A long rumination about a project

I have a project in mind for a long time.

Imagine a board game + chat.

Realize it crudely, rough, thanks to the tools of Anywhere Software (B4J + B4A) is not very complicated. Find smoothly and bugs is just as easy.

Moreover, it would be very useful to develop a version for browsers (therefore for PCs) and this is completely out of my reach (Flash player? HTML5? Other? Anyway, stuff I do not know enough).

A project like this, if well done, multilingual, SHOULD allow good earnings (also because the game is unpublished and it intrigues as the texas hold'em poker).


I have many doubts (as always, very bad fault!).

I'm considering the possibility of paying someone to realize the project.

A really professional software company (and it is already difficult to choose) may, however, prefer to appropriate the idea, rather than settling of my payments. How to protect yourself?


The rest of the long thread, technical subjects, in the next episodes

If you will not try you will never know if your idea was good or not.

Anyway i would recommend not to take a software company because you are a programer, you dont need to pay someone to make the work for you that you know how to do and if you dont you can learn it...

Its hard today to make successfull games/apps there is no formular for success.

You wil see very good programmers that have no success and very poor ones that all they do is CRTL copy/paste and they have big success so why pay money for the unknown.

If your game will not success then you lose only the time you set on it and not big money..

Dont think that if you have a great idea and a great software company then that = big money...

You know how many great ideas people have every day??

I know people that paid lot of money for a company to make for them apps and their apps does not have more then 50 downloads...

Try to start with something you know and make it by your self..

You have today to much games out there with any color and possibilities like chat and others and not all of them are successfull so my opinion is, in the start make your own stuff after you made enough money invest it in something bigger....

Good luck

Luca,

You mention professional companies to outsource your game to.

These companies charge thousands just for a simple (html5) app and I don't want to know what they would ask for a multi platform game with additional back-end.

If you want to make it look good you need a pro design/ux team, I know someone who owns one and for app UI/UX design they charge a few thousands
before they even go thinking about the app/UI flow.

That would be a serious investment I'm affraid.

Maybe you could team up with some people of the forum?
It would be a lot cheaper for sure and maybe you could split earnings over the team aswell to keep up the motivation.

ilan said:

If you will not try you will never know if your idea was good or not.

Anyway i would recommend not to take a software company because you are a programer, you dont need to pay someone to make the work for you that you know how to do and if you dont you can learn it...

Its hard today to make successfull games/apps there is no formular for success.

You wil see very good programmers that have no success and very poor ones that all they do is CRTL copy/paste and they have big success so why pay money for the unknown.

If your game will not success then you lose only the time you set on it and not big money..

Dont think that if you have a great idea and a great software company then that = big money...

You know how many great ideas people have every day??

I know people that paid lot of money for a company to make for them apps and their apps does not have more then 50 downloads...

Try to start with something you know and make it by your self..

You have today to much games out there with any color and possibilities like chat and others and not all of them are successfull so my opinion is, in the start make your own stuff after you made enough money invest it in something bigger....

Good luck

Click to expand...

First of all, thanks for your reply, @ilan.


I have not decided yet.

I fear that if I decide to do everything myself:

1) I will publish this project in 2099. Two months after buying the license B4A, I had already developed an app; it is still in the drawer, waiting for improvements that probably I will never do;

2) I could face significant difficulties on the server side: bottlenecks, installation (is a server b4j), overload (if the app had success, perhaps in future I should be able to connect two servers).

I am increasingly convinced that the success of an app is due to 60% of its quality and "utility", but 40% to advertising. As I may have already written here, we all know Coca-Cola and yet it continues to make TV advertising.



Thanks again.

sorex said:

Luca,

You mention professional companies to outsource your game to.

These companies charge thousands just for a simple (html5) app and I don't want to know what they would ask for a multi platform game with additional back-end.

If you want to make it look good you need a pro design/ux team, I know someone who owns one and for app UI/UX design they charge a few thousands
before they even go thinking about the app/UI flow.

That would be a serious investment I'm affraid.

Maybe you could team up with some people of the forum?
It would be a lot cheaper for sure and maybe you could split earnings over the team aswell to keep up the motivation.

Click to expand...

Yes, I think it is possible that a good software company claims those figures. In fact, I wonder why we should instead sell the app for a few cents or free.
The company for which I worked (many years ago), cashed 60/80 EUR/Hour for my VERY POOR job .

But I would be sure of the outcome. An important question concerns the method that must be used to ensure that the company does not exploit the idea.
I could (and I will) also search on the Web for this.

However, I might decide to develop all by myself and, if the app had success, search for third party only for browser version.


About collaboration with members of the forum:

a) I do not know how many would be interested and have time;
b) there would be difficulties of organization and language;
c) I do not know how many would steal the idea .

I'd get a kind of skeleton, template or I do not know how to call it.

Imagine a server capable of:
identify/authorize the user;
manage a chat;
manage a game in a very flexible way, so that I can create, in the future, different games (always turn games, board game).

I have a reasonable basis that I made a year ago (In fact, I remember little ). It allows identification (I do not like this part and, at the time, I thought only to sell apps, not for free) and it allows the user to enter a room.

So, the base seems ready... but all that glitters ain't gold... it only seems ready!


Thank you, @sorex

LucaMs said:

b) there would be difficulties of organization and language;

Click to expand...

you can always sketch things to explain what you actually want.

LucaMs said:

c) I do not know how many would steal the idea .

Click to expand...

yeah, there's always a risk that's why some use these non-disclosure agreement that you need to sign.
then you can get a fine when you leak project info or whatever that is in that agreement.

sorex said:

that's why some use these non-disclosure agreement that you need to sign.

Click to expand...

I do not know how this is official; there is not a notary present.

Also, what do you do, intent a cause? The causes cost and, at least here in Italy, they last for many years.

indeed, and if the idea stealer let someone else develop it (the stolen idea) it's hard to prove any link between your project and that other.

Finally, I think the best solution is to avoid a software house, also because it would develop all directly in Java, not with B4A + b4j.

Ok, my project will be published at most in the early days of December, otherwise I will change ... life

i dont think you should think to much about someone steal your idea.
what will happen if you make all by yourself and then after 1 week you published your project someone
copy it and make lot of promotion for his copied project and get successfull?

you cannot protect yourself 100% from such people. i think you should do your stuff and dont think to much about someone will steal you stuff.

@LucaMs ,

When you're stuck you can always PM me and I'll try to help you out.

And @ilan is right, some game app makers are like chinese brands and clone everything within weeks

sorex said:

@LucaMs ,

When you're stuck you can always PM me and I'll try to help you out.

And @ilan is right, some game app makers are like chinese brands and clone everything within weeks

Click to expand...

thinking of it will take your motivation down.. you will allways say why should i make something that will be cloned or steal by others and you will never know
what would happened if you really did it... as allready said in the nike commercials "JUST DO IT"!

you did too with Flying Creatures for example, and I don't think anyone complained that you did as there were masses of that gametype already.

Well, there are "clone" of Whatsapp, but perhaps it was the first and well done and it is currently still the most used.
Sure, there is Viber and others, perhaps WhatsApp will give way, but in the meantime it will have earned enough.

Thank you for your offer of help, @sorex. I'm thinking of doing something similar to what @andymc has done little ago: someone is willing to cooperate in the creation of a ... I do not know how to define it (because it's almost 4PM and I have not had lunch )... a "package", an environment, a model, a skeleton, a ... I do not know. Essentially, it should be what I wrote: a b4j server that allows:

a) identification / user permissions; the app will be free with interstitials during chat / game and in-app sales, so you need to study well both identification and permissions;

b) some "room" to which the user has access (lobby, for example; room purchases; chat?);
Following the example of Zynga Holdem Poker... if you do not have more money, it allows you to buy it or to start again with a low capital.

As I wrote, a year ago I developed a working base. I have to go back to the structure to create a diagram (I should do the opposite, I know ). That 's what I would like to develop together with you: a well done diagram.


Let's cook