It is a rather natural sense of the scene that coders, graphicians and musicians see their chance in 2the game business.1 Now, for you, just starting out here is an interview with the coder of the stunning bestseller Psygnosis game, 3Perihelion,1 about the ups and downs of the biz... 2SH - SH 3GS - Gyula Szentirmay 2SH:1 Please tell us briefly what is Perihelion all about? 3GS:1 Perihelion is basicly an RPG, but contrary to the usual AD&D scenarios, it takes place in a world built up in our minds, where technology is just as usual as magic, sometimes the two even mixes. The coverstory: a prophecy tells about the arrival of a 210th god, 1whom with his birth disbalances the world and literally causes the demolition of the universe. The conqueror, with the help of hi-tech medical technologies, creates 6 heroes, who might fight the god. So these six chaps are waiting hibernated in a tower for their time to come. 2SH:1 How much time did it take to make the game from scratch? 3GS:1 We decided to develop an RPG on the fall of 1990, but work only started in '91. This work got very delayed because both Silkie (the graphician) and me were still attending the 'fabulous' school. So we could only get finished by 3the end of July '93.1 In fact 65% of the stuff was made in 5 months. 2SH:1 Was it easy to find a distributor? Why did you get Psygnosis? 3GS:1 Psygnosis was the first company we tried, because of we didn't want to do business with a 2small 2-guys company,1 and on the other hand we knew that most of the big companies don't bother with someone without referencies coming from the Eastern jungle. About Psygnosis we knew that they were always 3reliable company 1which work s with one-timers also. 2SH:1 Is game making a lot different from demo making? 3GS:1 Two worlds! One can make a demo relatively fastly, in 2-3 months' time. There are no real memory problems, if the demo doesn't work on all configs, the worst thing could happen is to be called a 2lamer 1(doesn't care). A game must run on all machines, the player shouldn't have to change disks every 5 seconds, the game shouldn't load every five secs, not to include always the same effects, the player shouldn't have to go nuts because of the monotonious music, and the worst of all is to think forward with half a year, when you don't even know what you will be doing then. But on the other hand, you don't have to optimize every piece of code, and you don't have to make effects which are nice but have no use at all. And I think it is a whole lot 3more fun1 to make a game. 2SH:1 If I'm not too curious, how much money can you make with a game? 3GS:1 Well, if the game is a winner, you should prepare a huge van to carry the money, but making a game takes a 2lot of power.1 If you have signed the contract 3you can't back off1 (no, you can, but then the lawyers will beat the shit out of you). Now you think 'why would anyone back off'? But when you have worke for two months, 16 hours a day sleeping only 5 hours a day (you can't reast more, cause sitting work makes only your mind tired, not your body), then you don't even wanna eat, and leave the whole shit stuff. But at the end of the day, it makes a lot better money than going to the state company doing a 9 to 5. 2SH:1 Please give some advices to those who are starting off with the game making business! 3GS:1 Well, if you wanna get rich very fast, the you better steal a child or rob a bank. All in all, the game got released from scratch in 22 and a half years,1 which is kinda average. If you are excellent, you can reduce this time to ca. 1 and a half years but then it's sure that you: - go nuts - get fatter with 30 kilos - your girlfriend leaves you - you forget to walk or speak - and you will probably have to be taught again how to use the toilet Also your economical background should be more than OK. And you will meet the "we will write a budget and get fast money, and we will make a bigger game afterwards" syndrome, but forget that now. In theory it can be true, but I haven't met a single person who could pull this through. You might get a flat for the whole team for developing days. For parting up the money, you should discuss it 2FOR THE RECORD!1 Write it down, coz only a few friendships can take an amount of 7-8 digits... And anyway, business and friendship are two things REALLY NOT to get mixed. The best way to do this is to make a contract within the group about the percentages, make X copies, signed by two not involved (X can be 2-1 million). You should really be aware with the software companies. When they send you a contract, you shouldn't be so happy to send it right back, 3ALWAYS check it with a lawyer. 1It takes some coins, but it's not too funny when one's 2 year work goes down the drain because of some legal manouvres aof the company... Sure thing, a bigger co. wont fuck with you, it wants to preserve its fame, but a 2-guys company would be happy to do it if they see their chance.