'Striking Out' with Malath Abbas
- Ethen Dent
- Nov 8, 2021
- 4 min read
Introduction
The Striking Out session today involved an in-depth talk with founder/game designer of Biome Collective (est. 2015), Malath Abbas.
Biggest inspirations consist of Japanese animations. That inspiration transferred to comics (manga) after moving to Liverpool, UK. "At 13/14 my passion from animation and comics went into games after purchasing my own PS1."
"After education, got multiple jobs in Dundee. Primarily, a junior designer picking up more and more production skills. "It was great to get out of my gaming bubble that I was in and see the community and bigger picture. This was hugely important for me over time."
"Pay people to do the parts of the business that you might not be so good at." - Malath Abbas.
[Profile picture of Malath Abbas]
A traditional startup is essentially, a company structure that is primarily there to grow. Particularly in an economic sense more than anything else. One of the things that I had learnt from a startup company, called Quartic Llama, was that in order to raise funding or get more investments into projects, you have to have a growth plan. You have to have a business plan with growth. Have this ambition to have a team of 2/3/4/5 to maybe 10/20/30/40 in a few years time.
What is your ten year plan. You are making something now but will you be making AAA games in ten years time?
Biome Collective
GAMES. ART. CULTURE. SPACE.
"A community and co-working space for people to create, collaborate and explore new frontiers in games, digital art and technology."
Questions
"When I was involved in my startup, that was very much focused on the business. You need to focus on the business more than anything. With Biome Collective now, because we are a group of freelancers, we all chip in on the business end but we are all there as independent freelancers. It is a lot less taxing structure. Although admin is admin. From a company point of view, you'll need someone to manage as admin. And always pay people for the things you may not be good at."
On the topic of Crowdsourcing
"Give it a go. Give it a go if you have a relatively low target. But it is a marketing campaign. You need to give it the respect it needs. It's a method of starting businesses."
On the topic of Funding
"Funding is very challenging. To help clients understand the finance to the business function, breakdown the budget as much as possible. Tell them exactly how much (money) is going to each part of the process. Even if you do it for free, send them an invoice. You can show the client the usual charge of the business and then waive the fee through kindness. Do this so that if you work with them again, they understand how much you cost. Or argue that you don't just do free work"
On the topic of Contracts
"In the early days, I used to just bypass contracts and get on with it. I've had to learnt he tough way of getting that wrong... where projects have gone wrong, and they will do, and you're not protected. I have this template that I share with people. It's called DoContract. It's a template online and it's from a games world. It's intended for work-for-hire type of work. But before that stage, I try my bets to get to know people as much as possible. And for them to try and get to know me."
"It's really important that you spend time with your client. Listen to them and express yourself so that both parties are able to understand each other a little better."
A recommended way for prototyping, by Malath, was using Miro boards to communicate ideas with clients.
Reflection Segment
"Malath mentions this quote here and it's some of the questions I need to ask myself being on the receiving end of my presentation. It's great to understand a potential investors perspective a little better."
"Additionally, Malath's perspective on a number of items has been incredibly insightful. Biome Collective has been an influence for my mentorship/freelance unique value proposition and with Julia Shalet's help, I hope to iron out all the UVPs into strong standing."
"Malath's perspective on clients and transparency with the delegation of money has been fully adopted into the processes conducted by SunCoast and OddWatch when communicating with clients. As a consumer, there is always a level of fear that the product you are purchasing is not what the client expects. There is a level of fear. Explaining in more depth and transparency where a clients money is going could help mitigate that fear."
"In a COVID-era, I think I will give Miro boards a go in hopes it can be part of a prototype pipeline. I intend to follow through with Malath's suggestion and look into Miro boards as a digital alternative to paper prototypes. This in turn will allow the pipeline to extend to long-distance clients."
Citations
Suttner, N. (2021) Re: Getting your videogame (or maybe anything?) Fundedi firmly believe that most people are asking themselves these three questions (in order) when you're pitching them: Twitter. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/nsuttner/status/1456454125315518466?s=21 (Accessed: October 27, 2022). What I've been listening to:
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