8 Steps to keep R&D type game company afloat

R&D is a time consuming and risking process, too keep a company afloat is not an easy task. let's said your company is to produce a revolutionary mmo gameplay, how do you keep your company survive for more than 4 years? here is a rough idea. build your product by phases, just like Runic did to their torchlight mmo, do it by phases, single player -> multiplayer -> mmo.

What if your company is very shaky, can't burn moneys more than 1 year? my idea is break down your production schedule to even smaller phases, for example:

1. 3D Model viewer, and sell it as cheap model viewer software -> work on rendering engine, UI, simple editor
2. 3D architecture walk-through, and sell it as cheap architecture visualization tool -> scene graph, building shaders
3. 3D model viewer and 3D architecture walk-through, sell as online store and visualization software -> player walking in 3d environment, physics, collision detection
4. Advertisement software, -> better UI and better interaction
5. 3D online chat software -> networking and server side programming
6. 3D virtual world -> big terrain system, whether, day and night, water shaders, database programming
7. 3D simulation -> AI, NPC, quest programming, editors to balancing and fine tuning
8. 3D games -> combine all your stuff, you should have very good foundation and game engine, and you should have enough networking and experience in your field.
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