Little indie joke.. I meant press, not press... ok.. sorry.

Ehem.

Ok, I'm in a bit of a dillemma, because I really want to get some press info together. However Ive not fully formed the company yet (mainly due to procrastination and not feeling like I need to yet).

I really want to send out some info to just basically get on a few people's radar so I can start workin on some interest. Buzz will take a long time to get going.

I dont think it would hurt at this point to just get the word out, about the new studio and just give a brief update on what we will be producing, but I've not thought it through clearly, is there any real issue why I shouldnt just do a release?

.Zoom.

yes.
If you dont have a finished game or demo you will get ignored. Why would people give a damn otherwise? 99% of indie games are never finished, websites know this, hence they wont pay any attention to another one, unless its finished.

Hmm, I'm not so sure that its 100% true there though cliffski.

Ive seen plenty of games getting buzz well before they ship. So why should my game be any different?

Hell, Ive seen plenty of indie games getting buzz before they ship.

I just figure that a press release will allow me to start making contacts in the magazines for later.

plus I'm interested in trading on the worms brand while it still has legs :)

hahaha..

well good luck, but I think the problem is, that you only get press about agame published once or twice, so wait until you are ready to take peoples money before doing it.

What makes you say that? what would stop press talking about many things?

The way I see it, if they think its news, they'll print it. Otherwise, they wont.

No reason not to let them choose, I dont think theres a particular sort of shelf life or timespan for these things.

Plenty of guys I know from other devs have just done a release when they announce thier studios.

But now youve got me paranoid. :)

Also I've noticed, the majority of Indie games that get pre-launch press coverage already have a competed game under their belt or the current game is in the final beta stage.

I'd also wait until you setup your business before you start making any major contacts. It only takes a few weeks to setup a LLC and then you'll be official. With just those three little letters appended to your company name (Inc, LLC, and etc.), you'll find that more people will take you seriously.

You don't necessarily have to pretend you're a large company, but you need to convey that you're serious about what you're doing. As cliffski mentioned, there are TONS of incomplete Indie games. Whether you're trying to make a business or press contact, you need to show that you're a small business and not a hobbyist. If you have a very solid demo or completed game with an official company name behind it, then you'll give the percecption of the former. But if you have a broken demo or no demo with no real company behind it, then you'll most likely give off the perception of the latter and you'll get very little press coverage. Worse yet, it could ruin future dealings when you have things better together.

So go get your business setup already! :) Plus as a legal company you'll be in a much better position to protect your IP and deal with publishers if you choose to do so. Don't put it off for too long because while it doesn't take long to setup a legal company, it's not something you can do overnight. Don't wait until it's too late.

Well, Ive completed plenty of games, so I'm not trying to go from nothing.

I dont see why setting the company up will neccasarily mar any marketing but yeah, Ive met people who care about the ltd or llc or whatever youre going to call it. So I guess in that case, it will make a small difference.

I guess I'll get the company business registered and then do the release, I was waiting for the new tax year, so we should be golden now.

Registering or incorporating isn't really going to make a difference here. What you need is a professional looking website and at a bare minimum some screenshots or video of your project in development. If you don't even have screenshots yet then you aren't ready to start your press machine.

Look at it this way, if you are the editor of a gaming website or magazine, is the formation of a new indie company a newsworthy event?

Unless you are a brand name talent (ie. the developer of "Well Known Game X") or are employing brand name talent (the team that brought you "Well Known Game X") then the answer is no.

You have to compete with the fact that every day there are hundreds of wannabes "announcing" their new companies and game projects. Until you have a concrete work in progress to show off you will just end up lumped in with them. It's best to wait until a demo, then you will have something actually newsworthy to share.

Well, like Phil (Zoom) said, he actually did work on some well-known games - Worms. So, based on that alone I'd say form the corp and announce away. Believe me - the gaming press is always hungry for news, and it doesn't really have to be the most important news in the world in order to get put on a website.

thats it really. There doesnt seem to be any reasoning as to whats newsworthy or not. So I guess announcing myself to the world in the form of my company, well, I guess its just a practice run.

Jani did it for jollygood, so I guess its only fair I do the same :)

Hell, if I can get some ex-worms fans interested in watching what I put out, then thats a start.

I'll have the website up and the company setup in a few weeks, so I'll have a go then. As Joe Maru said, its never too early to start generating buzz.

Just need to learn enough PHP to get that newsletter script up :)

Crap, sorry! I totally missed that!

If you were responsible for the development of Worms then that might be worthy of mention ;) It would still be better if you at least had concept art for your new project to show off. The new company alone is only half the story, people are going to want to know about your current project.