3: The Game Stands On Its Own

#3: The Game Stands On Its Own

Another thing some aspiring developers assume is that quality is everything: the game stands alone, the good games will naturally get publishing deals, and it doesn't matter who you are, just as long as your game is "cool enough."

This is referred to as the inventor mindset. Inventors live and die by the strength of their ideas, and they tend to think (incorrectly) that the rest of the world does too. We game developers, being inventors of a sort, also live in the idea plane, so even though we routinely see horrible excuses for interactive entertainment littering the shelves, we have a habit of thinking that the strength of our games will single-handedly carry us to greatness.

The reality is that having a strong game idea and a strong demo still isn't enough. Even if your game is almost entirely finished, potential publishers will still look at the people behind the game, and they'll still rely on demographic and marketing data to determine if a game gets the green light. And there's a whole bunch of other variables in the equation too, including how well you pitch your game, how good your company's financial picture is, how responsive you are to change, how well you connect with people, and even how prompt you are about returning telephone calls.

One big variable developers forget to account for is the track record of the team making a game. Publishers look at this very carefully—they want to know for certain that the team is going to be able to deliver the final product, on time and on budget.

On a related note, publishers also look at how mature the team itself is. Even if your team consists of proven professionals, if this is their first game together, a publisher will be a little concerned. It takes a professional development team some time to find a groove, and there's no guarantee that even an all-star team will be able to click and deliver a solid product right away. Of course, every team will have new members—but to have the best chances of getting a publishing deal, the core of the team will need to have a few successes under their collective belt.

So, what do you do if this doesn't describe your company? The best thing you can do to help yourself is get the game as close to done as you can. If your game is at beta and looking solid, publishers are going to be less concerned about your team's dynamics. Not completely unconcerned, but less concerned.