Do you have a small game idea that you’ve really wanted to make, and you have skill in one area such as 2D art but need help in another area such as programming to make it a reality? We’ll help you form a team with two other people with complementary skills to make one game designed by each person (the game’s “owner”).
This program is intended for devs who have intermediate skill in one aspect of game development and who can dedicate 10 hours/week on three 8-week game projects, culminating in three fully completed and released small games or vertical slices polished enough to pitch to potential publishers. All team members will be credited on all 3 games, but the game owner will retain ownership of their completed game.
The process starts with a greenlight session requiring a short design treatment (e.g., 1-page document) and a paper prototype or equivalent such as an animated storyboard in PowerPoint. This proves out the core game loop before starting and allows potential teammates to scope each game appropriately to fit in 8 weeks of production.
Once the incubator is underway, the suggested schedule is:
2 weeks: Game 1 prototypes & concept art
2 weeks: Game 2 prototypes & concept art
2 weeks: Game 3 prototypes & concept art
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2 weeks: Game 1 production
2 weeks: Game 2 production
2 weeks: Game 3 production
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2 weeks: Game 1 production
2 weeks: Game 2 production
2 weeks: Game 3 production
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2 weeks: Game 1 final production & release
2 weeks: Game 2 final production & release
2 weeks: Game 3 final production & release
This alternating schedule allows each game owner to work on their game within the first 4 weeks, with time between each 2-week period to get feedback, plan fixes for design flaws, figure out hard programming problems, etc.
To get started, please fill out the application: Small Game Incubator Application Form.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scope your game so that three people can reasonably complete it within 4-6 weeks, which leaves you time to do preproduction, resolve bugs and design issues, and complete testing prior to release. Some examples of games with the scope we would be expecting are:
– Volkan for Daydream VR
– Mixing Suns
– Shards of God
– Overtime Anomaly
Tasks such as project management and QA are essential to the success of any game. However, given the small team size each team member must produce tangible assets such as visual art, music, or code. Tasks such as project management, QA, and marketing will need to be shared among the team members. Some senior developers in BIG will also volunteer their time to assist with project management and coordination.
No.