Magic Quake-Like PvP FPS + When do I Make a Patreon

Still in the conceptual stages of development, I've been working on a magic FPS with movement like classic shooters, and a major focus on player versus player. There are no guns, or even crossbows or bows, they are all magic based weapons. Players make loadouts with a lot of choices, between classes, weapons, and perks.

Weapons are separated by their mana pool, which is the ammo in this game. There are currently 5 mana pools, with 2 weapon types each.

1. Blue Mana: Staves and Flasks
2. Red Mana: Gauntlets and (?Undecided?)
3. Green Mana: Lenses and Rods
4. Purple Mana: Focuses and Masks
5. Yellow Mana: Spell Arms and Familiars

Classes determine certain aspects of your loadout. Each class has a signature mana type, which has a signature weapon of that class' mana type, and a signature spell for that weapon.

• Classes have different mobility options, health and shield parameters, and perks to choose from for each loadout you make.
• Signature weapons are always included in the loadout for each class (at no cost to the player), and have an active ability (signature spell) on a substantial cooldown that involves the use of that weapon, but does not require mana or that that weapon be held at time of use.
  • Signature spells are not to be confused with ultimates (like in overwatch), as they are not meant to "win a fight for you". Nothing in this game will have the ability to one-shot a player, and these spells are no exception. They are also not meant to be used as a crutch, as the class, granted a good enough loadout and a skilled enough player, will be able to beat any other player in a 1 on 1 fight, even without their signature spell.
    
    • You'll never have that "Mercy vs Roadhog" situation, where you technically can beat them, but you're at such a disadvantage that winning feels either exhausting or like you just got lucky, and losing feels either frustrating or like you never had a chance anyways. I want to minimize frustration through this, and help encourage comradery, even when players are against each other (a tough task, i know, but i at least want to encourage it).
• "Different mobility options" usually means different speed caps, acceleration rates, jump heights, wallrunning capabilities, stuff like that.

There's a lot more to the game which, I know, is a bad thing when you haven't even started making it yet. However, I don't plan to have all of this at launch. Who knows, I might have to make a second game or expansion pack to include everything I want to.

What I really need to know is what I included in the title. When do I make a Patreon? Should I make it now to protect the IP? What constitutes as an IP? Does it even protect it? If anyone would like to give me a rundown of what kind of a role Patreon should or could play in the making of this game, please do. I am really bad at using google and I'm having a tough time finding exactly what I want to know.

Also if you have any questions about what I said about the game or if you would like to know what else I have or am working on, I'd love to share and hear your feedback.

 

1. sounds like an interesting game
2. what are you trying to protect? If its any good, clones will happen and cannot be stopped. protecting it is just making sure no one else can use your name or anything that you created. a hodgepodge of aspects from different games cannot be protected, regardless of how good the combo is.
3. patreon is there to beg for money. having a patron wont protect you from anything. you can make one now to help build a following, and possibly get paid to work on your game.
4. get good at google. research skills are valuable your entire life.

 

That game idea is cool.
I was thinking of doing something close to that, a few months ago.

Also, be careful when posting, too much details of your game idea.
Because sometimes, someone, or a pesky Triple A company ninja, might steal
your game idea and make a game off of it.

 

When you have a fan base big enough to warrant it. Average stats for patreon are somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 supporters to one patron. So until you are starting to get kind of famous, its not worth the effort.

Patreon is unrelated to IP protection.

IP falls into four broad categories:

• Copyrights. Covers the actual expression of ideas and artwork. This is the most important one for game developers. The expression of your idea is automatically covered by copyright the instant you create it.
• Trade marks. Covers the name of your company, game, and any other 'marks' your customers use to identify you when trading. Trade mark law is basically about giving your customers a guarantee that if they buy something with your name on it, its from you.
• Patent. Covers inventions, not usually relevant for games.
• Trade secrets. Covers the stuff you just don't tell anyone about. Not actually a legally protected category at all. But you can protect trade secrets via NDAs, locked doors and the like.

Its a funding platform. You basically ask people to give you money. There are quite a few threads on the forums here about how effective it is.

 

I think, for games, Kickstarter is more interesting than Patreon. Patreon are usually for easy to make and often to release episodic projects, like videos.

Either way, I think a good way would have a MVP, a Minimum Viable Product. A prototype that is playable, so people gets you seriously. No one puts money on just ideas, even if the person promises to hire everyone and/or buy everything.

 

Not until you have an MVP, and even then you should be using that for a kickstarter campaign. Everything else has been addressed by other posts. Concepts are cheap. They're like... slightly less cheap than ideas, but still pretty cheap. Until you have something that you can look at and go "okay, I think we've got something to show that best demonstrates how the game will play" you really don't have anything that you should consider actionable at all.

 

I agree with the MVP. Anyone can come up with an idea for a game, but nobody will take you seriously until you show that you can code and do it well enough that your game doesn’t lag. You probably need enough for a good 90 seconds of real gameplay footage that’s exciting enough for a trailer.

This does not mean it has to be polished. Forget all the pretty graphics and make something that works. The first thing you need to get down is the gameplay, so you need to be able to test that.

I don’t know anything about fundraising so I won’t comment on that.


You don’t have any IP to protect. An idea is not protectable, a first person shooter where you have two guns, sticky and frag grenades where you fight aliens and then a galactic parasite that transforms them into monsters and you have to destroy the whole place by blowing up the ship you rode in on is something anyone can do. The only thing you can’t do is call it “Halo” name your character “Master Chief”...

 

Heretic / Hexen had similar mana management, might be worth looking at them.
Just an idea.

In any case, looks interesting.