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A Game Dev Incubator (commune?) in the US?

2 points by DrDimension ↗ HN
Game development incubators exist, but last I looked, they're all filled and accepting no new applicants. This would be for obvious reasons - everyone wants to be incubated, but few individuals have the resources to incubate.

So what the hell are the rest of us supposed to do?

I'll tell you what I think the rest of us might do.

Instead of hoping for some established individual to come along and provide a sanctuary for our game development dream, let's see if we can pool our resources and make our own incubator. It can't be impossible, can it?

For example, me, personally, I don't have much in the way of money, but I have a house in my family that is available for use as an incubation facility. So that covers rent for everyone once everyone busses in there to live. Maybe someone else out there has a bit of savings that could cover our food. And maybe someone else out there has a car we can do collective transportation with.

You see where I'm going? Maybe this is less of an incubator than a commune, but I mean shit, if we don't do this ourselves, who's going to do it?

I know the idea sounds crazy, but it's so incredibly frustrating to me that game development requires so few resources (a place to crash and some food) that there's gotta be a solution when we pool our resources.

Am I crazy? Or is this something that should be tried? Otherwise, I don't see how we won't all eventually get sucked back into a 9-5, our dreams out of our reach.

6 comments

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dsirijus
I know a few folks from http://houseogames.com

From what I recall, it didn't really pan out, but people grew wiser and better at what they do, so that's good.

Personally, I got some investment money and almost all the developers included in my current projects live/lived/will live in a big place with me now. I think it works because of clear hierachy, discipline and common concrete goals.

In a commune-like system, you'll get a bunch of extremely individualist personalities and not much of a team, unless planets lined up.

Which reminds me, I need to start distributing morning coffee to their pillows and round 'em up right now.

DrDimension
dsirijus, that sounds awesome :)

To clarify, though, I wouldn't presume that any of the devs would necessarily be working on the same project. So perhaps that would cut down on the contention.

I'm not sure what else to try without any investment money - unless you've got some space left over you want to give a guy who's doing his own thing :)

rmena123
What area do you live? Maybe start it off small and work up if it works out. Do you know what's it like to have roommates? It's a challenge to live with a diverse background of people. It sounds great if you lived in the Silicon Valley area, if not it maybe hard for others to just go to a random city with no benefit from the city.
DrDimension
The house is in the country in West Virginia, so no city whatsoever :)

Silicon valley would be ideal, but can any indie actually afford to live there? I was paying $1800 / mo when I worked for Maxis in Redwood City.

rmena123
I think it's possible to get something going with the right people in a home. The problem here is location, maybe hard to get others to join you in a location other than the Bay Area.
DrDimension
I suppose I'd be in good shape if I knew someone in the Bay Area that would oblige, but unfortunately I don't. Still, I don't think I should give up on the idea just yet.