Any tips on starting a Game Studio?

Make good games. Get famous.

-Or -

Serve up patent infringement notices to a bunch of major iPhone game companies and turn your formerly unknown company name into become a now in-famous company name.

 

well, this is kind of a generic post, pardon me for saying "how do you start a game company?" This is still "the hot thing" right now and X thousands of people are all scratching their heads saying the same thing. To be honest there's a lot of trial-and-error stories routinely being related right here on this development end of the TA forum, if you are genuinely curious you should get a big bag of popcorn and peruse through several of the threads put up over here (particularly in the past year). Mind that a lot has changed even in the last 6 months however, never mind older than that..

as for going with a publisher, like Chillingo - they are pretty big now, and if you are a no-name who hasn't the foggiest idea of "what to do" (not saying this is you) then odds are you likely aren't making something they are going to be particularly interested in. They may have a bunch of middling apps out there, but they also control the high-end of the app store at this point, I don't expect they are still looking to sign up "any app that comes their way just because." Of course if you are a bit savvy and have something pretty fancy hidden up your sleeve, who's to say

Anyway my ultimate advice, for anyone trying to get into this biz, is this: get your feet wet, make something "small-ish," keep your expectations (way) in check and simply concentrate on getting a fully-developed product of some sort built from start to finish. Build something within your means, and learn the entire process from that initial napkin sketch to writing a press release, submitting it to 500 websites, and submitting your app to the Store. Even if you are just making a little Bejeweled clone, the experience you get from the entire process will be invaluable and give you a much clearer idea of "how much work it is to build and test a product" and put something on the market, particularly if you have never done anything like this before.

There are those who will argue with this philosophy ad say "make a 'special' game for your initial effort," rather than something smaller and easier to plan - there is sense in that effort as well, and it makes sense for certain people to work that way. In my case (and many others) it's been easier on the soul (and wallet) to go the "smaller steps" route, so think on which one fits your personality more.

Good luck!

 

Big or small - make something you're proud of. That may sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how many don't even try. If you're in it for the long haul & want people to take you seriously, it doesn't make any sense to take a cynical get-rich-quick approach.

 

proud off? most dev are proud of all the junk they made.. even if its the worst shovelware..

if you'd like to start a company either hit your tax attourney (which you probably don't have yet) or just ask your local authorities how to set up a company and what legal form would suite you best..

maybe you'd try to find a counselour or so to guide you through the first hoops if you know jack.. which i assume you do..
always good to ask for help (but please not here but out there, someone who can really help you instead of just giving some advice)

well as for game studio, fame and all the other nonsense.. they don't exist..
chance is high no one cares about you or your name, even after your game is released.. they might care about the game itself.. but only a very tiny fracture of gamers out there are interested into the developers..

and if you care more about your "ego" (studio name, getting fanem blurb) than your product.. just stop here and try something where people are interested in individuals.. hollywood acting, hip hop gangster rapper, whatever..

iOS is a hugely competitive casual market.. and the only real advice i can give you is create a product with all you've got.. make it the best you can.. and then find someone to tenfold the quality and you may have something really worthwhile..
and be realistic that on such an market most products don't fly of the virtual shelf.. they are just a +1 on the app numbers spreadsheet on apples next keynote..


good luck on your endeavor and use the community here if you wish you follow the path as a developer.. showing off early what you have in mind will get you sometimes good and honest feedback from some very decent and polite members (see i wrote polite that excludes me)

again good luck

 

You are asking how to market your game, not start a game studio, to be exact.

 

Wear protective cloathing!

 

Have a shitload of money
You will need it for people, who have a big mouths about their experiences when they start to work for you, but deliver nothing at the end and when you paid them an insane loan for months they threaten you with a lawsuit.

Then look for somebody, who can continue their work, but realize, that they have to start all over again, because they don't have a clue, what the other guy was doing.

Repeat it with #1 again in an infinite loop.

If you are lucky, you will find 1 or 2 guys out of hundreds, who you can work with.

Then try to produce a game, which sells good and you are good to go.

In the meantime pay unrealistic high taxes (good old medieval times, when you had to give only 10% of your stuff) and other duties and try to survive.



But as Eupatria said, that was not your question...

 

Nobody cares about your game company. They may know your games but 99% of people cannot tell you who builds what. Why should they care? They're consumers inundated with more and more nonsense every day. Besides, most sheeple can hardly remember what they had for breakfast.

Who built Angry Birds? I'll bet your friends don't know. I'll bet their sisters and brothers don't know. Who cares?

Choose a name you like for your company, set up a basic website and start talking. Eventually you will start showing up in search engines and all over the web. Sign up on Gamasutra. Get in here on the forums more. You'll get the name out if you're active enough.

But again, nobody cares. It's the games they remember, and only if you've done the legwork to get them noticed.

After a few games, you MAY get a good reputation and people will start to associate your company with a quality product, but this is a long ways away ...