lonewolf.htm

关于windows游戏编程的一些文章还有相关图形

<P>http://www.godgames.com/command.html</P>

<H3><FONT COLOR=YELLOW><I>Artists</FONT></I></H3>
<P>While you may be able to code everything that is necessary to create a finished game, it is unlikely that you will be able to do all the art for it as well.  This leaves you in the position of needed an artist to assist you with your work.  A lot of things can be done before you need an artist to really start shaping the graphics for your game.  I suggest you do all that you can before you bring an artist on board for two reasons. </P>

<P>If you are going to split the future profits of your game with your artist because you cannot afford to pay him you run the risk of the project breaking up or eventually boring the artist because he is creating art that is not able to be put in the game yet.  If your game is already to a point that you can start putting his art in then you will engage him and yourself more into the production of it and you are more likely to finish your project.</P>

<P>If you do have the funds to pay your artist than you will be paying him for work that you cannot currently put in the game.  The more he works the more work that will have to be changed over if the artwork doesn抰 fit properly into your game.  This is going to cost you a lot of extra money you didn't have to spend.</P>

<P>How much do artist charge?</P>

<P>This depends highly on the artist, but of the high quality artist I spoke with it varied by two categories.  These were if they charged by the hour, or buy the 3D object.</P>

<P>If you were going to pay them by the hour it was usually about $20 per hour.  Some production houses charged much more than this for their services.</P>

<P>If you were going to pay per 3D objects there were once again two categories.  Low polygons and high polygons.  Low polygon animated models ranges from $200 to $500 dollars and high polygon animated models ranged from $800 to $1200.  </P>

<P>These prices are on the high end of the talent spectrum because I only asked artists whose work blew me away.  Less accomplished artists may charge less or if they are still in school may want to work for a share of the final profit.</P>

<H3><FONT COLOR=YELLOW><I>Teams and the Internet</FONT></I></H3>

<P>Another route you can go is to build a team or "virtual companies", there have been a lot of these sprouting up on the Internet recently.  If you want to see an example of one that is producing quality work do a search on Ward 6 on the Internet and you will get a prime example of how these can work.</P>

<P>Working with other people takes coordination, and not everyone can manage people.  If you have never tried before you may not want to try on your first venture simply because it will take away from time you could be actually working.  If you decide that it's worth the risk make sure you only work with people that are as dedicated as you are since anything less will probably drag your project down.</P>

<P>There are a lot of people right now who want to get in to the games industry and making a game is a good way to do it, if you can get a small group of these people who are talented this method could work very well for you.</P>

<H3><FONT COLOR=YELLOW><I>Time to Publish</FONT></I></H3>
<P>If you have already created your game on you're own without a publishing deal you have a lot more leverage than someone that has not finished their game yet.</P>

<P>For starters you no longer need start up capital.  Your game is basically finished.  It will need to be tested on various types of hardware and play tested by a group of people to work out all the kinks that you have not so far.  This cost is trivial to a publisher compared with the risks of paying someone who does not have a finished product.</P>

<P>You are also in a much better position to negotiate money on your contract, you can demand a higher percentage of the profit and will have more flexibility in other areas as well.</P>

<P>You also have more choices than just going through a publisher.</P>

<P>What other choices do I have?</P>

<P>First there are other companies called distributors.  A distributor's job is to move products to stores.  They have contracts with different stores and can place products in their shelves. </P>

<P>You can not, for instance, make a game, print the boxes and then get Babbages or some other software store to sell it for you.  You need to have a distribution contract with their company.  Publishers sometimes have distributors that they use, and sometimes they distribute their own products.</P>

<P>Distributors sometimes work a little like a publisher.  Some distributors will give money to help develop a product.  Some of them also have artists to design box art, packaging and advertising.  As I understand it, you can usually get a better deal in a percentage contract from a distributor than a publisher since there are fewer middlemen and they are less in the business of making a profit off of small developers.</P>

<P>What about venture capitalists?</P>

<P>There was a brief time when venture capitalists were actually giving money to developers to try to make games.  As I understand it, this has completely or almost completely stopped.  If you haven't developed successful titles before you may want to explore this avenue but not hold your breath.</P>

<P>What about self-publishing?</P>

<P>You can sell the game yourself as well.  Your best bet is probably going to be the Internet.  There are services where you can have pay them approx. $5 every time you make a sale and they will handle the transaction for you.  However, these are sucking up a lot of your profit and probably causing you to charge more.</P>

<P>My suggestion would be to get an ISP that provides credit card services.  Most ISP's provide site hosting and for an additional $20 or so a month you can have credit card services and CGI scripts for a shopping cart.  Then all you need to do is set up a bank account with the service or directly with VISA and MasterCard.</P>

<P>Are there any other pit falls to self-publishing or going through a distributor?</P>

<P>You have to support your own game.  If you went through a publisher they will have a tech support team who will handle calls and assist your customers with installation and problems they might have and report bugs to you.  If you use a distributor or self-publish you are going to have to handle this yourself.  This is extremely crucial to your sales because if people learn you are not supporting your software they are much less likely to buy it.</P>

<H3><FONT COLOR=YELLOW><I>Can a lone wolf survive?</FONT></I></H3>
<P>I have seen a lot of negative comments about whether or not lone wolves can survive in today's market. I'm not going to give you my opinions about the situation, I am simply going to point a few things out and let you decide for yourself if it's worth it or even possible.</P>

<P>Using a publisher</P>

<P>Getting a publisher can be difficult, there is a lot of competition out there trying to do exactly what you are.  If you know your trade, and you organize your work well and learn how to show that you understand it and can complete it, it is possible to get funding for your project.</P>

<P>If you can finish a game on your own you will be ahead of the crowd and be able to command more money from the returns of your work.  It's harder to do though and you will have to support yourself while you do it.  In the end you will come out ahead for it.</P>

<P>Self-publishing</P>

<P>Large companies have to make money.  If they don抰 they will lose stock value and will have to lay off employees or they will fold completely.  They can't afford to take risks, so they can only create games that they firmly believe will make them money.</P>

<P>With the amount of money that some companies are spending on development in the millions they may have to sell 100,000 to 200,000 copies to break even.</P>

<P>If you sold 10,000 copies of a game you made yourself at $15 a game you would have $150,000 dollars.  That's sounds pretty good to me for something that can be completed in 6 months or sometimes less.</P>

<P>Still, 10,000 copies is a lot of people liking your game enough to pay for it.  The big companies have the advantage of seasons like Christmas where relatives are forced to buy presents for people so they get purchased just because they're in stores.  Shareware does not have that equivalent or luxury, every sale you make you are probably going to have to seriously impress.</P>

<P>Another thing to think about is that large companies cannot make games for small markets.  If you are fascinated with the War of 1812, most likely at least a small group of other people are also.  While large companies cannot afford to target a small group of people, you can.  If you抮e the first to do it you will have no competitors and even if you have competitors there are usually room for several games of the same type as people don't like to play the same game always, or forever.</P>

<P>There are many other advantages that come from these basic two ideas but you can see them for yourselves as well as I could explain them to you.</P>

<!--Bottom Navigation-->
<A NAME="bottom"></A>
<!--End Bottom Navigation-->
</STRONG>
</FONT>
<!--End Body-->
<!--Bottom-->
<BR>
<IMG SRC="gradbar.jpg">
<BR>
<FONT SIZE=2 COLOR=#8B8B8B FACE=Helvetica>
<I><font color="#FBFBFB">T</font><font color="#F7F7F7">h</font><font color="#F3F3F3">e</font><font color="#EFEFEF"> </font><font color="#EBEBEB">G</font><font color="#E7E7E7">a</font><font color="#E3E3E3">m</font><font color="#DFDFDF">e</font><font color="#DBDBDB"> </font><font color="#D7D7D7">P</font><font color="#D3D3D3">r</font><font color="#CFCFCF">o</font><font color="#CBCBCB">g</font><font color="#C7C7C7">r</font><font color="#C3C3C3">a</font><font color="#BFBFBF">m</font><font color="#BBBBBB">m</font><font color="#B7B7B7">i</font><font color="#B3B3B3">n</font><font color="#AFAFAF">g</font><font color="#ABABAB"> </font><font color="#A7A7A7">M</font><font color="#A3A3A3">e</font><font color="#9F9F9F">g</font><font color="#9B9B9B">a</font><font color="#979797">S</font><font color="#939393">i</font><font color="#8F8F8F">t</font><font color="#8B8B8B">e</font> -