Summary of Rookie Roundtable

Moderator: Kent Quirk, CogniToy

Participants

	Name	Email
	Steve Myers	steve.myers@papy.com
	Rich Reily	rich.reily@papy.com
	Mason McCuskey	mason@spin-studios.com
	Russ Williams	russ@reciprocity.com
	Geoff Howland	ghowland@lupinegames.com
	Ray Mazza	rmazza@andrew.cmu.edu
	Amy Kalson	akalson@andrew.cmu.edu
	Ann Holvoet	ann.holvoet@skynet.be
	George Ian	zap@freshpulp.com
	Kira Snyder	kira@cosmonautstudios.com
	Greg Gibson	greg@cosmonautstudios.com
	Lee Montgomery	leemon@planetquake.com
	Marty Rabens	marty@rabens.com
	Scott Uhler	scott@iseesoft.com
	Drew Sikora	gaiiden@gamedev.net
	Katherine Smith	kathsth@bigfoot.com
	Vlad Vukicevik	vladimir@pobox.com
	Mike Shaver	shaver@mozilla.org
	Nick de Kanter	nick@muzzylane.com
	Sparky	sparky@phobe.com
	Mark Temple	mtemple10@cox.net
	Christian Bradley	cbrad2@earthlink.net
	Ken Troop	kenneth@turbinegames.com
	Dave Mark	dave@intrinsicalgorithm.com
	Laurie Reynolds	laurie@intrinsicalgorithm.com
	Tom Plunket	tomas@fancy.org
	Gregg Burman	gburman@brainsquall.com
	Russ Williams	(private)
	Jim Lane	(private)

Introduction

I gave a talk last year, it said:

Know thyself
Make sure you cover:

- Technology
- Game
- Marketing/Sales/Busdev
- Art
- Sound/Music
- Funding
You probably can't get much for free
Need three things:

The vision to see your end goal
The technical ability to execute it
The stamina to see it through to the end
If you're lacking any of those, you probably need to find someone who has them.

And our sponsors, the IGDA, have some excellent resources. It's worth it to join them.

Hire creatively:

Hire young
Hire a mixture of experienced/inexperienced people -- the young ones provide energy, the older ones stability and quality
You can often find artists who'll work on a royalty basis
Give young people "creative stock" -- alternative compensation plans

Art directing is hard

If you have lots of people, you can't be vague. It's hard to keep people to a coherent vision and you may have to redo a lot.
A good artist could well be affordable if you know what you want; they can work within a given budget.
Hire the best you can find within a given budget -- it can be expensive to pay for a learning curve.

Working with people

Your ability to organize is key
You can work long distance with modern communications tools

Email
Phone
Instant Messages (IM/ICQ)
Chat (IRC)
CVS for source control

Voice

If you're hiring voice talent, there are a remarkable number of starving actors out there.
If you're organized, you can get voice very cheaply; it doesn't take long to record a whole script full of stuff.
Make sure you audition people first -- they'll often do something small for free to get the job.
And there are cheap ways to do studio recording if you ask around.

Common thread:

Prepare first before you buy any human services and they'll be a lot cheaper.

Publishing

At this point I got too into the conversation and my notes got a lot worse. If anyone else has better notes, I'll be happy to post them.

Highlights:

Being an indie publisher is really really hard.
Unless you're a marketing genius or a truly committed independent you should try to find a publishing deal if you want your game sold.
There are many alternative publishing models now other than simply cramming it in a box and tossing it on a shelf (which is really hard and you probably won't get paid)
Real Arcade, Pogo, shareware, self-published over internet, pay-to-play on your own web site, Digital River and the like...
Suggestion: talk to multiple people and try to play them off each other. You'll always get a better deal if people are competing for you.