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Gaming thesis
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07-07-2012 8:06pm#1
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Join Date:Posts: 50636
How about capcom supporting 2DF and GGPO which kept the fighting game scene alive so that whem SF4 came out there was a community already in place to support the game and how they have used GGPO netcode in their own games. That's just one off the top of my head.
Then there's how the only people that are archiving old games properly are pretty much pirates under current laws.
That's just two off the top of my head.
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Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »I'm sorry, did you not realise within a few posts that your idea was worthless and you'll never get anywhere because your idea is ****?
Well done, if not.
Was someone not loved as a child ?
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So far only three games have broken the $1m marker on Kickstarter; Double Fine Adventure, Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Returns. These games are either based on existing IPs with large fan bases or from well known (and most importantly well loved) developers. As you can see, this isn't a particularly suitable model for future investment in new titles.
On top of that, when asked how much it would cost to develop/fund Psychonauts, a proper AAA title, Tim Schafer said it would cost at least $10m. This is a far fry from the kind of money people have donated on Kickstarter thus far and that's ignoring the fact that $10m is on the very low end of the development budget scale for most AAA titles.
I'd be interested to see the breakdown of the costs for AAA titles. I would imagine these costs can be brought down once the bloated middlemen and extravagant offices are cut out.
If ever a product could be produced by people collaborating over the internet from home, a video game is it.
My brother-in-law worked on some major animated movies in the US and he done most of his work from home on his own computer. I think he only went to work in the (very large) office to get the free coke and pizza!
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Given the fact that the average independent UK studio will spend around £4m on salaries alone over a two year period, I don't think that's possible.I'd be interested to see the breakdown of the costs for AAA titles. I would imagine these costs can be brought down once the bloated middlemen and extravagant offices are cut out.
Actually it'd be a complete ****ing nightmare. While it may work just fine for a small group of people, when you're dealing with 50 people and above (which is around, for instance, the UK average for an independent studio) it would result in utter chaos in nearly every discipline.If ever a product could be produced by people collaborating over the internet from home, a video game is it.
I take it he didn't work for Pixar then?My brother-in-law worked on some major animated movies in the US and he done most of his work from home on his own computer. I think he only went to work in the (very large) office to get the free coke and pizza!
By the way OP, an interesting issue to deal with in your thesis could be on what people feel is required for them to stop pirating. Is it a simple case of content needing to be more widely available? Does it have to be cheaper than current physical media? Must it be transferable to different devices in a hassle free manner?
Also, while games have digital distribution services such as Steam, Impulse, Desura etc... which have gone down rather well with gamers who like to own their content, the likes of Netflix has proven extremely successful on both sides of the Atlantic when it comes to simply streaming it. OnLive and Gaikai are poised to target this market for games but it remains to be seen how gamers will react to it. Under the right conditions (and by that I mean primairly broadband speed and/or pricing) it could also be interesting to gauge gamers reactions to such services.0 -
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The reason I brought the wages issue up was because out of the $10m minimum budget, you'd already have spent over $6m on wages alone for an extremely small staff.I'm not talking about bringing development labour costs down. That's not a bloated cost. That's a real cost. I'm interested in learning what pushes costs above £10mil for ONE game. Software and computers, the main tools of production, certainly don't.
Then you have to factor in the development of the core tech which would drive up development time further or you could licence a third party engine which is another rather significant upfront cost. Not sure why you'd discount hardware and software though, neither the console dev kits nor the various art package are in any way cheap. There's also platform fees for the big publishers, testing and certification costs etc...
Even when you're done you need to pump money into marketing. Some may see this as bloated but conversely you often see people giving out that games are "sent out to die" by their publishers which is a direct result of little to no money being invested in marketing.
The simple ability to walk over to someone's desk and see what they're talking about on-screen is lost when you remove the office environment. Collaborative meetings, whether they're code, art or design reviews, also become more difficult or downright impossible in a networked environment.Definitely a possibility for problems. But what exactly is it that keeps everything so organised in an office? Can this not be recreated with network collaboration? I'm just playing Devils Advocate here BTW. Because it's clear there is a supply and demand issue facing video games due to digital media being limitless in supply and limited in demand.
This is slightly off topic though and while it would make for an interesting debate, you'll be hard pushed to find any real figures on development budget breakdowns so you'll be relying on rough summaries like those above.
You certainly wouldn't be alone in that I'd imagine. I can see the last point being an issue with content providers though, they sell you a product after all, not a service.I think it's all of those. I personally find it attractive to buy digital media only when it's at a really low price, is DRM and other types of security lockdown free, and is made easy to access (ie. download as many times as I may need, in any different kind of formats that would be expected of the media in question).
Totally agree on this one. I much prefer to own the content I purchase and have it stored locally. If I had to pay a subscription in order to stream it also then I'd be totally open to that but the idea of not being able to access any of my content in the event that my internet connection drops is totally unacceptable.Video on demand is great. And I did enjoy OnLive for the sheer wonderment of it working so well (at times). But with video games, I hate the thought that if my internet connection dropped, I couldn't play my games at all.0 -
The reason I brought the wages issue up was because out of the $10m minimum budget, you'd already have spent over $6m on wages alone for an extremely small staff.
Then you have to factor in the development of the core tech which would drive up development time further or you could licence a third party engine which is another rather significant upfront cost. Not sure why you'd discount hardware and software though, neither the console dev kits nor the various art package are in any way cheap. There's also platform fees for the big publishers, testing and certification costs etc...
Even when you're done you need to pump money into marketing. Some may see this as bloated but conversely you often see people giving out that games are "sent out to die" by their publishers which is a direct result of little to no money being invested in marketing.
I suppose my view of it is skewed by the fact I have been primarily thinking in terms of PC game development. All those costs you mention are fair for console games.
In my skewed vision of the future I see a universal games console, much like a pc or OnLive box, sitting in the living room in replace of Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation are now. All games are compatible and digitally delivered. Downloaded to keep, or streamed if you want instant access. If that is the case, things like expensive dev kits and publishing costs are really brought down.
I also want to point out I in no way want to see an end to the traditional game dev team working together in a shared space. I'm just interested in ways around cutting costs if needs be during this disruption to the video gaming industries model, caused by piracy .
In my optimistic view of the future though, I think the gaming industry will prosper from a new model involving digital distribution via a universal living room console selling brand new games for a max of €10 at launch. Seeing an end to traditional console manufacturers and game publishers. But a growth in game developers able to make a good living in the industry. I think piracy will have a big part in this coming about.
But I am an optimist
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