How to create a game team from scratch?

Different scales, different practices.

Play an independent small game: 1-3 people can play at will, and there is no need;

If you do it formally: first make a project proposal, then find a partner (or not), register a company, find funds (pay for it yourself or find investment), find a venue, recruit people as needed, and do a good job in team logistics support. Then you can draw a cake for everyone and start the development work as planned. At this point, even if you create a game team, remember to brainwash everyone regularly. ...

Direction, accumulation and resources, I think, are the first things to be clear about when creating a game team. They are equally important and restrict each other. What kind of game are you going to play? Do you have any experience in developing this kind of games? Are there any like-minded friends who have mastered the core technology? These must be sorted out in advance.

Here, I would also like to emphasize "like-minded": it is not that a good gay friends agrees with your idea, but that the two of you have the same idea. This is very important!

How big a game team you plan to be depends on the scale of the game you want to play.

If you want to play a small indie game, then 1-3 people is basically enough. There is no need to register a company, rent an office, and the division of labor is clear. Learn from each other's strengths. If you are not good at it, you can learn and sell it now. You just need one person to keep an eye on the progress.

It's that simple.

If you want to form a formal team, all products developed in the future will operate on the platform, then there are many things to consider.

First, you need to register a company. There are also shareholders/CEOs/general managers/supervisors, industrial and commercial tax registration and other messy things. You can do it yourself or entrust an intermediary to help. Special attention needs to be paid to share allocation here. In the initial stage, as few shareholders as possible. In addition, it is unwise to distribute shares equally.

Not to mention the R&D department of the team, the logistics support of the whole team is definitely well-known. The things that need to be handled are: all external affairs (more or less, which will be discussed in detail later), team internal management (establishment and implementation of company rules and regulations, team building, signature and seal of various administrative documents), company financial audit, tax declaration, daily attendance of employees, salary and benefits, it maintenance and performance appraisal. If only the CEO does these things, it is estimated that all animals will be exhausted ... It is suggested that the CEO, general manager and administrative officer handle these things.

Let's talk about the external affairs of the company in detail: if you already have a wide range of contacts, then the external affairs will be much less. If you are well-connected, then you need to take the initiative to run channels, distribution, government, investment, peers or receive them. Anyway, you need to do everything you can to get resources, understand the market and pave the way for your rotten products in advance. At the same time, there are some internal affairs that must be handled by you. So that's why I don't think a CEO has the energy to handle everything at all.

Let's talk about the R&D department. The R&D department is actually very flexible, and there are only two necessary things: people who master the core technology and people who can control the direction. The title doesn't matter. You can also let the general manager be the technical director/engineer/producer/director/product manager/artistic director. You can decide at will. It sounds like V587 ... The rest basically depends on the recruitment. There is no need to elaborate on the program and planning department. Just pay attention to the balance of novices. Too many novices, low development efficiency, easy to step on technical pits; If you have too many skilled workers, it is not easy to form a good atmosphere and the team is not easy to bring.

Besides, the art team, in fact, artists can do more or less in game development, because there are many art outsourcing companies now. From original painting to 3D to action to scene, and even product promotion. The use of outsourcing is flexible, but the quality is mixed, and it is still necessary to find an art director to control the style and quality of art.

If you want to build a complete game team, you can also set up your own art team, but the cost is relatively high, and when there is little demand for art, the art team basically has nothing to do, but the daily communication is convenient, the product development efficiency is higher, and the product quality is easier to control. Another plan is to set up only half an art team and hand over the other part of the art workload to outsourcing. This depends on the composition and strength of your current art team.

The test team is also a subtle research and development unit, which can be more or less; Can be very busy, can also be very idle; But there must be a test team, even if there is only one person. It is suggested to set up a person in charge of the test team at the beginning of the team. It is best to have certain knowledge of planning or procedures and strict work style. Usually, besides testing, the main work is to attend the review meeting of the planning case and manage the bugs//optimization items in the iteration period of the version. With the increasing size and functions of the version, it is necessary to recruit more testers to ensure the version quality and development efficiency. In addition, a work handover system should be established within the team. Many testers want to try more "professional" R&D work after working for a period of time, so this channel is needed.

Operation team: If it is decided to operate on the platform when the product direction is initially considered, it is best to set up an operation team at the beginning and ensure that the operation team participates in the whole process of project research and development (mainly to understand the product structure, advantages and disadvantages); If the project is decided to take the agent, then the operation team basically doesn't have to consider it. The issuing company will use its own operation team, and all operation matters only need the participation of the main policy, PM and boss.

In addition, let's talk about agency. When developing, the planner must sort out all the planning cases clearly, and the case writing should be standardized and concise, because the operation team of the issuing company will definitely ask you to send all the cases to them (although they may not read them themselves).

For office space, residential buildings are cost-effective, but in some places, the civil reform business does not comply with local laws and regulations, so don't fall into a low profile. You can also consider looking for startups in local high-tech industrial parks. Generally, there are preferential policies for rent reduction, but whether it can be obtained depends on the strength of the boss. Another option is to talk to big companies about venue rental, which saves the trouble of using it and does not need to be renovated. Maybe in a few years, you will be directly incorporated by a big company. If the money is not bad, go to a high-end office building. The office computer is up to you. They are no longer computers ... there are routers, projectors, scanning printers, drinking fountains, fixed telephones, microwave ovens, refrigerators and so on for enterprises to use.

Finally, talk about money.

If you play a small indie game, money should not be a problem ... If you are a regular game team, you need to consider the monthly team operating costs (salary, social security fund, welfare, rent, water and electricity, equipment depreciation, administrative reimbursement), agent distribution plan, online schedule and other factors to calculate how much money you need. What needs to be considered here is that if you don't get the agent's money (you can't get the agent's money now), you may have to wait 3-3 years after the product goes online. If the source of funds is available, either shareholders will jointly contribute or seek investment.

In fact, it takes two things to create a game team.

One is that you must be able to draw cakes. How to draw a good cake, so that all employees can unite and Qi Xin can work together.

One is the need to establish a corporate culture for everyone to agree with. These are all tests of your leadership charm and team building experience.

The above is purely my humble opinion. If stepping on the pit has nothing to do with me, haha.