#5647 - Daedro - Sun May 04, 2003 9:17 pm
How do you think it will be untill they release a new gameboy system, I need to know if I can get my game done before they do that. I think I will be a done half a year before they do make a new one. What is an opinion on making a homebrew game right now and planning on releasing it? I know about licensing, I see its a pain in the neck, but not an issue right now. How long will it take to make a gba game? 3-4 years?
#5648 - sgeos - Sun May 04, 2003 9:40 pm
| Daedro wrote: |
| How long will it take to make a gba game? 3-4 years? |
I think the average commercial game takes 1 to 2 years and about $2 million to complete.
-Brendan
#5649 - Daikath - Sun May 04, 2003 9:47 pm
the previous game boy lasted around 10 years (the pokemon games came out also in black and white when the colour was still going strong). So I should't be too worried and even if you dont make it in time you'll have had a very good learning experience.
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#5651 - Daedro - Mon May 05, 2003 2:32 am
| sgeos wrote: |
| Daedro wrote: | | How long will it take to make a gba game? 3-4 years? |
I think the average commercial game takes 1 to 2 years and about $2 million to complete.
-Brendan |
Wooah.
Thats with a company right, with those machines. If you are at home using devkitadv and other programs with a team of 20 or less or maybe more.. how long do you think it would take? What would people at home need to spend 2 million dollars on? that really scares me.
#5656 - sgeos - Mon May 05, 2003 4:47 am
| Daedro wrote: |
| What would people at home need to spend 2 million dollars on? that really scares me. |
Money represents work. (This is my opinion.) You trade your work hours at a job for money. You can then trade your money for work that will be done for you- for somebody to make lemonade, for a factory to make you a GBA, etc.
If you plan to have 20 guys working on a game for 3 years at $20,000 per person a year, that takes you to $800,000. Thats about a million dollars.
You can do your own work instead of trading money to have work done for you. This way you don't have to pay anyone anything extra, and it will keep your costs down. It's still work that needs to be done though.
| Daedro wrote: |
| If you are at home using devkitadv and other programs with a team of 20 or less or maybe more.. how long do you think it would take? |
That depends. I could see any project fail and never get completed due to poor organization or planning. On the otherhand, I could see the right four people create a game, from start to finish, and finish in a year to a year and a half. Easily.
Really, I do not think that the work done by "amateurs" is less valid than that done by professionals. It's not. Actually... here is the dictionary.com definition of amateur:
A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession.
If you are serious about this, start a company. Then by the definition you are no longer an amateur. I see no reason why a whole bunch of companies should not be born from gbadev.org. There are few things I'd love to see more than that, actually.
-Brendan
#5659 - antysix - Mon May 05, 2003 11:46 am
But isn't it true that you can't publish a game compiled with DevKitAdv due to the license?
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#5666 - tepples - Mon May 05, 2003 7:22 pm
| antysix wrote: |
| But isn't it true that you can't publish a game compiled with DevKitAdv due to the license? |
The license of Devkit Advance's libraries, or Nintendo's license? The license of Devkit Advance's libraries is quite permissive and does not require distribution of your program's source code.
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#5676 - ampz - Mon May 05, 2003 8:59 pm
| sgeos wrote: |
| If you plan to have 20 guys working on a game for 3 years at $20,000 per person a year, that takes you to $800,000. Thats about a million dollars. |
$20,000 a year? That's a low salary, even if it is excluding taxes. The real cost is more than twice as much. (depending on tax rates)
#5678 - sgeos - Mon May 05, 2003 9:33 pm
| ampz wrote: |
| $20,000 a year? That's a low salary, even if it is excluding taxes. The real cost is more than twice as much. (depending on tax rates) |
Precisely my point. That take it up to a million and a half, man hours only. Put into perspective, the $10k or $20k for the license is peanuts compared to the actual value of a complete game.
-Brendan
#5689 - Daedro - Tue May 06, 2003 3:46 am
So with all the specified information listed I can realisticly make a game:
- Twelve on a team, each one in its own specialist category.
- Two years spent on the project.
- Financially covered, basicly.
- No place to meet everyday, twice a year.
- Enthuesiastic team, organized leader.
- Obviously a different kind of game, even though it is a RPG.
- Obviously a good quality game.
- Use DevKitAdv and Notepad to make the game.
- Send the start of the game ( 6 months ) as a demo to some licensed producers. Or risk it and wait till its totally complete.
Also, some questions:
- Making with DevKitAdv, no licensing problems?
- Making a game with no nintendo copyrights at the beginning, no getting sued, as long as I dont sell the game right?
- People ( who have never made a game ) keep saying 'why wouldnt the company just keep it and use it?' do I need to copyright it before I send copies out?
- Can anyong use my game and copyright it for themselves if I dont have it copyrighted? should I copyright the beginning and name now?
#5690 - tepples - Tue May 06, 2003 4:31 am
| Daedro wrote: |
| People ( who have never made a game ) keep saying 'why wouldnt the company just keep it and use it?' do I need to copyright it before I send copies out? |
Yes, you need to copyright it, but that's automatic in all parties to the Berne Convention. As soon as you have fixed the work in a tangible form (for example, as soon as the ROM is on your hard drive), you have copyrighted it. You have more sway in court if you have placed a prominent copyright notice that appears within a few seconds of your program receiving control. If you're in the United States or any other country that has a copyright registry, register the copyright in your program's source code and audiovisual assets once you have a "finished" product that has been accepted for publication. Registering your copyright within three months of first publication opens up the possibility of collecting statutory damages from an infringer in the United States.
However, apart from the source code and assets, copyright does not protect the game's function itself; only a patent can do that.
For more information on copyright in the United States, look through Copyright.gov.
| Quote: |
| Can anyong use my game and copyright it for themselves if I dont have it copyrighted? should I copyright the beginning and name now? |
You can't copyright a name. You may be able to trademark a name. I am not nearly as familiar with trademarks as I am with copyrights; start with USPTO.gov.
Nothing you read on gbadev.org is legal advice. If you have any further questions, talk to an attorney.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.