Video Game Startup Guide: Step 1

Friday, December 01, 2006

One of our clients at my job is in what's called the "Information Marketing" business. It's kind of like consulting, except you rarely meet with your clients. Instead, you sell people these information packets on how to do marketing and sales. They assume you already have a great product or service; what you need is help getting the word out about how great it is. Or, sometimes they'll sell you an entire "So you want to run a restaurant" package to somebody with no experience in the restaurant industry. Presumably they'll tell you how to pick a location, hire waiters and cooks, organize a menu what have you. And the prices they charge for these things are hysterical. Not a simple $2,000 payment, but $1,497.00 (a value of $7,881.00 if purchased separately). Or just $197.00 a month, cancel at any time (no questions asked!) by faxing a notice to such-and-such number.

Personally I'm not too wild about the whole thing. It reminds me of those commercials you see late at night where somebody promises to make you a millionaire if you send for his audio tapes. Hey, buddy, I've got an idea: why don't you give those tapes to your close friends and family and build an empire out of your successful scheme instead of selling it to strangers? It's a great fantasy, but having seen the back ends of these information marketing businesses, I can tell you that it isn't all it's cooked up to be (if you'll pardon the restaurant pun).

So, here's the deal: I had a great idea for my own information marketing product, but instead of selling it for thousands of dollars I'm just going to type it out here on my blog. This is what you might call a "massive, bone-headed business blunder," but I call something to pass the time. See, momma always said you gotta write about what you know. And what I do know better than the gaming industry? ... Nothing, sadly. Thus, I'm going to write a guide on how to create and market your own successful video game. My goal is to take you from the humble beginnings of creating a development studio all the way to the release of the game, from engine development to the website to the forums to press previews, beta testing, release and patches.

Or until I get tired of the whole thing. Really, this is just my way to vent at all the unnecessary idiocy I see in the gaming press. Consider this a way to avoid the phrase "attack his weak spot for massive damage" coming out of the mouths of any of your employees.

I'm assuming by writing this guide that you intend to start your own company and make your own game. This is not for someone looking to sneak into the game industry through the Quality Assurance department or jump on board an existing establishment like the Portal guys. You want complete control of your destiny, so you've found some funding and are ready to get to work.

Your first hurdle is to pick your company name. Believe it or not, gamers will judge you considerably based on what you call yourself. A rose by any other name will get left on the shelf at Best Buy. So, what's in a name? Let's look at the biggest (in terms of quality and name recognition) development studios around. They tend to have short, simple, easily pronounceable and memorable names, typically nouns: id, Blizzard, Valve, Epic, Bungie, Rockstar, Bethesda. Usually they will have the word "Games" or "Studios" or "Software" tacked on to garner a unique domain name.

Your name determines your attitude, and will skew how gamers perceive your actions. For example: Blizzard and Valve have very sedate sounding names. These names are ideal; they are recognizable nouns that translate into many different languages and have no negative connotations. Slightly edgier names would be id, Epic and Bungie. id, of course, refers to the Freudian concept of the libido. Gamers expect id to create violent, adrenaline-packed games that appeal to the ravenous beast within us. Calling yourself "Epic" creates high expectations for your games; either you win the complete respect of the gaming community with your first game or you are spit back out as a joke. "Bungie" implies a lighter attitude, not as dominant as id or grandiose as Epic, but a company with a wry smile in their spirit (indeed, Bungie's stated corporate goal is world domination).

New game companies that produce successful games tend to follow this pattern. Most of the simpler words are taken, so they combine words or alter them to be distinctive. Witness Starbreeze, creator of the surprisingly good Chronicles of Riddick game, or Harmonix of Guitar Hero fame. Simple is the key word. Don't try and be cool, just find an ordinary word and go with that. Looking for some ideas that haven't been taken? Try "Flight" or "Cannon" or "Random" (or don't, because they'll be taken by the time you read this).

As you're considering your company name, let's be clear on what to avoid. Cute, clever, edgy or long names are bad for first-timers. For example, "Big Huge Games" seems innocent enough next to somebody like "Epic", but being a synonym doesn't save you. Other poor choices would be "Traveler's Tales", "Monkey Bar Games" or "GSC Game World". Don't try and sound like a big conglomerate, a regional extension of an existing studio (if you're "Blizzard North" there had better be an existing "Blizzard"), or just something off the wall to get people's attention. What you want is for gamers to be able to say to their friends, "Hey, have you seen that new game by Cannon?" and not "Hey, have you seen that new game by Blood by the Buckets Southwest Entertainment Limited?"

Once you've got your name, run out and register your domain name. Don't worry if you can't get www.cannon.com, because you can't. Gamers understand the limitations of having a short company name and will accept www.cannonGames.com, www.cannonStudios.com or even www.cannon-games.com. Hyphenate as you like, but don't let domain name availability change the name of your company (if you have a good one). Having a .net domain is fine, but stay away from .cc or .biz or .info if you can. You are a respectable, profitable, legitimate game company, not a front for an illegal gambling organization and your domain needs to reflect that.

Next week we'll cover your logo, where to set up shop and who to hire, assuming Brian Reynolds hasn't sued me for slander by then.