How to get noticed as the next indie god

OK, so you’re looking to get your game funded. Cool beans.

This page contains everything you need to know about submitting your game to Indie Fund.

Step 1: Make sure you meet the submission requirements.
* Does your game introduce something new to gaming? We want all games we fund to contribute to the medium of games in some way. We are unlikely to seriously consider a new spin on match three, a game based on licensed IP, or a clone of an existing game.

* Is your game playable? Having a playable prototype allows you (and us) to know that there’s something there, that it’s not just an idea that may or may not turn out to be compelling.

Having developed a prototype also speaks volumes about your ability to execute your vision and your commitment to the project. We are currently only considering games that have at least reached the playable prototype stage.

* Are you a small team that can live cheaply? A critical element of our investment strategy involves minimizing development costs.

It is one of the main reasons we are able to offer funding terms that are better than anything else out there. Well, except maybe Canadian government funding, but we’re not all fortunate enough to be Canadian.

If you need to pay salaries of $5k a month, or have expensive office space, or are developing a game that will take 5 years to complete, this is probably not the right source of funding for you.

World of Goo cost $120k to develop. Braid cost $180k. That’s about the right size project for Indie Fund right now, and it necessitates doing things on the cheap. The benefit to you is that you’ll get to keep the vast majority of the revenue once the investment is repaid and you will maintain 100% control over your IP.

* Can your game make money? Indie Fund is funded only by the seven indie developers who manage the fund. We have enough money to invest, but not enough to not care if we get it back, so another primary consideration is whether your game can make enough money to pay back the investment.

This eliminates many games that generate revenue via sponsorships, ads, and donations, as well as freeware games. We are looking for games that can generate revenue via proven models such as downloadable console games, digitally distributed PC games, etc.

Step 2: Put together a video.
Maybe you already have one that shows off your game, but if you don’t, you’ll need to create one. Our only request is that the video contain in-game footage. Length, content, format, it’s all up to you. It’d be nice if you could send us a link to the video on YouTube or a similar site so that we don’t have to download large files.
Step 3: Tell us about you and your game!

Send us an email to submissions (at) indie-fund.com. Write whatever you want, but please include the following:

* The name of your game and your company (if you’ve registered one).

* The platform(s) you plan to launch the game on.

* A description of your vision for the game. Be concise, this should not be more than a few paragraphs long.

* A link to the video from step 2. You may also add an explanation of what we should pay attention to in the video if you like, but that’s optional.

* Tell us about your team. Nothing fancy, maybe a one-paragraph bio for each team member, if you’ve worked together before, how you know each other, that sort of thing.

We’re trying to keep the submission process as light as possible so as to not waste anyone’s time.
Step 4: Twiddle your thumbs.

If your submission piques our interest you will hear back from one of the Indie Fund partners within a month (but hopefully much sooner) and we can take it from there. We will look at every submission and we will do our best to get back to everyone who contacts us, but we can’t guarantee it.

If a month has gone by and you haven’t heard back, please forgive us, we’re all working on our own games and are managing Indie Fund in our spare time, which sometimes requires us to be a bit spartan with time management.

You may always resubmit your game if there has been significant progress since your previous submission and you’d like us to take another look.

It’s also important to note that we will not be able to fund the vast majority of games we see, so if we pass on your game it doesn’t mean we don’t think highly of it. We raised enough money to fund 5 or 6 games over the next 2-3 years and we are convinced that we will see more promising games than we can fund. If all goes well we will raise a second, larger round when this one comes to an end.

Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing some unique games get created!