What would it take to be a video game developer in a country like Kenya.

I am a long time video game player and for anyone who has played games like Crysis,Call of Duty,Grand Theft Auto series,you cannot help but be awed by how brilliance put in creating such masterpieces?Other than being passed by time
What would it take to put up a gaming studio or publish a video game with Electronic Arts,Activision etc?Do we have good skill here?is it technically and financially possible given that companies on the scale of Oracle and Microsoft are/have set shop here?

Meanwhile,one of my best video game to date Crysis 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edy7raTlrhA

observing…

It’s a tedious and risky undertaking with no promises of success. I’m not sure if we have enough skills but with enough resources, you can cobble up a team of few talented guys to worth with while outsourcing major work to studios in India.
If people like your game jua umekafunga.

Mmnm
I will go ahead and say no. And rightly so.
Most gaming developer start ups can’t support themselves even in the USA. That’s why they get bought by larger studios which bankroll them for the years it takes to make a single game. Rockstar is owned by TakeTwo. Activision and Blizzard did a merger.

Bankrolling those kind of projects is so expensive that developers who got crowdfunded are putting their games on Elic store instead of Steam just for a couple of extra bucks.

Do you know how long it takes to build a game? 6 freaking years. Top paid developers working 6 years straight everyday. The game might be shit like Anthem after all that by the way. And I haven’t got to the logistics of bug testing.

Plus the game engine too. Companies like Ubisoft recycle their maps and assets and Engine in every Assassin Creed game thus they make those games every two years. Fallout 76 recycled Fallout 4 engine.
To start learning and tweaking a new game engine will take years for developers.

Have you considered how games are expensive and the average Kenyan can’t afford them? Kenyans are unwilling to pay 2$ for an app. What makes you think they will pay 80$ for a game? Especially when Fortnite is free and Codex and CPY keep cracking games?

Unless a game provides very different value (not competing in graphics), it’s likely to fail. New developers are never going to create a Red dead Redemption 2 graphics or gameplay level kind of game. However, if it’s a totally different genre like Stardew valley, they make it. Problem is, the creator of Stardew Valley took 10 years to make that game!

I don’t think you will find the talent here. If you want to set up a AAA game studio you will have to poach talent from other studios.

It’s unlikely you could produce the kind of quality we see on these huge games if you’ve never worked on a one before. Remember when game characters had dead eyes? If you start with ‘virgin’ talent you’ll have to figure out things people did years ago.

Tripple A games take a lot of resources. You will need mo-cap actors, voice actors, writers, animators, concept artists and CGI artists, sound designers, programmers, testers, etc. It’s not uncommon for these games to spend a year or two doing motion capture. And, also remember, you are targeting future CPUs and GPUs. So if a game started development in 2013 and came out in 2020, it has to look, play and sound like it was made in 2020.

You could always start with smaller (mobile) games. The game studios producing AAA games started with very small games compared to what they are make today eg compare first version of DOOM to the latest. They gradually improved their techniques and technology to what we now see.

There are quite a few games that have been developed by kenyans…tuko sawa. Its the resources and experience that we lack

Examples?

Check out ma3 driving game on the app store…pia kulikuwa na ingine ilikuwa inaitwa nairobi-x cant find it anywhere lakini…and am sure there are countless others out there by kenyans

If we try imitate the west, we will never even start the process because we will always feel inadequate.

Let us start with local game content that will resonate with local population. Games played in Kiswahili, with limited graphics that will allow low budget smartphones to play. Later on, we can develop our skills to create advanced games. Wazungu, japanese , na wahindi walianza na simple games before wafike hapo

If you are gonna do game development, start with small games that you could probably do in a few months i.e. phone app games or even pc games that wont require too much time and resources. You could never make big studio games like Grand Theft Auto or the Halo type games. Its too expensive and can only be handled by companies with deep pockets like Microsoft.

I disagree on the idea of making locally focused games with kiswahili. You wont have much of a market as very few kenyans will pay 5000 for a game and here practically every game is pirated.

About $50M. Approximately 250 people * 4 years * $50000 per person per year.

Top games are bigger productions than Hollywood blockbusters.

It’s not that hard to set up a studio, but your only viable option in Kenya would be mobile games. I’m sure you’ll find enough developers to make a small mobile game.
After all, Flappy bird went viral in 2013 and made hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, and was made entirely by a single person.

But with mobile games, the market is flooded. So, no matter how good it is, it will more likely flop than succeed.

trash gameplay, these games added nothing to the industry

Not thinking beyond your village is the reason Kenyans remain poor.
You have the full distribution might of the internet, yet you want to make games for your poor countrymen who barely even spend money on software?

agreed. Lakini hapo kwa Game engine you don’t need to create your own. You can use free game engines like Unreal, Unity or the Mighty Awesome Jaw-dropping Amazing CryEngine

hapa utaumia, on tech never target kenyans

kitu kama GTA ni $250M. Plus they have multiple studios working on one project

Youve played it already?

Anyway, they are not perfect since its a one man show lakini i believe given the opportunity it can improve

naah have better things to do with my time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bdJryo18M4

I heard about this game sometime back. Has it made money for the developers?