# Will the real game programmers please stand up?

Category: Accessible Games

## Post 1 by mistressamber87 (That sarcastic smart ass opinionated bitch you wish you didn't have to hear from) on Friday, 03-Apr-2009 22:48:23

Ok so that was kind of stupid for a subject but I figured everyone would at least laugh and if it got a few to look, that would be even better.
Anyway, here's what's going on. I've had a bit of an idea for a game, only I don't know the first thing about writing games. I don't want to write about my idea on here because I haven't tried to write a detailed description of the game and get it copyrighted yet or anything, but I can tell you that it's not out here yet.
So my question is:
Is there anyone who writes decent game programming (I want more than text adventure, I'm talking about sounds and graphics and accessibility not just for the blind but for sighted people, to) who would be willing to go through the tedium of doing this thing with me without pay, and take their cut whenever the game actually sells? I know it's a long shot but I could at least ask, right? And if noone is up for it I can always pocket the idea and hope noone's taken it before I get the chance to hire a programmer in a couple years when i've got money. LOL.
Thanks for any help anyone can give.
Amber

## Post 2 by Elrobin (Generic Zoner) on Saturday, 04-Apr-2009 9:56:46

Amber - there's a long road between a game idea and a game program that works. We do games that are mainstream games that are accessible and have graphics and sounds so we know the requirements.
The first step in this road is to write the game idea in detail. Once you have that, look at the gameness of the idea. What type of a game would it be? How would people play it? How would the user move through the game? What would the rules (constraints) be? Who would it appeal to? What types of sounds and graphics would be appropriate and appeal to your intended audience. What would constitute success in the game? What would constitute failure and how forgiving would you want to be? If you are designing with a graphical user interface, what types of graphics would you use and how would you lay it out?
Once you have that fully outlined you can get a programmer to give you an estimate of how long it will take to code the game, and thus how much it would cost to hire a programmer.
It is difficult to get a game publisher interested in doing your game because they usually have lots more games in the queue than they have the resources to do.
That being said, if the idea is unique and interesting, there are companies that would be interested in working with you. There are a couple of articles on our website that talk about the process of game development as we do it that you might be interested in reading.
Good luck in your efforts. You can contact me through our website support mail if you have further questions.
Eleanor Robinson
7-128 Software
www.7128.com

## Post 3 by mistressamber87 (That sarcastic smart ass opinionated bitch you wish you didn't have to hear from) on Saturday, 04-Apr-2009 10:49:14

Eleanor:
Thank you so much for your detailed response. I will check the articles out and definitely think about these questions because while some of them are things I've considered, some of them aren't, and obviously, they're important things to think about, which of course, is why I brought this up here. i went backwards a little bit in the history and hadn't found anything like it, so thought that even if I give this idea up, later on this thread might help another person.

## Post 4 by Harmony (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 12-Apr-2009 9:44:43

I'm learning to program games using dark basic. I'm using graphics and sound and making my own game along the way. Copyrighting it will be hard though. If you want to talk to me, just send me a private message or a quicknote on here.

## Post 5 by Elrobin (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 12-Apr-2009 12:18:12

Copyrights are issued to protect original work. If the game uses characters or locations that have been previously developed and copyrighted by another game designer or writer, it must have permission of the original developer which is usually not given. Graphics must also be original or come from a source where it is not protected and so available for use.
Eleanor Robinson
7-128 Software

## Post 6 by BryanP22 (Novice theriminist) on Sunday, 19-Apr-2009 12:24:31

I'm kind of in the same boat actually. I have all these ideas for possible games but lack the programming know-how to attempt it myself. Of course the problem with that is that I've never been able to wrap my head around the mathematical portion of programming. And the ideas I have for games are ones that so far none of our deelopers has even been willing to consider attempting until recently. I'm a huge fan of the RPG genre (Role Playin Games for thse who don't know), and until recently nobody's attempted that. Oh BSC games started a project a few years ago but they made the mistake of working with a 3rd-party developer who wanted all the rights to the project and so it was scratched. Since then we've heard absolutely nothing new from BSC beyond an occasional update to one of their existing titles.

## Post 7 by Elrobin (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 19-Apr-2009 22:04:56

There are programming courses in local community colleges that introduce you to the concepts involved in programming.
There are other people like you who are interested in developing a computer game that you could work with. But - you need to approach it with a business mind-set and have an agreement ahead of time as to who owns what etc.
And finally there are lots of folks in this and other forums that are interested in games and game development and are willing to give ideas and help to solve problems.
Start simple and grow from there. Good Luck.
Eleanor Robinson
7-128 Software

## Post 8 by BryanP22 (Novice theriminist) on Tuesday, 21-Apr-2009 11:47:29

Personally I feel that's where BSC Games made their mistake when they were working on Castle Quest. They worked with another developer who wanted all the credit. If I ever did develop games of my own I'd probably be too particular about who I worked with for that very reason.