I was attracted to Hive just under two years ago. I'd read a post about Rising Star on the PublishOX platform, and I really wanted to play the game. So I got a Hive account, and started playing Rising Star, and immediately loved it. But I then also started discovering what else was on offer in the Hive ecosystem, and loved it too. I stopped using PublishOX within days of discovering Hive.
I've also heard many times about the increase in Hive accounts and users as a result of Splinterlands being developed. So it got me thinking, if we could encourage more game developers to come to Hive, and give them the support they need to develop and release their game, then surely it would attract more users to Hive. Enter the Hive Game Development Incubator.
Although I dont have the evidence or data to back this up, I understand Wax has a huge amount of users, due to the amount of dApps and games they have. So why couldnt a growth in games and dApps at Hive do something similar ?
So what is a Game Development Incubator ?
Business incubators are very common in the business development world. I have experience of working with business incubators in the University/Academic sector. They are organisations that exist to help bring new business ventures and ideas to market. That is - if Joe and Jane have a fantastic new idea, but no idea about developing and running a business, its an organisation that they can turn to that will give them the support they need to develop their product and bring it to the market, including setting up a profitable business. It can consist of providing support in many ways; how to write a business plan, tuition on how to run a business, marketing support, introductions to investors, provision of seed funding, etc, etc. The idea is that the incubator improves the chances of the number of new ventures making it to market sustainably and profitably, and importantly, quickly.
A Hive Game Development Incubator would run in a similar way. It would consist of people with the skills and resources needed to attract game developers to Hive and help them to improve the chances of successfully publishing their games, rapidly.
The diagram above gives a flavour of the areas where such an incubator could operate and provide support.
What would an Incubator team look like ?
A team would be needed to set up the incubator operation with the resources and capability needed to begin to provide support. The diagram above gives an indication of what that could look like.
These would be Hivers with skills and experience, or who want to grow in these areas, that would work to support game developers in the noted areas. There would generally be two sides to the roles:
Developing and managing the incubator, eg, the Finance Lead would have to manage the finances of the Incubator so that it could operate effectively,
Providing support to the developers, eg, the Finance Lead could advise on how to manage game finances, tokenomics, how to access funding, etc.
Setting up a fully functioning Incubator would take time. There would be a need to attract, grow and develop a team.
Over time it could expand to something like the following:
We would start small, but aim big. An initial support offering would be setup (eg, help with marketing, events, that type of thing - easy things to do), and then developed over time.
So what type of things would the incubator do ?
Client Lead
Client Leads/Account Managers would find developers with ideas and engage with them about bringing their ideas to Hive, and onto supporting them through the game development process. They would be assigned to developers and be their day-to-day contact for engaging with the Incubator and facilitate access to the Incubators skills, resources and capability. It would include putting agreements in place with developers entering the Incubator so that there is a framework to work against in order to control support and development, through to successful game launch.
Finance Lead
The Finance Lead would manage the finances of the Incubator (how does it pay for itself and its activities, how are its contributors rewarded, etc). The Finance Lead and their team would also set up the financial capability needed to support game developers; teaching/support in financial management for the development, accessing funding, tokenomics advice for game sustainability, helping to produce a white paper/business case, etc.
Technical Lead
The Technical Lead would need to develop the incubator capability in its technical support offering to developers. The Technical Lead and their team would then offer the support needed across areas including; how to develop apps in Hive, accessing Hive development assets and libraries, and other aspects of game technical development.
Creative Lead
The Creative Lead would need to develop the incubator capability in its creative support offering to developers. The Creative Lead and their team would then offer the support needed across topics such as game play, art, music/sound, NFT design, story telling, writing, etc.
Info Mgmt Lead
The Information Management Lead would manage the information and non-human resources of the incubator (web pages, accounts, data, datasets, etc). They would work closely with the Technical Lead (and other Leads) in determining what was needed, and then manage those resources. Ie, that could be an Incubator website that anyone could access to find out about the Incubator. It could be a storage area for data/assets that developers who have agreed to come onboard would be able to gain controlled access to. It could be managing a discord site if one is needed, etc, etc.
Marketing Lead
The Marketing Lead and team would market the Incubator and its activities in order to generate interest from developers. They would also assist developers in marketing their game to help grow interest and game onboarding in order to help make the game successful.
Events Lead
The Events Lead and team would manage the Incubators events. That could include online introductory events, game development hackathons, stand management at crypto/crypto gaming events, game dev networking events, etc, etc. They would also assist developers and help them to organise and hold their game events, especially on the run up to game release in order to grow interest and game adoption.
People Lead
The People Lead and their team would help to manage the human resources of the incubator (recruitment, development/training, support/happiness, team working, etc). They would also support the Developers across the same activities where needed. Translations/languages support could also exist under this lead.
Incubator Lead
The Incubator Lead would undertake the day to day management of the Incubator, develop a great team working environment, and help drive the Incubator development and capability forward, working with the Incubator team.
Advisory Board
If traction grew, then an Advisory Board could be put in place to help steer and hold the Incubator accountable for performance. It would consist of representatives from developers, gamers and Hivers, meeting with the Incubator say quarterly or half-year to assess activities/performance, and agree direction, changes, improvements, etc. This would help give accountability, especially in areas like finances, funding and the professional representation of Hive.
How would it actually work in practice ?
A phased gated approach would be used. There would be a number of phases to progress through from initial identification of a developer, through assessment, agreeing terms if all parties were happy, to working through agreed development milestones (to access more support/funding), through to game release and ending the support agreement.
It could also be offered to existing games/developers to help make a major change or upgrade, or help with a specific thing (eg, tokenomics or marketing, etc). That is, it does not just have to be about new games. In this case its referred to as an accelerator as opposed to an incubator. An accelerator helps to grow existing ventures.
The gated process means that certain conditions would have to be met before the next phase is invoked. This is very necessary in order to protect the resources of the incubator and stop them being wasted. This would be agreed with a developer in some kind of agreement-in-principle/memoranda-of-understanding (noting that it is web 3 and decentralisation after all !). The aim would be that support/resources are spent on the right people and ideas, and are not just wasted, and or taken advantage of and then simply taken without anything being given back in return.
One other thought - it does not necessarily just have to be about games - it could be about dApps generally.
Where would the incubator's customers come from ?
The customers (game developers) can come from anywhere really, however, the university sector is potentially a good source. There are many universities offering game development degrees. Abertay University here in Dundee in Scotland is a great example. They have been churning out gaming degree graduates with the skills that enter into the gaming industry, and it has actually led to Dundee becoming a game development hub in the UK. Making links with students and graduates from such universities represents a real opportunity, as does forming partnering links with such universities.
The are also many online communities for aspiring game developers that could be tapped into. Game development events would be another source.
Summary
This post presents an idea. The idea is only sketched out at a basic level, to help communicate it and to gain feedback as to whether this is something that Hive and or a group of Hivers would want to pursue. Detail has not been worked out, and there would be many problems and barriers to resolve (eg, where does it get its funding from, how much does it need, will it add value, how much effort will it take, etc, etc) - but with will, there is a way. It can be done, and similar things are already being done all around the world for just about any kind of development you can think of.
Next Steps
At this stage, there is one simple next step, and that is to answer the question:
Is this idea worth taking forward and developing ?
To do that, I would propose the following
- Leave your feedback in the comments - positive, negative, ideas, experience of similar things, etc - constructive criticism preferred :)
- If there is enough feedback to indicate its worth exploring, then the follow-on stage would maybe be something like an online discussion with interested parties to add some flesh to the bones presented above, and maybe work towards a high level proposal/plan to take it forward.
Thanks for reading, your opinion and feedback is very important, so please do comment !