Indies SIG/Ideas/Indie Developers Co-operative
International Game Developers Association
This is an idea currently being discussed by members of the Indies SIG.
Indie Developers Co-operative would be one or a series of local non-profit co-operatives, formed to allow local indie developers to pool resources for various development-related purposes. Funded by a "tithe" from the income of member developers (that is, development groups or companies, not necessarily individuals), a portion of the IDC's own income would go towards donations, infrastructure, or other important goals for the co-op's members while the remainder would be saved or used to distribute costs for less common but still important development tasks.
By sharing costs for some services between the different developers requiring those services, it should be possible in most cases to receive the equivalent of a "bulk discount" from service providers. Additionally, software under more liberal EULAs could be license managed by the co-op, allowing for better discounts on licensing as well as legally swapping license ownership between co-op members.
[edit] IRC Chats
[edit] 2007 October 28
[17:48:42] <zratchet> Project Codename: AeGIS [17:48:42] <zratchet> --- [17:48:42] <zratchet> AeGIS stands for Austin Games, Indie Style. My idea is a non-profit [17:48:42] <zratchet> organization based on a tithe. Basically indie studios who want to be [17:48:42] <zratchet> a part of AeGIS would contribute 10% of their earnings into a pool. [17:48:43] <zratchet> 50% of those earnings would then be used to donate to charities and/or [17:48:47] <zratchet> game industry functions such as VGVN, or to enable the Austin Game Community to work better - like donating to the Game Archive (this refers to something going on here in Austin) or to set up a QA Testing lab that all local Indies can use, or to fund our magazine ideas (on the IGDA wiki/forums to some extent). The other 50% would have a rule that every month, indies in a local area can bid to split up the amount on costs and purchases [17:48:52] <zratchet> they need to cover. [17:48:54] <zratchet> erg [17:48:58] <zratchet> grr... posted before I was done [17:49:04] <zratchet> replace Austin with Local [17:49:09] <zratchet> lol [17:49:15] <coldacid> LoGIS? [17:49:23] <zratchet> yeah, not sure of the name [17:49:28] <zratchet> that'd have to be figured out [17:49:45] <zratchet> LoGIStics lol ... because a lot of it would be [17:50:00] <coldacid> sounds like corporate union or co-op [17:50:13] <zratchet> yeah, coop [17:50:19] <OOPz> erm... did i miss something?.. what does the user get out of that deal? [17:50:24] <zratchet> indiegames.coop [17:50:38] <coldacid> it's not a user thing, it's for the developers themselves [17:50:50] <OOPz> yes... dev=user [17:50:53] <coldacid> to share and reduce the costs of development [17:51:14] <zratchet> access to funding, local QA labs, etc etc [17:51:23] <zratchet> could be different for each area depending on what the area needs most [17:51:35] <zratchet> wikify this too I guess coldacid [17:51:44] <wansti> gotta go... ttyl [17:51:54] * wansti (n=wansti@b131.apm.etc.tu-bs.de) has left #indie-sig [17:52:07] <coldacid> i'd need a bit more to go on, like an already written document [17:52:20] <zratchet> that's all I have so far [17:52:36] <OOPz> pish.. doccumentation is for people who want to actually get things done ;) [17:52:45] <tmccrary> + right [17:52:57] <OOPz> true [17:53:02] <zratchet> yes... [17:53:11] <zratchet> that's what the wiki's for though [17:53:15] <zratchet> to hammer it out [17:53:52] <OOPz> im more a fan of singlar vision myself... as soon as you start letting everyone have their say, then nobody is 100% happy [17:54:08] <tmccrary> yeah, small teams are the way to go [17:54:16] <tmccrary> at least for "direction" [17:54:27] <zratchet> teams would still be free to set their direction [17:54:47] <OOPz> 'Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule' - Friedrich Nietzsche [17:54:48] <zratchet> it'd just be a coop to participate in, to lower costs for major purchases (or group purchase stuf with other local teams) [17:55:36] <zratchet> I def. think a testing lab that was open to the public, lan party center style could be useful... have computer donations, and get people to focus test your games [17:55:43] <tmccrary> Sounds cool, it would be nice to have a place with a ton of different machines, which different configurations, with which to try everything out on [17:55:56] <OOPz> now that would be handy [17:56:10] <coldacid> IDC -- Indie Developers Co-operative [17:56:25] <OOPz> 10% handy tho.... not so sure [17:56:29] <zratchet> gamesindev.coop ;)
