Game Development Giant

"And the topic I want to talk about today is very related to this point."

Jester smiled.

"I see that you seem to have little interest in such a topic. Don't deny it, because I can easily compare the expressions that flash across your faces now with the expressions before."

After hearing what Jester said, the people at the scene once again laughed at Jester's humor.

"Okay, I was just joking before. Of course I will not tell you how to play shooting games, how to complete game planning, how to design plots, and how to design levels in a keynote speech like this. This requires you. What you study hard in normal time requires not only hard work, but also some talent. What I want to talk about today is how an independent game producer can make the game he wants to make."

When Jester said this, his voice was not loud.

At that time, it attracted everyone's attention, because most of the people who came to the GDC Global Game Developers Conference were independent game producers. Even those who had been absorbed by large game companies were all independent game producers. People may come from independent studios.

"I know it's difficult to be an independent studio. The reason is simple: no money." Jester shrugged.

"I started from independent games. When I made "American Cube", I only had a few thousand dollars of working capital. If it weren't for the help of my family, this game might never have been made into an arcade machine and then sold to the United States. Opportunities from all over the world, of course, I would not have imagined at that time that this simple game I had just an idea when I was putting together building blocks would be so popular."

"Okay, there's been a lot of gossip. Now let's get down to business."

“I know that money is the most difficult thing for these people to overcome. It may not cost much to develop a game, maybe tens of thousands of dollars, but many independent game developers may still be college students. , or they may be graduates who have just graduated from college and need to renew their loans. It is really too much to ask them to spend tens of thousands of dollars to develop a game with no idea of ​​the future.”

"Not only that."

"Even many people who have been working in game companies for a period of time suddenly come up with a great idea one day. But maybe because of their status in the company or various other reasons, your idea is not taken seriously. But you desperately want to finish the game."

"It's possible that your opinion is valued, but because there are too many creative people, seniority ranking has started again..."

"There are a lot of possibilities."

"In a word, how can I get the money to make a game out of my idea? This is the most difficult thing. And any other technical problems are not difficult. It can all be solved through investment of time and energy. Why do I say that? Because I am here today to provide a feasible solution to this problem."

With the speech of this big call Jester.

All the game developers present, almost at the same time. Everyone stood up and cheered for Jester.

Because of what Jester said just now. It really speaks to their hearts.

"Let me tell you first, why I came up with this idea. In fact, there is nothing special about it. Our company's employees usually have many very reliable and interesting ideas, but there is no way to turn them into their own." Games, because our company’s resources are limited, it is impossible to start dozens of projects at the same time, and without so much funding, we would not have so many personnel.”

"However, there are some really good ideas, so I thought if I could launch such a plan, that is, describe the idea first, tell it to many people, and see if your plan can work. Impress others if..."

Then, Jester spoke out in front of everyone about the idea of ​​crowdfunding that he had previously discussed with Mark Saini in the company. After Jester finished speaking, the whole place was silent. Everyone looked at Jester with extremely incredible eyes, and then there was another cheer that almost lifted the entire ceiling.

Because what Jester just said, this idea about crowdfunding was so unexpected and so in line with their wishes.

"I call this idea crowdfunding. Of course, there is still a big difference between crowdfunding and venture capital. Moreover, I can assure everyone here that game companies including our Mars Entertainment, Sony, Sega, etc. have already We have decided to support the progress of this plan. The name of the plan is called the Incubator Plan. As the name suggests, we are just an incubator for your ideas, but whether you can incubate something real depends on you."

As Jester spoke, he made a downward gesture with his hands, hoping that the scene would calm down.

Because what Jester said before really caused an uproar, everyone was extremely excited and wanted to discuss the crowdfunding idea that Jester had just proposed with the people around them.

The same is true for Ye Mingzhang.

He originally came with this idea. His purpose was to find an investor who was interested in their game at this GDC and could provide some self-help for their game development plan. However, according to his Judging from several days of hard work, his idea seemed a bit unrealistic, because the heads of the game companies he visited didn't seem to be interested in hearing his ideas about the game he wanted to make.

As soon as they heard where he came from, they immediately became serious.

An eviction order was issued directly.

Even when leaving, Ye Mingzhang vaguely heard them talking about it, because he was Japanese, but it turned out that he was a crooked person and other very irritating words.

Originally, he had given up all hope. After this GDC conference was over, he immediately returned to Wanwan and thought of a solution on his own, but here he heard Jester's keynote speech on crowdfunding. , an incubator plan that is about to be implemented.

Immediately, endless hope emerged in the heart that had already given up hope.

Ye Mingzhang now wants to hear the specific content of this incubator plan. He is a smart man. He knows that the crowdfunding idea just mentioned by Jester may be a popular one many years later. A very good way to raise funds, but at the beginning, the amount of money that can definitely be raised is very weak, almost a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, Ye Mingzhang also knew that the key this time was definitely the incubator plan.

After the scene became quiet again, Jester began to introduce the contents of the incubator plan in detail. In fact, this plan is not complicated, and it is just a supplement when the power of crowdfunding is still very weak.

"Your ideas need to pass our review before they can be put on our crowdfunding platform. Only those who pass the review can be put on our crowdfunding platform, so that players who are interested in this can ask you to The games you make are evaluated by them just like investors evaluate the projects they want to invest in. Your ideas must impress them, because you can see them as, they are your investors.”

"Of course, we also have monitoring methods. I won't go into details here. Those who are interested in this plan can go to our organizing committee to get some information about this plan after the meeting. document."

"Then, there are the supplementary terms of our incubator plan. We will conduct a very strict secondary review of the games that pass our crowdfunding review. The reviewers must be experts in the industry. If your idea can be recognized by them, Then, we—game companies such as Mars Entertainment, Sega, Sony, etc.—will make guaranteed investments in your game."

"Of course, our guaranteed investment requires us to obtain part of the copyright of this game. Unlike crowdfunding, the copyright still belongs entirely to you."

"It should be noted that this guaranteed investment is optional. You can choose to refuse. This is completely fine. Of course, if you cannot reach your crowdfunding goal, then you can get it through crowdfunding. If all the money needs to be returned to those who participated in the crowdfunding, this requires your special attention."

At the end of the sentence, Jester added with a smile.

"Actually, regarding crowdfunding, it is just a crude idea for game development now, but when I was discussing this aspect with President Nakayama and President Kutaragi, the ideas we discussed are indeed very feasible. That’s why not expand crowdfunding? Why must it be limited to games? Why can’t everything be included in the crowdfunding plan?”

"This idea came up naturally when we were discussing it, and then we started to have endless longing and daydreams. But it may be a little too early to think about these now, but if the crowdfunding for game development can be successful, then about It’s possible that expanding crowdfunding to all aspects of all industries will actually come true.”

There wasn’t much else Jester said later.

In fact, no one was in the mood to listen to the last words, because everyone was immersed in Jester's wonderful blueprint about the crowdfunding and incubator plan. (To be continued...)