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i read some of your responses to the “do you play games?” questions on this site…in particular this one:
“I’m a great judge of what will, and won’t, sell. I had solid instincts as to what might be fun, and what wouldn’t. I also had “been around” long enough to know what had been done before, and what hadn’t. Lastly, I came from an engineering background, and knew what was possible and what wasn’t. I couldn’t be bulled by the developers. I knew what was possible, and I knew how long it would take to develop.”
after reading this, i came up with an idea for the site!…
how about a private message section (one where the sender and you were the only ones that could view the message) where we could pitch you ideas (in my case game ideas). you could give a thumbs up if you think the idea is good and has potential or thumbs down if its a dud . maybe even an in-between for ideas that have potential depending on certain other factors.
curious…
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(re: re: re: re: Ken Williams Q&A) Dont’ forget that Ken isn’t allowed to start up a new game company though…
But I agree that small development houses are the future!
I was actually only prohibited from running a software company for five years. That expired in 2001 – I can do anything I want now. (which is exactly what I’m doing!)
-Ken W -
(re: re: Ken Williams Q&A) how about a private message section (one where the sender and you were the only ones that could view the message) where we could pitch you ideas (in my case game ideas). you could give a thumbs up if you think the idea is good and has potential or thumbs down if its a dud . maybe even an in-between for ideas that have potential depending on certain other factors.
My email is easily determined (
Link:kenw@seanet.com (mailto:kenw@seanet.com)
) .. when I’m not travelling, I’m pretty good about reading through my mail.
Here’s the problem with what you’ve suggested though: good ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone has a good idea for a movie or a book, or even a computer game. Most of these really ARE good ideas. The tricky part is taking an idea the next step to being a viable game.
To do that there are a lot of things that have to come together:
The skill of the team
The publisher, and what kind of products they are known for
The popularity of the license (if any)
The user interface
How the game plays
Etc.
In 1996 when Sierra was sold, I had been in the industry for nearly 20 years and knew almost every game published, and the people behind them. Now, it has been seven years since I’ve been in a computer store – I’m not sure my opinion is worth what it once was.
Ultimately, to get a publishers attention, you need a working demo of the game. It doesn’t need to be more than the first level. It’s nearly impossible to know if a game is any good looking at a paragraph of text. You need to see something on screen.
-Ken W -
(re: re: re: Ken Williams Q&A) Ken, thanks for responding to this one!
this little tidbit is worth my asking…
Ultimately, to get a publishers attention, you need a working demo of the game. It doesn’t need to be more than the first level. It’s nearly impossible to know if a game is any good looking at a paragraph of text. You need to see something on screen.
i figured this was the case and the fact that you stated a single level as being good enough was exactly the detail i was looking for. this definitely shed’s some light on the subject for me. what i’ve done up to this point is purely story development. i am working under the assumption that anything beyond this stage is moot if nobody buys into the story and characters. would you agree?
i’ve drawn out the first 6 scenes (down to the dialog) … i was going to produce a demo from this … then on to the publisher sale’s pitch! i was going to do much of the programming (with help from a few others) for the demo. i was also hoping to recruit some artists from the local university for graphics. at this point i have no clue what i would do about music …thought about bits and pieces of sierra game music, but i would assume there are legal issues with that.
who says game development isn’t fun?! 🙂 -
(re: re: re: re: Ken Williams Q&A) Ken, thanks for responding to this one!
this little tidbit is worth my asking…
Ultimately, to get a publishers attention, you need a working demo of the game. It doesn’t need to be more than the first level. It’s nearly impossible to know if a game is any good looking at a paragraph of text. You need to see something on screen.
i figured this was the case and the fact that you stated a single level as being good enough was exactly the detail i was looking for. this definitely shed’s some light on the subject for me. what i’ve done up to this point is purely story development. i am working under the assumption that anything beyond this stage is moot if nobody buys into the story and characters. would you agree?
i’ve drawn out the first 6 scenes (down to the dialog) … i was going to produce a demo from this … then on to the publisher sale’s pitch! i was going to do much of the programming (with help from a few others) for the demo. i was also hoping to recruit some artists from the local university for graphics. at this point i have no clue what i would do about music …thought about bits and pieces of sierra game music, but i would assume there are legal issues with that.
who says game development isn’t fun?! 🙂You are thinking the right kind of thoughts. The actual plot isn’t as important, as the niche it fits into, and the size of the niche. And, even this is secondary to “how it looks/feels when you see it on screen”. My brother John, who ran marketing for many years at Sierra, used to say that ‘it’s all about WOW value’ – if someone says WOW when they see the screen from 10 feet away, you have them sold. This is not completely true, but it’s close. You need to have three components: a story that intriques the user (characters/plot), WOW value (snazzy graphics, cool/new technology) and an underlying game mechanic that is fun (not sure how to describe this – but, there needs to be a game – it can’t just be pretty pictures).
Check out garagegames.com — it’s Jeff Tunnel’s website (one of the founders of Dynamix, a Sierra family company). Jeff’s company is devoted to empowering game developers. He has (or, had the last time I looked) a bulletin board just for people trying to put together a team to do a game. There were coders, designers, musicians, etc all looking for a chance to build a game.
Good luck!
-Ken W -
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