Hi All,

I recently completed my first game with the help of off shore developer (I provided the graphics and he did the coding part). And he also did the submission to both google and apple. Google version is already UP and running, apple is under review.

Now my question is once the game is up and running on both the places, and to finish the work with him what i need to get from him?? Will i be getting a program or something from him?

I will change the pwds for both the developer sites but apart from that, do i need to do anything else?

In future, if i don't work with on my next project, is there anyway that he can screw up my existing program which is up and running?

Where will the program reside ?

Thanks for all replies...

You should probably submit to Google/Apple yourself. These accounts are linked against a business, which becomes the publisher of the game, is the rightful owner of the income of the game, and is under obligations to the taxation office... Is he going to be doing all the tax reporting for you?

You should probably be getting all of the source code and source assets, in case you ever want to do further work on the game, patches, etc... Without the source files, you're unable to modify or rebuild the game, which chains you to your current contractor.

Hi Hodgman,

Actually he submitted through my merchandise account only. And after the submission i changed the pwds.

My question is incase in future, if i need to make changes to the code do i need to ask this guy to send the code or is it already somewhere on my developer account??

Thanks

My question is incase in future, if i need to make changes to the code do i need to ask this guy to send the code or is it already somewhere on my developer account??

The source code does not exist on your developer account.

The other assets (e.g. art) do not exists on your developer account.

Hi Lactose,

Please clarify the following

(1) Will he be able to make any changes to the app which is UP and running on the market place without logging into my developer account? I don't think so, but want to reconfirm.

(2) It looks like it is better to have the source code in case if i want to make any changes in the future. In this case, what kind of format i can ask him to send me the source code?

(3) I am not a programmer and don't know ABCD of game programming. So even if sends some thing, i cant really make sure that this the source code for this program. What are my options in this case except trusting him thinking that he is sending the right code?

Thanks

(1) Will he be able to make any changes to the app which is UP and running on the market place without logging into my developer account? I don't think so, but want to reconfirm.

(2) It looks like it is better to have the source code in case if i want to make any changes in the future. In this case, what kind of format i can ask him to send me the source code?

(3) I am not a programmer and don't know ABCD of game programming. So even if sends some thing, i cant really make sure that this the source code for this program. What are my options in this case except trusting him thinking that he is sending the right code?

1. As far as I know, only if the app accesses or uses external connections (e.g. if it connects to a server, and he has access to that server).

2. Source code is just a bunch of text files (which can different file extensions, it doesn't really matter). Basically, these text files are then translated into something which the device can understand. This process can often require some additional files, e.g. for setting some of iOS' target settings, etc. These additional files are sometimes called solution files, project files, etc.

If you want the source code, I would just ask him to send you the source code. He should know what it means. You might want to explicitly state that you want everything required to build a version, including all the necessary assets, etc.

Depending on what tools he used to create the app, you might need to download/install something in addition to what he sends you. E.g. Unity, or other game engines.

3. Find (or pay) someone to verify it for you. Alternatively, have him walk you through how to setup and build a version from scratch, using the assets and code he sent you.

Hi Lactose,

Please clarify the following

(1) Will he be able to make any changes to the app which is UP and running on the market place without logging into my developer account? I don't think so, but want to reconfirm.

(2) It looks like it is better to have the source code in case if i want to make any changes in the future. In this case, what kind of format i can ask him to send me the source code?

(3) I am not a programmer and don't know ABCD of game programming. So even if sends some thing, i cant really make sure that this the source code for this program. What are my options in this case except trusting him thinking that he is sending the right code?

Thanks

1. No

2. There is not really a format. As long as you get the code, you should be fine. If he has some fancy project setup, then it would be great if he sent you those or told you how it was set up.

3. I doubt someone would do that. Especially if you have made a game with him. Anyway, I would open the source files and see if you can find things you recognise.

For example, see if you find the code for the player or the code for the main menu or enemies. Just read the code a bit like English, and you should figure out what it does.

If you have no idea after that, you should perhaps either trust someone else to look over it, or learn to build the project yourself given you have the project files.

Edit:

Got ninja'd. Lactose probably has a better answer than mine though.

When you ask for the code, you ask for all necessary files used to build the game (e.g. in a ZIP file or the like), and also for documentation on building the project. You ideally would have setup a source repository (like a private GitHub account) for your contractor to use so you had both the final result and a history of their work, which can be useful if you ever need to hire a second developer, but you may not have that option now.

Regarding being sure of what you got, since you're asking for everything, this also means you're receiving all necessary code, data, and instructions to build the game yourself. Thus, you can verify you got what you asked for by following the build instructions and seeing if you get an executable copy of your game.

Of course, you ask for all this before submitting the app, and before final payment is made. You ask for these resources to be available during development (again, via a private GitHub or the like) at regular milestones corresponding with payment installments to the contractor.

Note that you may require some external tools that are not free in order to build. Usually you'll be able to get by with free copies of Visual Studio, Eclipse, XCode, etc. but there may be some other special tools your contractor used. Ideally you'd get these documented and you'd approve or decline use of them BEFORE you ask the developer to make your game.

Thanks for all the replies... This forum is so informative and being a newbie into this field I am learning lot of new things on the game development.

In Irbaboon's reply, he mentioned that "learn to build the project yourself given you have the project files". Is there any site or a webpage or some training link which will demo the step by step process of submitting an app to Apple and Google Play store after we have the code in hand?

Because I will be doing more games in the near future and this is something that I will be going through so I want to learn it now rather than later. Please suggest if there is something of that sort...

Thanks

In the future, make sure all of these details are specified in your contract.

If they are not in your current contract, the other person may be able to charge you additional fees or restrict the use of the source code. If it is/was not part of your agreement, then it was not part of the deal.