I got 2 plans for games, but...

It's best not to get completely unknown people to review your Design Docs as you may loose your unique ideas.

You sound like a eager, creative individual with a passion for games. If I were you I'd get involved with an established Games company that's making the kind of stuff you like. Try to get a foot in the door in there QA or Customer service departments.

Once you've had enough time to learn the ropes and meet some talented people you can propose creating a prototype of your ideas internally or as a side secret project (which will be further refined by then).

There are always unscrupulous folks in all walks of life so never let anyone see your ideas unless you know them personally or they sign your non-disclosure agreement.

The most valuable asset in games is a unique inspirational idea. Just look at how many unimaginative poor quality titles there are on the app store and you'll start to realise how rare they are, protect yours until the cogs fall into place. You have lots of time a great idea rarely gets stale and can be used down the line.

Good Luck

 

I have a different opinion : feel free to share your ideas because they are worthless.

No offense intended : the drawers of every programmer or game company out there are filled with great game ideas they haven't been able to develop, for lack of time, funding, market opportunity, you name it. All of them would much rather develop their own game ideas than someone else's, unless they are hired and paid to do so. An idea alone is worthless until it's actually turned into a game.

Nobody will steal your ideas until they are turned into real games. If those games have success, that's when people will start cloning them.

That is also the reason why, if you are serious about making your own games, there are many options :
- Get close to a programmmer and develop the game together. Ideally someone you've actually met rather than an Internet friend. At any rate, you will have to build a much closer relationship than posting your ideas on a forum (though I suppose that could be a start)
- As mr_wexer said, get into a game company thru QA and work your way up. Very sound advice.
- Learn to code and make the games yourself. It's actually a pretty serious option too, there are tools availble these days that make it not as difficult as it used to be, such as RPG Maker.

Good luck !! This can all be achieved through perseverance and hard work.

 

Not to rain on your parade, and I'm saying this for your own best interest. Ideas are the easy part, I have 2-3 ideas everyday. Seriously, learn to program, it's not rocket science, and you don't need to learn Obj-C. Look at products such as Corona and Flash (AS3) these are pretty easy platforms to use to make games. There are 100s of online tutorials to help you learn as well as forums where people will give you advice. 2-3 months of study and you will be able to put some of your ideas into practice, at that point find a good graphic artist and you are set

You have to remember that there LOTS (1000s and 1000s) of people right now across the world with ideas for an iPhone app/game, the ideas that succeed will be the ones where the person has either the money to hire a programmer to bring the idea to life or is able to code it themselves.

 

You have to see the difference between the 2-3 ideas you have a day and a game design that's very unique and potentially genre defining. Every game designer has ideas all the time but a concept for something that has never been done before and has loads of merit should be protected and nurtured before giving it away.

I guess we just have very different methodologies to design, maybe your way works for you. I worked for very successful US games companies for 10+ years and generally good ideas are very rare

 

If you have money to hire someone...
Suggest that you simplify the idea as much as possible. Stripping out complexity helps you evaluate what you really have (compare it to competitors) and decide whether it is worth spending money on it!

 

iANiMeX I wish you best of luck!!

iANiMeX has participated in basically every beta test for our clients and his comments and suggestions are in line with professional game designers that do this for a career. Many of my clients have commented on how excellent iANiMeX is and I think his insight and suggestions into iOS games is what the Appstore needs. He knows what gamers know, want and love. If I had money to develop a game I would hire iANiMeX on the spot!

 

Remember that a big part of a game is creating all the art and audio assets, as well as having a well defined structure and game mechanic.

As a one-man developer (who is primarily a coder) I am all too aware of the difficulty and time spent trying to get everything looking professional. Not just all the game assets, but there's all the background graphics, buttons, menus and that all-important icon. Plus any 3D models and textures.

So if you have a decent design doc (i.e. clear, unambiguous, no waffle) with all the art and sound assets ready to go you'd have plenty of programmers keen to work with you on it.

However I do recommend looking into learning coding yourself -- maybe take a look at one of the higher level languages like Lua with the Corona SDK and the fantastic Codea app for iPad. Coding is fun and not as difficult as you might fear. Good luck

 

Honestly, you won't get anywhere with only ideas. If you don't learn a real skill like doing the code, the graphics or building interesting levels nothing will happen.

A game idea on paper, something that hasn't even been prototyped yet, doesn't have any value. It is all about implementing the ideas in a game. And what you wrote on paper will propably not work in your game in the same way you intended. Two developers will create two completely different games based on the same idea. The idea is just a starting point.

You seem to aim for the designing part of the game development. So if you didn't already draw or code since you were a small child it would be best to learn just the basics of both disciplines and learn how to make prototypes a lot and quickly with tools like game maker.

 

I'll give you my 2 cents... lets assume you have a legitimately good idea for a game and your design doc is excellent. You could make the game:

1. If you have enough money to hire a programmer, artist, and whoever else you'll need (maybe a sound designer/musician, maybe a second artist, etc). This is the easiest way, but will cost a lot, probably more than you'd think. But, if you have a good idea that you believe in, then you should be willing to put money behind it. The problem is, usually what people think are "good" ideas are really not as good as they think. Also, they overestimate and underestimate all the wrong things if they have little to no industry experience (I'm talking about you here).

2. Learn some coding and get an engine like Unity or something like it that you can play around in. Try out your new coding skills doing scripting in the engine. Also, try to learn some basic modeling and texturing skills. Then at that point, you can assess if you can make the game yourself, or if you need help. If you need help, at least at this point you've already made yourself a much better asset. People will be more willing to work with you if you can bring more than just "a good idea" to the table. Honestly, good ideas area dime a dozen. You'll want to bring in another programmer and an artist who have looked at your game design and like it, and are willing to work for a cut of the revenues, assuming you yourself will be contributing some art, or scripting, or some other grunt work.

3. As some suggested, try to get into the industry on some entry-level position. After a while try to pitch your idea, especially if you can move up to designer. If not, them maybe hit up some of your new connections to see if anyone is interested in working on it with you.

4. If you have more time than money, then you could also just spend the next couple of years learning programming (C++) and an engine (Unity) as well as modelling and texturing, etc. If you're motivated enough and have enough time on your hands, there's everything you need to learn in books and online. Find programming forums, modelling forums, ask and learn and network. In the end you might be able to make your game by yourself.

Hope that helps.

 

I'm both a graphic designer and an app/game developer, and I've had experience creating sound and music, so I have the advantage of my stuff looking professional, sounding good and playing well without having to hire left right and center. I'm pretty good with ideas too but often I see something and go "God I wish I had thought of that".

Anyway, if you're interested in getting somebody to professionally produce your arcade game (I don't do RTS/RPG), and it's possible on the SDK I use, I could give it a go, it wouldn't cost you much since you'd only have to hire one guy.