I was wandering the mall this weekend with my family, and perusing
the titles in a game shop. Many of them are by Steve Jackson Games,
which produces a lot of fun stuff ranging from GURPS to SPANC (yes,
they seem to like acronyms).
Now, I enjoy card or board games on occasion -- the problem is that
it's often hard to find someone to play with (my kids are still too
young for these, and my wife works even harder than I do, in addition
to having a remarkable disinterest in space-pirate amazon ninja
catgirls). If there were a computer version of these games, I'd be
much more inclined to buy them, since I would then have a good chance
of finding other players online (or playing with my brother in D.C.,
etc.). It also struck me that card games, in particular, are
probably easier to implement as computer games than most others. I
recall a few years ago when MacTech held a Solitaire contest, we got
several very good implementations.
So I surfed over to sjgames.com to see whether they have any computer
versions of their games, or seem likely to be open to such
development. I found this in their FAQ:
<http://www.sjgames.com/general/faq.html#19>
In short: no, they don't have computer versions of most of their
games, but yes, they are interested in it.
SJ Games is not a small games outfit; their games are high-quality
and they tend to have a large following. Yet somehow, they seem to
me to maintain a very reasonable, approachable, small-company
attitude. I don't think they'll dis you for being a lone developer,
as long as you can show that you do good work.
So, there's my idea: look over the SJ games, find one that you think
is fun and not too hard to implement, and get crackin'. Code up
something that looks nice (scan in artwork from the real game, have
smooth, flicker-free dragging on all platforms, etc.), even if it
implements only a subset of the rules. Then contact their Director
of Licensing and/or Executive Producer, and send them a copy. Show
them what you have so far, and say you want to arrange a licensing
deal that will be mutually beneficial. And when it comes time to
negotiate terms, be generous -- one successful deal makes you a
trusted professional, and you can take more home on the next one.
From #20 in their FAQ, it sounds like they're a little more open to
online games than to home-computer games from independent developers.
But I wouldn't let that deter you from making a desktop app if that's
your interest. Again, just make a good prototype, and give 'em a
good sales pitch. I believe they'll give you a fair chance. And
REALbasic is the perfect environment to do it in; it has all the
graphics, sound, networking, etc. built in and cross-platform --
they'll be amazed when you demonstrate their game running on three
platforms!
You could also consider making an online game; it's not hard to make
your own web server (see Jon's article on doing so in less than 100
lines), or a CGI application (as a console app that would run under
Apache, for example). Personally I prefer desktop apps, but whatever
floats your boat.
If I wasn't already up to my eyeballs in other things, I'd try this
myself -- I really think a small developer could do big things here.
Anyway, give it some thought, keep us posted, and good luck!
Best,
- Joe
--
Joseph J. Strout
joe at strout dot net
_______________________________________________
Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode:
<http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/>
Search the archives of this list here:
<http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
|