Xentales

While I can't speak for Andy, I'd presume it's probably because making your own fully functional game takes a lot of funding. It's probably the main thing stopping me from making one.

all you need is a beta version to display your ideas and your dedication. Then to get investors interested it really just comes down to having SOLID projections EX. If you make a beta game that gains 1000 players in the first year it is out, and your player base has increased exponentially each month, you can come up with a minimum projection of a player base, then poll your players for how much they are willing to pay for your game. lets say its 5$. 1000X5=5000, take out the costs of a server/computers to write it/a place to work out of/misc expenditures such as models/textures and what not (assuming that you purchase them) and what not for future updates w.e. you're looking at an investment of about 1-200,000 for the first year assuming its a 2 person project(each being paid 40k~ their first year), at the end of the first year you would start turning a profit assuming that each month you are gaining 110% of your last months player base(which is very easy to do). i have done the math, this is more of just a shortened version. all the math i did was the minimum in terms of monthly costs and player base gains. i projected it for the next year based off current office spaces and server prices that would be capable of handling a small sized game and starting wages for the area i live in for a programmer directly out of college. Getting investors interested once you get a good game started is the easy part, getting a GOOD game started is the hard part.(in my opinion)

what is your estimate of "a lot"?

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refer to my previous post, take into consideration that my estimate was base amount for the SECOND year in production, assuming the first year was a single man project to do most of the underlying work of the game. also that my projections were based off the prices in the area i live in.

Guys, really easy to make game, I'll have one made next week. Beta in 2 weeks.

On a serious note, 1 person making a game takes an insane amount of time, especially writing an engine from scratch.

Not so much for a game like xenimus though, I believe most of the complex stuff was taken from old quake 2 stuff.

i didn't mean to make it sound like it was easy, what i was trying to get across is that with dedication and a well built game you could easily get investors. gaming is highly profitable and investors are nearly always looking to invest in the next best thing, if you found a way to make your game unique (like xenimus) you could get a decent player base for that reason alone.

In beta, you aren't getting paid anything, and this "business" as you put it is essentially just a hobby at this point. What I said still holds up. You also mentioned that your numbers are based off of bare minimums for what is in your area. Taking on unnecessary costs such as an office isn't the "minimum". You'd come accross as much more credible if you posted and cited your figures.

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currently an office space in my area goes for about 3-500 a month, 12X500, 6000,
a decent server is about 200$ a month so 200X12, 2400
Paying another person to work for you (a person with limited experience, fresh out of school) 40,000
computers/internet/living expenses for yourself 30,000
Business related things such as models/textures/advertisement/utilities for office 10,000(just a figure, this is something that could easily be more or less)
during the year you could easily accumulate additional expenses based on how well you were doing, which would push you easily into the 6 digits.
Being with your family for the holidays, priceless (had to be done XD)






6000+2400+40,000+30,000+10,000=88,400

Now for the Profit.
1000X5 = 5000 for first month
1000X1.1 = 1100 1100X5 = 5500 second
1100X1.1 = 1210 1210X5 = 6050 third
1210X1.1 = 1331 1331X5 = 6655 fourth
1331X1.1 = 1464.1 1464X5 = 7320 fifth
1464X1.1 = 1610.4 1610X5 = 8050 sixth
1610X1.1 = 1771 1771X5 = 8855 seventh
1771X1.1 = 1948.1 1948X5 = 9740 eighth
1948X1.1 = 2142.8 2143X5 = 10715 ninth
2143X1.1 = 2357.3 2357X5 = 11785 tenth
2357X1.1 = 2592.7 2593X5 = 12965 eleventh
2593X1.1 = 2852.3 2852X5 = 14260 twelfth

106,895 ohh look, a profit and then some, who would have thunk it. 106,895 - 88,400 = 18495

a little into the third year you would be able to hire another, and by the fifth you would be looking at relocating to a bigger office.

The profit figures are based on...?

the profit from said game - the cost of running it in my local area. its not PERFECT math, but nonetheless viable. the idea is that if someone was to go through and do every last figure, they would in the end, be a profitable business. the biggest issue would be to come up with ideas that would make it successful. player base figures were more a goal per month/year then anything, it seems pretty easy to achieve those goals if you compare that with some other games out there.