[nhannah]

This is really excellent insight. I think we are going to build one game first to see how our development and success rate go and if there is any traction there we will look toward an incubator. I feel like being involved with incubators such as YC gives a sense of legitimacy that would allow us to build games for larger companies or license material that would otherwise be unavailable to us as a startup. I am not familiar with licensing though so I could be wrong.

[gyardley]

The biggest issue with licensing is the upfront - generally the people you're licensing from will want a guaranteed minimum paid in advance against future royalties.

The second biggest issue with licensing is dealing with the people you're licensing from, who are rightly concerned about the impact of your game on their brand.

Third biggest issue is the legal fees - you'll need a lawyer who knows their way around such contracts.

I've got no idea whether Y Combinator's reputation would help with content licensing or not.

[nhannah]

In all honesty I would be happier making my own games. I am just thinking other possible directions if people don't take to the games I create as a way to stay in the field. So far writing game code is the most fun I have had programming. I also don't want to join a studio as I see little benefit to not being part of a founding team when it takes such small groups to create games with the newest tools.