This did not have to be a disaster in the making. If properly addressed, it could have been a huge opportunity to make the game they wanted to make and get enough money to do it. It’s called “Up Sell.” We have all had it happen to us. You go in to buy a used car and they show you new ones. You want the simple version but all you are hearing from the guy in the appliance store is all the features that the high-end model offers. “But we’re game developers, not cheesy appliance salesmen,” you say. Sure, but the example still holds. And the point is even more important because we are not salesmen trained to do this.

Many new developers just want to make the best game that they can. But if they do not condition that desire with discipline. The mantra has to be “We want to make the best game we can within our budget,” or their dreams of having their own studio may well never come true. Call it slippage, feature creep, “going the extra mile” or whatever else you want. But if you commit your studio to do anything without getting paid for it, I call it just plain foolish.

Our example was a perfect opportunity for an up sell. The game budget was back-end loaded with most of the advances tied to the Xbox option. But under the new model, by shifting revenue from the Xbox to the PC version, which would now have many of the features reserved for the console title, more money would be available for the PC development.

And the additional features and expanded design would also require more time and, therefore, a larger total advance. The thing is -- the publisher loved the new design. The selling part of the up sell was already done. The part that was lacking was the new price. This ultimately cost the studio everything.

They brought me in to help out in late in the project. I was able to renegotiate the milestone payment structure to move more of the back-end payment to the front end because they were getting into difficult financial straits. But by that point they were already fully committed to the revised game design. So, reverting back to the original game they sold to the publisher was not an option. Though the game was released, the studio took a huge loss on it and shut down shortly thereafter.

Using the magnificent magical prism of 20/20 hindsight, it is easy to see what they should have done. After all, figuring out what should have been done is always way easier than figuring out what to do in the first place. But maybe this article will help someone else avoid this particular pothole on the road to building a successful studio.

Here, the additional features and revised game design were great. And getting publisher buy-in was also right on point. In fact, the more the publisher is salivating for the enhanced project, the better off you are. But (here’s where the discipline comes in) at this point a full realistic analysis of the revised project schedule and the impact that this will have on the budget needs to be done. Yeah, I know... this is not what you got into game development to do. But if you want to run a studio, you better cowboy up and do it or find someone else to do it for you!

Right when the publisher fully buys into the new design and features is the right time for the up sell. Just go to the publisher with the revised budget and let them know how much more time and money they will have to advance to get this great “new and improved” game. Of course, at that point you also need to be disciplined enough to say (and mean) that if you don’t get the new budget, you just can’t make the enhanced version and then just deliver the game as you initially promised and sold it.

If the publisher sees the additional value, they will pony up the additional dollars to make it happen. And if not, you’ll just have to save all these cool additional features and enhancements for the sequel or your next title. This combination of “Discipline and the Up Sell” can go a long way toward helping build a successful development studio.

A few parting thoughts -- OK, one reason I picked the topic of “discipline” is because I figured the editors at Gamasutra would come up with some really kinky pictures to go with the article. [No luck. -- Ed.] And, in case you are wondering what happened to the folks at the studio in our example, well, it seems that every cloud does have a silver lining. Although their studio is long gone, all of the developers involved are doing well and have extremely successful careers at some of the top studios in the industry.

Till next time, GL & HF!

(© 2007 Thomas H. Buscaglia. All rights reserved.)