Video games and game design has interested me for some time now. Unfortunately, if I were to try and seek a job in the industry, I would have to move to the complete opposite end of the country for it. Then there's the hurdle of building up the experience needed for most jobs offered. It's a catch-22, since to first get the experience, you would have to get the job. A method to build up a portfolio would be to work with a small group of people over the internet on some kind of game project, whether that be a mod to an existing game or a whole new game entirely. Of course, finding someone with the exact skills needed for a certain project is about as daunting as getting a job in the industry. After all, there's multiple factors in creating a video game; you need someone to program it, someone to do all of the artwork, someone to create the music and sound effects, someone to write the background story and in-game dialog, someone to market it, ect. It's overcoming such challenges to form a group that inspired this business proposal.
The company's name is the Indie Game Development Union, or just the IGDU. The overall purpose of the site is primarily a social networking one; to assist team builders in finding individuals that have the skills necessary to complete some kind of video game related project, and provide the means of communication so that the team can operate at maximum efficiency. A secondary purpose would be to help members become educated in various fields relating to game design, such as programming.
Upon registering at IGDU.net, users would gain access to a number of services and features. All members would get a virtual portfolio page to show off their work on. This can include character images, music demos, etc. Each member will be given the ability to host small files on the IGDU's servers, which they can then integrate into the portfolio. Also on this page would be a personal blog the user can use. On this page, the member could also post contact information, such as an email address or MSN Messenger handles. Signing up for the site would also give them access to the IGDU forums, where fellow members can chat with one another. A wiki would be set up, on which members can create articles and tutorials on various video game design aspects, such as a tutorial on AI programming in C++.
Similar to the portfolios each individual member gets, each development team gets a team page, a team page that all members can contribute to, and a private team forum. On the team blog, updates can be posted about how the project is progressing. Screen shots can also be posted to give other members a sense of what the project is all about.
Competition exists primarily in GameDev.net, but also in sites like GameSpot. GameSpot allows it's members to create “unions,” which are basically meant to be fan clubs of certain games or genres, yet, GameSpot unions dedicated to game development have been formed. GameSpot, though, aims towards the players, not the developers. GameDev.net on the other hand does aim towards developers. It assists potential developers learn the trade and get game development jobs. As stated previously, these kinds of things are a secondary objective. The IGDU more or less assumes that the majority of its members knows how to program and do are already, and just assists in team building.
Revenue will be derived primarily from ad space. One reason for including file hosting and private team forums on the IGDU site is to help build stickiness, so that more revenue can be gained by the use of ads and affiliates. Of course, hosting the files and blogs can potentially eat up a lot of space on the servers, costing the IGDU a good bit of money. To counter this, members would only be allowed to host smaller files, but can opt to pay for an increased limit. This can either be a one time payment to host a single over-the-limit file, or a monthly plan where the member has to pay a small fee monthly but is able to host an unlimited number of files over the free limit. Payments for the hosting space would be conducted through PayPal or by credit card.
tl;dr: The business, called the IGDU, is a social networking site that aims to bring together indie game developers to form development teams. A virtual portfolio for each member assists in finding people with the exact skills needed to fill a job.
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