Pwned by 'Poon
War Stories From Texas Garage Startups
(or "How to get screwed by publishers")
by Don Gilman
Mr. Gilman has been scuh-rewed by publishers in significant and life-lesson-teaching ways. He made the computer game version of Harpoon, which was originally a board game by Larry Bond (the oft-unmentioned co-author of Red Storm Rising).
His day job is not games, it is a bit more important than that. His team is working on the Texas Energy and Emissions Calculator, which is designed to help governments and builders save energy costs on buildings. If you consider how much available energy goes to power buildings that are empty for half the day, you'll see that is very valuable research.
You can read the twists and turns of Harpoon's history here. Harpoon is most recently available through Matrix Games, who also makes Battleground Europe (my employer) available. He decided on them after first sending out a Request For Proposals to various publishers with the following three important statements:
Advanced Gaming Systems is now developing Harpoon on a 'cash-flow' basis. What has happened is that some clients of Harpoon Professional, like the Australian Department of Defense, request a certain feature to be added that will help them use the game and they pay for it. But AGS structures the agreements that anything they develop they get to keep the rights to and can keep in the game. So what is happening is that different military companies and agencies (the only ones that can purchase Harpoon 3 Professional) end up providing the investment needed to continue developing the game. Ultimately, Mr. Gilman hopes that this will allow AGS to package a true Harpoon 4 without the entanglements of an invested publisher.
With Harpoon's long existence, Mr. Gilman pointed out several things which help keep the game alive, and really help a small team and a community achieve more than they might be done otherwise. Collaboration tools such as Wikis and bug tracking software like Mantis, allow non-devs to contribute greatly. As do configuration tools that allow players to 'mod' you game. The work of two moders was very significant in keeping Harpoon a viable project.
Other main points of his were to keep your day job and realize that the tortoise wins.
Recommended Reading:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
E-Myth Revisited
E-Myth Manager
(or "How to get screwed by publishers")
by Don Gilman
Mr. Gilman has been scuh-rewed by publishers in significant and life-lesson-teaching ways. He made the computer game version of Harpoon, which was originally a board game by Larry Bond (the oft-unmentioned co-author of Red Storm Rising).
His day job is not games, it is a bit more important than that. His team is working on the Texas Energy and Emissions Calculator, which is designed to help governments and builders save energy costs on buildings. If you consider how much available energy goes to power buildings that are empty for half the day, you'll see that is very valuable research.
You can read the twists and turns of Harpoon's history here. Harpoon is most recently available through Matrix Games, who also makes Battleground Europe (my employer) available. He decided on them after first sending out a Request For Proposals to various publishers with the following three important statements:
- We don't trust anyone
- First contract will be of *very* short duration
- We will have guillotine clauses in the contract if you are ever late with, or cause any hold up in, payments.
Advanced Gaming Systems is now developing Harpoon on a 'cash-flow' basis. What has happened is that some clients of Harpoon Professional, like the Australian Department of Defense, request a certain feature to be added that will help them use the game and they pay for it. But AGS structures the agreements that anything they develop they get to keep the rights to and can keep in the game. So what is happening is that different military companies and agencies (the only ones that can purchase Harpoon 3 Professional) end up providing the investment needed to continue developing the game. Ultimately, Mr. Gilman hopes that this will allow AGS to package a true Harpoon 4 without the entanglements of an invested publisher.
With Harpoon's long existence, Mr. Gilman pointed out several things which help keep the game alive, and really help a small team and a community achieve more than they might be done otherwise. Collaboration tools such as Wikis and bug tracking software like Mantis, allow non-devs to contribute greatly. As do configuration tools that allow players to 'mod' you game. The work of two moders was very significant in keeping Harpoon a viable project.
Other main points of his were to keep your day job and realize that the tortoise wins.
Recommended Reading:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
E-Myth Revisited
E-Myth Manager
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