Wednesday, October 30, 2013

How A "Hippie" Idea Made Me a Business "Dictator"

Whew, this is actually a pretty emotional and cathartic dev blog - be warned. Before Fixer Studios was formed I discussed with business owners and lawyers my ideas for how we'd function cooperatively, without expressed power rolls and how whatever little profits we earned would be shared on the basis of friendly meritocracy. You see, nobody on the team wanted the hassle or risk of becoming partial owners so I wasn't able to do "sweat equity" or stock options.

The responses from my business mentors ranged from "That's adorable" to "You hippie". The lawyer's response was more sobering. The compensation structure I'd cooked up was "neat and came from the right place inside", but technically it would involve issuing "securities" to colleagues. That's a big deal that'd require one of four things...

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Expectation Setting

The truth is, it's easy to be successful when you get to define success. Everyone has the experience of having expectations set by others, whether we're talking about a Board of Directors expecting a quarterly revenue number, or just parents expecting a GPA. What happens when you set your own expectations for an indie game feels just as important as coming up with the core concept...

Friday, October 11, 2013

The Name Game: Naming a Game

Video Game Name Generator
Shakespeare's beloved Juliet opined, "What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Well, I don't think I need to tell you she was a foolish child, because without the keyword "rose" and rose.com, your love is doomed. Choosing a game name is a big deal, and can sometimes be a pretty big process. For instance, our little team at Fixer Studios has put a lot of work into our first title's - uh, title...