The idea of establishing a game studio is often started with a lot of passion and vision. Often because it was triggered playing a game and thought that they could also make a game that's as good, if not better than the one they're playing. That usually sparks motivation and a passion that is not always correlated with money right away. The good news is that you can get and use a lot of great game engines for free and use a lot of the assets available there for free as well so that makes it for a very little overhead which is really good when you start thinking about making your first game.
How much money do I need to make a game?
I think you'll be really happy with the answer. 0$. Yes, indeed, you could make a brand new game that doesn't cost you anything. Actually, that's really the beauty of game development nowadays. You could even have an AI write the whole game for you! However, rest assured, game devs are not in danger and you'll be able to keep developing game for a while.
All the money you need really is your personal overhead. If you're living with your parents or with someone and barely have any bills to pay, you'll have a blast! You could simply code away and not worry about whether or not you'll bring money back in. So, when you start, you don't need much money, if at all, to really get started on your game development journey. But what happens if you do have a rent or mortgage to pay? Then, you can opt to go the funding route, let's talk about it!
Where do I start looking for funding?
First-of-all, you have to know and make sure you 100% know that that's the path you want to take. I say this because raising capital is itself a full-time occupation, so you want to make sure you're investing your time properly there. Once that decision has been taken, you have to make another decision: Any funds or grants only? You have to weight the pros and cons of each and know what's best for your situation and your company. Are you willing to give up equity for money or would you rather have a bit less money and keep full ownership? Lots of questions to ask yourself at this stage.
Once that's figured out, a good way to encounter and get to know the different funding companies and entities is by Googling 'game development funding'. This will usually get you about one to two good websites. But the key is that from there, you scroll to the bottom of the page, and you'll see the a list of sponsors to that organization. That's where you start marking down and noting all the other organizations that do sponsoring. You can also go on games that you like's websites and look for their sponsors! That should take you down an exhaustive list of potential sponsors and partners. They always say: "Ask for money, you get advice and ask for advice, you get money", so keep that in mind when applying. Don't be too eager to get the big check, but rather enjoy the process of meeting new people that could potentially still be useful in the future!
Another trick is to look at the sponsor and partner list of a gaming event. There's always big banners displaying the partners. Simply take a photo and look up every single one of them and reach out to them.
It's a number's game..
That's not the whole truth. That's a truth, but not the whole one. It is a number's game for the big part but also there's a lot of knowledge and experience required on what to say and when to say something, but at the end of the day, it's just like a muscle. You just have to train it! We'll eventually write about our strategy to making a good game dev pitch deck, so stay tuned!
How much money do I need to make a game?
I think you'll be really happy with the answer. 0$. Yes, indeed, you could make a brand new game that doesn't cost you anything. Actually, that's really the beauty of game development nowadays. You could even have an AI write the whole game for you! However, rest assured, game devs are not in danger and you'll be able to keep developing game for a while.
All the money you need really is your personal overhead. If you're living with your parents or with someone and barely have any bills to pay, you'll have a blast! You could simply code away and not worry about whether or not you'll bring money back in. So, when you start, you don't need much money, if at all, to really get started on your game development journey. But what happens if you do have a rent or mortgage to pay? Then, you can opt to go the funding route, let's talk about it!
Where do I start looking for funding?
First-of-all, you have to know and make sure you 100% know that that's the path you want to take. I say this because raising capital is itself a full-time occupation, so you want to make sure you're investing your time properly there. Once that decision has been taken, you have to make another decision: Any funds or grants only? You have to weight the pros and cons of each and know what's best for your situation and your company. Are you willing to give up equity for money or would you rather have a bit less money and keep full ownership? Lots of questions to ask yourself at this stage.
Once that's figured out, a good way to encounter and get to know the different funding companies and entities is by Googling 'game development funding'. This will usually get you about one to two good websites. But the key is that from there, you scroll to the bottom of the page, and you'll see the a list of sponsors to that organization. That's where you start marking down and noting all the other organizations that do sponsoring. You can also go on games that you like's websites and look for their sponsors! That should take you down an exhaustive list of potential sponsors and partners. They always say: "Ask for money, you get advice and ask for advice, you get money", so keep that in mind when applying. Don't be too eager to get the big check, but rather enjoy the process of meeting new people that could potentially still be useful in the future!
Another trick is to look at the sponsor and partner list of a gaming event. There's always big banners displaying the partners. Simply take a photo and look up every single one of them and reach out to them.
It's a number's game..
That's not the whole truth. That's a truth, but not the whole one. It is a number's game for the big part but also there's a lot of knowledge and experience required on what to say and when to say something, but at the end of the day, it's just like a muscle. You just have to train it! We'll eventually write about our strategy to making a good game dev pitch deck, so stay tuned!