followers. It helps a project move forward when people know their role and the leader actually leads the people involved.
Enhancing a game can be done without causing major disruption to the scope of the project and without causing major delays. If everybody involved knows what the expectations are and are honest with each other, you will have a successful project. Share the project's scope with all and discuss realistic goals, it take a lot off the people involved and facilitates teamwork.
Game Site: ninjasvspirates.darkcombat.net
Company Site: www.darkcombat.net
Business Plan:
DarkCombat Entertainment grew out of a guild that has played many MMOs. We started the company because we were tired of major game companies producing what they thought gamers wanted. Often times major companies mirror the entertainment industry and produce cookie cutter games based on "market research," rather than making games based upon customer suggestions. Keeping this in mind, we founded DarkCombat Entertainment with the simple philosophy...Make affordable games that are available to all based on reasonable customer ideas and suggestions.
Once we had our philosophy, we decided what our ultimate goal was; in our case it is to make an MMO/FPS/RTS game on a very large scale. We decided to create a road map to our goal and realistically determined what we were capable of creating now. Once we determined where our starting point was, we implemented our plan. The first game was set to be a learning experience then each game that followed would build upon the previous game until we reached our long term goal. We set a 5 year business plan around four games.
From a financial aspect we decided early on that we would finance this project ourselves. We did not want to be financially dedicated to outside people or entities that could influence the decision making/planning process of our games. At times this has proven hard especially when people want to help finance a project they think they can make money off of.
We also decided that we would only work with people that were excited about the project and shared our beliefs. This included both volunteer and paid contract positions. We believe that while money helps move a project forward, people who believe in it give the project soul. From an interaction view when people believe in the project there is less head butting and conflict. In addition we treat the people who are working on the project with respect and fairness. They are helping us get started, it is only right that we give back to them. A simple thank you or even a small token of appreciation goes a long way.
The last and on of the most important parts for us was to create opportunities. Find what you are good at and share it. We are very strong at music/sound and video for games. We have started working on projects using these talents to help finance out gaming company. Another place where I see people going wrong is a fear of rejection. If you have a pie in the sky idea but you are fearful that the person who can help pull it off will say no, don't let that stop you from asking. You may be surprised at the answer you receive, hell they may even say yes. Also don't be afraid to release something even if it is not perfect, you generate interest in your project which allows you to create new opportunities.
Game Plan:
Ninjas vs. Pirates started off as a learning experience that quickly grew into a full length that we have decided to take to market. It has grown bigger than we expected but we have still stayed within scope of the project. We have a core team that has bled over to the game development side from the business side, and that has been largely due to wanting to keep the game goals inline with the business goals.
One of the biggest things that kill a game is scope creep. Early on we decided to make a simple but fun game that our friends could enjoy. While our websites are getting hammered with visits, we have still remained true to the original scope. We did expand the art to be better suited for commercial release and made the environment more complex, but we have not had any major scope creeps.
We started to develop Ninjas vs. Pirates on TGE 1.3 and even though TGE 1.4 came out mid way through the project, we have not upgraded. The reason for has a lot to do with game planning and staying on target for our release date in summer 2006. For our next game, we will use TGE 1.4. We did enhance the game with TLK, but since there was not a need to do major code reworking, it has proven to be an excellent enhancement.
Again we chose people who were excided about the project, and I believe that excitement really shows in the game. Everybody has a say in the game, however the project manager decides what can or can not go into it. There needs to be a leader, and there needs to be followers. It helps a project move forward when people know their role and the leader actually leads the people involved.
Enhancing a game can be done without causing major disruption to the scope of the project and without causing major delays. If everybody involved knows what the expectations are and are honest with each other, you will have a successful project. Share the project's scope with all and discuss realistic goals, it take a lot off the people involved and facilitates teamwork.
Game Site: ninjasvspirates.darkcombat.net
Company Site: www.darkcombat.net
About the author
#2
03/12/2006 (9:24 am)
Those are great plans, and I'm glad you shared them. We would do well to follow in that path. I'm really looking forward to seeing (and hearing) more of your work (wink wink).
#3
03/13/2006 (7:01 am)
Sounds like an interesting game. If you're looking for any coders, let me know ;)
Torque Owner Jason Swearingen
I hope that I will have the disipline in my projects that you are displaying here :)