Albert Reed mans the lecturn

When someone talks about bootstrapping, they're talking about starting a company with no extrernal funding or wealth. So then, where do you get the money? But first it would be good to stop and ask yourself if this is really something that you want to do. Most importantly is taking into account the risk of leaving your current position, or taking out a mortgage for initial funds. Don't wager what you can't afford to lose, however this hasn't stopped some people from being successful. You'll have to be willing to work on less-glamorous projects than either you're used to or you're hoping to work on. Contracts can seriously hinder creativity in some cases, so if you don't like being constrained in such a fashion keep this in mind. Another thing is to is not rush to get your studio up and running - take a job in the industry first, at least three years of experience can be invaluable. Finally, remember that this is not a get-rich-quick scheme, it is going to take time (longer in some cases than others).

First you have to assemble a team, because this is certainly not something you want to go at alone, although again - people have proven it's at least possible. Team members can also provide inspirations, pick-me-ups, and sanity-checks. Lastly, it's hard to sell an individual to companies looking for contractors. Since your company is going to be very small initially, it's important to choose people who have a wide range of talents not limited to the position for which you are hiring them for. So if you have a choice between an artist and an artist who's also familiar with business law, go for the latter (so long as the art doesn't suffer for it - stay focused on the original position). Another plus for early team members are industry contacts. If you hire a programmer who's friends with the VP of some publishing company, you can leverage his contact to your advantage when it comes time to release your game. Demiurge's first gig, a Java to native port called Infest, was landed thanks to knowing the owner of the company.

So how do you find your first gig? First start by reaching out to your contacts, as in the case mentioned above. If that's dry, your next step is to scour the job listings on Gamasutra and GDNet (no this isn't self-promotion, he listed us on the slide). Gamasutra also has project listings, where companies post up projects that they want contractors to handle for them. Be sure to compete on price if you need to. Don't be choosy, pick isolatable tasks like installers, tools, gravy-features, animation, non-essential characters, etc. Low-overhead gigs are great too at this time since you also have low-overhead at this stage in the game. In your search, be sure to make contacts with business-oriented people, and to stay as far away as possible form human resources people. HR people are not the ones that you want to be talking to.

Now that you've found your gig, you need to convince them as to why they should contract you. The first argument is that hiring an internal team member would drain their resources, while you and your team would inflict a minimal drain on leads. We all know that leads are busy people, after all. You're going to be more effecient, and bring along a variety of expertise that would have been difficult to hire in an individual. You'll make it easier on them in terms of cash-flow management, since they'll be dealing with a small one-time cost versus a long-term employment payment. Your team will get up to speed quickly and produce results sooner than an individual new to a company and working environment. Oversell your team, but not too much, in order to push their limits. When asked if you can accomplish something, Jesse Schell from Schell Games says the best response is to say "absolutely" because it's a long word that you can draw out while you're thinking of exactly how you're going to explain why you can do it :) Finally, keep your website up-to-date and accessible. Websites never stop selling for you, but nothing sells worse than an outdated website.

When considering whether to accept a gig it's important to keep a few things in mind. First, don't ignore a deal or stress out over overlapping start/end dates until the deal is assured, as these dates may be flexible. "Never turn down a job you don't have" is some advice from Albert's father, and it refers to denying a contract that doesn't suit your interest, like Dragonfly Game Design took on a serious game contract even though they specialized in casual games, and Naked Sky worked on an OEM deal that actually was extremely beneficial to them. Lastly, don't prequalify a client. If you're approached by a movie studio, don't assume that they know nothing about games.

It's time to steer the deal. How much are they offering and how much are you willing to work for? When making an offer be sure that you always receive a counter-offer, otherwise you leave yourself open for allowing the client to lower the amount even further. Early on in the deal it's good to compare with the hiring option as well. There really is no "standard rate", although you can certainly make one that suits your company. Demiurge's rates range from as low as $5k/mo to as high as $20k/mo depending on the project and commitment required. What kind of deal are they offering? There's Fixed Price, where you deliver product X for price Y, and there's Time & Materials, where you deliver resources for time A at a rate of B dollars/month. Fixed Price is much riskier amd it's better to avoid large fixed price gigs until the team is well-practiced at working together. However there is a bigger potential pay-off and they offer more indepenence and it's easier to develop your own tools, processes and techniques. However watch out for fixed price, date and scope - this is the case of where you have three but can only pick two. Time & Materials offers the advantage of steady income, but it's harder to profit from, doesn't come with high rates and is generally thrown at low-cost employees and/or contractors.

Congrats! They contracted you. Now what? Reputation is everything for contractors, so be sure to carefully manage the relationship with your client. A good rep will make it more likely for the president of that company to reccomend you to others. Remember how tight-knit this industry is. Manage relations properly and your first gig may quite possibly be the last one you'll have to search for. Take manageable risks during your work in order to blow away the client. Demiurge experienced success with one client after creating a level-editor tool that wasn't a part of the contract, but the client loved it and actually extended their contract in order for them to develop it as part of the game. However be sure that any "extracurricular" activites do not take away from the original contract work. The key is to never stop selling, always think of ways you can further impress the client and extend your work with them.

A final word is on legal issues. Most importantly - hire a contract/IP lawyer at some point to reduce your chances of being a pushover on legal matters and ending up being bought out or merged with your client before you are ready for such actions. Be sure to negotiate technical/conceptual IP rights, credit, payment timing, advance size and cancellation terms. Give a little but know your legal positioning. In addition, if you're presented with an NDA that's longer than two pages, consider it suspicious and definitely have your lawyer check it out.

Some smaller topics were not covered in this writeup but the slides can be found online at Demiurge Studios.