More often than not, developing a video game is a passion project more than a entrepreneurial endeavor.
However, that isn’t to say creating a successful video game with a positive return isn’t possible, but it may require some funding.
Indie developers generally have to run on personal funds and not taking a wage, but with some funding, there can be more resources poured into the game, giving it a greater chance in a competitive market. Just like the games on online casinos UK are now finding funding easily despite being in a high risk category, all kinds of video game genres are now deemed potentially viable.
Bootstrapping & Prototyping
Bootstrapping means that developers retain full creative control because they’re using personal savings or low-cost tools when fleshing our early prototypes. Free engines like Unity and Unreal Engine are ideal because they even remain economical when scaling, meaning you won’t have an awkward transition. These will cut down on upfront costs – but is enough when testing core mechanics. A functional prototype should prove viability to investors.
For example, the Hollow Knight’s team used Unity to create a polished vertical slice, which then later helped secure Kickstarter funding. The key here is to be very unique in either the theme or the mechanics. It’s better to focus on a single innovative mechanic rather than sprawling content. Tools like Unity’s Asset Store or Unreal’s Blueprints system accelerate prototyping without coding expertise.
Funding Methods
Your four main options are, and some have different strengths to others: Crowdfunding (community-driven), grants (experimental concepts), venture capital (scalable live-service), and publishers (niche genres). However, crowdfunding relies a lot on marketing and building an audience, while grants have eligibility rules. Publishers will often want to tamper with the game more or, at the very least, involve revenue-sharing.
Hidden funding pools include the UK’s Video Games Tax Relief which reimburses 20% of development costs for culturally British games, while Canada’s Media Fund supports experimental narratives. Lesser-known platforms like Lookatmygame let backers profit from game sales, bypassing traditional equity models.
Pitch Strategies
A compelling pitch is all about balancing technical precision with emotional resonance. Start with a vertical slice—a polished 2 minute segment showcasing core mechanics and art direction. Including unlisted gameplay videos (4 minutes max) with voiceover narration can also help highlight unique features.
Market gap analysis must attempt to quantify demand by citing underserved genres (e.g., narrative-driven indie games grew 37% in 2024) or possibly hardware trends like Steam Deck’s growing role in handhelds.
For monetization roadmaps, it may be wise to blend traditional models (premium purchases) with live-service elements (battle passes, cosmetic DLC), though the latter will require a lot of funding.
Community Building Tactics
Vampire Survivors transformed from a $10K prototype to a $10M phenomenon by integrating its community into development. After a quiet Early Access launch in 2021, a single SplatterCat YouTube feature changed everything and triggered virality—concurrent players skyrocketed from 12 to 50,000 within months. Three tactics fueled this are worth learning from:
Firstly, using a Discord server before release helped provide some real-time feedback. Vampire Survivors even used polls where players voted on weapon upgrades. Dev blogs are the second way, because they show progress in a transparent ways and post about the bug fixes. It also cuts down on duplicate queries, making it actually a time-saver. Finally, influencers can be used resourcefully, particularly the mid-sized streamers who have around 20K followers.
Strategic Applications
It’s necessary to tailor submissions to match funder priorities. For example, UKGF grants emphasize British cultural elements (e.g., folklore-inspired mechanics or regional storytelling) to align with their “culturally British” mandate. Of course, this is perhaps to benefit from some soft power politically, and it’s worth knowing that is what they’re looking for very early on in the development process.
Technical innovation metrics may matter—grants like Canada’s Media Fund require prototype performance data (e.g., over 60 FPS stability or cross-platform compatibility).
Post-launch plans must detail 18-month content pipelines, mirroring Denmark’s Interactive Arts Fund requirements for DLC roadmaps. For VGTR applications, you ought to quantify cost-saving measures like outsourcing 30% of QA testing to UK contractors.
Post-Funding
Funding isn’t everything, it’s just the start. Effective post-funding management is needed to balance resource allocation with real-time performance. Prioritize spending on core gameplay loops over cosmetic features, as player retention correlates strongly with mechanical depth. For metrics, Google Analytics 4 can be used for daily active users and Unity Gaming Services works for player retention.
Jira for milestone tracking and Trello for public roadmaps are great, reliable tools that are critical for maintaining backer trust. They like transparency usually, particularly in crowdfunded projects. Studios like PixelForge Interactive reduced churn by 22% using predictive analytics as a means to identify at-risk players during beta tests.
Ultimately, gaining funding is all about proving the concept of the game, the readiness of the market, garnering some level of community, and appealing directly to the funders.