Royalties on VN's

[Dynamite20]

I was wondering about hired artist who work on VN whether is an sprite artist , music artist , background artist etc.
When the dev of the project hired an artist and they agree to pay the artist to create lets say a character sprite and they agree to the right amount of money to create that character sprite do they also agree on royalties of this character sprite? and if yes how much % is the artist gonna get?

 

[Gwedelino]

I was wondering about hired artist who work on VN whether is an sprite artist , music artist , background artist etc.
When the dev of the project hired an artist and they agree to pay the artist to create lets say a character sprite and they agree to the right amount of money to create that character sprite do they also agree on royalties of this character sprite? and if yes how much % is the artist gonna get?

Artists are free to price their work and you're free to agree to their terms or not.

It's hard to make money on a game project as a dev and it's even more difficult to be profitable (if you're not making everything yourself).

You should either pay artists once for each commission achieved or you should give them revenue share but not both at the same time unless you want to create a money-eating deep.

Have a written agreement with your artists. All the terms have to be clear between you and them.

 

[Dynamite20]

You should either pay artists once for each commission achieved or you should give them revenue share but not both at the same time unless you want to create a money-eating deep.

I don’t think that will work because the artist will have to work without income until they release the game or until the first update will release and if the game doesn’t get any money the one who lost time and money will be the artist

for me the most reasonable thing to do is to pay upfront the artist for each commission and end it there (like you said) but while looking into it I’ve seen that game devs (In some cases) pay the artist royalties and it got me thinking about the whole process of making the game and paying the team and if the artist get royalties how about the programmers and other members of the team do they also get royalties?

But I agree with what you said about “Artists are free to price their work and you’re free to agree to their terms or not.” If I don’t like it, I don’t hire the artist but some people think that it’s wrong to not pay the artist royalties and that is why I’m making this post to know more about it personally I think that it’s more fair to pay upfront and end it there

 

[desmosome]

Don't complicate things. Either bring them in as full members of the team, meaning they share patreon revenue (but you don't pay them for individual artwork), or just go with the usual commission fee.

I'm pretty sure most artists will be just fine with their usual commission fees instead of banking on some no name dev somehow making a big hit on patreon.

As for the programmer, they usually get payed per hours worked, AFAIK.

But honestly, all of this is up to you and them. You agree on something and sign the contract. All I'm gonna say is that if you want to share patreon profits as a team, you better know those people intimately so that everyone is committed to the success of the project. If you are just finding randoms online, just pay them their usual fees. Even on their end, I doubt they would want their payment being tied to the success of some random porn game (which will likely get abandoned).

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

I'm always amazed at the degree to which people overestimate the professionalism and the scope of the "industry" when it comes to something that's mostly just weirdos making shitty Ren'py visual novels in their bedroom.

Nobody is signing contracts or paying "royalties" in this space unless you're literally working on one of the handful of games that make thousands of dollars a month. And even then, what's going to happen if somebody breaks the contract? You're going to go to court because the dev didn't pay you the $500 he owes you for working on "Fucking my Family 17"? I don't think so.

 

[Meaning Less]

If you are not an artist or don't know how to make the game yourself then you should probably think twice about starting your own project.

 

[Synx]

I don’t think that will work because the artist will have to work without income until they release the game or until the first update will release and if the game doesn’t get any money the one who lost time and money will be the artist

for me the most reasonable thing to do is to pay upfront the artist for each commission and end it there (like you said) but while looking into it I’ve seen that game devs (In some cases) pay the artist royalties and it got me thinking about the whole process of making the game and paying the team and if the artist get royalties how about the programmers and other members of the team do they also get royalties?

But I agree with what you said about “Artists are free to price their work and you’re free to agree to their terms or not.” If I don’t like it, I don’t hire the artist but some people think that it’s wrong to not pay the artist royalties and that is why I’m making this post to know more about it personally I think that it’s more fair to pay upfront and end it there

I will guarantee you the vast majority of artist would prefer commission upfront than any royalties or revenue share option. Royalties or revenue share is often used instead of upfront payment, and while it has the potential to earn you more in the end, the likely hood for that to happen is minimal (Especially as an adult game).

Anyway in most cases its much better if you learn to make the art yourself (or one of your group) then trying to find an artist. Art takes a very long time to make (compared to the other aspects), and will or cost you a ton of money upfront, or properly close to 75% of any revenue share you would earn in the end. Any artist taken a smaller % revenue (especially if it goes under 50%) don't know how much works it is, and will almost guaranteed quit before you even get close to a first release.

 

[Cryswar]

I work with a lot of artists, and each one I commission normally. I, admittedly, usually avoid those with a commercial fee (usually +$20-30 flat or +50-100% of base price) but am always upfront about the commercial usage.

Some have made it clear they don't want me to sell merch of the art without discussing it with them, but don't care about commercial usage in a game.

If you want good quality 2d art, it's generally gonna be around $150-300 per piece, much more with bigger names, though some artists undercut themselves criminally.

Haven't had any broach the subject of revenue sharing, nor a single peep about royalties. Most devs aren't making anywhere near enough for either to be worth discussing unless the artist is VERY passionate about the project.

Otherwise I'll just echo what others here have said - have a clear agreement with the artist upfront before any money or drawing happens. Again, very few devs are anywhere near the income of even a normal job, much less the profit needed to support multiple jobs, but it's still a business and you still want to be very careful to avoid possible legal issues.