Grimhound said:
RUN_LIKE_HELL said:
The Dutch Ghost said:
I kind of feel he has become the stereotype of the game industry businessman
The heydays of computer gaming are long gone, in the 80's it cost nothing to make a great game & this is today's reality it takes several million of dollars to make 1 game...
The Dutch Ghost said:
he'll do everything to make money.
Just like you and millions of people who will do anything to get money and put food on their table.
I have to comment, lies. It hardly takes several million dollars to make a good game, unless you plan on developing an engine from scratch, in which case you might well be an idiot unless the engine brings something special to the table. Source engine for example is possibly the most successful in history. People have adapted it from FPS to topdown Fallout-ey games to RTS games and beyond. It's insane. I highly doubt those people had millions of dollars, and their games beat most 'professional' commercial products.
You are half right as far as the engine creations goes
* ! Sure the source engine is free & others, but one can't run away from production, Licensing, marketing & Distribution cost. If you don't have the money, the only way to get exposure is to give out your game for free. Because no one or little amount people will fork out the doe to buy your game, it's a big gamble considering that a lot of small indie games are free and if you don't have a revenue you can't put food on the table and you will probably lose you house and car that you gave to the bank as guaranty. If you are lucky your wife won't run away with your best friend Herve because your broke.
But if you take big gaming companies, even if they don't create the engine it will still cost several million of dollars from start to finish, especially with the promotion/marketing of the game which sometimes cost the same or double then the game itself !
*
It costs several millions of dollars developing Unreal Engine 3 & if you want to purchase a license it will cost you $700,000 + % on royalties. It took 5 years of production to make the source engine ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$).
For licencing prices of all game engines look here
http://www.devmaster.net/engines/list.php
PS
I am curious about the games that you are talking about "their games beat most 'professional' commercial products." If you are talking about the indie scene, The casual games industry, like the rest of the gaming world, has relatively high development costs and relatively low margins ! By "beat" do you mean commercial success or just your personal feeling towards the mechanics of the game...
