[Cobra]

i think the whole community is better than !

reasons why:

• Hi-poly models
• Better Effects
• Better... well, everything, i guess.

[Kazan]

a lot swantz.. several million all told between expenses to relocate people, get some people their registration to work in america [particularly some german citizens] have enough to rent out space, pay everyone, pay the bills, etc for two years

probably put a pricetag around $10mil into it.... now if all this talent could be focused the investment would pay off

[achtung]

Now all I need to do is win the lotto

[Kazan]

oh man if i won the powerball the wealth would be much spread amongst the fs2 community with me starting a software company

[aldo_14]

Not to forget commercial licensing of your creative stuff (max/lw, photoshop - and possible cross training costs for users of alternates).

Seriously.... I always thought it'd be neat to make 'a' game as a sort of (closed source) time-off project.  Sort of like you have an aritificial company (group of individuals, professional type organisation), working for free... and if you have an impressive demo ## years or months down the line, then try and see about funding to spin it off.

Not really the sort of thing you could do based off a forum like here, though.  You'd need to try and do it more local people if you really wanted to approach with a view to launching a company down the line.

Something like a DS development company I think is more feasible as IIRc that actually has the lower average dev costs for games (even lower than the GBA)

[Getter Robo G]

I play powerball every Wed and Sat religiously. If I ever won the new game would be centered around being able to be modded easily and almost all aspects of it. Once you know what can be done, then you can work on the story and all the other elements.

  Having the ability to make the game have fresh new aspects will increase it's replayability as well as induct new members of the community and help that base grow. It would not be limited to few people with highly techinical skills while the others feel left out of the inner workings of modding.

  Relic did a great thing with thier Relic Tools release. All the tools you would ever realisticly need for modding would be included. Possibly even a modling program (which would ideally be focused on production of game quality models and have specialized functions like "create turret" D.O.G.A. like construction mode from a parts library if desired. Ability to import new custom created parts and textures. Auto pathing made easier ect...) The goal would be you think it up and after booting up the program you got a finished ship in 5 mins to an hour or two of tweaking)

Wow accidentaly streatched that out, sorry.

[Descenter]

I don't know if this would be revelant to the topic or not, but here in Boise, Idaho, there is a technical high called Meridian Charter High School that teaches of technical oriented things, such as 3d visualisations, computer programing, graphic design, and computer maintence, and they are always looking for local companies to do Internships.  Not to mention all the students that like to play games and would very like to work for a gaming studio.  Since there isn't one here per say, it might be a good location to consider.  Just a thought if you do decide to develop your own company. I would.....course I live here too so...you know the opinion is based from that a little..

These guys even host LAN parties about once a month, and anybody is welcome to come an duke it out with the students.

[Kazan]

aldo.. duh of course i'd bring them to one spot

Getter you just described the specs of Ferrium-engine

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Kazan
aldo.. duh of course i'd bring them to one spot

I never said you wouldn't.  I was just describing a vague tangent idea I had once.

[Inquisitor]

It's a tough thing to do, running a software house that makes games.

We have about 12 people, give or take, and in addition to Lore (and the upcoming expansion to be previewed this weekend at LoreCON), we have 3 other products launching this year.

It's hard work, harder still without any financing, and while 10 Millions might be a bit high, it is VERY expensive to get an operation off the ground in real offices. We won;t be ableto do that till we get higher revenues (buy Lore, dammit) and/or financing.

Fun stuff

[Kazan]

Inqui: I always estimate high - it prevents undercapitalization

[Unknown Target]

Why would it have to be in a real office, anyway? You could use the greatest resource we have - Hard Light.
The only real difficulty with this idea is focusing it all. Although if you got about twelve of the community's brightest stars, and they were dedicated enough to do something every week, you'd be well off. Modelers do one model every week, mission designers, one mission, coders, one good chunk of code.
Money-wise, well, since most of the dev members would be doing something else to get bye in the real world, you wouldn't have to pay them until you've got either a product or some good collateral.
You'd be pretty much set.

[DaBrain]

Has anyone of you already professional experience?

I like the idea, because I know you guys, but it wouldn't work.

Also... I'd like to stay in germany.

[Unknown Target]

I'd think it'd be retarded to make people move. All you'd need is a live chat with probably some webcam stuff so you can illustrate your concepts and such. Nothing we'd be doing would be physical even in the end product, so why would you have to be nearby?

[Inquisitor]

The challneges with remote team management are mostly motivation and momentum, what you referred to as "focusing the Hard Light."

It's MUCH easier to get traction on a project if you are all in the saqme room.

That being said, if you have strong leadership, and common goals, a virtual team can succeed.

[Kazan]

the don't make them move at first is probably a good idea.. and letting some people telecommute would be probably ok - but having a good number of the team in one spot would make development easier and increase production.

well... we can always work on ferrium

[Kazan]

Originally posted by Inquisitor
That being said, if you have strong leadership, and common goals, a virtual team can succeed.

yeah i'm too bullheaded sometimes to make the best leader

/not managment material

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Inquisitor

It's MUCH easier to get traction on a project if you are all in the saqme room.

Absolutely........

[Unknown Target]

No comment on that last one Kazan (referring to your reference to ferrium )

Anyway, all you'd need is a strong lead and set goals. My one piece a week idea is pretty good, imo.

[WeatherOp]

The problem with that is that there is probley some other moddelers here, that like me model entirely for fun. And under pressure to build a model in a week, I don't know how I would do.. As I like to nitpick around my models, and nearly allways find errors that I want fixed.


But, I would think if the idea is solid enough, and intrest is high, it may be possible to do that.