from the game Crimson Skies
Business Development, Review, Tactics and Strategy
S-I can aid in identifying developer needs in a variety of areas and developing business plans and solutions to achieve developer goals and objectives under a variety of scenarios. These areas include budgeting (overall and per-project budgeting), staffing requirements and development, cost mitigation and outsourcing development and management, milestone planning and franchise planning.
In addition, S-I can provide objective evaluations of development teams and their capabilities relative to industry standards and norms, provide evaluations of internally developed tools and game engines, as well as providing game engine licensing feedback and guidance, and development team (creative as well as technical) capability assessments.
We can assist in the development, benchmarking and “in-process” evaluation of long-range company plans, based upon developer and management goals, to achieve defined objectives. This includes staff and team planning, financial planning and financing (both traditional and non-traditional), in both the creative and engineering areas.
If necessary, S-I can also provide contacts for “Special Projects” or short term project needs based on our extensive contacts in the industry, when developers encounter unexpected opportunities or setbacks.
Publisher / Developer Relations & Development within the Digital Entertainment Industry
If you are, or would like to be working with an established game publisher to develop games, either based on original or licensed IP, it is to your advantage to have an industry veteran representing your interests and enabling you to develop and maintain a productive and open relationship with your partner.
Our goal is to assist in bridging that gap between developer and publisher, and assisting you with key relationship milestones such as green light and milestone reviews, milestone acceptance, and project modifications and change orders.
Before your project starts or is signed, Software Illuminati (S-I) can assist you with Pitch and Demo preparation, publisher contacts and selection, and presentation, and closing the deal. Minimize the downtime between projects when your team is not productive on revenue generating product.
We bring to the table a decade and a half of experience and extensive industry contacts that will allow you to focus on what you do best and deliver products with partners you will be comfortable with. We will give you insight into the needs and business models of potential publishing partners so that all parties goals and expectations are aligned.
Contracts Development, Review, Support
Not every software developer can afford full-time staff to manage the intricacies of contracts for outsourcing, 3rd party code, licensing, and all the other myriad of agreements required to bring a product to market, and safeguard the IP rights of both your organization and your partners (who will often require that your contractors execute their agreements). S-I has extensive experience in these areas that you can leverage.
Due Diligence and Market Validation
Support for investors or acquirers in evaluation of teams, IP, acquisition/divestiture guidance to game developers and publishers, as well as governmental agencies seeking to expand their country's participation in the global games industry.
Design Evaluation, Analysis and Consultation
It’s not always easy to take a critical look at the game or prototype you’re building when you’re knee deep in the weeds of production on a daily basis. S-I can provide you with actionable feedback on prototypes or games in development, both with respect to publisher/client requirements as well as relative to consumer expectations using both previous experience from over a decade of industry experience as well as proven metrics and consumer insight methodologies. We can provide you with presentation and messaging feedback as to results of such research and focus group feedback.
Design ideas can be reviewed for market feasibility and acceptance based on current sales and consumer trends. Titles under consideration for localization to or from other markets can be reviewed for production requirements and likely market results. Finally, pre-release mock game reviews can be developed that accurately represent the likely reviews at given points in the production life cycle.