I'm surprised how little info there is. If creating a small online game that sells for a small amount, what percentage do you think is ethical to distribute to: Programmer Game Designer Musician Artist

I'd say pay them for the amount of work they did

NONE! Slave labor ftw :p!

I dont know give them a 6-pack of beer for every 100 copies sold

Quote: Original post by Aiursrage
I dont know give them a 6-pack of beer for every 100 copies sold

I think that would work better DURING production, since its a fact drunken developers are usually more productive.

This is more a business discussion than a help wanted post. Moving.

Quote: Original post by RespeckKnuckles
I'm surprised how little info there is.

If creating a small online game that sells for a small amount, what percentage do you think is ethical to distribute to:
Programmer
Game Designer
Musician
Artist

Are you asking about how to distribute it amongst your friends? The answer is that it is entirely up to you.

Assuming you aren't just talking about your friends working on a side project, there is little info about it because that isn't how it is normally done.

If you need to get specialized talent, you hire it directly. Basing their pay on a percentage of royalties means that they have almost zero input on the money they make. Those with skill and experience will tend to avoid those projects.

Tell people what kind of art you want. Give your own little sketches, ask on the help wanted board, look at their previous work, and figure out a good one-time payment for their artwork. You may negotiate a few dollars per completed picture or scene, or you may decide to do it based on the whole project.

Audio is a little harder, but is done roughly the same way.

Design is rarely contracted out since it is a core issue.

Programming can be hired on a per-project or per-hour basis.




No matter how you distribute it, be aware that there are also your local tax laws that should be followed. Talk to a local tax professional.

If you are simply a group of friends working together in hope of producing a commercial game, I think you should just split it evenly because of the human factor. Arguing on who worked harder is an excellent way to disband that kind of project.

If you insist on doing that though do it at the beginning of the project. Also, and it is very important, make sure you KNOW what you're talking about. If you couldn't draw a Wal Mart smiley to save your life don't tell the artist "Dood wut u did wus ez i had 2 hax l33t stuff sry but i deserve teh $$ ololol" You might be right... and you might be absolutely wrong. There is stuff that are may look simple at first glance but that actually requires a lot of skill and time to make, and that is true in every domain, not only in art. I asked our programmers to make a file/archive manager, something like Blizzard's MPQ files, to compress and hide our files. It sounded like a triviality to me, but it took him 2 months to get something stable, and he says its sloppily coded and not efficient so he's probably not done with it.

EDIT: Also, there is no rule that determines which sector "works harder" it all depends on your project. If you are making a Myst game, I don't know if you even NEED a programmer since the programming job in that kind of game is trivial at best. I think you could make it a browser game with Dreamweaver! If you're making a chess game it's the opposite. For 3D games it's about even, unless you're using something like Torque or Unity that does all the programming for you, but then you're stuck with what your engine was made for.

In the game industry, Programmers make the most, Designers second, Artists third, and Audio Engineers + Musicians last.

It's pretty basic supply and demand. There are many more talented artists than there are talented programmers, so they are paid accordingly.

You might get some hints by comparing the average salaries for each position in the game development industry (GD Mag publishes these). But of course these will just give you a vague ratio that you shouldn't apply blindly, since getting salaried is not the same as getting a profit share.

Alternatively you might try to have a high board representative of each position and decide upon a unified working unit (something that takes almost the same effort/time) and try to represent all your tasks in terms of these units. This way you can just sum the units worked by every individual and divide it over the total units sum to get their percentage. This of course rests on your ability to accurately "weight" tasks in terms of units.