I program iPhone games for a small company. Always wanted to work in the games industry.

If you want to go Indie (one or few developers) you can save a lot of money. But it's also tough, you need to be talented and make an original interesting game to make money.

we do have a local codemaster team here, but they focus on the art side

and local devs would need to start small with indie games before they join the big boys

Here's the thing, you can't start up a games development house just by thinking "I want to make games". You gotta have a plan beyond just the idea of just making games.

You gotta have direction, purpose and proper management to make sure that you can develop a game because it IS a serious undertaking.

So far, I think the only local studios that have done anything original was Phoenix Studios (Of Fung Wan Online) and they have since long closed shop.

I hear so many people say they want to make games but when asked for details and other pertinent information, they just come out blank.

All it needs is an idea and the desire to execute that idea. If you don't have that then your brand new Malaysian games studio will just be destined to do kiddie ports for big games or asset production.

So, the obvious route would be, the indie route. Plan out the game you intend to make. Think of the tools and platform you're going to be using and then see if you can do it yourself or hire someone if need be. The point is TAKE INITIATIVE. Nobody's going to hold your hand to make a game and if you want to be a proper games development house, you HAVE to start at the individual level first. Just look at notch (Minecraft) and Chris Park (AI War). Both these fellas started out solo, but once they became established, then sought to expand their efforts into a proper business.

Alternatively, there's always the modding method (Which is very high risk with little reward). Start a mod team. Again you'll need to have a game in mind to make before embarking on this as well... Except that since you're building a mod, its a lot easier and cheaper since you don't have to pay anyone. Make one that's successful enough and then you've got a shot at commercializing it. Just ask Tripwire (Red Orchestra, Killing Floor) and Black Cat Games (Alien Swarm).

Wanting a game studio for the sake of having a game studio to your name just sounds foolish... You'll need far more than that... Get that, then you've got a good headstart over everyone else.

Around 3 months from proposal, testing then conception. Do you have any programming experience by the way?

I only have one thing to say ...

Don't try it in Malaysia.

I'm trying my luck too.. I already have a company..kinda..

currently I'm working on my coursework project creating games for directX 9 , hell so many things need to learn about this API =.=! not yet dx11 lol.

Also, the way you write the post, it makes me feel as if you just woke up one day and say:" OH YEH, im gonna make a game. lulz". Seriously, the way you are now, i think i'll salute you if you have some sort of semi working alpha as i really have no confidence that you will achieve anything, without any skills at all. Ideas alone wont get you anywhere, as you can see in various modding community(not just DoW, also applies in UT, Total War and so on), where people with ideas only, but no skills, they wont get anywhere. You need skills, to bring your ideas into code.

I think, what you should do now is, get some programming skills and start the work yourself as an indie or better, join a mod team, as they always need people with skills. Then, slowly build whatever you are thinking to do, at the same time, decide whether this is for you or not.

Btw, long live, Imperial Guard!!!!    

As to gathering insight into the gamesdev scene? Pay attention to GDC, look up the past years' highlights, nothing gets lost in the Internet. DevDiaries is also a great place to start for people who wants to have a basic knowledge of how certain games achieved their aesthetics, since I know and have watched devdiaries from... Let's see: Capcom, Bethesda, Lionhead, Bioware, Silicon Knights, Codemasters, Bungie, Microsoft Games, EA, Insomniac, Sucker Punch, SCEA, SCEJ, Epic Games... and etc etc. Lastly, blogs can be an amazing source of insight as well. Platinum Games runs a great blog with lots of details from Sound to After Effects for games like Bayonetta/Vanquish and etc, Valve blogs usually brim with information after a new game release* (Until the stupid hats got released anyways.), Lionhead also tends to communicate with players plenty. Their official forums are also usually an alternative source for development insights.

*:Also, developer's commentary also provides good insights into games design.

Ok aspiring game developer, here's some tips for you despite having zero programming skills:
1 - Pick up a simple game development tool like Yoyo's Game Maker. With it you can make simple top down old school JRPG games. Its designed to allow people with very little programming skill to do game development. Its not very powerful (Though some really good stuff was made with it), but it will at least serve as a good stepping stone to help you get familiar with game development
2 - If you're feeling more adventurous and gutsy, try Unity3D. Its definitely more programming centric, but its not impossible to pick up even if you don't have a background in programming (Since this was designed with that in mind). This is something you can really sink your teeth into if you're willing to dedicate the time since this software suite is good enough for production level quality games (Like Arcen's AI War and Tidalis). There are tons of tutorials for you to use for this. Another alternative is Unreal Engine, but that's a lot harder to tackle as a starter project. The plus to these two dev tools is that they're free to be used for indie developers, so if you want to press on with a proper release, you can.
3 - Learn a programming language... Simple as that. You're not looking for a career in IT, so you don't need to spend years perfecting it, but you just need enough to be able to at least understand how it works, so at the very least, when working with a team, you won't bombard your coders with stupendous requests. But even as a solo effort, programming knowledge will definitely be a boon. Picking up a programming language is all about whether it "clicks" with you. If it does, you could probably be able to master the basics in less than a week... If it doesn't a whole month wouldn't be enough and even then, its a real uphill struggle to fully understand it. My recommendations for languages is just C++ (Both procedural and Object Oriented Programming concepts) as that alone will give you enough tools and understanding to get around to using it.

Most game designers these days don't have programming skills (The kinds that graduate from "game designer" courses), but that's ok in Western countries since the pool of game programmers, coders and developers is so large there that you don't really need it. That's not true here and so you have to get down into the trenches for it. Don't focus too much on "I need a team" and instead try to do it yourself first... Only when you realize that you need help do you go sourcing for others.

And wth man. I posted all these resources and links in the Game design stickied thread here. Take a look at it. 

Just to add since everyone has great points:

1) Have a good team of talented individuals. The problem for Malaysia is that we are lacking good programmers. We have more 3D artists but the tried and tested ones ... not so.
2) Contacts, contacts, contacts. If you want to start, you must have a hook somewhere to get your first project. If you don't, sorry.
3) Your greatest enemy is piracy and the mentality of Malaysians (as in why should they buy it if they can get it for free or better).

Off course there are more if you want to get right into it.

Dreams alone wont make it a reality.

I think you need skills before you even start your own game.

Would be better if you try some game that use lua, as it's quite easy to use. At the same time, you get to experience game development yourself to see whether is it suitable for you or not. You can be filled with enthusiasm now, but after you actually get your hands on it, you might not enjoy it. The main thing is, you must enjoy making games, so that you can make awesome games. That is also why the Western developers make better games generally because they love making games. If not, look elsewhere, like i am in engineering now, as i like solving problems in running analysis.