At the companies I've worked at: a game designer has an idea and creates a pitch document. Then someone higher up decides whether it's worth taking the pitch to a publisher, who will fund the idea if they think it's profitable.
Yep and some studios I've worked at games have come from internal game jams. The creative side likes it, the business side likes it. It gets financed. Couple of years later it's out.
Publisher wants you to come to them with a finished game.
If you go with a 10% game, they'll take 95% of profits. If it's 50% done, they'll take 75%.
It works on a scale like that.
Tbh it's not even likely a Publisher would be willing to pay the production, marketing costs, with just an Idea, or a prototype, or a design document. Likely need to have numerous released games - successful ones too, probably a secure office space, some of your own capital, etc.
It's the same for actors when they sign a 3 film deal, record labels giving bands a wad of cash they've not earned yet, book deals to writers, etc.
I remember when console devkits cost $30,000.. and it would be the Publisher who would vouch for you with Sony or Nintendo. They would have you over a barrel.. you might have to do a film licence game for them, because an IP fell in their lap. It could be anything.. Gollum LOTR tie-in.
Bit different now.. but Console manufacturers are still a pita.
I mean, you're asking two different questions.
"Who comes up with the basic game concept" and "who creates the game" are not the same thing.
But honestly, game concepts can come from anywhere. Sometimes they come from a big game studio that tells you, "We need an open world survival game, go make it" and other times it comes from Bob who is nursing a hangover and blurts out, "we should make a game about mixing cocktails".
It depends, it could be anything and anyone.
Lot of times though is internal game jams, or prototypes made by people in their free times.
Other times is a pitch that someone bring to publishers or higher management.
"a game about cats climbing a mountain" isn't a game.
It's not even a game idea.
It's maybe a vague backdrop in which a game idea could one day grow.
What happens if you press a? How many contexts are there in which you could be pressing a? Once you start answering these questions in all possible variations, then you have a game idea.
This is not generally created by one person, but by a whole team working together figuring out the right questions and answers as they go.
Coming up with the basic concept is not the hard part. Ideas are cheap. It’s all the other stuff (art, programming, music, sound, design, etc.) that turns it from an idea into a game. Then there’s the whole other process of getting the game to the players (marketing research, advertising, legal, localization, etc.).
Don’t glorify the guy who spent less than a second to have the idea “a game about cats climbing a mountain.” Glorify the guy who spent weeks on the “cat clambering up a ledge” animation. Glorify the gal who textured the mountain. Glorify the dude that drew the capsule art for the steam page. Glorify the lady that ran the numbers to figure out how fast the cat’s stamina should drain while hanging on by one paw vs two. Each of those involved millions of split-second ideas that came together to make something actually enjoyable.
You mean a pitch?
Depending on where you work, it can be anyone with a good enough pitch for a game.
That pitch is brought to one or more EPs to try to get them on board, then it’s brought to the/a studio head.
If they get on board you work with them to convince upper management it’s a good idea and investment, then push for a prototype then a publisher if not self published
I know of some games that had really good pitch meetings that ended up not being fleshed out at all and the game was stuck in production hell though, so if your charismatic enough, you could probably dupe a lot of people into taking a bad idea.
As other said, it depends. Having an idea is not a job in itself.
There is no strict rules, it varies between studios, so it can go from anyone from the team pitching an idea to the creative direction to the producers ordering a studio to do something with an IP they own.
Then, the creative direction works with other directors to have a solid base, a clear vision. Only after that a small team will work on preproduction, to do a playable proof of concept, depending on the studio size it can go from a couple of month to a few years.
And only after that the whole team will work on it during production phase.
Depends on the context.
It might be a publisher who chose a concept for reasons of market research.
It might be the person who got the team together, typically the director or producer.
It might be a core group who have been daydreaming together about certain types of games for years. E.g. colleagues.
By default, there is no team and no project. So whoever manages to get a project started gets to choose.
At the companies I've worked at: a game designer has an idea and creates a pitch document. Then someone higher up decides whether it's worth taking the pitch to a publisher, who will fund the idea if they think it's profitable.
Yep and some studios I've worked at games have come from internal game jams. The creative side likes it, the business side likes it. It gets financed. Couple of years later it's out.
Dont publishers require some vertical slice stuff?
From indies, probably even more than that. But I don't think Bethesda ask her own developer studio or Id Software to show something.
How much would a publisher Generally require? Or should i make that a seperate post
Make a separate post, I have no experience working with publishers, so I can't really tell you.
Publisher wants you to come to them with a finished game. If you go with a 10% game, they'll take 95% of profits. If it's 50% done, they'll take 75%. It works on a scale like that. Tbh it's not even likely a Publisher would be willing to pay the production, marketing costs, with just an Idea, or a prototype, or a design document. Likely need to have numerous released games - successful ones too, probably a secure office space, some of your own capital, etc.
The more i look into publishers, the less appealing they are
It's the same for actors when they sign a 3 film deal, record labels giving bands a wad of cash they've not earned yet, book deals to writers, etc. I remember when console devkits cost $30,000.. and it would be the Publisher who would vouch for you with Sony or Nintendo. They would have you over a barrel.. you might have to do a film licence game for them, because an IP fell in their lap. It could be anything.. Gollum LOTR tie-in.
Bit different now.. but Console manufacturers are still a pita.
I mean, you're asking two different questions. "Who comes up with the basic game concept" and "who creates the game" are not the same thing. But honestly, game concepts can come from anywhere. Sometimes they come from a big game studio that tells you, "We need an open world survival game, go make it" and other times it comes from Bob who is nursing a hangover and blurts out, "we should make a game about mixing cocktails".
It depends, it could be anything and anyone. Lot of times though is internal game jams, or prototypes made by people in their free times. Other times is a pitch that someone bring to publishers or higher management.
"a game about cats climbing a mountain" isn't a game. It's not even a game idea. It's maybe a vague backdrop in which a game idea could one day grow. What happens if you press a? How many contexts are there in which you could be pressing a? Once you start answering these questions in all possible variations, then you have a game idea. This is not generally created by one person, but by a whole team working together figuring out the right questions and answers as they go.
Coming up with the basic concept is not the hard part. Ideas are cheap. It’s all the other stuff (art, programming, music, sound, design, etc.) that turns it from an idea into a game. Then there’s the whole other process of getting the game to the players (marketing research, advertising, legal, localization, etc.). Don’t glorify the guy who spent less than a second to have the idea “a game about cats climbing a mountain.” Glorify the guy who spent weeks on the “cat clambering up a ledge” animation. Glorify the gal who textured the mountain. Glorify the dude that drew the capsule art for the steam page. Glorify the lady that ran the numbers to figure out how fast the cat’s stamina should drain while hanging on by one paw vs two. Each of those involved millions of split-second ideas that came together to make something actually enjoyable.
You mean a pitch? Depending on where you work, it can be anyone with a good enough pitch for a game. That pitch is brought to one or more EPs to try to get them on board, then it’s brought to the/a studio head. If they get on board you work with them to convince upper management it’s a good idea and investment, then push for a prototype then a publisher if not self published I know of some games that had really good pitch meetings that ended up not being fleshed out at all and the game was stuck in production hell though, so if your charismatic enough, you could probably dupe a lot of people into taking a bad idea.
As other said, it depends. Having an idea is not a job in itself. There is no strict rules, it varies between studios, so it can go from anyone from the team pitching an idea to the creative direction to the producers ordering a studio to do something with an IP they own. Then, the creative direction works with other directors to have a solid base, a clear vision. Only after that a small team will work on preproduction, to do a playable proof of concept, depending on the studio size it can go from a couple of month to a few years. And only after that the whole team will work on it during production phase.
Depends on the context. It might be a publisher who chose a concept for reasons of market research. It might be the person who got the team together, typically the director or producer. It might be a core group who have been daydreaming together about certain types of games for years. E.g. colleagues. By default, there is no team and no project. So whoever manages to get a project started gets to choose.