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This might be the wrong thread for this, but I'm not sure I can think of a better thread for advice on this. A friend of mine recently released a game, a small indie thing not published by anyone or for sale or anything like that, just the sort of up on the web kind of thing. It got a decently positive reception, but then they were contacted by someone from a well known publisher to say they all enjoyed it, and if they were interested in talking about any future projects they might have they'd love to chat with them. My friend was pretty shocked by this (and just my speculation but I get the impression pretty intimidated at the prospect as well) and they haven't gotten back to the publisher yet. I'm wondering if anyone has any kind of advice I can, i dunno, pass along or something to them, on how these things go, or what. They've never worked in the games industry before in any capacity, and when they were talking to me about it I didn't know what to say since I have no connection to any of that (except to say don't pass it up, whats the worst that can happen). Is this kind of a thing a common occurrence? Do publishers in a seemingly informal chat expect anything specifically if they chat about any of the ideas they've been bouncing around? Maybe this is the dumbest thing on earth to ask for advice on but I guess more than anything I just want to know if there are any particularly big faux pas, or no no's to tell them to avoid when having that kind of chat with a publisher?
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Jun 14, 2023 06:02
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 21:48 |
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Thanks for all the feedback, I really appreciate anything I can pass on.leper khan posted:Double check the domain info on the mail. But it's not unusual for publishers to have scouts that look for games trying to generate business I know it was contact through their verified social media account, so thats at least not a concern for them, but I hadn't even considered phishing emails like that. Canine Blues Arooo posted:Be very careful you read and understand any agreement. Probably hire a lawyer to represent you if you get that far. The whole 'TLC only got paid $50,000 for CrazySexyCool' thing can and definitely does happen in the games world. Thats a good point. They can have all the personal indie publishing charm in the world but its good to remember they're still a corporation with one thing on its mind. TooMuchAbstraction posted:Also be aware that there's a big difference between making a web game for fun and releasing it for free, vs making it as part of a business plan. It changes the work and it changes how you think about the work. The publisher will set milestones (a.k.a. deadlines) that you have to hit to get paid. This is where my hunch that my friend is intimidated by the prospect of even having a conversation with them comes in. They've never worked for a studio, don't have a studio, never worked with a team or released anything commercial in any way, just basement work in their free time when not grading papers, so I get the feeling (maybe its just projection though) that the idea of all that stuff, milestones, development teams, "business plans", contracts, somehow setting up a studio, etc is like two tons of bricks weighing on them. Heck the idea weighs on me and I'm not even involved beyond trying to support my friend. I think they'd ignore it and just be content with their day job and noodling in their spare time, but it seems like an awfully missed opportunity to just pass up giving a go to. Do publishers generally like... poo poo I don't know, help out with independent developers they want to work with or is it generally an industry of "ok we gave you money, better have our poo poo ready by this date, later" hands off kind of thing? I know its probably a dumb question but I'm so absolutely clueless of the business side of anything to do with games.
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Jun 14, 2023 22:05
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