Lets say my buddies and I want to develop a commercial game for the Dreamcast. Who should I contact? Can anybody give me any contacts to sega? What else would we need? Its a pretty wide-open question, but I be happy for any help. Yes and I know it costs licensing fees and a lot of time, we are aware of that.
Sega could care less. They might even tell you they don't support DC outside of Japan. If they do allow you, you'll need about $150,000 for the rights to make games, and required insurance alone. They might waive that you have at least $250,000 in capital, but I doubt it. You're going to need at least $500,000 to go via offical licensed channels If you really want to waste a lifetimes money on dc, I can provide you with the sega internal contact via pm. Best bet, get a license for gamecube. At least the games will work on rev.
Well that cleared up some things! thanks for the info though. Since you mentioned the gamecube, what kind of fees am I looking at there? What about a handheld, are they cheaper to develop(say GBA or DS) for?
DS is very inexpensive. However nintendo has their fees, You need to have at least 200k-1mil capital I believe. This can be in the form of bank guarantees I think. You'll need to sign up with their price per unit minimum... something like 5k pieces per order? Of course they make all the media.. then you contact a place to make the packaging and box it for you, I have that info for you too. Think about 40K for the packaging. I would form a small company, line up the "funding" get a business loan for the hardware or buy it outright. Pay the licensing fee, make something good and then sell the property to someone with more money, like thq, or even nintendo. I can call the big "n" and get the latest fees for DS. Remember, you'll have to regularly send them copies of the game for them to check on your progress, and if it's mediocre, they might cut you off at the knees... GBA is a crowded market, but that is because the costs are so low low low. The only reason I mention gamecube is because they are so desperate for new content, they might float you the hardware at a minimal fee. You could get the license and buy the inexpensive t-dev. Making games is no longer a garage effort anymore... I can't imagine what ps3 will be like..
I will check with my buddies and if they are still in, I'll contact you. Thanks for your realistic description, I appreciate it.
Wowzers Assembler, I knew things were costly, but not that much, lets say you get hold of some of that hardware through some site, and you create something good, without a license, would publishers, other developers even look your way? Ryan
6. PURCHASE PRICE; PAYMENT; DELIVERY OF COMPLETED LICENSED PRODUCT 6.1 Minimum Initial Orders. Upon placement of an initial order, LICENSEE shall order a minimum quantity of Ten Thousand (10,000) units of Licensed Product. 6. PURCHASE PRICE; PAYMENT; DELIVERY OF COMPLETED LICENSED PRODUCT 6.1 Minimum Initial Orders. Upon placement of an initial order, LICENSEE shall order a minimum quantity of Ten Thousand (10,000) units of a Licensed Product. 6.2 Subsequent Minimum Orders. LICENSEE may subsequently order additional Licensed Product in a minimum quantity of Five Thousand (5,000) units per title. 8.3 Insurance. LICENSEE shall, at its own expense, obtain a policy of general liability insurance by a recognized insurance company. Such policy of insurance shall be in an amount of not less than Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000 USD) and shall provide for adequate protection against any suits, claims, loss or damage or any alleged intellectual property infringements by the Licensed Products. Such policy shall name NINTENDO as an additional insured and may not be canceled without thirty (30) days prior written notice to NINTENDO. A Certificate of Insurance shall be provided to NINTENDO's Licensing Department within thirty (30) days of the Effective Date. If LICENSEE fails to maintain such insurance during the Term, NINTENDO may secure and maintain such insurance at LICENSEE'S expense. So say 10K units @ $13 each $130,000 + Contract/tools ($65,000) and insurance ($20,000 an.) So say with no employees, $215,000 to publish a single title, development costs not included. So say , $500.000. Or. NPDP-GBOX $1500 X 5 = $7500 Tools "free" Dev costs vary, free to beer to keep the troops happy. If you then have the guts, approach nintendo, or better yet, a third party. Sell, become legit.
Flat out no, unless you've already proven yourself in the industry. Even if you make an awesome game on stolen equipment no one will touch it. Your best bet would be to make a cool tech demo, make some friends in high places in a dev house, and show them what you're working on. I have agreements with Microsoft and Sony to work with their dev consoles, but i'm not supposed to make games (with microsoft it's a bit of a grey area in my case). You'd do much better saying that you deved the game using a modified console, but that you have a knowledge of the official equipment. EDIT: Microsoft is looking to do something screwey with the new Live marketplace. I don't have all of the details yet, but they're doing something with the liscensing for deving games. That may be a route in the future.
That's why you have a company of your own, and not as an individual. If you shop your product around to the right people (knowing people helps) You can sell what you make. Doing anything like this as an individual is the wrong way. You should do so under the guise of a company. If you create something good, it will speak for itself. Licenses and equipment can be purchased legally if people believe in your efforts and the product. Mind you it was decades ago, but remember Rare and their NES demo. Mind you I'm talking to young, passionate individuals who want to do something, willing to work hard and try. You only feel that way once. I'm not going to rain on their parade. The days of the one man /small team breakthrough are probably closing on everything except handhelds. Who am I to tell someone not to try. My advice: If you have passion, listen to your own voice and never anyone else's.
on the DC you can develop with freeware tools too (search for dcdev) and propose your game to some professional printer after you made it. i guess there is a online shop called goatstore that sells the work of homebrew coders, with instruction booklets and professionally printed. but i guess you should search better on dcdev and dcemulation.
http://www.goatstore.com/publishing/index.php?content=home The goat store has published a few DC games...and I can't imagine he has millions... If you're got something serious going, talk to him.
When you get to the point when you need to publish, stamp and distribute the games, post here... If the game is any good the people here have contacts who can make things happen.
Screw Nintendo. Screw DC. Screw Sony (they are getting much more expensive and stingier). I say go with Microsoft. They are like Sega from the 16bit days and Atari before they almost killed the industry; they are simply signing up people as long as you show them the money and product you are working for the licensing fees. If the game design is focused on online play, such as Xbox Live, then you will get noticed easier than just a single player game.
