I have an idea for a game that isn't out there

#1 So Whats your idea?

#2 Hey, just a heads up, if you have no way of making the game, what exactly would you be providing a team? Your expertise at direction? Ideas are worth just a little above nothing if not implemented well, and it's the implementation where all the work is needed. Not trying to be harsh, but if you want to sell your idea, ya need to sell yourself first.

#3 To answer Tim....I'm providing financing and marketing. Someone has to be able to take care of things like licenses and other legal duties. Not offended, but as u see I am bringing a lot to the table. Again, I am not offended by no means and I do appreciate the advice.

So, what is your expertise? And are u qaualified to help?


Surge...my professional consulant and I have agreed not to mention the idea without a confidentiality agreement signed and in place. Email me personally and I will tell u as much as I am able. Have you written any games yourself?

And thanks to both of you for replying.

#4 @Gene, Have you documented your ideas etc, so there all down on paper? Designs etc also? What is the scope of the project etc? Or will you be planning to do this as it goes and make changes to things that you think are better down the track?

Could you give an idea to the scale of the project? Is it a MMO game? Is it a multi-player game like Quake 3? Is it single player? FPS? Third person? a casual game? etc?

Is it better suited to TGE, TGEA or TGB? Or is it so radical that it needs its own engine from the ground up?

Good luck!

#5 One of the difficulties with queries like this is that everyone has a few million ideas that are the biggest and the best, and we are constantly seeing floods of them. And they often believe that their ideas, even unimplemented, are the make-and-break side of the equation when it is implementation of the idea that is key. So it is natural to be skeptical of the idea. Flow, Blockland, Limbo, Furcadia, Katamari, etc are all novel ideas, but it was the implementation that sets them apart from the millions of good ideas that never get implemented.

Rather than simply saying that it will be "HUGE!!!!", it would be more useful to developers to know something, anything about it.

Especially since the tone of your first post is notably desperate and not filled with any real content other than the typical "I have an idea, but will not mention anything that I can bring to the team."

Quote:I have an ide for a game that would be HUGE!!! But I have no way of making the game. I have all of the stuff down that will be in the game. Somebody, anybody plz get with me,

It is nothing like a business proposal, but more like a desperate plea to developers with skills and knowledge. "All the stuff down" at least shows forethought, but for all anyone knows, it may be that you've written up a brief paragraph that says "boy meets girl and saves the world from impending doom, but with Pop Rocks as our sponsor." Or you may have a couple hundred pages of design concepts, well-thought out prototypes, and a dedicated project schedule and budget that includes contract costs, copies of Max for employed artists, and a couple copies of Visual Studio Pro for the programmers (as well as a couple of commercial licenses since you'll want to be in the $250,000 bracket in less than a year).

The second post seems quite contrary to the first. I have broken it up a bit to show why it seems a bit out of place in comparison to your first post.

Quote:To answer Tim....I'm providing financing and marketing. Someone has to be able to take care of things like licenses and other legal duties. Not offended, but as u see I am bringing a lot to the table. Again, I am not offended by no means and I do appreciate the advice.

So, what is your expertise? And are u qaualified to help?

It would have done well to note your experience in project management, financing, acquiring angel investors, marketing to portals, etc in your first post. It would also have been nice to lay out an estimation of staffing requirements. Right now, there is still no information whatsoever on a forum dedicated to game ideas.

Quote:Surge...my professional consulant and I have agreed not to mention the idea without a confidentiality agreement signed and in place. Email me personally and I will tell u as much as I am able. Have you written any games yourself?

And thanks to both of you for replying.

I've signed many a NDA in my time, but none over an idea. Mainly because ideas are non-copyrightable and a dime a dozen. I have signed NDA's over patents, mostly for inventions. I've also signed NDA's for access to libraries and SDK's. But they were well in development and had some content there.

I had a big, broad idea years ago to advance RPG gaming in a direction that it had not yet gone. It was a 3D RPG in the first person. Somewhat like Oblivion, but "with others". A couple of years later, Ultima Underworld came out. It was the first fully-realized 3D RPG that I had played (though the Bard's Tale/Wizardry's were close in spirit). I could have been mad that my idea was stolen. After all, I did not have the skills to make Ultima Underworld. Instead, I enjoyed playing it and the next crop of 3D RPG's that came from it. I don't see people complaining that some company stole their idea nearly as much as I used to, but that's often because I see so many projects that are emulating some idea that's already out there. Things like Cloud and Flow and Katamari feel new, regardless of whether the gameplay elements are or not.

So now do you understand a bit why you got the reaction that you did?

Making games is difficult, and entirely too many professional and progressional developers have been burned by idea people who had no concept of the work involved, teamwork and team input, or project management.

#6 Just some advice, if you have funding and are serious about finding people to make this, hire a concept artist (from here, or from sites like www.conceptart.org or www.cgtalk.com), and get someone to make some mockup screens and concept art. Then use those as pitching tools to entice developers.

If your idea is truely HUGE, you should let it work for you. Tell people, and let it get them excited about it. Look at Spore, or the Lionhead games, they use their cool ideas to generate buzz and attract some of the best people and generate free marketing. The problem with NDA's and closed-door demos and stuff like that is you have to already be an established designer or studio to get people interested. The only case where it makes business sense to keep it under wraps is if you CAN implement it yourself, and don't want to generate buzz yet.

If you're trying to do this "commercial" style and not "indy" style, this probably isn't the right place to post. Look for a contractor on gamasutra or something like that.

Joel

#7 Well, the others covered most of your issues. Too vague and too common for anyone to show interest in. If you truly have a "professional consultant" s/he should know that you won't get far without giving us at least a ghost of an idea of what you're doing. If you're ability to finance and market a product is really enough to make yourself a contributor to such a product, there are other things you could do to advance the project, as Davis mentioned. Also, internet slang and chat talk make you look highly unprofessional. If you want to be taken seriously, spell out "you" instead of putting "u", it can make a world of difference if all we have to go off of is how you present yourself and your potential 'idea'. Same with your profile - no skills, no experience, no nothing. You've been here since yesterday; take some time to sit down and fill out your profile so that if anyone is interested, it looks like you've actually put some effort into being here. Blank lines just make it look like some sort of scam.