[Loris]

Hi guys,
I have this thought in my mind lately and I'm a bit curious to find out what some independent developers out there think about it.

Lately I'm really putting a lot of thought and effort on developing my second approach for an independent A.Game and I really want it to get published when I finish it. My question is, do I need to create a Studio Name to have the games development published under it or having just my name, as the developer, is just fine? I’d like to know why and if they’re any benefits or disadvantages for doing so?

Thank you all in advanced!!

Loris_

[SSH]

Studio name:

Pros:
May make some people think it is more professional
Lets you waste time making logos and names rather than working on the game
Lots of other people do it

Cons:
May make some people think you have delusions of grandeur
Lets you waste time making logos and names rather than working on the game
Lots of other people do it

[Loris]

Thanks SSH for the reply.
Anyone else likes to share their opinions?

Does publishers have problems getting a game published by a person who developed it under his/hers own name instead of a self established company name?

[stepurhan]

I think it can be a good idea because it gives a clear separate identity if a logo appears in the game rather than just a name. It's easy for just a name in the credits (which is presumably what would happen if you just stuck to your name) to be missed but a striking logo (not necessarily complex. Just with a good visual impact) will stick in people's minds.

Whilst it's true that several developers have become well-known names people do tend to remember studios better. You might know you like Blizzard games but you probably can't name the individual developers associated with their big successes.

[Loris]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

I think it can be a good idea because it gives a clear separate identity if a logo appears in the game rather than just a name. It's easy for just a name in the credits (which is presumably what would happen if you just stuck to your name) to be missed but a striking logo (not necessarily complex. Just with a good visual impact) will stick in people's minds.

Whilst it's true that several developers have become well-known names people do tend to remember studios better. You might know you like Blizzard games but you probably can't name the individual developers associated with their big successes.

I get what you mean... for example if the first project goes well under the name of an individual and then the second project needs to have more people involved in it then that game will be forced to be published under a joined name of all the developers; and that will cause a broken link between the first game and the second game since poeple will not know is the same person who developed both.
That's a really good point stepurhan! Thanks.

[JohnGreenArt]

Con:

When you get paid, they'll likely make checks out to your company name (no matter how many times you might tell them to make it out to your actual name) and therefore you'll need to get a business account at a bank to deposit checks under that name. You may also have to get a DBA license (Doing Business As) for the bank to let you deposit checks made out to a company name.

And you'll have to file separate income tax for that company.

Pro:

You can incorporate your company and therefore if for some reason someone tries to sue your company, they can only go after the assets of that company, as opposed to all your personal assets

[Loris]

damn. Thanks JohnGreenArt. Some useful points that I wasn't aware of and need to do research for.
That now brings back the delima of going for a company name or not.

[Enter the Story]

Interesting question. If you want to borrow serious money, you probably have to have a studio name. Banks want that so that, when you can't pay your debts, the bank can take your company away from you and try to salvage something. It happens.

Personally I have avoided a studio name because I don't want to compete with other games - the big studios have way more money than me. I can never be another EA games. but I can maybe dream of being another J K Rowling or Phillip K Dick. I see myself as an author, not a developer, and my game appeals to book buyers (I hope!!) more than to normal game buyers. So for me, using my name was a conscious decision.

[Loris]

interesting thinking tolworhy!!! I'd say thats a valid reason for not having a studio name. Thanks for sharing!!

[stepurhan]

I think a lot depends on whether you see this as more of a one-off thing (in which case individual name might be OK) or as a long-term business plan (in which case a studio name will become almost inevitable as you'd need to employ other people to cope with increased workload over time)

I'm not sure where JohnGreenArt is based but in the UK you don't need a separate license to have a trading name as far as I'm aware. You should be able to open a bank account which would have both names (Loris T/A Stupendous Productions for example) If you incorporated then there would be extra paperwork and all business records would have to be in the name of the company rather than yourself.

If you are looking at this as a long-term business you would at least need to register as self-employed (rather than just declaring one-off income for an individual sale for tax purposes) and you'd be better off taking professional advice. I could see about hooking you up with a free initial consultation with a partner at my own firm (as per my profile, I'm an accountant). Not sure how convenient that would be for you though. We're based in the South East but your location is just shown as UK so you could be a long way away. PM me if you want to follow up on that at all.

[Loris]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

I think a lot depends on whether you see this as more of a one-off thing (in which case individual name might be OK) or as a long-term business plan (in which case a studio name will become almost inevitable as you'd need to employ other people to cope with increased workload over time)

I'm not sure where JohnGreenArt is based but in the UK you don't need a separate license to have a trading name as far as I'm aware. You should be able to open a bank account which would have both names (Loris T/A Stupendous Productions for example) If you incorporated then there would be extra paperwork and all business records would have to be in the name of the company rather than yourself.

If you are looking at this as a long-term business you would at least need to register as self-employed (rather than just declaring one-off income for an individual sale for tax purposes) and you'd be better off taking professional advice. I could see about hooking you up with a free initial consultation with a partner at my own firm (as per my profile, I'm an accountant). Not sure how convenient that would be for you though. We're based in the South East but your location is just shown as UK so you could be a long way away. PM me if you want to follow up on that at all.

Stepurhan, thanks for this. I'm based as well in the southeast in Kent, Tunbridge Wells (i updated my profile ) !! Well, at the moment I'm not actually thinking about a long-term because I don't know how things will turn out. Ideally it will be perfect to have this as fulltime job but at the moment I'm employed already so I'm not sure if I can register as self-employed. I don't really know much about this things but I don't really want to get into any legal things at this point since I'm doing it part time and not sure if things will really go well or not.

Thinking that there are many things to think about it by using a publisher, and having a studio name as well, I think is better to consider publishing the game on my own when is done. I can do this online and have a simple credit card or paypal purchase method and have it downloadable or mailing a CD that I can easily print professionally. That means I will not get the same marketing publicity as from a publisher but I'll get more of the profit (if there is any) and I'll be able to have a trademarked Studio Name as well on the game but without needing to register it as a company. And if things go well with the game and decide to go more seriously I'll keep the Studio Name and register it as a company properly and find a publisher as well for the next ones.
Does that sounds reasonable?

[Briton]

This is just a personal opinion, but there are some sort of gameplay enhancing advantages to having your own logo. I don't know if anyone plays Rareware games, but they hide their logo within their games. Not much but is a nice feature, and if you thought of something nice to do with a logo in games then that could really mark your games out.

[Loris]

heh.. yeah, I've seen this as well. Luckily my logo works well to be blend within the game, even as part of some architecture of the game world!!

[Heriberto Valle]

Making a company name and identity allows you to be more professional-looking. Not only that, but it allows for a sole identity for the whole team. Of course, if you're doing this solo it isn't much of an issue, but I like to credit the company and not me because it's everyone's effort, even if I am the project leader. A company name allows you to have an "impersonal" identity. And also, if you want to go commercial it's always better.

Besides not everyone of us can have commercial-good sounding names like "Ragnar torquist" or the sort. For heaven's sake! My name is Heriberto Valle Martinez. That wouldn't look good on a box!

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Heriberto Valle

Besides not everyone of us can have commercial-good sounding names like "Ragnar torquist" or the sort. For heaven's sake! My name is Heriberto Valle Martinez. That wouldn't look good on a box!

I don't know why the name Ragnar Tørnquist would look better on a box than Heriberto Valle Martinez. Tørnquist's name has value on a box because of his earlier games, but if you think his name has added value because it's Norwegian and thus unusual, keep in mind that your name is just as unusual and exotic to Nordic people as his is to you. It's all a matter of perspective, and as the world is going global, most names are equally foreign.

[Heriberto Valle]

Oh I know, but his is not hard to pronnunciate to foreign people. If your native language is english, do try to pronnunciate it well. It is puzzling to some of my english-speaking friends.

and that's why they call me herbie.

[Ninja Dodo]

I don't know... Ragnar Torqnuist is pretty frequently cited as a name that sounds awesome. It's short, distinctive, and as names go, fairly striking. I mean he sounds like a Viking and/or something about the Norse apocalypse.

Adding a middle name I think generally lessens the impact.

Then again, as a sort of middle ground you could use both your real name and a more easily remembered alias as per the example of Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw.

Personally I've found that having an unusual nickname comes with lots of perks like never being forced to put numbers in your usernames because they're already taken... and clearly such a name, once established, is easily used to mark personal projects.

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Heriberto Valle

Oh I know, but his is not hard to pronnunciate to foreign people.

Hmm, I don't know. I think most English speakers mispronounce it. (I'm Swedish, so I know how it's pronounced. That's also why I don't find it as exotic as many others.) It's also frequently mis-spelled (see quote below ).

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

I don't know... Ragnar Torqnuist is pretty frequently cited as a name that sounds awesome. It's short, distinctive, and as names go, fairly striking. I mean he sounds like a Viking and/or something about the Norse apocalypse.

But to a Nordic person such as myself it doesn't carry those connotations, which was my point. A name such as Heriberto is more exciting to my ears.

[Ninja Dodo]

I'm actually part Swedish myself and I know it's spelt Tørnquist, but I don't know the ASCII for "ø" and I'm lazy... Ragnar was not a familiar name to me - having never lived in Sweden I don't know how common a name Ragnar is with the neighbours and I definitely don't know any Swedes called Ragnar... Tørnquist is more familiar, but I can still appreciate the overall aesthetic people associate with the combination. While it never really stood out to me personally I've found on more than one occasion it has to others.

That said I agree with you Heriberto has a ring to it...