So, how much is a game worth ?

[rsnail]

How much is a game worth? Great Question.

I like to think of flash games as another tool for my clients to promote their products. I actually do more business with individual companies then game sites.

Generally, a client hires me to create a new game or customize an existing game for their website or promotion. I send the client a quote. Once the quote has been approved, then I build the game.

How do you find clients?
I have found the best way to find clients is to work with partners. I work with various web design companies, ad agencies, and other graphic designers.

Good Luck

rsnail
http://www.rocketsnail.com

[jonmack]

Thanks for the replies to my question guys. I am considering to form a small games team at uni, me and 2 others amateur programmers. I can see from everyone's experience that the most important things if we were to try a joint project are organisation and planning. lol, jtnw, one didn't even have a computer? I would be amazed if it did work.

Thanks for your experiences all you professionals out there

looking forward to seeing some new games from you squize

[Squize]

Hey Jon, don't build your hopes up! Nothing ground breaking I'm afraid. Hype over content

Squize.

[kidoo]

Originally posted by tonypa
If I remember it correctly, original Doom and Quake were not published by some big computer game company, they were done by small group of talented people.

hey all!

..yeah, that's where i derive my inspiration.

Knowing how todays leading companies got their footing in small successive steps. Those companies based their livelyhood on their 1st Game Engine! Mostly coded by 1 or 2 ppl, then as marketing gets closer, a designer joins the fray.. By the time the game is released - and wages can be paid finally - they are already working on the Next Best Game Engine!

Some companies couldn't keep up the work rate needed to have the Best Engine on the Block.. and the few skilled individuals quickly sort work with the few surviving (and now prospering) game companies..

We're now 15 years past those early days, and at least 10 years behind in rendering quality for a Flash Game Engine (and having to pay for our language unlike C++ or ASM etc) but we're catching up quickly now!!

I'm stuck with my really BIG EGO so i'll only be satisfied to be one of those key 3D Game Engine Designers ..but i'm old enough to have watched how it works, and prepared myself for the endless hours and long nights and to write a script which will easily push the boundries of Flashes memory management (ie. 10,000+ lines of code) and will probably have paid-for Nike and Miniclip Ads floating around inside the World Environment...

Fair Dunkem!

[jide]

If you want to do 3D why don't you learn C++ and DirectX?

[fospher.com]

Are we under-pricing our games? Depends on your definition of under-pricing.

Flashkit 's members live in a very varied number of countries - where pricing on digital media may not be as high as say, America, or the UK. So while some guy in some country may think he's selling his game for big bucks, some other person in the states may think he's selling it for pennies.

2ndly, not everyone has good communication skills to properly approach a contractor and deliver their game - so they may get a lot less money than the guy next to them selling the same quality game. Learning those skills, once again, takes time.

I would say that the game industry is not suffering, for me, I can always find a contractor if I finish a game. And with AS 2.0 coming out, thats sounds even better for me, with more coding techiques, and I, being lucky, just happened to take JAVA as a course this fall.

I didnt get a chance to read all of these posts guys either, so sorry if im repeating any points already being said.

[kidoo]

Originally posted by jide
If you want to do 3D why don't you learn C++ and DirectX?

Originally posted by Squize (in the MX2004 thread)

It's not a game platform, never has been. I like the limitations of Flash, it affords us the current position we are in of the good old days of "Bedroom coders".
In theory anyone on this board can write the best Flash game in the world on their own. Is that true about C++ or even Java ? The more power you have at your disposal the higher the expectations and therefore the higher the development time and the larger the development team.

Spot on Squize! That's why i've been a diehard Flasher since v4 was released..

"our time has come!"

[znoskieman]

You can also try it the way robotduck did, first he made a website and put all of he's games on it for free, but you could donate if you wanted and when people stopped donating, he just made it pay to play... http://www.robotduck.com

[DominumBelli]

Just thought I'd quickly resurrect this, as a lot of the content is quite relevent to the Developer owned gaming portal thread.

Preferably, any further comments should be in that thread. Could get very confusing if we start a running conversation in two threads simultaneously

[kidoo]

hey DominumBelli, really big thanks for the heads-up!

I've just made Flash voting portal too, so i'll go join your discussion.. see how far we can take this concept.

[kgtrip]

Originally posted by ClydeTheGlyde
Well.....................

Jobe mentioned right here on this board that he usually ( or used to ) sell a package of a few games for $20 000+

I know some other companies which make games ( you can see them on Shockwave.com ) which go for $5000 - much more into 5 or even 6 digits for exclusive games. And these Shockwave.com games are garbage.

You have to make good games and find the right people to talk to ( who knows who you spoke to at Nintendo, could have been some intern ). Then don't sell for next to nothing because of course you are cheapening the whole thing. Luckily there is still room for good games, because most of them are still crap.

I totally agree with ClydeTheGlyde
The problem that is mentioned here is that are a lot of crap games in flash. This is because flash is so easy to learn and to implement, so almost anyone can make something with flash after 2 weeks study, including games. I'm sure there is a lot of room for good quality flash games, as there is a lot space for any other language written games (C++,VB,Java) this market will never die. But yes, you will have to work hard to get into, or earn something from it