Steve.Hyuga
Club Supporter
Hello Everyone,
It has been over a month since I released my manifesto and I think it's about time I update those of you that were interested in my project with details on what's been going on, where I am at the moment and what are my upcoming plans to turn this endeavor into a success. First of all, for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about this is the link to the post I created a few weeks ago http://www.soccergaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191539
To sum my post up, after playing Fifa for several years I've grown tired of all the bullshit in the game (specially in FUT) and I've decided to create my own football simulation game for console. My plan is to create a game that has everything we all love about football simulation with none of EA's crap. A game that is good enough to replace Fifa as the best selling sports game title within 3 years (give or take). In order to accomplish that, I am going to need lots of help so I am looking for anyone that is interested in contributing their time and skills to the the cause (not looking for money at the moment)
As you can tell from the comments on the thread most people think I'm crazy but that doesn't bother me since they have no idea what I'm capable of. I'm going to say this for the sake of perspective but what I intend to do to EA with this project, is something I plan to do to much larger companies during my entrepreneurial career so I consider this as a warm up for those upcoming enterprises.
So now that we are all on the same page, let me begin with the update.
Well, first of all I'm still looking for people with game development expertise to become part of the core team. The core team is going to be the group of people that are genuinely interested in the success of this venture and would work 1 on 1 with me to make things happen. I'm not saying I'm looking for people willing to quit their jobs or anything of the sort but simply those of you who can put time aside to help me piece things together quickly, so the project moves forward with as few delays as possible.
I do want to point that as far as the game development part of the project this is not a hobby to me and I am not looking for someone to actually help me with creating the game (i.e. programming, art, music etc). I will be setting up a studio to accomplish that and will probably outsource a portion of the work that the development process entails. What I am looking for right now is for people with game development skills to help me figure out how the technical aspects of what I am aiming to create would work so I can make projections of how much time each aspect would take, how many people I'll need to hire and how much money would the development cost. I would also like to be able to bounce ideas of features and improvements with them because among the things I've learned from the research I've been doing for the past couple of months, many different people like football simulators for many different reasons so the idea of having a game solely modeled on what I believe the game should be, would be pretty senseless.
Anybody who would like to apply to become part of the core team can send me an email to steve.hyuga(at)outlook(dot)com and I will be getting back to you to discuss your potential involvement.
Now as far as the course of action for the next 3-6 months, I intend to do work on 3 things.
1. Liquidate my assets to focus on building working capital
2. Create a GDD
3. Set up a crowdfunding campaign to capitalize the first development stage
To elaborate a little:
1. Liquidate my assets to focus on building working capital
I'm in my mid twenties and to put it simply, people with my capabilities tend to have 7 to 8 figures worth of assets at this stage (if they are working for themselves, which I am). The problem is I have been nowhere near as dilligent when it comes to the wonderful art of multiplying money. Truth be told money for the sake of money doesn't motivate me that much and I've let the past few years drift away without building anything of real value. I own an online business that generates good returns (considering I only work a few hours a week) but in order to succeed with this project, I'm going to need to get my financial situation in order, so I'm going to tidy up my operation and hopefully sell it within the next few months. I'll use the proceeds as capital and re-invest it on something that will grow quickly and generate high returns (probably one of my business ideas). That way I'll be able to tackle this project without having to worry about petty things.
2. Create a GDD
For those of you that aren't familiar with game development a GDD (which stands for Game Design Document) is a document that contains all the specifications of how a game will work and what it will contain. While I have made considerable progress detailing many of the features and improvements my game will have, as I mentioned earlier it would be pretty senseless if the game was created according only to how I think it should be, which is why I am planning to wait until I've been able to assemble the core team to have the full document written. There should be ample time to accomplish this within the intended timeframe.
3. Set up a crowdfunding campaign to capitalize the first development stage
I'm fairly certain there have to be a few million of us sick and tired of EA's blatant inability to provide us with a worthwhile football experience which is why intend to create a crowdfunding campaign to fund the initial development stage. I'm pretty sure people tired of spending tens if not hundreds of dollars, pounds and euros on worthless packs every year will be willing to divert some of that spending to be able to get a genuinely satisfying football game. I have already some good concepts for the video and I hope to find a good video editor and hopefully will get help from you guys to spread the word once the campaign is launched.
In addition to the core team, I am also looking for people with expertise in the following fields
Legal:
Lawyer from U.K. To explain U.K. licensing and I.P. laws related to Fifa and football clubs.
Lawyer from Germany. To explain german licensing and I.P. laws related to Fifa and football clubs.
European lawyers from any country where Fifa has a licensed league. To find out what are the licensing agreements and costs of acquiring the football league(s) license.
Note: I'm giving special attention to Germany and the U.K. primarily because that's where EA has exclusive league licenses.
Servers expert. From what I recall, Fifa has at least a couple mayor server related issues which would be unrecorded games and bots. I need as much information as possible on what exactly are the issues on both fronts in order to create solutions for them (presuming its not merely an implementation fix which I wouldn't be surprised at all considering EA's track record)
Marketing
Kickass Video Maker. I intend to make video advertising the primary form of spreading the word about the project (An important part of the marketing campaign I've developed to promote it utilizes video) so I'm looking for a creative and talented video maker to handle that part.
And to everyone else:
If you don't have any of the skills I specified but want to help, just send me an email to steve.hyuga(at)outlook(dot)com letting me know what you can do (no matter how small it may seem) and I'll get back to you. As I said, it's going to take an army to pull this off and you'll never know how you can be useful unless you get in touch. I just need you to let me know if you are offering to volunteer or you would like to be a part of the core team.
Overall, Fifa is the best selling sports franchise in the world and makes EA a profit of over $500 million per year between game sales and digital content according to the small amount of information available online on the subject. Despite that, year after year they sell us the exact same half baked, bug-filled, frustration guaranteed, piece of garbage their flashy ads filled with false advertising convince us to buy. I'm willing to take them on and I know I can beat them but it's not something I can do alone. So once again I ask: Whose with me?
I'll be answering questions now.
It has been over a month since I released my manifesto and I think it's about time I update those of you that were interested in my project with details on what's been going on, where I am at the moment and what are my upcoming plans to turn this endeavor into a success. First of all, for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about this is the link to the post I created a few weeks ago http://www.soccergaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191539
To sum my post up, after playing Fifa for several years I've grown tired of all the bullshit in the game (specially in FUT) and I've decided to create my own football simulation game for console. My plan is to create a game that has everything we all love about football simulation with none of EA's crap. A game that is good enough to replace Fifa as the best selling sports game title within 3 years (give or take). In order to accomplish that, I am going to need lots of help so I am looking for anyone that is interested in contributing their time and skills to the the cause (not looking for money at the moment)
As you can tell from the comments on the thread most people think I'm crazy but that doesn't bother me since they have no idea what I'm capable of. I'm going to say this for the sake of perspective but what I intend to do to EA with this project, is something I plan to do to much larger companies during my entrepreneurial career so I consider this as a warm up for those upcoming enterprises.
So now that we are all on the same page, let me begin with the update.
Well, first of all I'm still looking for people with game development expertise to become part of the core team. The core team is going to be the group of people that are genuinely interested in the success of this venture and would work 1 on 1 with me to make things happen. I'm not saying I'm looking for people willing to quit their jobs or anything of the sort but simply those of you who can put time aside to help me piece things together quickly, so the project moves forward with as few delays as possible.
I do want to point that as far as the game development part of the project this is not a hobby to me and I am not looking for someone to actually help me with creating the game (i.e. programming, art, music etc). I will be setting up a studio to accomplish that and will probably outsource a portion of the work that the development process entails. What I am looking for right now is for people with game development skills to help me figure out how the technical aspects of what I am aiming to create would work so I can make projections of how much time each aspect would take, how many people I'll need to hire and how much money would the development cost. I would also like to be able to bounce ideas of features and improvements with them because among the things I've learned from the research I've been doing for the past couple of months, many different people like football simulators for many different reasons so the idea of having a game solely modeled on what I believe the game should be, would be pretty senseless.
Anybody who would like to apply to become part of the core team can send me an email to steve.hyuga(at)outlook(dot)com and I will be getting back to you to discuss your potential involvement.
Now as far as the course of action for the next 3-6 months, I intend to do work on 3 things.
1. Liquidate my assets to focus on building working capital
2. Create a GDD
3. Set up a crowdfunding campaign to capitalize the first development stage
To elaborate a little:
1. Liquidate my assets to focus on building working capital
I'm in my mid twenties and to put it simply, people with my capabilities tend to have 7 to 8 figures worth of assets at this stage (if they are working for themselves, which I am). The problem is I have been nowhere near as dilligent when it comes to the wonderful art of multiplying money. Truth be told money for the sake of money doesn't motivate me that much and I've let the past few years drift away without building anything of real value. I own an online business that generates good returns (considering I only work a few hours a week) but in order to succeed with this project, I'm going to need to get my financial situation in order, so I'm going to tidy up my operation and hopefully sell it within the next few months. I'll use the proceeds as capital and re-invest it on something that will grow quickly and generate high returns (probably one of my business ideas). That way I'll be able to tackle this project without having to worry about petty things.
2. Create a GDD
For those of you that aren't familiar with game development a GDD (which stands for Game Design Document) is a document that contains all the specifications of how a game will work and what it will contain. While I have made considerable progress detailing many of the features and improvements my game will have, as I mentioned earlier it would be pretty senseless if the game was created according only to how I think it should be, which is why I am planning to wait until I've been able to assemble the core team to have the full document written. There should be ample time to accomplish this within the intended timeframe.
3. Set up a crowdfunding campaign to capitalize the first development stage
I'm fairly certain there have to be a few million of us sick and tired of EA's blatant inability to provide us with a worthwhile football experience which is why intend to create a crowdfunding campaign to fund the initial development stage. I'm pretty sure people tired of spending tens if not hundreds of dollars, pounds and euros on worthless packs every year will be willing to divert some of that spending to be able to get a genuinely satisfying football game. I have already some good concepts for the video and I hope to find a good video editor and hopefully will get help from you guys to spread the word once the campaign is launched.
In addition to the core team, I am also looking for people with expertise in the following fields
Legal:
Lawyer from U.K. To explain U.K. licensing and I.P. laws related to Fifa and football clubs.
Lawyer from Germany. To explain german licensing and I.P. laws related to Fifa and football clubs.
European lawyers from any country where Fifa has a licensed league. To find out what are the licensing agreements and costs of acquiring the football league(s) license.
Note: I'm giving special attention to Germany and the U.K. primarily because that's where EA has exclusive league licenses.
Servers expert. From what I recall, Fifa has at least a couple mayor server related issues which would be unrecorded games and bots. I need as much information as possible on what exactly are the issues on both fronts in order to create solutions for them (presuming its not merely an implementation fix which I wouldn't be surprised at all considering EA's track record)
Marketing
Kickass Video Maker. I intend to make video advertising the primary form of spreading the word about the project (An important part of the marketing campaign I've developed to promote it utilizes video) so I'm looking for a creative and talented video maker to handle that part.
And to everyone else:
If you don't have any of the skills I specified but want to help, just send me an email to steve.hyuga(at)outlook(dot)com letting me know what you can do (no matter how small it may seem) and I'll get back to you. As I said, it's going to take an army to pull this off and you'll never know how you can be useful unless you get in touch. I just need you to let me know if you are offering to volunteer or you would like to be a part of the core team.
Overall, Fifa is the best selling sports franchise in the world and makes EA a profit of over $500 million per year between game sales and digital content according to the small amount of information available online on the subject. Despite that, year after year they sell us the exact same half baked, bug-filled, frustration guaranteed, piece of garbage their flashy ads filled with false advertising convince us to buy. I'm willing to take them on and I know I can beat them but it's not something I can do alone. So once again I ask: Whose with me?
I'll be answering questions now.