The idea of being part (and hopefully running) an independent game studio, with the ability to develop what we want to create, with the software and skill we have is a very desirable one. The idea has grown on me through a combination of Matmi's small-group based projects - where everything relies on only a few people doing multi-role work, and the growing skillsets and relationships between fellow students within my class.
I think an indie-development studio relies heavily on work ethic, the ability to multi-task, manage time well and having a real passion to succeed from concept to realization. I believe with what I know (3D Modelling, 2D Texturing, Basic Scripting (Kismet & Javascript), Unity3D & UDK engines, timeframes and my work ethic) I have the foundation to start a studio at the end of next year with a few similar minded people.
I think one of the main problems with starting up from such a young age is not particularly the lack of industry experience ( I personally think being naive could in fact help us create something more unique ), but the money we would need to rent office space, afford industry standard software and earn enough to allow us to spend enough hours working on the project as opposed to having it side-lined to evenings and weekends.
They are a range of ways to help fund the start up of an independent game company that have come around in recent years. The first port of call is the indie-fund - a project that supports the growth of games, allowing developers to become financially independent and stay financially independent. It was created by a group of succesful indies (Jonathan Blow, Ron Carmal, Kyle Gabler, Aaron Isaksen, Kellee Santiago, Nathan Vella and Matthew Wegner) looking to encourage and support the next wave of game developers, via a method that is a serious alternative to the traditional publishing model. The model works by offering a flexible budget with no 'set' milestones, an easy repayment scheme that is only effective if the game begins to make enough money to keep the company creating and begin to pay back the first investment. There is also no long term obligation - if after two years the game has failed to hit the estimated sales targets, the agreement expires and any revenue the game generates from that point onwards goes 100% to the indie development studio.
The second option is through Kickstarter - a recent creation which allows crowdsourcing to bring in enough money to begin development of a game. It requires the developers to produce a video and written explanation with concepts as to what the game aims to be, what it will involve and what supporters will receive for their money. Supporters can offer from a minimum amount to whatever they feel they want to. There is an initial 'target' that the indie studio sets as their goal, and if it exceeds the amount they set new goals that they could achieve with additional funding. The only down side to this method is there is no gurantee that the pitch will generate enough money to allow development, and if the minimum budget is not met then the studio will receive no money from Kickstater (and the supporters will be re-reimbursed).
The final option is to be self-sufficient with the project, with each member having a part time job to afford to rent an office (or work from home which is less productive and harder to communicate), to pay for software and any other costs that will be incurred throughout the production (developer fees, licenses, distribution, marketing). What I have learned through this method though is how easy it is to get a big-name publisher on board, how easy it is to just send them either a demo or a bunch of screenshots and a description of the game and it result in an actual meeting with companys such as SEGA, EA and Rovio.
