How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

Postby Williamhawk » 03 Nov 2017, 07:25

Hello all,

I'm an animation major at my college and I have been thinking about making a game lately. These are just some general questions I have about hiring a programmer.

If I were to hire a programmer would I need them to sign a contract if we were in different states/countries? And if I would what would the contract even need to say. There was a person I knew who worked with freelancers in a different field of work. However he didn't get them to sign a contract, and in the end, most ended up walking off the job. So basically, how do you cover yourself when working with a limited budget on an indie project.

Thanks




I didn't find the right solution from the internet.
References:
https://www.gamedev.net/forums/topic/69 ... ndie-game/

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Re: How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

Postby Julius » 03 Nov 2017, 12:45

There isn't really a good way to do that, and a contract probably will not help as no-one within your legislation (I assume US or western EU) will want to work officially for what you are most likely willing to pay (Hourly rates for contracted programmers can be very high).

You might be able to find someone to do it "on the side" i.e. without declaring taxes or someone from a country with much lower wages... but in both cases a contract is mostly meaningless.

But if you have very specific task, you can try a website like https://www.bountysource.com/

But why start your own game when there are many great open-source project to contribute to? That's cheaper and 100% more satisfactory guaranteed :D
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Re: How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

Postby domtron » 03 Nov 2017, 14:43

Just a suggestion as I have no experience in professional game dev (i've always just worked on FOSS projects), try to hook up with someone from your college's Computer Science department. You should be able to find someone with a similar skill level as you, but in programming. A lot of CS majors are in it because they want to or started out wanting to program games. It would probably be more like a partnership, but you could also possibly hire someone on the cheap since they are not at a professional level yet.

A major benefit of college is the contacts you can make with a variety of people. While you're at it you could snag majors from business and marketing and make the beginnings of a well rounded startup company. :3 I'm half joking, at the very least those contacts could help later even if your idea falls through.

But then again take what I say as worth a gain of salt, I mostly kept to myself in college. (introvert here -.-)
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Re: How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

Postby Duion » 03 Nov 2017, 22:35

Go look on certain forums like for game engines, there are often sections in the forum where people can offer their services or jobs.
But if you ask me, don't start making games, it is a bad business to invest money in.
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Re: How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

Postby Knitter » 04 Nov 2017, 00:06

You hire programmers the same way you hire in any other field, the problem is always reduced to money, time and/or commitment. As a freelancer, both in and out of game dev, I can tell what I look for when accepting a job: Enough money to cover my expenses, commitment from the person/company that is hiring me and a clear understanding (in writing) of what I must do, when it must be ready and what I will not do. Even if you consider a contract to be useless, having in paper the scope of the task will help both sides.

But keep in mind that software development is expensive; game development is, usually, more expensive. A good developer, with game dev experience won't do it on the cheap if he/she isn't either doing it in spare time (will take a lot of time) or have the same interest as you do in the project (hard to happen); a cheap developer won't have the experience or care about the quality of the product unless you're talking about a dev that is the cheapest parts of Asia and you're paying in $US , € or £. But then you'll have to manage timezones, cultural differences/backgrounds/expectations, it won't be easier and you'll have to really be involved in the project (same thing for any dev that is not in your country or timezone).

Game dev forums and communities will always have some job board, but that is a hard way to find help, freelance sites can be an option if you can manage the project and deliver very clear tasks; best option, if the project is not just a pet project, is to find some dev company that can either get you in contact with freelance devs or has devs for hire; if you don't have enough money, try to go for someone in you college, maybe speak with your teachers.

If money is an issue, given the stress and difficulty of developing a game (naturally depends on the game size) most projects break due to loss of interest or financial issues in team members lives; if you're managing remote devs, issues with communication will easily break the team and the devs will walk away.
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Re: How do you hire programmers to help with an indie game?

Postby Duion » 04 Nov 2017, 04:13

Buy an indian programmer, they are not very high quality, but cheap and get the job done.
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