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列举独立游戏开发者可考虑的集资渠道

作者:Robert DellaFave

在较长的工作时间,不健康的饮食习惯以及强大的不确定性间,开发一款游戏需要付出非常大的努力,像Kratos,Link或Cloud等公司便处于这样的恐惧中。此外,大多数独立游戏工作室并未拥有足够的资金来源。因此为了维持资金的周转以及网络的畅通,大多数开发团队都在致力于寻找资金来源。

幸运的是,尽管存在一个让人畏惧的挑战,募集初创资金不再像拨号时代那样是个不可能完成的任务。

准备成为一个专业的资金募集者

人们说独立游戏开发者需要拥有许多帽子。如果你的工作室需要现金注入的话,你就需要带上软毡帽:变身专业的资金募集者。但在你开始给很久没联系的人打电话或在eBay上出售你所收集到的蓝光光碟时,你必须先评估自己的开发预算。这需要你进行一些臆测。

以下是帮助你做到这点的一些小技巧:

你必须清楚任何东西都要花钱:从新的计算机到开发工具,个人账单以及压力球等等,你的游戏开发预算应该包含一切有关开发过程的内容。创造一款游戏不只是创造图像,设计和代码那么简单。

然而你的主要成本还是关于游戏开发:多亏了社交网络以及像presskit()这样的开放源,你将能够通过许多免费的方式去营销游戏。

新功能的成本远高于你的想象:对于你将执行的每一个新功能,你需要分配更多钱于每个开发部门中。更糟糕的是,新功能往往需要花费更多时间,正所谓“时间就是金钱”。同时你也需要记住,如果你并不是靠拿工资生活,那么每个月你花费在游戏开发的时间便意味着你不能再其它地方赚到其它钱。

可能发生开发延迟的情况:不管你的程序员是否被绑架,代码是否遗失,或者你的美术师是否突然辞职,制作延迟都是游戏开发过程中可能会出现的因素。你应该预料到这点并去包容它,并且对此承担起责任。

你应该在做出任何预算前写下一份游戏设计文件:这已经强调了很多遍了。游戏设计文件将为你提供关于完成游戏所需要的资产和时间的具体内容。当设计的量越大,你便能够因此更加精确地估算人工所需要花费的时间。

PressKit(from gamedevelopment)

PressKit(from gamedevelopment)

当然了,即使你遵循着特定的参数,精确地预算开发成本也仍具有一定的风险。所以当你存在疑问时,一定要保持着谨慎的态度。比起顺利发展的游戏开发过程,你最好能为漫长且面临着各种困境的游戏开发过程制定好预算。

此外:大多数独立游戏的开发成本是在20万美元以下。像《愤怒的小鸟》,《时空幻境》以及《粘粘世界》等热门游戏的制作成本都是在12万美元至18万美元之间。我个人曾花费2千美元创造过游戏。所以你不要认为自己需要花费AAA级游戏预算才能创造一款独立游戏。

商业计划

一旦你创造一个原型或演示版本,你通过众包平台或有资信的投资者募集资金的潜能将得到提升。但为了做到这点,你必须提升投资世界中常见的种子资本。你可以通过一些方法做到这点,但首先你需要制定一个稳定的商业计划。

商 业计划并不像传统的计划那样需要长达200页的内容。实际上,大多数投资者更希望看到直接且清晰的商业计划。你必须在商业计划中呈现关于自己公司及其结构 的简要描述,关于首选产业和直接竞争对象的市场分析,关于产品线的综述以及你打算如何去销售产品,还有总体的市场营销计划。最后,你需要作出以下财务预 测,估算你当前需要筹集多少资金。

进行市场分析并不像之前那么可怕。举个例子来说吧,如果我正在创造一款怀旧的RPG,我将先明确其他开发者是否在创造同样的游戏,并询问他们一些有关开发成本,销售,哪些方法可行哪些不可行等问题。你将会惊讶地发行大多数开发者都很乐意分享这些信息。

即使你很难获取这些数据,也有许多开发者编写了一些事后经验,其中更是详细描述了他们的利润空间。就像独立开发商Zeboyd便是个典型的例子。

Zeboyd(from gamedevelopment)

Zeboyd(from gamedevelopment)

演示版本之前的预算

当拥有了业务计划和预算文件后,你便可以开始筹集一些现金了。你应该从这里开始:

朋友和家人:向这些人借钱具有以下好处,通常情况下他们至少不会把借钱给你当成一种交易。即使他们要求一个小股本或全数还款作为预付现金的交换,这也比向贷款人借钱所需要付出的代价轻多了。

不过向亲朋好友借钱的一个弊端便是你需要冒着断绝关系的风险,特别是当偿还条款并未完全公开时。为了避免这种情况,你必须让权益合伙人清楚他们可能会因此赔钱,或者至少他们在某些情况下不能从投资中看到回报。因为大多数公司在开始的头三年一般不会赚取利益。

个人存款:利用自己的个人存款也具有一定的风险。可能会发生某些未预料到的情况,当你认为自己拥有足够的钱去资助自己的游戏时,任何一件重要的生活变故都会将你个措手不及。例如,丢失全职工作,需要支付医疗费用,主要的开发延迟等,如果缺少安全保障的话它们都可能成为重大的灾难。

相反地,你可以贡献一部分的个人存款到游戏开发中,并将其与应急资金隔离开来。最理想的情况是将可使用的资金存在你的公司的个人银行账户中。

按揭贷款:按揭贷款并不是没有缺点。自2008年的经济危机以来,贷款人便勒紧了腰带,通常情况下不会批准已经有收益的公司的贷款,除非你拥有不错的信用评级。

审批过程本身就是个折磨人且费时的工作,特别是当你申请的是无抵押贷款的时候。加之,通常附属于贷款种类的高利贷将能够平行这些信用卡。

然而按揭贷款也存在一些优势。它们能够提供给你的团队大量的现金——如此你便不需要寻求额外的筹资渠道。它们也会给你施加一定的压力帮助你及时完成游戏,如此才能更快地还清贷款。

信用卡:与按揭贷款类似,信用等级将决定你能够获得多少信用金额,所以信用卡是另外一种可行的选择。然而,即使你的信用报告很突出,获取信用卡也是一个冒险的业务。

着眼于这种方法:如果你获得一张1万美元额度以及19.9%利率的信用卡,然后想马上提升额度,你便需要每个月消费将近200美元才能做到这点。或者,你也可以申请较低或者根本不存在先期利率的信用卡,但在一年后这样的利率就会到期。所以请谨慎做出选择。

通过非货币性方法募集资金:并不是所有的集资方案都要求你累积大量的个人债务或耗尽你的存款。在此发挥创造性将带给你很大的帮助。例如你可以利用Game Salad等免费或廉价的快速原型创造工具。

Game Salad(from gamedevelopment)

Game Salad(from gamedevelopment)

另外一个选择便是寻找愿意致力于娇小的收入份额或志愿服务的员工。当然了,有些志愿者是不可靠或者缺少经验的。但是你也会发现许多富有才能和创造性的人愿意为了支持自己的作品组合而免费伸出援手。

如果你发现一个还不成熟的人才,就想办法诱导他,暗示对方你正在筹集资金,当更多选择可行时愿意提供给他适当的薪资。或者你也可以咬紧牙关开始支付他费用。

自由职业也是另外一种可行的方法。亲自去尝试将增加你对于游戏开发领域的了解——例如,作为游戏程序员将推动着你使用同样的技能去创造自己的游戏。甚至作为游戏新闻记者或游戏开发作者也能获得回报,不管是在金钱上还是在相关知识方面。这也是创造稳定的声誉的一种有效方法。

自由职业工作存在的一个主要缺陷便是它将耗费你的时间;即用于创造自己的游戏的时间。但不管怎样,这仍然是在创造演示版本中募集资金的最安全且最有效的方法之一。

到现在为止,你可能已经注意到每种创业融资方法都具有自己的缺陷。这是一个我们需要面对的不幸的事实。但幸运的是一旦你创造了一个原型或演示版本,你将会看到更多具有较低风险的选择。

演示版本之后的筹资

现在你已经创造了一个演示版本,但它仍是漏洞重重,你只使用了一些程序图像并只呈现了5%的游戏内容。现在的你需要尽快筹集到更多钱。以下是你所面临的一些选择:

Kickstarter:这是世界上最广泛使用的筹款方式,Kickstarter让游戏开发公司可以无需承担太多风险便筹集到资金。你只需要兑现自己许下的创造一款游戏并提供给支持者回报的承诺便可。你无需偿还贷款,这里也不存在高利率以及分割公司股份的规定。这就像是独立开发领域的一场真正的比赛。

但它却并非完美。如果你未能满足投资者的期望值,你将会遭受巨大的声誉损失,并需要面对支持者对你的蔑视。让情况变得更复杂的是,你将不得不把筹集到的大部分资金作为支持者的报酬。

最后我想说的是:不管你做出怎样的选择,都不要掉进寻求比真正需要更少的钱的陷阱中。关于寻求你的预算需求的唯一可行的方案便是你已经处于通过两种筹资方案去判断其区别的过程中。

Crowdfunding 2.0:这是一种新模式,即居住在美国(游戏邦注:不管他们是否是有资信的投资者)的个人都可以在此购买一家初创企业的份额。由JOBS Act在2012年所创建的Crowdfunding 2.0对于寻求1百万美元以下的资金的开发团队来说是一种可行的资金获取渠道。

我之所以强调1百万美元是因为SEC对于一家公司在一年中筹集的资金数量具有严格的限制。投资者也将面临限制,这主要是取决于他们的金融投资组合。

Crowdfunding 2.0对投资者更有吸引力,因为他们将能够从自己的投资中获得潜在的回报。正是基于这一原因,像Crowdfunder这样的筹资门户网站可能会变得比Kickstarter更受欢迎。

Indie Fund:这是由以下成功的独立开发者所构成的组织,以帮助具有抱负的开发者去实现他们的目标为目标。他们的模式非常简单:Indie Fund将资助游戏开发成本,并在对方赚到最初投资的2倍收益或者2年过后收取最初的贷款加上25%的版税为报酬。如果在2年期限后游戏并未创造出足够的收益去偿还费用,Indie Fund便可能遭遇损失。

注意:Indie Fund会精心挑选候选者,只有那些得到媒体的好评或者在游戏节上广受欢迎的游戏才能达到标准。不过尽管如此,这仍然是带有一些产业经验的创新开发者的有效选择。

天使投资者,风险投资家和发行商:我之所以将这三者分在一组是因为他们都属于保守者。风险投资家对于那些并未拥有长期计划的公司总是特别谨慎。然而,如果你的初创企业计划在接下来几年发行一个商业引擎以及2至3款游戏,那么选择风险投资家便是一个可行的选择。对于天使投资者来说也是如此。

而发行商通常是从事于赚钱业务,而非游戏,它们因为毁掉了那些可能或不可能在市场中获取成功的立基或古怪的游戏而出名。正是基于这个原因,Tim Schafer才会在一开始转向Kickstarter。像Steam和Google Play Store等网站以及主机越来越倾向于发行独立游戏,传统的发行模式将快速失宠。

Alphafunding:这是在游戏正式发行前让玩家能够购买并玩你的游戏的一种方法,它能够帮助你恢复预算驼峰。像Desura等PC游戏网站也多次成功执行了这一模式。Alphafunding也是一种有价值的市场营销手段,它将把你那近乎完成的游戏递到玩家手上。

Alphafunding(from gamedevelopment)

Alphafunding(from gamedevelopment)

结论

对于游戏开发公司为自己的下一个开发项目筹集资金其实存在许许多多机会,并且每一年都会出现更多选择。面对着如此多可行的选择,你几乎不需要将自己局限在一种渠道上。

不过话虽这么说,你必须考虑最佳方法。筹资总是伴随着欠债,抵押资产,声誉损失以及各种沉重的压力。你需要做的便是深深吸口气,谨慎地做出判断,并明确具体该采取怎样的方法。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

How to Fund Your Indie Game

by Robert DellaFave

Between the long work hours, unhealthy eating patterns, and overwhelming sense of uncertainty, developing a game can require a near heroic effort, the likes of which would render Kratos, Link, or Cloud paralyzed in fear. And as if that weren’t enough, most indie game studios aren’t exactly flush with financial resources. Thus, in order to keep the assets rolling in and the Internet turned on, most development teams are resigned to seek outside funding sources.

Thankfully, while still a formidable challenge, raising startup funds isn’t quite the mission impossible it was back in the dial-up age.

Preparing to Become a Professional Fundraiser

They say indie game developers must wear many hats. Well, if your studio is in need of a cash infusion, it’s high-time you don another fedora: that of the pro-fundraiser. But before you start calling up your long lost relatives or sell your Blu-ray collection on eBay, it’s imperative that you first asset your development budget. And that will require a bit of guesswork.

Here are a few helpful tips to ease the process:

You must realize that everything costs money: From new computers, to development kits, personal bills, and stress balls, your game development budget should encompass everything related to the development process. There is much more to creating a game than just art, design, and code.

However, the majority of your costs will relate directly to game development: Thanks to social networking, and open-source resources such as presskit(), there are a plethora of ways to market your game for free. For more, check out our Marketing Checklist.

New features cost more than you might think: Consider that, for every new feature you implement, more money has to be allocated to each development department. Worse yet, new features take time, and as the old adage goes, “time is money.”  Also remember that, if you’re not taking a salary, each month spent developing a game is another month you won’t be making money elsewhere.

Development delays will happen: Whether your programmer is kidnapped, code is lost, or your artist suddenly quits, production delays are a natural facet of the game development process. Expect them, embrace them, and always account for them.

You should write a game design document before making any budgetary estimates: I can’t emphasize this one enough. Game design documents will provide you with a much clearer picture of the number of assets and time necessary to complete your game. Without one, you might as well pick a number out of a hat. The more quantifiable and itemized the design, the more accurately you’ll be able to assess the man-hours required.

Granted, even by adhering to certain parameters, accurately predicting the cost of development is still a bit of a crapshoot. So when in doubt, err on the side of caution. It’s better to budget for an elongated, disaster-ridden game development process, than for one that flows seamlessly.

One additional point: The vast majority of indie games cost under $200,000 to develop. Hits like Angry Birds, Braid and World of Goo were all produced for somewhere between $120,000 and $180,000. I’ve personally created games for less than $2,000. Never be fooled into thinking that you’ll need to procure a Triple-A budget to create an indie game.

The Business Plan

The potential for procuring funds via a crowdsourcing platform or an accredited investor improve dramatically once you’ve developed a prototype or demo. But in order to get to that point, you will have to raise what’s commonly referred to in the investment world as seed capital. There are a few ways to go about this, but they all begin with having a solid business plan in place.

Business plans are not the 200-page exercises in torture they used to be. In fact, most investors prefer business plans that are direct and to the point. In it, you should provide a brief description of your company and its structure (You did form a company, right?), a market analysis of your preferred industry and direct competition, an overview of your product line and how you plan to sell it, and an overarching marketing scheme. To conclude, you’ll want to make some financial projections, and indicate therein how much funding you are currently seeking.

Performing market analyses is not as daunting a task as it might initially seem. For instance, if I were creating a retro RPG (which I am) I would first reach out to other developers who have done the same, and ask them a few questions about their development costs, their sales, what worked, and what didn’t. You’d be surprised just how willing most developers are to divulge this information.

And even if procuring this data proves difficult, there are plenty of developers who write postmortems, detailing their profit margins. Indie RPG developer Zeboyd is a prime example.

Pre-Demo Funding

Now the fun part. With your handy business plan and budgetary documents in place, it’s time to raise some cash. Here’s where to start:

Friends and family: There are a slew of advantages associated with private money, not the least of which is that, often, your friends and family won’t be out to make money on the deal. Even if they do require a small equity position or full repayment in exchange for upfront cash, that’s a small price to pay compared to the potential pitfalls of working with a lender.

The one drawback of borrowing from friends and family members is that you run the risk of severing ties, especially if the terms of repayment aren’t fully disclosed. To counter this, make your equity partners aware that they could lose money on the deal, or at least that they might not see a return on their investment for some time. Sadly, most companies are not profitable within their first three years.

Personal savings: Tapping into your personal savings carries some risk. Unexpected circumstances happen, and while you may think you have enough money to fund a game on your own, one major life event can change that in hurry. For instance, losing your day job, paying medical bills, major developmental delays… these things happen, and without a safety net they can prove catastrophic.

Instead, only dedicate a portion of your personal savings to your game development ventures, and segregate them in a account separate from your emergency funds. Ideally, operational funds would be held in your company’s personal bank account.

Business loans: Business loans are not without their drawbacks. Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, lenders have tightened their belts, and generally won’t approve your pre-revenue company unless you possess an exemplary credit rating.

The approval process itself can be a grueling, months-long affair, especially if you’re applying for an unsecured (non-collateral) loan. Plus, the high interest rates often attached to loans of this variety can parallel those of credit cards.

Still, there are certain advantages to business loans. They provide your team with a sizable cash infusion—so much so that you won’t necessarily have to seek additional sources of funding. They also place a bit of pressure on you to complete your game in a timely matter, if only to pay back the loan more quickly.

Credit cards: Similar to business loans in that your credit rating will dictate the amount of credit you’ll receive, credit cards are another viable option. However, even if your credit report is sparkling clean, procuring a credit card can be risky business.

Look at it this way: if you acquire a credit card with a $10,000 limit and a 19.9% interest rate, and then promptly max it out, you’ll need to make monthly payments of nearly $200 a month just to break even. Alternatively, you could only apply for credit cards with low or nonexistent introductory rates, but those rates typically expire after a year. Be wary.

Funding through non-monetary means: Not all funding schemes require that you amass tons of personal debt or exhaust your savings. Here’s where a little creativity goes a long way. For instance, you could make use of free or inexpensive rapid prototyping tools such as Game Salad.

Another option is to seek out employees willing to work on a small revenue share or volunteer basis. Granted, some volunteers tend to be on the unreliable or inexperienced side. But you’d be surprised just how many talented creative types are willing to trade free work for a chance to bolster their portfolio.

If you do find a gem in the rough, entice them to stick around by indicating that you’re currently raising funds, and will offer them a proper paid position once more options become available. Or just bite the bullet and start paying them now.

Doing freelance side work yourself is also another viable route. Try to take jobs that will enhance your knowledge of the game development field—for instance, working as a game programmer will task you with using the same skills necessary to create your own game. Even taking a job as a game journalist or game development writer can pay dividends, both financially and through knowledge gained. It’s also a great way to build a solid reputation.

The main drawback of taking on freelance work is that it eats up your time; time that could be used to create your own game. Regardless, it’s still one of the safest and most rewarding pre-demo funding paths you can take.

By now, you may have noticed that every startup funding vehicle comes with drawbacks. This is just an unfortunate truth. The good news is that once you have created a prototype or demo, less risky options suddenly open up.

Post-Demo Funding

You’ve created a demo, but it’s still buggy, uses some programmer art, and only displays five percent of your game. You need more money, and fast. Here are some of your options:

Kickstarter: One of the most widely used fundraising mechanisms on the planet, Kickstarter allows game development companies to raise funds without assuming much risk. All that’s required of you is to deliver upon your promise of producing a game and to provide rewards to backers. There’s no need to repay loans, no high interest rates and no need to give away parts of your company. It’s truly a match made in indie heaven.

Well, not entirely. Should you fail to meet expectations, you’ll suffer a major reputation loss, and face the scorn (and possible class-action lawsuit) of your backers. Compounding matters further, you’ll likely have to reserve a significant portion of your raised funds for backer rewards.

One final note: Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of asking for less money than you really need. The only scenario where it’s acceptable to ask for a percentage of your budgetary needs is if you’re already in the process of making up the difference via an alternative funding avenue.

(See also: A No-Name Developer’s Guide to Succeeding on Kickstarter.)

Crowdfunding 2.0: A new model is emerging, one in which individuals residing in the United States—regardless of whether or not they’re an accredited investor—can purchase shares of a startup. Made possible by the JOBS Act of 2012, Crowdfunding 2.0 could potentially prove a viable financial outlet for development teams seeking $1 million or less.

I say $1 million because the SEC is in the midst of placing harsh restrictions on just how much capital a company can raise in a calendar year. Investors will also face limitations, the severity of which will be contingent on their financial portfolio.

Crowdfunding 2.0 is infinitely more attractive to investors than its vanilla counterpart, in that they’ll receive a potential return on their investment. It’s for this reason that funding portals like Crowdfunder may eventually supersede Kickstarter in popularity.

Indie Fund: Indie Fund is a mish-mosh of several successful independent developers, all with the common goal of helping ambitious developers achieve their aims. Their model is simple: Indie Fund will fund a game’s development costs in exchange for full repayment of the initial loan plus 25 percent royalties until it has either made double the initial investment, or until two years pass. Should a game not generate enough revenue to cover the repayment cost over a two-year period, Indie Fund eats the loss.

Do be warned: Indie Fund hand-picks its candidates, with only games received well by the press or by gaming festivals making the grade. Still, it’s perfect for innovative developers with at least some industry experience under their belts.

Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists and Publishers: I’m grouping these together because they all belong to the old guard. Venture capitalists, in particular, are very wary of investing in companies that don’t possess a long-term plan. However, if your startup has plans of releasing a commercial engine, along with two or three games over the next several years, approaching a VC suddenly becomes a viable option. The same applies to angel investors.

Publishers are generally in the business of making money, not games, and are notorious for writing off niche or quirky indie games that may or may not succeed in the marketplace. It’s for this reason that Tim Schafer turned to Kickstarter in the first place. And with portals like Steam and the Google Play Store, along with consoles, displaying an increased willingness to publish indie games, traditional publishing models are rapidly falling out of favor.

Alphafunding: Essentially a means of allowing gamers to buy and play your game before its ready for commercial release, alphafunding is a useful device to help you get over the budgetary hump. PC gaming portals like Desura have implemented the model with some success. Alphafunding is also a worthy marketing device, as it gets a nearly finished version of your game into buyers’ hands.

Conclusion

There’s a wealth of opportunities for game development companies seeking to procure funding for their next foray, with more alternatives propping up every year. With so many options available, there’s hardly a need to limit yourself to one source.

That being said, it’s important to consider the best possible route. With funding comes the possibility of debt, equity and reputation loss, and of course, stress. Take a deep breath, proceed with caution and know that where there’s a will, there’s a way.(source:gamedevelop.tutsplus)


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