IP Incubator Club Thread 2013: Bi-Week-002: April 22-May 5- 2013

#21

Concept Name: SCHIRKOA

[b]Category: [/b]Animation/Graphic Novel

   [b]Website:[/b] [http://www.schirkoa.com/](http://www.schirkoa.com/)
   
   [b]CGTalk WIP thread: [/b][http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthr...f=153&t=1103500](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=153&t=1103500)
   
   [b]Project Description: [/b]
   SCHIRKOA is the story (an IP maybe) I will be trying to develop in coming years. 
      At the moment I am aiming at an animated Short Film. Followed by a  graphic novel. And then let's see what else can come out. It's set in a  dystopian city, involves bagheads and some other 'creatures' :)

[b]Status Number:[/b] 2
   
   [b]Team Members:[/b] 2
   
   [b]Start Date :[/b] Mid 2010. But it's been mostly off until Summer 2012.
   
   [b]Estimated Completion Date :[/b] February 2014 (Short Film)
   
   [b]What went right this week:[/b] Started working on the look. Finalized the script (about 80%)
   
   [b]What went wrong this week:[/b] I could have been faster. System temporarily broke down. 2 days wasted.
   
   [b]Show & Tell :[/b]
   Testing the overall look of the film. 
[[img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8534/8679550976_3ef865bd2f_c.jpg[/img]](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ishanshukla/8679550976/)
My  inspirations are the video games - Borderlands & Dishonored. The  primary reason is definitely the resources. Photo-realistic renders  require way too much work and resources, without adding a whole lot to  the film in terms of story. Second reason is to achieve seamless look  between the graphic novel & the short film. It can't be 100% but I  will try.
 
 Here is a quick render test.

//youtu.be/hiiwGaGe0fQ

#22

I’m definitely up for a Biweekly, or even a monthly thread with calls for Weekly/Biweekly updates.
In only working on my game in my spare time, not a lot gets done in a week-at least not much that would be interesting!
Heck, I actually just came off a mini burnout, where I took 2 days off work, and spent the time watching Star Trek and sleeping.

#23

Thanks Jules! Thomas did a good job with the sim, it’s going to give the film a nice little touch you often have to skip in shorts because of time constraints :slight_smile:

And well spotted with the hat, I actually hesitated to post this version because it’s moving a little too much and too fast but it was already rendered and ready to upload when I realised my mistake. We did adjust it in the latest shots.

There are thirteen villager characters on top of the four main ones we’ve shown in the gallery. They were made using two rigs (male and female) for which we have several pieces of clothes with different colors and faces that we can switch to make it look like they are different. Even if they are mostly shown from afar, they really help sell the idea that the story is taking place in a real, living world.

You’ll probably get to see more of them once we start animating shots from the beginning of the movie.

#24

Agreed, two weeks seems more appropriate, especially when you consider a back-and-forth conversation in one of these threads can last weeks on it’s own. Don’t want to clutter up the GD with too many of these “IP Club” threads.

#25

I missed the first week and I just saw the other day that this started, so I want to hop on board. :slight_smile:

CONCEPT NAME: Blaster X HD
GAME LINK: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blaster-x-hd/id615851024?ls=1&mt=8
COMPANY: 2GMG LLC (Independent - 2 Guys Making Games)

WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/2GMGames
www.twitter.com/2GMGames

CATEGORY: Games (Mobile Games)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This is going to be a little unconventional since the timing of the IP Incubator project and the release of our IP/game are close to around the same time. I plan to contribute by first sharing from where we are now, to release (which should be next week or so - depending on approval from Apple). Then I am going to back-track and do a “making-of” to show how we got to where we are now. I expect to share: how we first started/our first meeting; concepts and early development images/logs; development phases; software used, in-depth; description of how a scene was put together; business and legal findings/issues; marketing; publishing, and other experiences that were encountered.

I think this might be interesting as people can see how and what we did to get to where we are now. Also, it could be beneficial to others to see what we did right and what we did wrong, which can all be contributed to the end-result. Good or bad, it might be useful information

(Basic description for now - Arcade style game for iOS)
100% Independent, no funding, no outsourcing - just all on our own.

A lot more to come…

STATUS NUMBER: 1

TEAM MEMBERS: 2
Rudy Gjurkovic: Co-Founder
Joshua Chapman: Co-Founder

START DATE: End of 2010
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE : 5-1-2013 (Released Today)

WHAT WENT RIGHT THIS WEEK: We submitted our game this week to Apple for approval. We passed the initial validation phases fairly quickly, and our game now holds in the status of “Waiting for Review.”

We also obtained the number of “Likes” that we needed for reserving our username with Facebook - www.facebook.com/2GMGames

Reserved our Twitter account - twitter.com/2GMGames
Purchased our Domain name - 2GMGames.com (nothing there yet - under construction)

WHAT WENT WRONG: Nothing too much went wrong this week. Just more-or-less playing the waiting game and keeping our fingers crossed for getting our approval.

While trying to reserve our username with Facebook, we noticed that they don’t allow anything with less than 5 characters. So, our desired username /2GMG was not possible. Trying to contact Facebook is near impossible, but we tried and heard nothing back. It might have worked well for us in the end though, since 2GMG was taken already for Twitter and as a normal domain name.

Please feel free to ask any questions - Thanks.

#26

Ok guys I am reading your input…

Keep it coming.

And yes. I am thinking into moving into a bi weekly model.

What do you guys think?

-R

#27

Having fun with Photoshop, this image uses some layers and an alpha channel render from Carrara. I will be working some more this weekend and will post update on Saturday

#28

The projects so far…

  [b]Project Name:____________[/b][b]CATEGORY:[color=dimgray]___Start Date:___ First Post______Link[/color][/b]
  [b]STASIS[color=DimGray]____________________Games ______Dec 2010_____04-16-2013 ___[Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7566570&postcount=3)[/b]
  [b]NeverEndingPrincessStory___Animation____TBD__________04-16-2013___ [Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7566739&postcount=6)[/b]
  [b]Le Gouffre________________Animation ___July 2011______04-16-2013___ [Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7566936&postcount=9) [/b]
  [b]Top secret project _________Animation ___TBD_________04-16-2013___ [Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7567092&postcount=13) [/b]
  [b][b]Spec Commercial__________Animation[/b][b]___[/b] April 2013[b]______04-17-2013___ [Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7567798&postcount=39)[/b]
  [b]I am the Antagonist________Cross Media _TBD__________04-17-2013___ [/b][[b]Link[/b]](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7567819&postcount=42)
  [b]SCHIRKOA_______________Animation[/b][b]___[/b] Mid 2010[b]______04-17-2013___ [Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7568265&postcount=57)[/b]
  [b]HYPERREALITY ENGINE_____3D Engine ___ April 2013[b]_____04-18-2013___ [Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7568800&postcount=72)[/b][/b][/b][/color][b]Arcade style game for iOS[color=DimGray]__Games ______End 2010_____04-25-2013 ___[Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7572170&postcount=25)SCHIRKOA _Animation/Graphic Novel ______End 2010_____04-25-2013 _[__](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7566570&postcount=3)[Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7571777&postcount=21)[Le Gouffre](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7571777&postcount=21)[/b][/color][b][[size=2][color=#FFFFFE][b][b]_[color=DimGray]_____________Animation[/b][b]___[/b] July[b] 2013______04-24-2013___ [/b][/b][/color]](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7571777&postcount=21)[b][b][Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7571658&postcount=18)[/b][/b]
 Soliloquy of a Madman __Games ______[/b][/color][/size][b][color=DimGray] January 2013_____04-23-2013 ___[Link](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7570491&postcount=4)

IP INCUBATOR PHASE II
Changes are coming[size=2]…

I never intended this concept to be a static one. I want this idea of the IP incubator to be an ongoing experiment until we get the right formula…

[/size][/b][/color]

[ul]
[li][size=2] [/size][color=DarkOrange][size=2]Developers can post Biweekly updates…[/size][size=2] [/size][size=2]I have been getting a lot of feedback from developers about allowing them more time to post their updates.[/size][size=2] [/size][size=2]I will continue the weekly threads, but developers can post their updates every two weeks.[/size][/color][/li][/ul][size=2]
[/size]

[ul]
[li][size=2][color=DarkOrange]If you post your idea, you have to provide feedback on other’s ideas.[/size][/color][/li]

The idea is simple, I want to provide a feedback loop that allows our community to grow.

[/ul][size=2]
[/size]
[ul]
[li][color=DarkOrange][size=2]My wife is a social worker and she suggested the idea that we use a SPONSOR model similar to AA. [/size][size=2]The idea is to match developers with individual sponsors. The sponsors would be fellow developers. It would be their responsibility to provide support and provide guidance to the developer from an outsider’s point of view. I’m not advocating “mentorship” where there usually is an imbalance of expertise/knowledge between two parties. Rather, I envision sponsorship to be a vehicle for peer support, for consultation between and among artists who each have valuable tools, experience, and knowledge to share. Sponsorship is method for both parties to learn and grow professionally and perhaps personally as well. [/size][/color][/li][/ul][b]

[/b]

#29

Great update Roberto. I absolutely agree on the feedback required bullet point. My suggestion is that each of us who are posting project pick at least one other project each week, give it a read / review and post some sort of feedback. Make sure to critique along with encourage, a few people picked at my projects and I want to encourage that, it’s a large part of why I have chosen to post here, feedback is valuable.

The sponsor suggestion is interesting, I’m not entirely sure who it would play out or if it would be successful but I’m open to at least trying. It’s difficult to remain motivated when you are working on these things alone, so even having someone to just bounce ideas off privately could be great.

Project Title Suggestion
Just a suggestion on formatting, a few people here have been quoting the title of the project before making comments and that’s fantastic. Perhaps we could all adopt this method so concurrent discussions can be easily digested each week, or at the very least put the project title in bold each time you’re talking about it.

#30

Really digging the style, what is the central theme of the short? Also I’m curious what made you decide to do the animation / graphic novel combination? I’m curious whether creating a motion-comic where the user must interact in some way to progress the scene (on an iPad or similar device) would be another potential end medium. Obviously, focus on the story and get the IP created, but I’m always interested in the plans for monetization when looking at a project.

#31

Thanks for the updates Roberto.

I will continue the weekly threads, but developers can post their updates every two weeks.

I feel giving people choice to post weekly or bi-weekly is a good idea. But again, weekly threads decrease the life span of updates by the developers. Some people post on a wednesday, or even friday. And by the time somebody wants to comment on that there will be another thread.

The idea is simple, I want to provide a feedback loop that allows our community to grow.

Yes, its quite important IMO. Specially at this early stage.

The idea is to match developers with individual sponsors.

This sounds like a good idea. But I am not sure if I understand properly how it would work.

Project Title Suggestion

Agreed. As more projects will be added, it will become harder to follow each comment.

#32

Actually that’s one of the reasons I am sharing my work in this IP section. I want to explore what other mediums I can use for this story. What other people are coming up with and all. A few of my friends have suggested doing an app/game too. Your motion comic idea is quite good. I am thinking on doing one thing at a time at the moment. So once film is close to finish line, I will jump off to other mediums. I just like scribbling and writing random stuff. Graphic Novel idea came naturally as I was continuously expanding the story.

As for the theme, Schirkoa is the name of the city in the film. An epitome of a ‘perfect society’. As you can guess, a perfect society can get very suffocating. As the terms of perfect is different for different citizens. I am going to post a synopsis soon.

#33

I’m not sure about Sponsoring/Mentoring for myself personally.

I’m still learning about this whole IP thing the same as others posting on this board.

But I’ll be happy to keep making suggestions.

#34

Ok guys…

I am extending this thread for ANOTHER week.

And later today I will be tweaking the rules…

-R
EDIT

This might be of interest to you guys:

Vimeo On Demand Lets Filmmakers Sell Their Videos Direct to Audiences
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/vimeo-on-demand-lets-filmmakers-sell-their-videos-direct-79542.html

#35

Greetings:

Here’s my update:

CONCEPT NAME: NeverEndingPrincessStory.com
CATEGORY: Animation
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Harry Potter meets Dallas. Since the only fitting end to a NeverEndingPrincessStory is that she would get married (ie: become the Queen) I build out a custom asp.net application where you can find your One True Love.
STATUS NUMBER: 1 + contractors
TEAM MEMBERS: Chris Cowan
START DATE June 2010
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE : It’s a NeverEndingStory and my target is 8 hours total to tell the complete tale.
WIP THREAD: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NeverEndingPrincessStory/210744261421
WHAT WENT RIGHT THIS WEEK: Digesting slowly some of the adobe products and was able to “easily” produce a multi-layered animation. Overall very impressed with the software, very nice resolution on the text (as a layer), for example. Ton’s of keyboard shortcuts to use and memorize. I was able to also “easily” animate a texture in Carrara by using a mixer channel; something that had been eluding me up until now.
WHAT WENT WRONG: Seemingly spending too much time on artwork for website and not creating more animation. I still see at least a weeks work on this and it’s important to complete so this will take center stage this week I think. It’s also getting progressively warmer and it’s becoming more difficult to stay inside…
SHOW AND TELL: I think the .gif says it all. Internet dating as viewed by a female is kind of the effect I am going for; the message I am trying to convey. There’s a “rating” app @ PrinceOrPirate and I will be making a custom master page for that probably tomorow.

You are looking for feedback so in no particular order, here it goes:

  • Maybe it’s just me but I think that each project should have it’s own thread. This would make it easier to navigate and if people wanted to give input it would be easier to follow, instead of getting buried in other posts.
  • Think bigger. Many of the projects presented are at very early stages or appeal to very niche audiences. I would suggest creators seek to broaden their overall appeal if you want to be successful financially.
  • As an innovator it’s always cool to gain acceptance. Very interested in seeing the nerd dating site for example…
  • I was hoping instead of “I was talking to my wife” it would be more like “I was talking to Mr. Big at StudioBlahBlahBlah”. If there are people out there who represent serious interests I would like to hear from you. I would like to do a long-term “soap opera” style deal with some legitimate sponsors. You pay me, I show your videos in prerolls, show some banners, etc. Are you a video game studio looking for a title to produce? I do the art, you provide some software and coding and maybe we can work something out. These are the deals I am looking for. That being said I agree with the AA thing… I remember seeing this micro capital program in Toronto specifically targetting mentally ill substance abusers and thought, “yeah… they’re the only one’s crazy enough to think something like this would actually WORK!!” - (I mean while living in Canada anyway…)

Have a great week

#36

I did observe that the Week 1 thread was full of Pitches. Pitches are always exciting and that Week 1 is alive with feedback.

The issue is that there’s no “Market” being presented. You don’t know, for example, if Ballistic is going to pick up something from these threads. There’s no “taker” or entity related to a “taker” on these boards.

I also asked very early on… what the parameters are for “graduating” out of the Incubator. The truth is that once a Taker or Advocate in the Market picks up one of these? It’s going to disappear from these boards.

The suggestions you list also demands two different personality types:

  1. To pander to the tastes of many for the sake of the sale is, quite frankly, a “Sell-Out” personality. We can’t demand that of everybody.

  2. To brazenly show up here as a Taker/Advocate/Buyer, to forward people in that way to someone publicly, to hard-sell your IP to such people also publicly, really demands a bit of a thick skin… which again we can’t demand of everybody.

I may sound like a broken record, but I honestly could only see this thing working if Ballistic was the “Angel” hovering around this Sub-Forum and basically was the Hen Incubating the Eggs.

Because otherwise, the real progress on these boards will result in many outsiders (even Non-Artists) getting on this board if a “Sale” is imminent, or many of the threads will sputter out because the finish line (the Sale) cannot occur.

That’s my view right now… especially after reading TheCastle’s post.

#37

Posting here isn’t about putting your IP up for sale or somehow expecting members/Ballistic to publish it. Instead it’s about gaining the support of the community in order to help make your project better and therefore have a better chance at becoming a financially rewarding pursuit. Encouragement, critiques, learning from others, some small exposure to the community, these are the benefits of posting. Anything beyond that is just wishful thinking.

#38

The point of IP development shouldn’t be to sell it to someone else. The entire purpose of owning your own intellectual property is that…well…you own it.

This incubator idea isn’t to expose the IP to someone else to buy it-its to experiment with ideas, and get feedback from other like minded people.

I have had a few publishers contact me with offers to publish, but their terms take away too much control, and future earnings. I firmly believe that if an artist wants true financial freedom, he (or she) needs to OWN THEIR OWN ARTWORK.

  • Think bigger. Many of the projects presented are at very early stages or appeal to very niche audiences. I would suggest creators seek to broaden their overall appeal if you want to be successful financially.

Honestly, I don’t think that this is the right way of going about things. I think niches are where smaller teams can make their money. The advantage of being a small team is that you can make a seriously good profit with a small amount of sales-which is something thats easy to do with a smaller niche market-a small solid fan base.

#39

Of course I know that… it’s just that I was partially reacting to what TheCastle posted… it’s understandable that people have different end goals for the IP they have.

And while we don’t want to talk about the Market immediately… I felt guys like TheCastle were kinda hinting at it already.

It’s an understandable goal.

But you’re right… a simple web forum isn’t a bullet train ticket.

#40

Hi, just want to clarify something: When I say " I would suggest creators seek to broaden their overall appeal if you want to be successful financially" here’s an example of what I mean:

If you go to NeverEndingPrincessStory.com and your browser language is set to English you will see the text in English. Go to Control Panel/Internet Options/Languages and change it to French. Restart your browser and reload the page. All the text will appear in French. You can do the same for Chinese. There is logic in the application to select the video based on brower language (but I have yet to create subtitled versions). I did employ a company to do chinese voiceovers for a few of my episodes, you can see this in action at youtube.com/chinesevolt. It’s really just delete/replace with chinese audio, save and re-render. Not a bad idea, but time consuming to re-produce existing content, especially when I don’t speak Chinese! I’m thinking subtitles is almost as good but faster and cheaper to produce, for example…The website text is achieved using something called “localization” in .net and other languages could be “easily” added.

It’s the same story, but with a little more work it now potentially appeals to the Chinese market. This is an example of what is known as a “brand extension” and is used often in packaged goods like soap and foodstuffs; for example. I think that’s more what I meant.

I think that at the end of the day if you want someone to invest in your project you have to have a realistic goal of achieving some commercial success. Broadening your appeal help do that is a reasonable objective.