I’ve written a couple of posts about how to get your game idea made into a game. Or maybe I should say that I’ve written a couple of posts about how desperately, impossibly hard it is to get your game idea made into a game. Despite my warnings, I still get many emails and comments every week from people telling me, “I saw your post and I’ve got this awesome idea that needs to be made, and would you help me get it made?” They didn’t read the posts.
But some thoughtful readers do actually read the posts. Rivalhopeso posted a comment with an excellent question about how to get ideas into games, and his question deserves an answer.
His question is why is it that absolutely 0% of developers will use an outside idea for a game? He points out the example of Hideo Kojima, the director of Metal Gear Solid, who asked his development team to come up with three new ideas a day while MGS was in production. If Kojima was so eager for ideas, why aren’t developers eager for contributions from fans and other outside game designers?
Here’s the answer. There’s a big difference between needing ideas within a game and needing ideas for a game. Notice that Kojima asked his developers for ideas about MGS, but he didn’t ask them for ideas about what game to make. They knew they were making MGS. And that’s the typical situation: the big decision of what game to make has been made by the market, by the need for a sequel, by a movie tie-in, by the desire to imitate some other hit game, or—occasionally—by the choice of some high-powered producer. Very rarely does someone lower down in a game company get to choose or even contribute to the decision of what game gets made. Ordinary game developers make millions of decisions about what goes into the game, what weapon gets created or how the enemy AI works or how the multiplayer scoring should work. But hardly anyone, even within a game company, gets to say what game gets made.
That’s why 0% of developers are interested in hearing your ideas for games. When only 1 in 100 or so professional game developers get to make their own ideas, you can bet that players and fans will never get close to having their ideas be heard. So it’s about 1% of professional game developers and 0% of players and fans.
I’ll say again now what I’ve said before. If you want to get your game made, make it yourself. Making a full-on AAA game by yourself or even with a small team is not going to happen. But these days, more than ever, there is ample opportunity for anybody with a computer to make a good, small, potentially very successful casual game in Adobe Flash/Flex or on the Android or iOS platforms. If you want to make your own ideas, focus your ideas on casual games. That’s where the opportunity is.
25 Comments
I agree with the zero percent chance of geting your game idea into a company. My comment however is about an indie team making a full on professional game. i think it can be done and well if the entire group is dedicated, can advertize well, and overall be Awesome. I’m not talking about console (wii,xbox, PS3), OHMaiGOSH that would be hard. Anyway, I’m not saying it is/will be easy, but possible. Tell me if there are any reasons i might have been mistaken, but I plan on getting my indie game out there someday, Woot!
Btw, thanks for having a blog like this available! it helped me organize and clarify some of the details of my ideas.
-Sam
Indie games are totally exploding, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see an indie game of just about any quality on any platform. Even on Xbox 360, through XNA and the Xbox Live Arcade, for example. So good point Sam. I agree with you.
I think it’s also important to point out that by making your own game you are also increasing the chances of gaining employment at one of the companies you were originally going to send your idea to.
It doesn’t matter so much how a game looks, or how bad your programming is. If the end result is a fun slice of gameplay, sending that in to a developer along with a resume will probably get you noticed. So there’s a double benefit: you release the game you wanted to have developed, and you might score yourself a job in the industry.
This blade cuts two ways. For us who hack away at games in the evenings, it proves very difficult to find artists and designers who are willing to jump onto our ideas!
Does anyone know of a good community to hook up part-time indie programmers with part-time artists / designers?
Nice post, thanks much,
-dan
There is also one important distinction between ‘and idea for the game’ and ‘the idea of the game’. The former is just a general idea that can be summed up on one or two standard pages (1800 characters). Professional writers and designers have at least one such idea a day and they chop them up and use interesting parts in their work (so, producers are not interested in such ideas because they are already provided with them by employees). The latter however is a precise description of the game mechanics, themes and aesthetics, possibly complete with dialogues, storyboards of cutscenes and scripted events (or the main plot and important subplots in the cRPG or an adventure game) etc. The only thing such idea lacks are additional quests, dialogues and similar content. In other words, for an long AAA game such ‘idea’ is 200+ pages document (maybe less if it is illustration-heavy) that requires several thousand man-hours of professional work. The best ‘ideas’ of single fans usually fall short of this.
And fans usually have the idea for a world or general theme of the game, sometimes they can have quite elaborate plans but usually lack any knowledge of the market and can’t look at their work from the perspective of the customer (usually due to elitist stance or a ‘father effect’) and thus are unable to set the target group and plan their game accordingly. And there are no producers that could be possibly interested in a game that can’t be marketed.
And there is one thing. Serious publishers are not interested in ‘an idea for/of the game’, as you have already written. They are interested in people who can come with such ideas on regular basis and are able to shape them as required or suggested by the rest of team. People who ‘have great idea’ but don’t even have the motivation to make a demo using various free tools cannot expect to be taken seriously by large companies.
I’ve gone ahead and built two games myself, but I don’t honestly envy anyone who gets started on that side of things – afterall, it’s a lot of hard work…
… that being said, it’s very satisfying to see people using / playing the games you’ve made [for reference, the games I've made are "Kingdom Game" and "Outer Empires" - OE even had a bit of AI thrown in for fun - both are MMOs].
I think some developers *do* listen to what you want, but they have to balance it against time/effort to getting it to market and, more to the point, the money they’ll make from creating the idea [which is, afterall, what it all comes down to in business!]
So if developers are hungry for ideas within an existing series is it possible to get ideas on improvements heard? And if so, is there any money in that?
So, basically, this, like every other entertainment industry is full of gatekeepers and people who really enjoy having the power to say no. They pass up games from the minds of gamer who know what they like and could make them a fortune, because it’s fun to say no to people.
I wish that consumers would just go pure indie and just stop paying money to entertainment empires with small little men looking through the door proclaiming that no one gets to see the wizard.
You sound frustrated, and I’m sure your feelings are shared by many—including me, at times—who have great ideas to offer but no way to get them made. But not everything you say is true, so let me distinguish between the sound ideas and the unsound ones.
The games industry does say no, yes indeed. But there are no gatekeepers. There are no gates to keep. If you’re frustrated, you’re not frustrated by an individual or even a group of individuals. Your frustrated with the whole situation, and no one is to blame for that.
You suggest that the industry says no to good ideas just because “it’s fun to say no.” Well, that’s just silly. I suspect you know better than this, and that anger is leading you to irrational suspicions. The games industry says “no” to new ideas simply because there are plenty of good ideas already available. The problem is not lack of ideas. It’s lack of people with the skill and discipline to make those ideas and make them well.
So as I’ve said again and again, if you want your idea to succeed, make it. No on else will. They’ve got ideas of their own.
I had been reeding peoples comments and their have been negative and i think positive comments. My comment i not expecting you to know the truth or not to my question knowing if game developers are even taking their time and effort to reed read our game ideas that we have to offer that can probably be a 50/50 chance that us gamers with our game ideas will be given to game publishers that will may be 50/50 chance of making them even more rich than the game ideas that game developers already have of their own ideas. like i also have an a idea of a game but have not yet finished the game idea. even that theirs people that are out their somewhere waiting to get writers to see if their book is good enough to get publish or not i like to know if their is anyone out their that will maybe get a game plot publish and how? even if the person has the idea written into a plot doesn’t get cash but hopes to get his/her game plot get made into a game, that game developers are actual are interested in a gamer fan game plot that is really exciting and even be very popular. like i wanting to join computer game courses to hopefully be that good enough to get into a actually game company myself. So if you do not have my answer to what i looking for of my question i will be grateful if you know of anyone one that might know the answer to my question, and my question is, that do you know of any game company that will actually read my game plot and think or know if that company will like my idea and actually make it themselves as their already making their own ideas?
No, I don’t.
I don’t get why game companies wouldn’t listen to fans… They want to make a game the appeals to people, so, why not listen to them and see what they actually want. They listened in MW3 and in mass effect 3 and the turn out of them listening was good, I think companies would make better games if they listened to the fans.
Game companies do listen to their fans…as fans. The question is whether game companies listen to their fans as game designers. And here the answer is no—probably, usually, for a good reason. If you’ve got an idea for something to put into your favorite game—a character, a storyline, a weapon, a move—then lay it on the developer, by all means. They very well might appreciate the idea and even use it—especially if you make it clear that there are no strings attached. But if you’ve got a completely new idea for a game…well, make it yourself.
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for the blog.
I can understand companies not wanting outside ideas or trying to find that one gem under 1000 submissions.
However it is my dream to get this game in my head done and if it kills me.
So from the 3 possibilities:
a) getting into the industrie, work my way up for several years to have a slight chance of making my game someday.
b) trying to find devs/publishers creating/financiating my game
c) creating an own team
i want to try b) first, c) after and i’d like to avoid a) if possible.
Regarding b).
Would my chances get above 0% of finding someone if i had more than just the idea?
To be more exact i could provide the following on a professional level:
Long and detailed script, maps, hud, models/animation/effects, sound (game theme & weapon sounds etc.), menu designs/icons.
The game would be completly thought out and not everything but lots of stuff already created. Mainly the programming would be missing. The cost/risk and time invested in creating this game would therefore reduced by a large amount.
Regarding c).
Are there many professionals out there just waiting for a “hobby project” (unpaid work)? How do i go about convincing them to work with me and at the same time make sure they won’t run away with my idea?
The last thing i want is someone to simply steal my idea. That would also apply if i take my “idea” to a dev team/publisher. I’ve read about the non disclosure agreement but i think there are just so many ways around that.
Thanks for any help.
Micha
If you were able to prototype the game, so that someone could actually play—say—two or three levels of it, I think you’d have a good shot of getting it looked at and, if the game were good, funded. Even a fairly simplified prototype can generate excitement if the game’s unique qualities and features come through. Prototyping quickly in an engine like UDK might make a lot of sense. But you’d almost certainly need at least a small team of 3-4 developers to do it. There is a body of “modders” out there who might be willing to work for free—certainly a number of mod teams have come up over the years with good ideas and good demos, and some of them have gone on to big success.
Add to that Kickstarter, which helps generate both buzz and funding for potential games!
humm Micha, only a) can really works.
Here why (and it does not only apply to game but anything else that need programming)
you say “my game” that you want others to program/create/finance for you,
then it’s not your game anymore, it’s their game.
Fans, or non-programmers, thinks it just take to have an idea, the problem
is that ideas have no values, really no values at all;
The classic “my idea, my game” just does not work.
Only implementations have value, if you bring no skills to a project,
unless you bring the money to finance it, there is no way that people
gonna follow your lead.
Now you say you are worried people gonna steal your idea,
and that exactly my point, you think your idea have great value,
I’m saying that ideas (whatever it is) have exactly ZERO value.
Great Posts as well as blog. This is exactly what I was looking for.
At first I was wondering how to get my idea of a game to a VG company. But after I read this it totally made even more sense. Actually it makes the entire process so much easier as well.
Considering the unemployment rate and competitiveness in all fields (gaming industry as well) it is worth it a shot to look into making a team for a game.
in addition to that, once the prototype is made it seems so much easier to either continue with the game, find a testing field of people who would play it , as well as perhaps even getting offers from other companies for gaming rights. The last is wishful thinking but I believe is better than just wait around hoping that one of these entities would reply to a proposal. That alone is such a waste of time.
Diana
I have an idea. It would be absolutely impossible to make a demo for it. I would need insight from developers to help me understand the boundaries of their technology. It is also a massive scale game. MMORPG’s fit thousands of people fighting at once into their lobbies no problem, I am trying to figure out why that can’t happen on the consoles. What I am looking at is an MMORPG, FPS, Faction based, warfare type game. Also, instead of having “matches”, it would be persistent. The map ever changing to fit what damage had been done by warring factions. This is too large a scale to develop a demo for in my opinion (especially since it has no levels)[purely multiplayer]. Any ideas?
It sounds to me a little like Dust 514 that plays in hand with EVE Online, is that a correct assumption?
how do you make a game then -_-
Jeff I had an idea but after reading your blog I believe it wouldn’t be successful and though it’s a bummer I do want to say thanks for having this blog. it is helpful and insightful. Now I do want to ask, do you think developers would look at a blog that was totally focused on the pooling of fans and suggestions that focused on improving games rather than “new game ideas”. I was thinking of creating a voting site where once a month (or so) you posted the ideas, voted, and consolidated the top ideas over thousands of votes to get like the top ten ideas. Giving developers a short consolidated look at the fans ideas and maybe picking or considering in their future gaming developments. Do you think this might could have value to the big boys?
Hello my name is Ira Fletcher
I’m looking for game ideas to make casual games. I’m still a beginner at programming, still kinda getting my head around graphics and applets. But I can’t find exercises online outside of a course to practice coding with. So any game ideas can be sent to me at “taintsaint@gmail.com”.
I’m not promising anything, but it would be a huge help for me if I got some projects to work on. And it’ll take me some time to actually make the game so please don’t start nagging me after a week to see if its done. I’m still new to this.
Regards
Ira
Hi,
I am new indie developer who has just finished his first game. I made a whole game myself. I only used music by another person but all animations and programming was made by myself. I also bought 3d models and some photos. All the rest is my job.
I am looking for people with a good idea for a mobile game but not only for the idea itself. The idea itself is worthless. I need someone who can be part of the creative team. I can do all the programming but I need a 3D artist who can provide models and work actively with me on the game.
Check out my game at
http://sebastianbik.com/Snowballing/
and contact me at sebastian@sebastianbik.com with some pieces of your own work.
Hi Jeff,
I just stumbled across your website today, and I enjoy reading your ideas and experiences within the game industry. I, like most other gamers, have pictured my name up in lights, being the proud creator of a great game concept that has become a huge hit. Obviously it’s not as simple as setting up a business lunch and pitching an idea to Valve’s CEO. The Pursuit of Happyness fantasy is a nice one though, isn’t it?
Here’s my main question: I’m a 24 year old man with a serious love of video games. I’m naive enough to believe that I have ideas that could contribute to the creation of fun, successful titles. In your opinion, is it too late to pursue a career in game development? I’ve heard from many people that the gaming industry is a tough nut to crack, and it’s best to work at it as early as possible.
Also, what field of study would you recommend for somebody who’s interested in the creative aspect of game creation? I’m not necessarily fond of the idea of writing thousands of lines of code, though I do understand that it’s a big part of making a game. However, if all you do is write code, you could be just as well be a web designer. Is writing code a mandatory rung on the ladder? I’m willing to accept that if it’s necessary, but if there’s another path I’d most certainly like to explore it.
Finally, are there any reputable institutions of study in Canada that you would recommend? I live in Ontario, and would prefer to work on my education in the Great White North.
Thanks so much for your time, and I look forward to exploring your ideas more in the future.
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