A business offer for all you game makers out here!

Hello everyone!

My name is Jurica, and i'm a sound, graphic designer and board game maker and a very noobish programmer . I've teamed up with a friend who is in a game making business and is a proud owner of Studio Spektar ltd., and we're bringing a humble business proposal to you guys, that goes like this:

Our humble offer

We're prepared to produce (meaning cover the costs) of the small but complete and original game you guys are making or already have made. The money isn't big, because this is a high risk investment and the emphasis is on future cooperation. We WILL pay through a contract and we offer a percentage on all sales and profit that the game makes, since we'll offer it as a digital download via Steam and etc..

And about money. This isn't the offer for the big shots, naturally, since we're offering 400Euros in total. We're aware this may be peanuts to some, but we don't think so. It simply means the game will be small and the work required tailored to the money. So i'm sure we'll find some partners!

What we need

We need you guys to send on this thread the links to your games you're offering for production, so we can see if we want to endorse it or not. Also, this has to be an exclusive contract, meaning you haven't offered this game to anyone else. Also, you need to make sure to sustain your game, meaning patches, bug fixes, and even DLC if need be (this will, of course increase the money compensation)

What kind of game does it have to be?

An exe file, no flash only, it can be multi platform, but not required. It can be single or multiplayer game - it's really up to you. We recommend to keep it simple, but addictive and expansive, so people can look forward to future releases and enjoy leveling up, getting achievements etc...

Again, to all of you who will laugh at this - please - most of the people here make games for free and make games because they love doing so. I don't see what's wrong in offering them money for what they love doing. It's up to you guys to decide whether 400euro is enough for your work.

With this, i leave you to it and hope this thread will be flodded by your great ideas. When we have enough examples or demos posted, we'll pick our partner.

Important!

When posting an example, you're automatically accepting, that in case we accept your offer, you will finish the entire project by the standards made in this post, as well as with our suggestions that may enhance the gameplay, but not change it in a substantial way (ie. our suggestions will not increase the costs by making you add more content).

Also, you're renouncing your right to publish the code for the game anywhere and keep it secret from the community until we, your publisher, decide that you can.

We keep the right to cancel this offer if the examples posted don't satisfy the criteria of our liking at any time.

The money will be wired or sent via western union, in which case you cover the expenses of transaction.

That's about it - if we missed any important stuff, be sure to ask on this thread or PM me, and I'll be glad to answer - let the posting begin!

Interesting offer, but:

When posting an example, you're automatically accepting

No they're not - if you're serious about this then sign a contract. Posting to a thread in no way means that person has already accepted your offer and already renounced their right to publish the game themselves. That does not happen until they've signed on the dotted line. You shouldn't give people the impression that the act of posting forces them to work with you. I'd prefer submissions by email to juredujmovic so that this takes place off this forum.

Also I'd add as always have due business vigilance - read anything before signing, make sure you trust parties involved etc. I'd recommend asking to see juredujmovic's portfolio/credentials before working, and expect them to ask the same of you. You can make money off odd jobs like this but you don't have to look far to find stories of "I did X hours work and never saw any money".

errr wow.

Am I the only person who feels uncomfortable with this type of post? (not yours, Ashley )

Get a website 1st and more details about your company.Don't just ask someone to work for you , even if your intentions are good.And if they decide to work for you then you should have a website where people can actually sign up.I have fallen for such a proposal and it cost me dearly.I worked day and night to finish the project and then the company decided to pull the plug on everything.

TL;DR version (correct me if I am wrong): "We will pay for your game and publish it!"

Looks like a chance for small time developers to make some small buck with small game project.

Yeah, regardless of how legit these people are, this kind of offer makes me wonder too.

Besides, why would you want to do this.

You can sell your game on Steam yourself easily, without having to include anyone else in the process.

I'm pretty sure that Steam have some kind of quality assurance to what they accept anyway, so a 3rd party group of people selling your game for you on steam is no guarantee that it will get accepted.

Go do it for yourselves, and if it only makes a couple of hundred quid, then at least it's all yours.

Krush.

ok, sorry if this came out wrong. The website is in the making, but i can supply you with the legal data and info, like ID number of the firm, contact data, court info etc., so you can see Studio Spektar is legit and is working without any legal disputes in its history.

http://www.poslovnamreza.hr/poslovna_ba ... tka=105132

(an outtake from a national Croatian business index)

Ashley, as for contracts, there are kinds of contracts that are legally binding if both sides accept the communicated arguments - in many cases dotted line isn't needed - these contracts are in a form of an offer made to more than one party- and are "signed" when another side takes an action that is denoted as accepting the contract - those contracts are called adhesive contracts and in this example they are "signed" by mentioned action (called concludend actions). Ie. when you enter the bus, you've "signed" a contract by merely entering and will pay a fee if found without ticket.

I understand that there are reasons to feel uncomfortable, but this really IS a honest endevour to invest. I would pay up front, just to emphasize how really SERIOUS we are, but then comes the problem of us being scammed by you guys (no offense to those with honest intentions!) and also, it's impossible to pay up front, when we're not sure if we'll like the idea or not..

Why "you're autmoatically accepting?..." Because we might have dillemas between a couple of projects, and we need to be sure that you won't change your mind when we lock the thread, so we need to be sure you guys mean business too. In other words, please don't post things you don't really want to work on, if we want to invest in you. If you do, you're making us a big disfavour, and to others who were your competition on the thread.Also, to minimize your risks, post things you wanted to work on anyway, so there is no loss if you don't get accepted.

Also. When we finally make our choice, PLEASE, post to this forum when you get your money, so other people know we mean business and are not scammers.

Thanks for the kind words, Mipey. I never had illusions that this thread will not produce some mistrust. If you find a web service on which i can send money to (something like a middleman of sorts) so you guys can see we're honest and serious), let me know.

I'm sorry if people feel threatened by this post, but mere words won't do now, i think. You guys want the money, and we want a product we both can make more money with. Let's find a suitable solution to this problem and start working on it - i understand some people had bad experiences, but you're not the only ones - as investors we also had our share of scammers, so i totally understand.

For now, you decide where you want to take this, and we'll reply and we'll reach a mutual agreement if possible.

Krush

I'm perfectly aware that there are special requirements to selling a game on steam and another services like it, but i'm also aware that this forum has a lot of talent and people who want to make games, but want a bit of a quick buck while at it. For us, this is simple - we're new at the computer game business, but have a history with board games. So naturally, we want to use our experience in coordinating the projects we invest in, and we think we can recognize good selling games. We accept the risk of being wrong, and it's ours alone. As for you guys, you will be payed your euros, so no risk if the game doesn't take off.

Also. I SUCK at programming. I'd rather let my money fill in the gaps and we all prosper - what is so wrong about that?

I wonder what people would say if a company like NAMCO or SONY posted an add like this here?.

Legit or not, the much better idea would be to go with just about any other company that doesn't just come and advertise randomly on the forum.

You need to establish yourself first and this is not the way to do it. There are plenty of other proven indie publishers to contact out there.

lol, you guys are funny

^^^ Okay... you do realize that you've f'ed up fatally when you put stuff up like "When posting an example, you're automatically accepting" (on a message board you don't own or moderate by the way)? I've worked on commercial games, and have gotten and give many proposals... none of them were done this way. It just wasn't professional, this is why you're catching heat.

I'm normally one bringing up how rude people are to other poster's around here, but this is one time where I have to side with the consensus. Your whole approach was wrong, WAY wrong. You should've known better.

hehe, chill. i haven't killed anyone or did something inexcusable. So again; it's up to you guys - decide what you want to do. I'm already accepting offers via my PM from members of this board, and i will gladly post our progress here if you care to know how things are developing - maybe the actions will speak louder than words? As i said, we never did this kind of business with digital games, and we're free to make an offer in any manner we feel is suitable. This is called a free form agreement, yet another legal form available to the contractors world wide.

Again, i don't need to own newspapers to place an ad in them, do i?

I dont understand how people are getting so scared and defensive about this offer. Yes, you can do it yourself, but no one does, and besides, this might actually get get someone to finnish a game with a good concept. If i wherent all filled up with my long-terme project i would have a go at this, but now is not the right time for me. But unprofessional or not, this is a good oppertunity for many people out there. We all know how quickly you can get a game together with construct if you just can draw some limits on world size and playtime.

but something like paypal as a security is never wrong thoug..

I must agree with Attan on that one ,Imagine if a game developed by Construct could be sold by an upcoming games company and that game got as popular as tetris for instance ,Most people would kick themselves because they missed such a great opportunity.Life is all about risks and if we just say no to every opportunity that might come along we would just remain annonymous forever.

I know i had quite a few dissapointments with gamedev over the years but i always get up and search for a new opportunity.