Hello everyone!
I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to set up an Indie Game Studio. I mean, legally what should I do? Where? How much it would cost?
I want to protect my game’s names or ideas.
I want to be aviable to ask for donations.
I want to be aviable to sell games.
Any hint or tip or anything would be much apreciated.
For now, I’ve set up a Google Site web with my stuffs, check it out! https://sites.google.com/site/rafindiegames/ :point:
I would first find some friends or people from this site to help you collaborate on producing something worth selling. If you can find people that are really interested in your project, then it wont really cost anything to get started.
As for protecting your stuff, generally you release with a licence(GPL, Apache, or one of the less open source ones, im not incredibly aware of whats out there).
As for donations, you’ll need to give people a reason to donate. Proof that you can actually create a game, or actually having something to release thats worth their money is generally good.
Selling them is just as simple as a donate button with paypal, however by the time you are ready to release a product you should have a decent functional website with a backend that can seemlessly use Paypal or Google Checkout to accept payments.
Thanks for your tips.
I know I can’t ask for money just because, and I don’t plan to! >:(
I will read about GPL right away.
No problem, good luck! I am on the same path at the moment. So far I have 1 collaborator (ra4king) and we will bring on graphics artists in the near future and once the game is nearing completetion I will spend a weekend or so getting the website up at http://warmongerstudios.com but its just going to be blank for now. Its hosted on a VPS at Linode and setup with Google Apps for Business. Once we’re closer to launch I will also setup as an LLC.
Depends on country of your residence of course. There is no universal legislation. In some countries you can earn a certain thereshold of money without any obligations, in some you have to setup a company regardless of volume.
Generally, it’s best to go to the nearest local government institution and ask, they will provide you with all details (small business is nowadays worshipped by governemnts and I would be surprised if your goverment do not have a specialized institution aimed especially at answering “how to setup a business” questions :)).
I think you are thinking too big. Generally, the whole boardgames industry don’t bother with trademarks since these are too expensive for them. As an indie these will be probably too expensive to you as well. Besides, why would you need it for? Can you afford a lawyer to pursue others who used similar name to your game?
As for ideas, well, you can’t copyright ideas 
I’ll tell you my plan, aware it’s more painful
I agree with you ReBirth!
I already have a plan for free games. I plan to make them in time to time between big projects.
Right now my only big project requires a lot of knowledge from me, so I stick to make simpler free games
I’ll worry about the company later on. Thank you all!
I’m not sure about trademarks or branding, but as far as creative content is concerned, the act of creating it grants you full copyrights.
And if anyone challenges said rights, owning the intermediate steps (notes, sketches, design documents, beta versions) should be enough to prove your ownership.
From Wikipedia:
[quote]In all countries where the Berne Convention standards apply, copyright is automatic, and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights.[10] However, while registration isn’t needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright and enables the copyright holder to seek statutory damages and attorney’s fees.
[/quote]
Awesome input, thanks for that!
If you worry about “name”, just go secure all nowday network sites (google, g+, twitter, facebook, linkedin, wordpress, blogspot, domain, tumblr, everything) with your name 
I wouldn’t worry about that too much. Unless you have a product/business to back the domain name up, chances are it can be legally snatched away by someone who does.
Heck, chocolate company Milka actually managed to sue and take away the domain from a woman literally named Milka, who used the site to promote her seamstress business.
Trademark/Brandi laws are more concerned with having an actual marketable product, and the economic effects thereof. So until you have said product, don’t lose sleep over branding.
me too in a way, at least I baught a cheap VPS, but it seems to go down alot, but in the TOS they offer 10% for the next month for every 1 hour your server goes down 
who offers 10% discounts per hour, if they cant keep it up?
edit: seems 10 mins after my ticket I put it, they rebooted my VPS and it works
My personal plan is as follows:
1. Set up a project architecture/engine while learning the ropes of Game Development
2. Build a first Game on said architecture
3. Refine steps 1 and 2 as needed
4. Build simple games using the existing architecture, experiment with ideas
5. Of the games that work, release for free
6. Repeat 4 and 5 until I have confidence on my skills, my technology, and have an audience
7. Study revenue model (probably donations at first) and project requirements
8. Build a serious project
9. Release and see what happens
10. With the lessons learned, go back to 7, rinse and repeat.
Note that this plan assumes Game Development as a hobby, at least at the start, I have a day job to pay the bills. Eventually it could evolve into a full.time job, but for now it isn’t.
Also note how it is malleable, many of the steps are recursive self-improvement steps. In the end, the market, and our lives, are in constant flux. Strict plans with no room for “what-ifs” are not realistic, in my opinion.
Nowhere in my plan are there defined points for “buy a domain”, “rent a server”, “buy Unity3D”, “hire an artist”. Those concrete steps will depend heavily on how your plans unfold, and concerning yourself with them early is, to the very least, wasteful. Again, in my opinion.
Now, if I ever make it down that list, I’ll probably look back on this post and laugh at my naivete… Just remember: No plan survives contact with the enemy.
The legal stuff would depend on which country you reside in, I would think?
As for free games, you could allow people to play it in development and then start charging a minor amount as development progresses. I wouldn’t buy Kerbal Space Program if I couldn’t have played it for free a while first. The same goes for Minecraft.
The thing with payed games is that you are expected to provide post-sale support, and thus your involvement doesn’t necessarily end with the sale. Not doing so could result in a very bad PR hit.
My recommendation of releasing the first few simple projects for free is in line with avoiding all costs. Since they are “learning projects”, just release for free, with a big “Provided AS IS” label, and gauge audience reaction to your material, without needing to invest anything.
Rushing to make money can be detrimental if you are not ready for the responsibility. Ironically enough, being successful can be harder on a fledgling developer (Think server costs to keep up with bandwidth demand, feedback response/moderation, post-sale support… And that not counting with any online infrastructure you might have planned).
But again, just my personal opinion.
-Pickle