Worry not, I am not offended. The egotism on the site reflects my real-life egotism I''m sure you are all familiar with. To eliminated it would make it into brainless corporate-speak, I might as well be "providing solutions". I know the weaknesses of the current level of hubris, but that doesn''t make me any less right.

We aren''t working on three projects simultaneously. We have tenative designs for three projects and are completing them one at a time. The represent a natural evolution in the complexity of production and sales technique. Tahnks, BTW, we knew the page needed explainatory text, but now I know what to put!

I expected you to miss the Revolution Wav. We''re not selling a new technology, we''re selling the old techniques that have existed in all other media, and after the initial dust settles, these techniques determine sales. Always. Look at my team! Writer, Cinematographer, Musician, Artist. Very little emphasis on code or technology, even though we COULD argue that end. Ît''s okay, I don''t want to misinform possible investors. they should know EXACTLY what they''re getting into.

Lastly, I don''t expect all 3 titles to be great. I expect them to be DIFFERENT, and my sole job on the team is to make sure they are. Something you should all know by now I''m suited to do. Making them good is a different insinuation entirely, but still one I''m prepared to make. But that happens during production...

"What is your technology? What is your platform?"

Landfish is positioned to produce games for multiple platforms including all UNIX-based systems, MAC OSX, all major console platforms, and all Windows OS. If so, we will be positioned as one of the sole providers for games the first two mentioned.

"What is your business model? Distribution, sales, marketing?"

Sales, distribution and marketing will be handled through whatever publishing/marketing firm is best suited to the task. Intra-venture cooperation is a definite possiblity. Creatively, we follow the decompartmentalized CLueTrain Buisness model, financially we use traditional budgeting techniques.

"You seem like just a content house. How can you prove to me that you can execute, and that I can get a return on my investment?"

We''re a content house with programmers, graphics artists and musicians. We have completed demo projects that have remained unreleased for legal reasons (we are not incorporated). It can be proven that games sell best when they contain new experiences for the player, and that we have in abundance.

Excellent, Wav. Gimme more.

quote: Original post by Landfish

Worry not, I am not offended. The egotism on the site reflects my real-life egotism I'm sure you are all familiar with. To eliminated it would make it into brainless corporate-speak, I might as well be "providing solutions". I know the weaknesses of the current level of hubris, but that doesn't make me any less right.

Hahaha, okay, I'm glad I didn't outright offend. That was not my intention.

quote:
I expected you to miss the Revolution Wav. We're not selling a new technology, we're selling the old techniques that have existed in all other media, and after the initial dust settles, these techniques determine sales. Always. Look at my team! Writer, Cinematographer, Musician, Artist. Very little emphasis on code or technology, even though we COULD argue that end. Ît's okay, I don't want to misinform possible investors. they should know EXACTLY what they're getting into.

*big sigh*

I spent too much of today wandering around the industrial office park where I work embittered over the notion that the game industry has become too corporate to support creativity. It is my most FERVENT wish that you are right, but **everything** I have seen so far tells me that not only will the revolution be televised, it'll be brought to you live by Coke and Motorola!!!

I worked in the industry for four years. This is pissant time compared to some people I know (Atari 2600 guys!!!) But it was enough to completely *sour* me on the economics of the whole endeavor. I left because the pay is crap and business is brutal to creativity. In design everyone's an expert, nothing's provable on paper, and the only thing the suits respect is precedence. Success isn't just a matter of hope, it's a matter of technology, talent, and the luck of whatever cosmic forces you may believe in.

How much do you think your first game will cost? Think about the guts of it, the stuff inside. Think about how many hours. The assets. The QA cycle. Think about your team, your effort, and your project as if you were one of those poor saps coming off the transports on Omaha beach. I'm serious. What's going to stop you from getting it between the eyes? Do you have something that others don't? Do you know something that they don't?

Honestly, I'm serious here. I'm most dangerous to my own projects when I refuse (which unfortunately happens from time to time) to look this ugly question in the face.

I'm not telling you that "it can't work." Hell, anybody can say that. But if you plan to swim all the way upstream and make it, what makes you different? Can you prove that fish has legs?


--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

Edited by - Wavinator on October 2, 2000 12:04:36 AM

A mentor with startup experience and a close contact at a venture capital firm.

Seriously, give me more of those questions, they''re really going to round out the site. Where were you when we were making the thing? Any form of preparation will vastly increase my chances here.

Alas, Landfish.com is not perfect; so we will be making some changes. The about page text is likely to change, as are one or two things on most of the other pages. I''d like to keep this thread around for more feedback, so can the moderator please leave it open? Oh, wait, nevermind!

quote: Original post by Landfish

Worry not, I am not offended. The egotism on the site reflects my real-life egotism I''m sure you are all familiar with. To eliminated it would make it into brainless corporate-speak, I might as well be "providing solutions". I know the weaknesses of the current level of hubris, but that doesn''t make me any less right.

Problem is, by reading your site, seeing this "we have great a vision" talk without actually delivering, goes for a low credibility. Be humble until you actually have something to show.

The fact that you use so much time at gamedev actually lowers the credibility further as you possibly can''t be using all your time on the projects. Don''t misunderstand me, we all love you to have you hanging around here spreading your ideas, but it doesn''t actually produce games.

quote:
We aren''t working on three projects simultaneously. We have tenative designs for three projects and are completing them one at a time. The represent a natural evolution in the complexity of production and sales technique. Tahnks, BTW, we knew the page needed explainatory text, but now I know what to put!

Stay focused. Work on one title only. Ditch the others.

quote:
Lastly, I don''t expect all 3 titles to be great. I expect them to be DIFFERENT, and my sole job on the team is to make sure they are. Something you should all know by now I''m suited to do. Making them good is a different insinuation entirely, but still one I''m prepared to make. But that happens during production...

A title is always going to be a lot worse than you imagine, so if it is not perfect in your mind (while doable - a hard combination) ditch it. As said above ditch the two worst projects and keep the best.

I you do not intend to listen to me Landfish your team is running a very high risk of becoming one of the other 99.9% wannabe teams that never complete anything - believe me I have been there.

Jacob Marner

Believe me, I understand what you mean. But the only real way to prove you can get something accomplished is to accomplish something, so it really doesn''t matter what we say until we have.

I check GDNet every time I check my email. Since most of my job is done through email, this means I do a LOT of work. Keep in mind that other than conceptual design work, my only job is to make sure people follow through.

What you have said WOULD concern me if it weren''t for the amount of momentum we have in this project. My team is consistanly dedicated and we''re always making progress, especially in the form of mistakes. I have no fear of it going nowhere, because I''m the person who''s job it is to make sure that never happens.

Landfish, don''t just brush me off; I mean it seriously, if you do not ditch all but one of your projects, you will almost certainly fail.

All teams have great momentum at first but as time goes, and you or the other team members aren''t earning any money (or are you?) the drive will stop unless you stay really focused. However, if you all get money for what you do it helps a lot, otherwise people might suddenly loose interest - and they will - and you too for that matter sooner or later. The question is - will the game be complete for that happens?

Jacob Marner
www.rolemaker.dk