What are the very basic things you need to start an indie game company? Anyone?

A bucket load of talent, a keen sense for what the consumers want, ability to develop games extremely efficiently and a ton of passion.

Everything else is just bookkeeping and will fall into place.

What if i got all that?.. What tools i need what kind of PCs, im on a tight budjet going to start a studio at home so... wondering if some cheap best buy computers will do it..

Since you're here I'm assuming you want to do XNA GS games. If so, then yes, Best Buy computers will do it. Make sure they have a graphics card that supports Shader Model 2 at least.

Even a 300$ computer i know they have the 6150se Latly those are pretty good for basic stuff of cours  eim not goign to be creating 3D games right now but 2D to start and see how that goes. If you got suggestions on pcs id like to know some thanks.

Sinc, SuedElf

SuedElf:

What are the very basic things you need to start an indie game company? Anyone?

That's a huge question!

First of all you need a goal to correctly size it. Speaking of a company though, there are a few really basic things you cannot avoid:

1. A good Managing Director (at least a very skilled project manager): without this role you go nowhere;
2. A good 2D Artist;
3. A good 3D Artist;
4. A good Animator;
5. A good Musician skilled in digital sound technology;
6. A good Chief developer;
7. A good developer.

Sometime there are people covering more than one position, but that's risky. So you have no less than 7 positions (still no marketing there!!!) all to be payed till the game starts to sell enough to cover the wages... do your math about the start-up funding... and I've not mentioned the cost of the software and hardware tools... licences cost quite a lot. I'm sure to not be wrong if I say that you need 800,000 US$ to properly fund the company, pay the wages, licences and hardware for the time needed to start earning enough to be economically independent. Maybe it's even not enough... all depending on how good will be your first game and how good will be the marketing agency you'll assign the first two campaigns: the preview campaign and the launch campaign.

A lot of money... very risky. Another role I didn't mention because is not part of the company (not in the beginning) but is very needed and has to work with the Director many times since the beginning: a good lawyer.

Cheers,
Pino

All that is a great answer.. I`m probly going to start alone for now i knwo how to draw currently learning how to program and all. All i need is a reliable PC this one  ibaught about.. 3 months ago and its trash damn FuturCr** :P....

Was thinking of getting a Dell.

Anyways Licenses for nwo i dont think i need one for now ill be using the XNA for a while. Thanks for the post still a few answers mising :P

Sued.

Dell's are very good machines to start with. You can avoid paying licences if you stay on 2D or 3D with XSI (free to Premium Members). For 2D PaintShop X2 Ultimate is affordable and does all what you need. If you try to go 3D avoiding XSI and using Blender... you'll have quite a lot of headaches, so you'll need Maya (which I prefer) or 3DS, and those cost quite a lot if you are just giving it a try. Consider also that Maya is linked to Adobe CS4 for 3D model live texturing, and that cost money too. What you can do with Blender and PaintShop in 2 weeks can be achieved in 2 days using Maya and CS4... and the result will be way better.

Cheers,
Pino

SuedElf:

What if i got all that?..

Then all you need is a cheap PC (I just use a crummy old laptop) and a ton of free software (use google to find it). I mean really, what else do you want? You don't strike me as having very much initiative if you have to ask how to do all this, it should be pretty obvious. Get XNA and make a game.

Yes, I'm being a bit harsh, but welcome to the industry. It's a harsh place. The amount of failed gaming companies is testament to that.

SuedElf:

What are the very basic things you need to start an indie game company? Anyone?

What do you want to do with your game company? What kind of games do you want to make? You can go crazy and hire a bunch of people, get a bunch of computers, license a bunch of software, and get to work, but it's not the only way to do things. James Silva is renown for doing all of his game development by himself. Of course, he seems to be making games just for fun, rather than to make a significant profit.

So it depends on what you want your company to do.

Things you need?

- A computer (just about any will do)
- Knowledge of game development
- A desire to make games

You don't need anything more than that. In fact, I'd argue that investing a bunch of money into hardware, staff, or anything else is a stupid idea. Until you have the ability to make something that will turn profit, don't spend money. And no, just because you have people and hardware doesn't mean you'll create something that will profit. In my opinion it's best to just stay as small and cost-efficient for as long as you can, spending money only when you absolutely must.

Nick Gravelyn:

Things you need?

- A computer (just about any will do)
- Knowledge of game development
- A desire to make games

You don't need anything more than that.

I agree with you.. but out of curiosity - How do you manage Art-work work the game? Is there any place where we can find some non-copyrighted open-source materials for use?

1. Learn to do artwork yourself.
2. Be friends with a kickass artist.
3. Use free stuff online. It's pretty sparse out there, but free artwork does exist. Start here here.
4. License artwork from a freelancer. There are plenty of websites that have lots of artists will to do work for money. deviantART is a great place to start.

The most important thing to remember is that you shouldn't try to make a game that it outside of your artistic means. If you don't know any 3D modelers and you've never touched 3DS Max or Blender in your life (and you don't want to), then don't make a 3D game.

PinoEire:

For 2D PaintShop X2 Ultimate is affordable and does all what you need. If you try to go 3D avoiding XSI and using Blender... you'll have quite a lot of headaches, so you'll need Maya (which I prefer) or 3DS, and those cost quite a lot if you are just giving it a try

GIMP is another great option for 2D, and it's free + open source too.

I have to disagree with the comment about Blender. Blender is a great tool if you take the time to learn how to use it, and having used 3DS Max and Blender I actually prefer Blender. The only problem is that it's a total pain to get things from Blender into your game looking the same, especially with textures and animations, which is the only reason I'd go with Max or Maya. But that's just me. :)

Here is my list of must have:

A clean PC with winXP (I personally think vista give you more problem than help)
Xbox with creators club membership
A MU card for xbox
More than one controller
A receiver for xbox controller to PC
Photoshop is standard, stick with it and save time (older versions work fine)
7zip - best zipper out there
MSN messenger for group chat
if you are more than one programmer: Assembla

And of course the will and energy and all that BS, get to work!

If you're going to ship on the Xbox, you need to test on the Xbox all the time. This goes for each member in the team, so each member needs an Xbox, a screen of some sort for the Xbox, and the computer/screen. Most current PCs and laptops work fine for developing for the Xbox, because you will test performance critical stuff on the Xbox, not the PC.

Personally, I think Vista has been great, and I'm happy with my upgrade to Win7 (although that's largely lipstick on top of Vista :-)

For 2D, I highly second the recommendation for Photoshop, but if you just can't swing it, Paint.NET or the Gimp are free alternatives.

If you're going to do 3D, you'll need something like Blender, or 3ds Max, or Maya, or XSI Mod Tool. I highly recommend 3ds Max, but all of them are good (and Blender and Mod Tool are free).

However, what you need most is a bunch of patience and time. Good games take a long time to develop, tune and polish. You'll need to be willing to throw away whatever pet ideas you had when you started out, if it turns out later on that they don't make the game any funner. (My personal main lack is that of time, followed by a lack of art Skilz)

Really quite rad online editable documents site: http://www.etherpad.com/

If you're starting a company company, you'll need a LLC set up (or perhaps an S or C corporation), which you probably want a lawyer for. You'll probably need an accountant or book-keeping service picked out. You'll need a copy of QuickBooks, or Gnu Cash or whatnot for accounting. You'll want a good book on starting and running a company in your state of residence, in addition to the lawyer. (Read the book before you talk to the lawyer, to save time/money). And you probably want to outsource things like payroll to places like ADP.
You probably also need a business license, and perhaps some registration with your state (some states even require up-front estimated tax payments, I hear).

Besides all the great info already posted, the biggest thing you need to start an Indie game company is sanity and a big reality check. If you are serious about starting a game company, you need to be fully aware that you will not get rich off of being an independent.

Learn the ropes, release some games and try to make a couple hundred extra bucks a month. If you find the time-money ratio worth it, make the jump to Arcade. If you still have some great ideas left in you at that point, find a publisher and really get moving!

But here's my goals:
-Release some fun games that I can play with my family and friends.
-Make enough money to pay for all my subscriptions :)

I doubt I'll be able to accomplish the second one, but I'll have fun trying!

Good luck!

Here is an approach that I don't think anyone has listed yet. This is one of the more traditional ways, but not the only path I've witnessed that lead to game companies' birth (not my own, mind you). With anything, there will be much risk on your part:

1. Get an entry level position at an established game company (which ever discipline is suited for you). While you're there, talk to the other departments as much as you can to figure how your piece can best fit the needs of the team. Learn as much about how all the departments work. Be in it for a couple years at least. together. Become a competent lead if you can. If the company offers management courses, take them.

2. Work your way to a associate producer position. Start figuring out what is needed for all the teams to run efficiently. (You'll probably order food for much of the time, but you'll have to start somewhere). Schedules, budgets, timelines, learn as much about management as you can. Go to different companies even; find out how they do it. Learn how to talk to business executives, they probably won't be conversational in the same way you are. Earn their trust. Get known for making things happen. Work to producer or higher.

3. After having some experience running a game or more, even if you're not running the whole show, go the publisher or management and convince them it makes more sense to be done by you and your external team (I'm assuming you're already chosen who to work with at this point). If they've never heard of you, they'll simply blow you off. Make sure they know you and know that you can get stuff done.

4. Complete an awesome title on time and on budget. Season for taste.

5. Profit (hopefully). Repeat step 3.

Probably not the answer you were hoping for, but it's quite valid and realistic. Your next challenge will be staying afloat after you make it to step 5. Perhaps it's not as indie was a guy in boxers making games though.

cgIRIS:

Perhaps it's not as indie was a guy in boxers making games though.

Are you watching me?

*runs to put on clothes*

Sorry if I'm a bit harsh as well, but if you have to ask, you're in big trouble!  Let's be realistic here...everyone wants to be a game developer, everyone thinks they have great ideas, but very few know how to get the work done from start to finish.  It's not easy!

But here's my simple answer:
1. A decent PC or laptop.  If you're targetting the Xbox 360, you'll be running your code on that anyway.
2. An idea of what you want to make and the technology you think you need....2D vs. 3D?
3. An XNA license
4. Xbox 360
5. Lots of self motivation
6. Dicipline to do your time researching, R&D, prototyping
7. Figure out how much you want to budget for tools...i.e. Photoshop, 3DS, Maya, Sound editor, etc.
8. Probably lots of reference books...be resourceful!  Use all the information you can find either through books or tutorials online.
9. Lots of time...don't be discouraged from failure.  Learn from them.
10. I'm sure we can go on and on...

In my opinion, if you have to ask, you're probably looking too far ahead of yourself.  My advice, start off small and do what you can to learn the tools that you have.  Make lots of tech demos that focuses on one area of the game design.  The more you make, the more you have to work off of when it comes to creating your first, real game.  The more you understand how various parts of a game is put together, you'll have a better understanding of how it can all be used to create your main game idea.  If you're going "indie", you probably won't have a lot of people contributing to the game....at least, not initially.

If you're the guy with the initative, take ownership of your game.  Do the grunt work and get your game idea to a playable state, even if it uses placeholder art and sounds.  Focus on the functionality and how it plays.  Having a playable game demo is a great tool for motivating new team members who might come along to contribute to the overall effort.  Unless you've work with these people before, chances are, if they start from the very beginning, you'll run the risk of having "too many chefs in the kitchen."  Once you have a playable demo, you can clearly define what you need to add the final polish to your game.  Because you created the game engine, you can clearly describe the kind of art you need and knowing that will help communicate with your artists or sound designers.  The work assigned to them will have a direction.  If not, again you run the risk of having a bunch of people creating assets that may or may not be used.  That can only frustrate your team members which always leads to a dead project or a breaking up.

Hmm software, hardware, licences - you need all this stuff for sure. But without new, fresh IDEA, everything is worthless!

Here is what im into so far: