@Theraot So, after some more consideration of what I need to accomplish... I think I really need funding now

@Growler Do you need funding to be able to fully work on this or to hire people/services?

If you need to buy or hire, first figure out how much do you really need

If you had the money right now would you be able to use it effectively? Then, I would say to try Indiegogo or Kickstarter. Otherwise, consider if you are setting your goals too far away

Both fully work on this and hire

    - Game designer: $70k / yr
    - Game developer: $80k / yr
    - Language teacher: $50k / yr
    - Me: $80k / yr
    - Total: $280k
    - Monthly: $23k monthly burn

rough estimate

Did you talk with teachers? You need to figure out what is the minimum product you can sell, otherwise you will have no idea on what will be your return on investment, and without doing that convincing investors is a non-starter

@Theraot I talked with them roughly

but do not have the full picture

@Theraot so the next step is to get a full picture of what exactly a teacher would need

You need that at some point, and the earlier the better

If they think that what you have is too poor they may not tell you what they want, they might just think it is a a bad idea. Thus, either with or without getting requirements from teachers, you will have to continue to improve the product

The general idea is that you will continue to improve your product, so you set goals for each iteration

At some point it is good enough to sell, and that will probably be before it is the full realization of your vision

The product will never be done, there will always be room for improvement, either because there are things to fix or because the clients start demanding more things

Even if you want to follow a tradictional waterfall life cycle instead of an iterative one, getting requirements from the clients is on the top of the list of thing you need to do

@Theraot so I'm confused on priority of events.

First is get a clear goal of what teachers will need. What I'm getting stuck on is: I'm afraid students will just play through the game (as one should) and skip ahead and the game won't be in line with the teacher's curriculum

That doesn't sound that bad

If the student did learn, then the teaching program as a success. In fact, if the student managed to go beyond the curriculum with minimum supervision then the software is allowing the teacher to work less. In addition, the student got a decent education. Sound like a win-win to me.

I guess that teachers will probably want to be able to set up the product in such way that it covers its program very closely, that would mitigate any inconveniences of the students skipping ahead

Alright, that means you can split requirements in two sets: requirements about the platform and requirements about the content (modules) - If you focus on making the platform good enough for teachers they can start using the product as a supplement, and as the product grows in content it can take a more central stage in the classroom

@Theraot Oh man, you're really helpful with your organization

I wish we could work on this together

There would be a few things to figure out to be able to work together, starting with schedules, money, and tools. Then how to divide work, which you need to figure out hiring developers (as currently you do everything, you will have to start to delegate). Finally selling the product internationally, starting from the base language with currently is English, and of course, we would have to figure out licenses and copyright.

Of course.

But, starting with this question (if all those other questions are answered): is this something you'd be interested in?

On one hand I am interested for it being game development. On the other hand I think I might not like to get involved in a web based project right now. The reason being that I am currently developing a propietary web framework, and I know I would be thinking back to that project.

@Theraot I appreciate your honesty.

I believe this method will improve the way people learn as much as one can believe in something. As you are a learner of multiple languages, I thought you may like to work on something that can really change the way people learn.

@Theraot I have a pitch for teachers if you'd like to see it

I like the idea and the concept of the game. I am not rejecting the project, yet, I know myself, and I know I can get problematic in teams if I am not focused on a single thing.

Sure, if you want to share it

By the way, this conversation is public, and I like the idea that it may help somebody else in the future that comes along.

@Theraot do you have an e-mail I can send it to?

I'd rather the pitch not be public

You can find my email if you figure out what links to follow, starting on my profile - It is not tha hard to guess either. Yet, being public, I am not posting my email

@Theraot got it. Thanks. Sending it now

@Theraot just let me know your thoughts on it :D

ok

@Theraot sent.

I'm going to sleep now. Thank you once again!

Alright, I'll write you back via mail

@Theraot thanks for the comments on the pitch!