Yeah, in the UK to set up a limited company was fairly cheap and there are services available that do it for you. Once it’s created though you need to file accounts, statements etc with companies house and HMRC (tax man) every year… there are penalties for being late… there are various fees associated with filing those things. I have money going through the company so I am needing to pay for an accountant etc.
It’s something that varies a lot depending on where you live though.
But for you and a friend to sit down and write a game all that is probably overkill. So long as you have in writing how you are going to split ownership of the game you can work away on it and worry about the other side of things if/when you start making money from it.
Thanks, I’ll first make a game yeah. Then, when it’s finished and the game is good enough to sell, I’ll put effort into creating a company to sell it.
Update: I really wanted to make a multiplayer game, so I made a start (Players can move around a world and see eachother), this is what I got right now:
- kerberos-like login for a safe login (it’s impossible to get the users password by eavesdropping the network, it’s impossible to login without the right password)
- entity interpolation to reduce ‘bumping’ of players (tested with 80% packet loss and 2000ms lag at the same time, no bumpiness was shown at all, except in jumping, but I still have to make my own jump method)
- the world is divided into virtual boxes, a player can only see other players that are within 4 boxes, which is about 512f (to reduce network activity and rending fps)
- the server sends the characters data to the player, the server can choose each player’s width, height, speeds, etc
I think I’m gonna continue with this, to get a good base for a multiplayer game. Then I’m gonna decide what it will be, I’m currently thinking something like multiplayer amnesia (without any physical objects besides players, the static terrain and doors).
Does anyone got any good multiplayer ideas (aside from MMO’s), or any comments?
Wow, you’re a busy bee… that’s amazing progress for 4 hours of work! Start a work-in-progress thread and see what people would want to see in a game 
Things get more complicated as you progress, I’d totally not pick a multi-player, but if you are, don’t go MMO. First try to setup the needs, like writting down the game general idea, the objective, goals, where you expect players to have fun/enjoy, what they have to do, if you plan coop or versus. Things like that really, really helped me out a lot.
I’ll start with a base for a multiplayer (with entity interpolation, npc support, and everything else every multiplayer game needs). Then I’ll write down my entire game idea (storyline, level drafts, goals, fun/addicting parts) and then I’ll continue from there. Without planning it would be undo-able, lol.
About the work-in-progress thread, hmmmmmmmmmm… It could be useful indeed to show how I do things, other people might have better ideas/ways to solve problems, especially since I only know of jME’s existence for about 2 weeks now lol. I’ll start a thread when my basic multiplayer’s code is finished.
If you want a job as a “programmer” for a games company (not a graphics artist, texturer, level designer etc…), then you should learn how to program games efficiently, making use of AI, pathfinding, networking etc… which require programming, rather than spend time learning how to model, texture etc… cus they willl have specialists for that stuff
True, I’m talking to people from college to ask them if they want to join in as a 2D, 3D or level/world designer. I’m only gonna focus myself on programming, debugging and gameplay design.
Pogramming and debugging because that’s kinda my thing, I don’t know anyone in real life that’s better at programming that me lol, gameplay design because I’ve played a lot of games and I can see the difference pretty good about a good selling game and a bad selling game.
Extra info: played wow for like 6 years, owned hard as pvp feral druid lol, spend another couple years in other MMOs like aion, age of conan, but they didn’t got the quality of wow (hated player models of aion + annoying spellcast sounds which you coudn’t disable without disabling the entire combat sound, hated gameplay of age of conan, way to many quests at the beginning, no idea which to choose, the day/night feature was also confusing). Besides that, I finished like every famous single player game (yeah I’m like 90% of my time gaming or programming).
Anyway, to be continued (probably in a different thread) when the basics of a multiplayer game is finished.
i recommend to start a company as soon as therei is a prototype and any kind of public test.
(You dont want to be responsible for any damage caused unlimited (depends on country I guess))
Also then you can buy stuf like musik models for lower price (due to saving the consumer tax)
And you can properly account the amount of work (hours) ect you did and add, register names and properly secure stuff (domains, brand conflicts ect…)
Of course only when youa re far enough that you know you will make it, and you are close to finishing the first public test.
Ow thanks, didn’t know that.
I’ll start a thread about my progress soon, and setting up a company is part of the progress too, so I will be discussing that too then. For now it’s just hardcore programming, with like 3-4 hours sleep a day, kinda messes with my thinking process tho, but got only 1 month left before school starts again. I can’t wait to be done with school, I got so much more time then.
@patrickvane1993 said:
I can't wait to be done with school, I got so much more time then.
...heheh... I miss all the time I had when I was still in school. :)
@patrickvane1993 said:
I can't wait to be done with school, I got so much more time then.
@pspeed said:
...heheh... I miss all the time I had when I was still in school. :)
I've got to agree here, learn as much as you can while that's your major responsibility!
@patrickvane1993 said:
For now it's just hardcore programming, with like 3-4 hours sleep a day, kinda messes with my thinking process tho, but got only 1 month left before school starts again.
That does more harm than good, especially if your learning. Its ok if you just need to churn stuff out you already know. If you got a whole month off then organise it properly. Wake up around 9, work till 7pm, chill and do some exercise, get the clogs turning again for the next day. Its the most sustainable, and you wont feel like shit either.
Edit: yeh i miss school/university so bad
But during this month I learned more than an entire year at school. School teaches to much about business processes and less about the actual programming. Things like threads, opengl, sounds, animations, I had to learn that all myself.
About the time, yeah I feel like shit now, but at the same time the code is coming together pretty fast 
I just need to take a couple days off soon, one day.
I also miss school/university… I had so much more spare time 
@EmpirePhoenix said:
i recommend to start a company as soon as therei is a prototype and any kind of public test.
(You dont want to be responsible for any damage caused unlimited (depends on country I guess))
Also then you can buy stuf like musik models for lower price (due to saving the consumer tax)
And you can properly account the amount of work (hours) ect you did and add, register names and properly secure stuff (domains, brand conflicts ect...)
Of course only when youa re far enough that you know you will make it, and you are close to finishing the first public test.
All that stuff varies a lot depending on country and local rules though. He really needs to talk to an accountant.
For example in the UK your company can have a turnover up to ~73k£ per year without having to VAT register. If not VAT registered then you don't need to charge VAT (sales tax) but you also have to pay it on your purchases. Once registered you have to charge VAT to your customers but you don't pay it on purchases.
@patrickvane1993 - from my experience I can also advice you to chose a softer regime for your body. Since, yes, it is possible to work till exhaustion, overworking, doing much in a short time and you think like “oh well, I feel like very tired but things are going well”. You discover the world of mental beauty. This is true, here you get the “first faith”, which sounds like “if I forget my body and overwork much, sleep less, eat less, walk less, then I am successful”. The rush that you feel is a result of the natural mechanisms that activate when the body is put in a stress conditions - you suddenly feel a tremendous energy income. Then, one day, a thing happens - your body adaptation resource is exhausted. You start feeling like you must do even more, but things start to fall apart and you cannot get the same pace as you had before anymore. Many people can’t stop at this point and start administrating caffeine and, probably, other stimulants. There might be a temporary functional improvement which brings to the “second faith” - which is basically just the confirmation of the first faith and builds upon it. The catch is almost inevitable since you can almost physically taste the sweetness of your fruits.
What is even more disturbing is that people tend to addict to the mental pleasure that they receive. And the mental pleasure can cover over any other pleasures and pay for any suffering, thus having a potential to become a real addiction. See the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. That being said - in your age you may not start feeling the side effects of all this immedeately. But upon reaching the age of 20-25 yrs old, the “damage” will start to gradually reveal itself. Just think of the “mess in the thinking” to persist whatever you do - even if you get a good sleep. I know of people went this way, not only programmers. And I would not advice you going there :).
So there are some real rules of “success”:
- sleep well
- eat healthy food and eat approx 2.5 kcal a day (you can calculate for your weight)
- walk outside, communicate with nature, do some sports
- do not watch tv or news. EVER.
- make friends with who you think has the qualities that you want to have, put yourself in such an environment
- do not read anything that does not improve your connection with the subject
- be modest
- do not drink any alcohol and smoke any cigarettes (the delayed damage becomes apparent 3-10 yrs later, but then it is too late)
- do not mix activities
- make regular breaks when working with the computer (like 5 min each hour). You can use special programs to remind you.
All that I am saying from some experience with many people and all that seems true. Just felt like I would share that since looks like it is interesting enough in the context of the discussion. Keepeng the balance is essential to being effective in the long run. Remember that the rate of learning new increases with the amount of what is already learnt and that is why the ability to retain effectiveness on very long periods of time is generally more preferable and beneficial than explosive exhausting flashes of seemingly divine-like productivity.
So there are some real rules of “success”:
– sleep well
– eat healthy food and eat approx 2.5 kcal a day (you can calculate for your weight)
– walk outside, communicate with nature, do some sports
– do not watch tv or news. EVER.
– make friends with who you think has the qualities that you want to have, put yourself in such an environment
– do not read anything that does not improve your connection with the subject
– be modest
– do not drink any alcohol and smoke any cigarettes (the delayed damage becomes apparent 3-10 yrs later, but then it is too late)
– do not mix activities
– make regular breaks when working with the computer (like 5 min each hour). You can use special programs to remind you.
@noncom is 100% right. you need keep this points.
each listed point is very important. if you don't want to have health/mind issues in later time of work, you have to stick to these points.
you don't feel bad at early stage, but later you feel more and more "tired"(and you think you don't feel difference).
yeh exactly
@patrickvane1993 you why these guys know it? because they made the same mistake your about to make (which i have done also). So you’d better listen 
Hmmmm… Fell asleep after 2 nights of no sleep. I guess I need to take some time off. I’ll try to get all the points, I got most of the points, especially when I take enough rest, but “walk outside, communicate with nature, do some sports” isn’t ever gonna happen bro xD.
Anyway, thanks for writing it, that’s not something you can type in less then 5 minutes lol.