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Each month, industry veteran Tom Sloper provides career guidance to game biz wannabes, newbies, and junior professionals with the goal of helping them break into the industry, and stay in. Submit a question to Tom for developer-oriented advice in this column (IGDA members only).

by Tom Sloper

Genius Takes Time To Cook (November 2006)

Dear Tom,

I'm ready to start my own company. I've been working in QA at a major game company for 14 months, and the stuff you said in your articles was right on. Now I know how a video game company works, I know lots of good people, and I've gotten my name in the credits for a couple of major games.

The way they treated me at that company left something to be desired. I pitched my game idea but they hardly even gave it a look. I had the idea before I started there, so it's mine outright, don't worry about that.

But anyway, now I just need some help figuring out some things. Like one, how do I get the money to start up my company? QA doesn't pay a lot, so I don't have the wherewithal myself. And two, I know a lot of good people, but they're, you know, still working at the company I left. (He he he, you should've heard the piece of my mind I gave my boss when I left!) And three, I know my game is going to sell a million copies easy, tell me how to convince others of that fact. I guess four, tell me what else I forgot to ask.

Your advice in your articles has helped me get this far, o wise one, now tell me what I need to do next.

Genius Galore

Hi Genius,

Well. Where do I start. One: you can't get money for a startup, because you're not ready yet. You only worked in QA, and only for 14 months. You aren't fully cooked yet, so the investors are unlikely to bite.

Two: You don't have enough valuable contacts yet. You've only worked in one department of one company, and for too short a time.

Two and a half: You burned your bridges with that company with the way you quit. Should've done it nicer. That'll come back to bite you someday. Trust me.

Three: You can't build a company on just one game idea. You need a stronger foundation than that. Multiple concepts would be better. Multiple demos of those multiple concepts would be better yet. Your company needs to make money, not burn through it. You do that by being willing to work on concepts brought to you by publishers, not only by trying to pitch just your own.

Four: The upshot is this. You say you've acted according to advice I've given in my articles. I don't think so. There are many possible ways to get where you're trying to go, and the way you have taken is not what I've advised. You may need to start afresh at another company. You need more time in the oven.

Please note that there is no guarantee that Tom will be able to respond to all the questions he receives. It is up to his discretion which questions he uses for this column. For further advice and resources, check out the IGDA's discussion forums, the Breaking In web site and the Students & Newbies Outreach section.

Tom's Bio

Tom Sloper's game biz career began over twenty years ago at Western Technologies, where he designed LCD games and the Vectrex games "Spike" and "Bedlam". There followed stints at Sega Enterprises, Rudell Design, Atari Corporation, and Activision. In 12 years at Activision, Tom produced 36 unique game titles (plus innumerable ports and localizations), designed four games, and won five awards. Tom worked for several months in Activision's Japan operation, in Tokyo. He is perhaps best known for designing, managing and producing Activision's "Shanghai" line. He is currently consulting, writing, speaking, teaching, and developing original games. Find out more at Sloperama.