What to do with an idea/design?

not much to suggest as there is no magic answer - if you really believe in your idea and have enough cash to turn it into reality, then do it.

If you don't have money and think that others will work for free, well, think again

Idea alone is worthless until realized.

 

Hello Yesyesman,

eJay is 100% on the money!

Simple, open your wallet and get it done. If your wallet is empty forget about asking for help. Developers on Touch Arcade are all getting tired of this no money syndrome that seems to show up all the time. Money is the only thing that needs to be discussed! Lots of talent around that can get your app done. Money is the only motivator left in App development. Sorry for telling you the naked truth.

 

I dont think it's totally undoable. Why dont you just tell us your idea. maybe if people are interested enough you will build yourself a team.

if you have no track record and it's your first game. Try to find a programmer and artist who are new too. you can do your game as a trial.
But I would keep it simple. Sometimes game designers have an idea but dont appreciate what simple means. When I say simple mean like Tic Tac Toe simple. You'll have a better chance of getting something out the door.
Then build on that.

 

You don't have any guarantee whatsoever. However, I'll tell you this: ideas are easy. It's the implementation that takes dedication.

 

It's a tough conundrum you have for sure. You really need to get creative at this point to lure people over to your side.. I think a lot of us are sitting on "hot ideas" that aren't being actively developed for some reason or another.

I wouldn't really recommend trying to find super-junior artists and programmers either, as you are just gonna complicate things with too many inexperienced people who don't know the ins and outs of everything

As was mentioned above, you have to start small and work your way up. If you can only find jr artists and programmers who are eager to join up, you all need to be on the same page and therefore "level up together" (start with the small projects). From there you'll learn just how difficult it can be even to just do something small, and then you can all grow from there. We did exactly this with our first game (made something that was verrrry simple) and it became much easier to plan how to make game #2, even though we ended up releasing it a whole year later than we'd've liked (still, it did get finished, though!)

Don't get discouraged, just realize that unless you have the money to power through things, a lot of patience and seriously hard work are going to be the major obstacles. If you truly want to do this, you can

 

The problem is that programmers have ideas too and the iPhone is a platform where small teams (just about) have a (very slim) chance to succeed. Most experienced programmers are on the platform to make their ideas.

I've worked in games for over 20 years now and some of the biggest hits i've worked on (Populous and Magic Carpet) started as programming experiments. Others (Dungeon Keeper and the hugely underrated Battle Engine Aquilla) came from designers with a coding background from several previous games giving them an extremely good feel of what was possible.

If your idea is really good, if it isn't a combination of a few other ideas and is based on a unique game mechanic rather than a story (I've lost count of the times someone has told me their 'game' idea and it's turned out to be a story...), you just might be able to convince programmers and artists to work on it but you will have an uphill struggle and, as you point out, you can't just talk about it in public because it could get stolen.

I really don't know what to suggest, I didn't set out to be so negative when I started this post but the only options I can think of is to pay for the game to be prototyped, if it's not the sort of game that can be quickly prototyped then i'm out of ideas.

 

Just to follow up on what Glenn has said. An idea in theory always sounds amazing, but in practice might not work. We get ideas written up with a basic design, and someone will prototype it. Some games get green lit for further development and some, when put to prototype, turn out to be not that much fun in practice, so they get put to one side. You don't need huge amounts of coding or art for a prototype. Placeholder graphics are fine. If the main game mechanic isn't fun to play at prototype stage, then adding loads of shiny graphics probably won't fix things.

 

True enough. To go one step further: Ideas are not protected by copyright. As my IP lawyer put it, "You can't copyright an idea... only the EXPRESSION of an idea."

For example, Paul Simon wrote "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover." The idea of a song that lists all the ways you can split up is not protected, and I can write one, too. But I can't write one that says "Slip out the back, Jack, and get yourself free." Those specific expressions are protected.

So even if you introduce a finished game, the IDEA of that game is still completely and legally up for grabs. It's only the art, the code, the words and music in your game that are protected.

So, the truth is, there's nothing to protect until something has been executed.

 

If you are willing to outsource to India, China, etc., you can find people on Elance.com to develop your concept for reasonable prices. There are even the occasional US developers with equivalent prices.

Simple apps or concept mockups can be had for $500 or even less. More complex apps may cost up to $2000 or more.

 

you might even look into something like gamesalad for mocing up. whole apps have been released built entirely in there sans "actual programmers" but you're gonna have to stretch it a lot to get a feasible game outta there unless you know what you are doing. proof of concept might be a good fit though

 

I'm kinda lucky in this respect. I have great friends with great, various skill sets. I had the idea over beers with a server developer friend of mine. We formed an LLC, applied for a provisional patent, and brought on board two other friends--a designer and a writer--for equity in the LLC. I do the app development, but I didn't know how to develop an app until I got the idea.

But if you don't have super talented friends with all the necessary expertise, you have to learn how to program something yourself or advertise on craigslist for a partner or hire someone.

Prototyping almost always good. But it depends on the idea. Simple enough and the "prototype" can be done in Xcode.