Hmm, I find this very interesting. Nexon (developer/publisher of Maple Story, et al) is apparently looking to fund games by indies (judging by the budget).
We are interested in finding original, unique and promising projects at an early stage of development in order to sponsor (and in cases co-develop) and later on publish through our global network.
I’m certainly considering what this could mean for Lila Dreams. But, I’m also hesitant because of what happens when you accept other people’s money, be it development funding, venture capital, etc. Usually, you lose IP rights and a huge chunk of your revenue. (Kongregate’s Premium Games Program was a rare exception and a beautiful thing).
In the short term, that could mean Lila would get made sooner. I would do a happy dance, and that would be amazing.
In the long term, that could mean I would lose rights to my own creation. I don’t really mind to share the money, because a company like Nexon could really help market the game, and you would definitely learn from working with them.
But, I don’t want to give up my intellectual property rights for short term gains. I think of my works as franchises, not just fire and forget projects. What about the graphic novels? The spin-off games in various genres? The epic TV series? The Lila Dreams movies?! *pant, puff*
Well, I am only assuming the worst here. I guess nobody is forcing me to do anything, right? I might submit the game and, if they like it, find out what their terms are like. You never know. It might be peachy like Kongregate! 
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I didn’t get a chance to see their GDC talk today, but the new Indie Fund might be more in line with what you’re talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjDhg9H-IpA Mike and Jerry from Penny Arcade talk about their IP in their fairly long talk.
Ed Catmull talks about Pixar and the value of ideas vs the value of people in his talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc
Some food for thought; it might help you make a decision.
no, it will not. from all possible MMO developing/publishing companies Nexon is the worst one you can tink of. been playing their games for over 7 years now so i really can tell you a thing or two about how they handle their projects and their players. it is one of the most money-hungry companies. their user support is non-existant and they trash their users like a ragdolls.
long story short – i am tracking your project and yourself for like 2 years now. but i will instantly stop at the very same moment ill hear that Nexon hired you.
aside from all that – good luck sunshine
you might not know but theres a whole bunch of people waiting for your “creation”.
cheers!
(Sorry about the slow reply. For some reason, I’m not getting email notifications when someone comments.)
I appreciate your thoughts and support! I will consider everything said.
Very interesting, I had no idea Nexon was doing anything of the sort. I think it’s definitely worth looking into, but be very skeptical until you’re positive of how things are going down.
I tend to think people overvalue franchises. You can get quite attached to a franchise, and creating additions to a franchise frees up some thinking and gives an immediate focus, allowing for better quality. But ideas are far more common than people seem to think, and if you lose IP rights to something, you can just make something else. Also, growing too attached to your work can sometimes be as bad as not caring enough (though not immediately).
Jason,
You were pretty positive about Kongregate, but I’ve mainly seen that it takes at best 50% of the revenue and at worst 75%. Am I missing a better deal that they offer?
Any answers would be gratefully appreciated.
Nicholas
kickstarter.com is another alternative to raise funds.
Just set up milestones and prices for them, and get people motivated to donate.
It could work.
Albey,
It’s not trivial to launch and maintain a successful IP. I’d argue that you would do better to hang on to it and expand it for the long term rather than trade it for short term gains (which I’ve got experience doing). So, it’s my priority to keep all my game worlds under my own control since there are currently ways to do that and still be financially successful as a small/indie company.
Nicholas,
Lila Dreams was part of Kongregate’s now defunct Premium Games Program, which was different from the normal portal publishing that they do. So, the terms were not the same since there would have been virtual goods sales involved in addition to ad revenue.
But, mostly, I was speaking about the publisher-developer agreement that Kongregate offered: keeping IP, total creative freedom, no obligations after one year beyond release regarding where the game is hosted, etc.
I’ve dealt with a few publishers, and I never came across terms as generous as what Kongregate offered. Usually, they want your firstborn and 85% of the profits plus you have to pay back the advance on top of that. I usually could negotiate a sliding royalty scale based on units sold, but even that never felt fair to me. Kongregate’s terms (for the Premium Games Program, since that’s what I’m familiar with) were very indie/small company friendly.
Thanks for the comments, and many apologies I didn’t see these until now! I have to figure out why WordPress stopped emailing me when replies are posted.
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