I love working on games...period...Sometimes the pay is good, sometimes it's not, or it's non-existent. No matter. Sometimes the project is a fun release and totally different than your paid projects and it's okay to donate some time. Sometimes the pay is in the form of royalties, profit sharing, etc. There are tons of different situations out there and none should be discounted because the cash isn't up front. With this in mind though when you involve yourself in an 'indy' game project there are some real pitfalls that can make sure you'll suffer, and more than likely never get paid, that I want to outline here briefly. First and probably most obvious is, get a contract in place. If you are going to slave over work of any type on a game project, make sure the terms for getting paid are agreed upon up front and put in writing, not an open ended agreement, they never work, ever. They ruin your day and make best friends into mortal enemies, yada yada yada. Don't do it. Secondly make sure the project you are involving yourself in is viable for the crew that is working on it. Two modelers and a coder cannot make an AAA title no matter how good their idea or how bad they want to, or how great they tell you they are. It cannot be done. Make sure that the team is in place and meets the scale of the project being discussed in a real and quantifiable way, otherwise you can easily end up doing a year of work and seeing everyone burn out and run away screaming! It's better to make a kick ass small game that can be finished than trying to make a crazy huge game with no budget and millions of man hours involved that will never get finished nor see the light of day. If the talk is big and the crew is small and inexperienced, might be better to limit the amount of work you offer on said project until you have confidence that real progress is being made. Stay away from the three G's (God's Gift to Gaming) they know everything, are inflexible as hell, and never get anything done but talking about the great game they're gonna build. Next, it's okay to be friendly with the crew, but remember even though we are artists, we are all collaborating with an end goal of making money on a game project. Don't let someone who is charming, charm you into doing all of the work or even a lot of the work, while they exist under the guise of being the 'administrator' and contribute next to nothing. Next it is very important to always make sure that there is a solid game plan in place before anything is painted, designed, modeled, or coded. This is a step that many games being developed independently just decide to skip, instead just 'winging' it. Dumb move and in the end the little bit of work and delay of instant gratification up front would have saved you hundreds of man hours during the course of the project. Planning is crucial for so many reasons that I don't have space to list them here. You also need to make sure that your art style fits with the game project or you will constantly be frustrated when your efforts aren't well received by the crew-this includes being flexible enough on your part to design within the described parameters of said project and not designing over the heads of your teams. If you design stuff that won't work with your engine or is way too difficult for your modelers then you are doing a poor job, even if the art rocks. Last but not least make sure that if you aren't getting paid up front that the project isn't stressful, these are the projects you work on for fun, in lieu of cash up front. I'll take grief on a cash project, but if I'm feeling the heat on a project where I'm taking a risk of not getting paid, or won't see any compensation for a year or two then I better be having a good time. If people are spending their imaginary currency up front with you and acting like a boss on a paying project or acting like you should be treating their project like a job when they aren't paying you anything and may never end up paying you anything, well it's your choice whether or not you want to exist like that. I for one will not. Those are the projects I work on for fun or for personal interest in said project. I don't work on them to make believe I have a tyrannical boss or deadlines, or anything of the sort. I won't put up with the headaches, and feel that when the situation starts to swing that way that the people who begin to get it in their head that they can act like the head of a game studio with no monetary investment up front are simply kidding themselves and have lost touch with the reality of their situation, and that generally ends up severely dampening morale all around on a project and you then see people start to meander away or outright run. I personally like to remind the group or individual of the reality of the situation and see if it helps, but sometimes you just have to walk away. To be honest your better of being realistic than remaining in a stressful, non-paying and bad situation getting worse. It in the end is a judgement call and every situation is unique but keep it real with yourself and never let anyone tell you that their circumstances are more important than yours. A game must be a collaborative effort and if you're not feeling it, then best to walk away graciously and look for a situation better suited to you and your goals as an artist. I hope my perspectives on this are helpful to you when considering whether or not to get into an indy project. Best Wishes!
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