How to Choose the Right Co-Development Partner
We never get tired of discussing the importance of the right development partner within the games industry, as we believe it is crucial to success. We’ve seen it all, examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly; so let us break down what we think are the integral ingredients to success for your game.
From our experience, the success of a game involves three key elements:
- creativity
- efficiency
- expertise
Skimping on any of these areas can cause huge problems in the game development process, but the good news is that our industry is full of amazing individuals willing to share their expertise and resources to help with the success of your game. In this article, we will discuss the key steps in ensuring that you choose the perfect co-development partner for you.
5 Essential Factors to Consider When Choosing a Co-Development Partner
Once you decide to empower your game development with the assistance of external talent, you’ll face your first challenge; choosing the best partner for you from the huge number of market options. Each developer and project is unique so depending on the type of game, your team composition, and your development goals, you need to find a partner that fits well with every aspect.
Based on our experience, we recommend checking the following five factors when selecting a potential game development partner:
1. Technical Proficiency
Over the years, we have seen some extremely creative games fall down when choosing a technical partner to execute their vision, and have seen many good games suffering from tech-related issues. Therefore we’d like to stress the importance of assessing your potential partner’s expertise in the game development technologies and platforms you use in your game at the top of our list.
A partner seasoned in handling projects that use similar tech as yours has a much better chance of reaching the goals you set. From coding finesse to platform optimization, a technically proficient game development company ensures seamless integration and can provide innovative solutions to your development challenges.
2. Communication and Collaboration
Knowing how to do things is great, but it takes a whole other talent tree to be able to express your knowledge to others. That’s why we at Pingle Studio pay very special attention to communication matters. Outsourcing game development of any decent level is impossible without clean, transparent, and timely communication between everyone involved in the development process.
Establishing clear channels ensures seamless coordination, fostering a symbiotic relationship between teams. Make sure there’s no place for any kind of misunderstanding between every team involved in developing your game. Assess a partner’s adaptability to change project dynamics and their ability to seamlessly integrate with your in-house team.
3. Creative Vision and Innovation
Choosing a co-development partner goes beyond skills—it’s about entrusting your creative vision. Align your project’s heartbeat with a partner whose expertise and style resonate with your artistic aspirations.
Take a look at your potential partner’s track record – do they inject any innovative ideas while sticking to your game’s core vision? Make sure that the game development studio you chose as a partner doesn’t compete but empowers the creative vision of your game. From the narrative points to style elements – there’s so much space for your combined creativity – you just have to look in the same direction.
4. Budget and Cost
Every job should be well paid, especially in challenging matters like choosing a game development partner. Defining clear budget expectations and negotiating a transparent pricing structure is necessary for bringing your game project to life, especially in collaboration with an external game development company.
Consider the partner’s proposition value – looking for the sweet spot where expertise meets cost efficiency brought many of our partners to success with their gaming projects. After all, the financial strategy of your game can play a pivotal role in the overall success of the landscape of your game development business.
5. Client References and Reputation
Let’s clarify – what we say next is not a panacea. But it’s often the case when examining the past performance of your potential partner helps you get a very clear vision of whether you’re compatible or not. If there is such an option, we recommend gathering feedback from industry colleagues about your potential partner’s project management reliability.
We recommend researching the industry reputation of your potential partners. It might not define your future collaboration, but it is also one of the key factors to consider when choosing a game development partner.
Remember: no third-party feedback is definitive for your project. Your potential partner might have had bad experiences. But they also might have learned from that experience and turned their weakness into strength. It also can be vice-versa – the positive experience might not be relevant for your exact game.
Some more things to consider
If going through the five points above doesn’t give you a clear enough picture of your successful game development partnerships, we recommend paying attention to the following:
- Cultural Fit: ensure your team’s values and work styles align with the partner’s culture;
- Project Management: establish clear project management methodologies and communication protocols for your game development process;
- Intellectual Property (IP) Protection: securely define IP ownership and usage rights to avoid further misconceptions.
Conclusion
Our industry changes so fast that you never fully know the criteria for a successful game development collaboration. What we do know for sure is that the right partner not only complements your strengths but propels your project to new heights. The stakes are high, so you have to choose your co-development partner wisely. But if you do it right – you are very likely to enjoy the success of your game in every possible way!
