Game Idea & Question of Development

[anubite]

I disagree. Shallow ideas are cheap, but fully fleshed-out ones are not. I have many deep game ideas that would take me weeks to document and put into some sort of pdf development guide sort of thing. The formalization of an idea into what needs to be built, and how, is the responsibility of an idea guy, and making one that is easy to follow, comprehend - that is complete, accurate, and well thought out, is a challenge. It is cheap to jot down some ideas and say, "Yes, that will be awesome." But that's not nearly enough of the work that needs to be done to create an idea that is ready to be presented to a craftsman, or a group of people who will bear the burden of putting that idea into reality. If the OP truly is an "idea guy" he needs to stop brainstorming at some point and document it all formally.

Edited December 13, 2013 by anubite

[PrimeJunta]

I've been involved in a few community projects, and they usually fail. They can succeed if there's a single charismatic, visionary, and determined community leader who keeps things together, and convinces everybody else to go along, while accepting a limited amount of community feedback.

 

The dynamics are much like a developer-led Kickstarter, actually, with the community leader playing the part of the developer.

 

I.e., if you have a really kickass idea, I say make that high-concept document, and pitch it to the community first to see how it's received. If it looks like it'll fly, find the talent who's willing to make it happen, tally up how much it'll cost, draft a realistic plan for making it, and then kickstart. The community involvement can be as democratic/anarchic as you want.

 

It will be a hard sell. It will be easier if your talent includes people who have done this before a few times.

 

Additionally, the project will almost certainly fail (i.e., never complete, go drastically over budget/over schedule, or have its scope cut beyond all recognition) unless you have experienced people on board. So make sure you do.