waru

My company got money through Kickstarter.com to work on a project, but no one seems to have any idea how to list it on taxes. Just wondering what the standard procedure is for money received from investors/VCs, since that's the closest thing I can think of. Thank you in advance for any info.

My partner and I are developing an app for someone else. They will pay us lump sums for the phases of the development, but we also want "royalties" for the income generated by the app in the future.<p>We couldn't do the project without info and access provided by them, and they couldn't do it without our technical skills. Any idea of what would be a reasonable/normal percent?<p>Can't find much talk of it online, since most people seem to develop apps for themselves. Any tips would be welcome. Thanks.

Hi, I'm working on a video game start-up in Athens, Georgia. I was asked about our revenue model, so I did a formal write-up and was wondering how it sounds. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Here goes:

Our game will be released in two versions: a free, Lite Version (where users can play endlessly, but upgrades necessary to advance above a certain level are locked) and the Full Version, which will cost one dollar. It is hard to predict sales, but we expect about 50,000 copies in 2012. The App Store keeps 30% of each sale.

The other part of our revenue model is merchandise. One thing that sets our game apart from other restaurant simulations is the simple, expressive, and numerous characters (rather than the boring, generic characters of many other games in this genre). We are focusing on creating popular characters that will re-occur in multiple games and be featured on merchandise. These re-occurring characters will not only boost the familiarity and popularity of each game, but also add to people's desire for merchandise.

In Japan, where I lived, worked, and studied for four years, they have perfected this process; in the development of an animated TV series or video game, for example, there is a large focus on creating high-quality characters (simple, highly graphic, and visually appealing) that can cross over into other media, produce spin-offs, and be featured on merchandise. This ends up generating far more profits than the sales of the original product. I think that many American video game companies do not appreciate the importance and potential of high-quality, appealing characters.

In terms of platforms, our game is planned to be released for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but could easily be ported to the iPad, which is number one on our list. If successful, it could also be ported to the Android. In addition, we would like to make it playable on PCs and Macs, though without the touch-screen, gameplay might take a little reworking.

...So, how does that sound? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

(The game I am talking about is actually an active project on Kickstarter right now, with one day left to go. You can see it here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bts/cafe-murder)

I know there are a lot of people on here who aren't strictly computer programmers; I think in one post someone described the "hackers" of "hacker news" as "creative, curious, practical, and hardworking people who struggle with the confines of bureaucracy and traditional corporate jobs" (ie people best suited for start-ups). By that definition I am by all means a hacker.

But the thing I'm most passionate about is making images and visuals, ie art (not graphic design or web design). From what I've seen of the "art world" and "fine art," its not the place for me. I feel like I have zero in common with most artists I meet; I like working hard, making things, and learning skills more than sitting around talking about concepts. My friends have almost always been programmers and "techie" types, not other artists or "fuzzy" types.

So I was wondering if anyone else here is an artist or creator or whatever you wanna call it. I'd be interested in hearing how you balance your expressive side with your rational, non-BS hacker side, and in what kind of career you're pursuing.

The only solution I've been able to come up with is starting my own company where I'm in charge of the art side of things (ie a video game company that requires graphics and what not).

If any of this rang a bell for you, feel free to send me a message. Thanks.

Looking through a pdf of YC-funded companies, I did find two game companies. One made a Facebook gambling app and is focused on making "quick, smart games at a very rapid pace" (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/gamador, http://gamador.com/), while the other makes iPhone entertainment apps like "Truth or Dare" and "Knock Knock Jokes" (http://pocketfungames.com/).

It's heartening to know that YC has funded game companies. However, I would classify these more as entertainment apps than video games. We (my co-founder and I) would like to simple entertainment apps like these, but also video games with more graphical and game elements (player-controlled characters and such).

I know that independent game developers aren't traditionally the biggest and fastest money-maker (though there are plenty of examples of independently-made games that went huge, like Alien Hominid). So I was wondering if there has been a case of YC funding a video game start-up that I've overlooked. Could we a stand a chance with such a proposal? Does YC have any history or interest in video game start-ups?

Personally, I think independent video game developers will have big role in the future, since the video game industry needs injections of innovation and originality that are hard to achieve when things get stagnated by the domination of huge companies that can't take risks on their multi-million dollar games (bypassing that to allow for more creativity is one of the points of start-ups, right?).

Also, if anyone has experience doing something similar, or has tips for other ways to get started in video games, I'd be glad to hear about it by email at wzwenator@gmail.com.

Thanks.