A practical framework for building responsible game start-ups.
The ARK Framework™
It gives aspiring and early-stage studio founders the knowledge and tools to build teams, choose the right operating model, set clear expectations, develop projects professionally and create a pathway towards sustainable commercial development.
The ARK Framework™ is being developed.
The framework, certification, workshops and licensing are not yet available. Details are being shaped and tested with early-stage studios. Registering your interest helps us understand what founders, teams and partners need most.
Certification · Workshops · Licensing
Three ways the Framework is used.
The Framework is the standard. Certification recognises practice against it, workshops teach how to apply it, and licensing brings it into other organisations.
Certification
Recognition for responsible studio practice.
Certification means a founder, studio or programme has been assessed against The Games Ark's standards for responsible volunteer and incubation practice. It does not replace legal, tax, employment or professional advice.
- Assessment against the Framework's standards
- A shared signal founders, developers and partners can understand
- Focused on practice, not paperwork
Workshops
Learn how to apply the Framework.
Practical, educational sessions that take founders and teams through the Framework and how to use it in their own studio or programme.
- Startup founders and studio teams
- Incubators and programme leaders
- Universities, colleges and organisations
Licensing
Bring The ARK Framework™ into your organisation.
The Framework is designed to eventually be licensed to organisations running volunteer-led, incubation or early-stage studio programmes. Licensing is in development and not yet available.
- Studios, incubators and accelerators
- Universities and colleges
- Community organisations
The problem
Most founders learn this by trial and error.
Starting a game studio is becoming an increasingly common route into the industry. Traditional entry-level opportunities are fewer, and more developers are forming teams and building projects long before they have funding or a formal studio structure.
There is very little shared guidance on team structures, expectations, volunteer models, agreements, commercialisation and responsible studio development. “Just start a studio” is not guidance. The ARK Framework™ is being built to fill that gap — a shared language and standard that founders, developers, universities, publishers and partners can all understand.
What the Framework covers
Nine areas of responsible start-up practice.
Whatever model your studio runs on, these are the decisions you will have to make.
01Studio Models
Understand the different ways a game studio can operate, and what each model asks of founders and contributors.
02Team Building
Bring people together responsibly: recruitment, roles, capacity and how a team actually works day to day.
03Leadership
Decision-making, accountability, communication and handling conflict as a founder.
04Agreements
Put clear, fair, written arrangements in place before problems appear — not after.
05IP & Revenue
Who owns what, how contributions are recognised, and how any future revenue is handled.
06Ethical Volunteering
How volunteer models should and should not operate, and how to avoid exploitative practice.
07Project Development
Planning, production, milestones, scope and quality — developing projects professionally.
08Commercialisation
Moving from prototype towards funding, publishing, revenue and paid development.
09Sustainable Studio Development
Building a studio that can still exist in five years, with people who want to stay.
Studio models
There is more than one way to run a studio.
The Framework is relevant however your studio operates. Part of it is simply understanding the options — and being honest with your team about which one you are actually using.
Model 01
Volunteer
People freely contribute their time, usually to gain experience, build portfolios, learn and ship projects. A path into development — not a permanent replacement for paid employment.
Model 02
Rev-share / royalties
The team agrees to share future revenue from a commercial project. Contributors understand that payment depends on the project generating revenue.
Model 03
Equity start-up
Founders own part of the business and are building a commercial company together.
Model 04
Co-development
Developers or freelancers collaborate to deliver projects, potentially combining paid client work with their own projects.
Model 05
Outsource studio
A studio provides paid development services for clients and their IP.
Volunteer studios
Volunteer does not mean free labour.
Volunteering is not automatically exploitative — and unpaid does not automatically mean volunteer. A responsible volunteer model involves genuine choice, flexibility, clear expectations and no expectation of employee-level output.
Some volunteer studios make free games purely for experience, learning and portfolio development. Others use volunteering as the earliest stage of a start-up pipeline, building a team and a prototype before moving towards incubation, funding and paid development.
“Volunteering can be a starting point — not the destination.”
Genuine volunteering
- Genuine choice about taking part, and about leaving
- Flexibility around people's other commitments
- Clear, honest expectations written down
- No expectation of employee-level output
- Real learning, portfolio and development value
- Transparency about IP and any future revenue
Poor practice — this is unpaid work, not volunteering
- Requiring fixed employee-style hours from volunteers
- Expecting employee-level output without pay
- Using volunteers to replace paid staff
- Making promises of jobs, money or royalties that were never agreed
- Keeping contributors unpaid indefinitely while building a commercial business around their work
- Having unclear or one-sided agreements
- Failing to explain IP ownership or future revenue arrangements
Volunteer studios should never be used to replace full-time paid employees or to obtain ongoing employee-level work for free. The Framework gives founders practical guidance on staying the right side of that line, and on moving contributors towards paid work as the studio grows.
The start-up pipeline
From emerging developer to sustainable studio.
This isn't the only path, but it's one example of a new start-up pipeline.
Emerging Developers
Learning, making, finding people
Team Formation
Roles, expectations, agreements
Prototype
Something real to show
Incubation
Structure, mentoring, production
Funding / Publishing
Investment, publishing or grants
Paid Development
People paid for their work
Sustainable Studio
A studio that can keep going
Certification — in development
ARK Certified™
ARK Certified™ demonstrates that you understand how to apply the framework to your own game start-up.
In the same way that a Scrum certification demonstrates knowledge and practical application of Scrum, ARK Certified™ shows that a founder has learned how to apply The ARK Framework™ to responsibly set up and operate an early-stage game studio.
“I understand how to set up and operate a game studio responsibly, and I understand how to apply the ARK Framework to my own start-up.”
What it demonstrates
- You understand the different ways an early-stage game studio can operate.
- You can choose an operating model that fits your goals and be honest about it.
- You know how to set clear expectations and put fair agreements in place.
- You understand IP, contribution and revenue considerations.
- You understand how volunteer models should and should not be used.
- You can apply the Framework to your own start-up in practice.
Important
What it does not claim
- ARK Certified™ is not a legal qualification.
- It does not guarantee that a studio is legally compliant.
- It does not replace legal, tax, employment or professional advice.
- The Games Ark is developing the Framework — it does not claim formal industry-wide accreditation.
Who it's for
Founders first — and the people who support them.
Founders and developers
- Aspiring game studio founders
- Early-stage game studio founders
- Student founders
- Recent graduates starting teams
- Indie developers moving towards forming a studio
- Founders experimenting with different team structures
Organisations and partners
- Universities
- Accelerators
- Incubators
- Publishers
- Organisations supporting new game studios
- Developers considering joining early-stage teams
A shared standard
One common understanding between everyone involved.
When founders, developers, partners and publishers work from the same framework, expectations stop being guesswork.
- Founders
- Developers
- Partners
- Publishers
A shared standard
One common understanding between everyone involved.
When founders, developers, partners and publishers work from the same framework, expectations stop being guesswork.
- Founders
- Developers
- Partners
- Publishers
The ARK Framework™
Build your studio responsibly.
Learn the framework. Apply it. Build better teams.