Sourcing unpaid work for non-commercial projects

[Sartain]

So I've been thinking about creating a game for a while now and, having delved into the various options I've settled on Twine 1.4.2/Sugarcube for my training-wheels engine.
I've been familiarising myself with syntax and scripting, and am beginning to develop a simple gameplay engine that hopefully will turn out to be functional enough for a first project.

However, I'm not much of a writer and even less of an artist so I was considering how exactly to populate my story framework with actual content other than mechanics and that made me think of "crowdsourcing" it. I'm guessing that there's probably a bunch of writers and artists out there who can't be bothered/don't have the to build a game but might like their art showcased in a non-commercial project. What's the community opinion on this, asking content creators to pitch in with a couple of pics or scenes in exchange for being credited? Would YOU be interested in contributing to such a project?

 

[polywog]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but it sounds like you want some talented people to give you some stories and art, so that you can do some crowdfunding scam, and then run off with the money.

 

[Sartain]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but it sounds like you want some talented people to give you some stories and art, so that you can do some crowdfunding scam, and then run off with the money.

I'm not entirely sure which part of "non-commercial" and "first project" that makes you think "MONEY SCAM" but I can assure you it's not

Should my first project somehow become a financial success, it would be because all contributors agreed to monetize it and any profits would be shared according to whatever agreement was made before it was monetized in the first place. And I'd be willing to sign whatever (reasonable) legal documents contributors felt was needed to protect the use of their content, if necessary. This is not some "get rich quick" scheme

I'm really just looking for an opening into actually developing a game and was thinking that considering the tons of unfinished/on hold/abandoned games out there, there must be lots of people out there who feel like they have something they can contribute, but are not necessarily looking to create their own project from scratch and who are not immediately concerned with cashing in, but rather whose primary focus is actually putting their mark on something that is put out there for others to experience.

 

[polywog]

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[Sartain]

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Yeah, something like that

 

[lancelotdulak]

Post your ideas in this very forum. In detail. With what you want. And an agreement on ownership of the project.. no the people doing most of the work (the artists) arent just going to give you the copyright to their work. Agree on an equal split in writing, with your real names etc. Email or mail the agreement. That makes it legally actionable and backs up a DMCA claim if you fuck them (which will make your game go poof if you fuck them). Im sure there are lots of folks here who would. Id collaberate with people on a deal like that for the right kind of game. I can do all of the above but i enjoy the art part. (no im not offering sorry trying to get sorted on creating my own game.. just got all the models etc finalised and trying to find time for rendering/posing)

 

[Sartain]

Post your ideas in this very forum. In detail. With what you want. And an agreement on ownership of the project.. no the people doing most of the work (the artists) arent just going to give you the copyright to their work. Agree on an equal split in writing, with your real names etc. Email or mail the agreement. That makes it legally actionable and backs up a DMCA claim if you fuck them (which will make your game go poof if you fuck them). Im sure there are lots of folks here who would. Id collaberate with people on a deal like that for the right kind of game. I can do all of the above but i enjoy the art part. (no im not offering sorry trying to get sorted on creating my own game.. just got all the models etc finalised and trying to find time for rendering/posing)

All of this is good advice...IF I wasn't just looking for somebody to collab on a non-profit thing Still, I appreciate the input. Judging from the replies to this post I doubt I can be bothered to do it though, seems like there the community here might be focused more on cash input than creative output

 

[anne O'nymous]

[...] seems like there the community here might be focused more on cash input than creative output

I don't want to be harsh, but did you really expected someone to say, "yes, count me in", to your offer ?

Contrarily to what you say, there's artists ready to collaborate for free on a free project. But you must understand that, whatever if they are freelancers or amateurs, they can also collaborate to a project where they'll be payed. Therefore, before joining, they want something concrete. To works for free, they need to be interested by the project, to have the envy to jump in it. But what you offer is just the project of a project.

As for the writers, well, when they have an idea and want to make a game out of it, they generally are the ones who start the project. And in this case, why should they choose, I quote you, "a simple gameplay engine that hopefully will turn out to be functional enough for a first project", when there's so many free, well known, and robust, games engines available ? Especially when they don't even know if the said "gameplay engine" will fit their story.


So yes, you don't get answers, but you must understand that it's difficult to answer when there's nothing proposed.

 

[Sartain]

I don't want to be harsh, but did you really expected someone to say, "yes, count me in", to your offer ?

Contrarily to what you say, there's artists ready to collaborate for free on a free project. But you must understand that, whatever if they are freelancers or amateurs, they can also collaborate to a project where they'll be payed. Therefore, before joining, they want something concrete. To works for free, they need to be interested by the project, to have the envy to jump in it. But what you offer is just the project of a project.

As for the writers, well, when they have an idea and want to make a game out of it, they generally are the ones who start the project. And in this case, why should they choose, I quote you, "a simple gameplay engine that hopefully will turn out to be functional enough for a first project", when there's so many free, well known, and robust, games engines available ? Especially when they don't even know if the said "gameplay engine" will fit their story.


So yes, you don't get answers, but you must understand that it's difficult to answer when there's nothing proposed.

I get what you're saying: "You need X years of experience for this entry-level job "

Joking aside, this is a bit of a circular argument. To get people interested in a collaborative project I first need to create the design document for said project, but to create a reasonable design document for a collaborative project I first need to know what kind of skills are available for it.

Really, this thread was never meant as a "please join my completely undefined project" but rather as a "feel free to indicate your potential and non-obligated interest in potentially collaborating". Maybe I didn't manage to make that clear enough but the "promise" of this preliminary gauging thread was simply that I would like to create something together with others, as I don't see me managing any sort of acceptable project solo, and maybe there were others out there who felt the same. I'm not asking people to work FOR me, I'm asking if there are people out there who might like to work TOGETHER.

 

[lancelotdulak]

My actual point was you need to lay out the deal anyway even with no money. Who owns the game? Who owns the Artwork etc.

And if you want to do a free game on the side for fun great. tell people your ideas. And btw there is a LOT of experience on this board.. From professional programmers to professional 3d artists with years of experience

 

[anne O'nymous]

I get what you're saying: "You need X years of experience for this entry-level job "

If I wanted to say this, I would have wrote : "Nobody know you, why do you expect them to trust you and your supposed game play engine ? What tell them that you really have a game play engine ? What tell them that you'll not take their works, run away, then come back in few months with a Patreon account and a game that will use their free works ?"

On a side note, those are also legit questions regarding your project, but I decided to trust you and not address them.

Really, this thread was never meant as a "please join my completely undefined project"

Then where's the project explanation ? What do you effectively want ? Because actually all we know is that you want someone to use the engine you are writing ; an engine that yourself describe as not guarantied to works.

but rather as a "feel free to indicate your potential and non-obligated interest in potentially collaborating".

But collaborating to what ?

Is your "game play engine" designed for platform game ? Is it designed for Visual novel ? If yes, pure kinetic, or extended like most Ren'py games ? Did it works with images, and then do you want 2D or pre rendered 3D ones, or is it designed to use WebGL, and so have a (more or less) real time 3D ?

And what kind of story do you want ? Should it be more on the harem builder side, or more on the Sim date one ? Should the MC be a stud, or will he be submissive ? Or perhaps he'll try to spread his corruption ? Oh, by the way, should the MC be a male or a female ? Futa perhaps ? Or even hermaphrodite ? Human, alien, furry ? Heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, other ?
Should this be a fantasy setting, a Sci-Fi one ? Perhaps a parallel universe like many games actually ? What kinks are you expecting ? Is BDSM, urology, scatology good with you, or do you prefer more vanilla sex ?

As for the artist, in addition to the 2D/pre-rendered 3D/realtime 3D, what do you expect ? Realistic CGs, cartoonish ones ? Manga style ?


The answer to those questions, and the many ones I haven't wrote, are what is missing to your proposition: the definition of the project.

You want people to be ready to collaborate to... something they know absolutely nothing about. And you really seem to think that it's natural to want this, that it's how things works...

 

[Sartain]

I suppose I may have underestimated how much info it takes to make someone go "I might be up for working together, what's the plan?".
I've definitely had my question of "...what's the community opinion on this, asking content creators to pitch in with a couple of pics or scenes in exchange for being credited?" answered though.

 

[toolkitxx]

Without taking sides here - i feel the arguments have been a bit harsh so far - i give you my 2 cents for your problem:

What you are looking for are mostly people either already modding some other game or mainly interested in modding. Your scope of filling your 'engine/platform' with content in a form of crowd sourcing is pointing right towards that group. Modders are most often fine with just getting credits for what they do and they also most often dont want to create the entire thing but only bits and pieces.

As the 'owner' of the project it is up to you to either hand out some base line rules/ideas that enables a 'crowd' to pour into that requirement or to at least keep a controlling overview of who makes what and whatfor. Since you are both looking for art and written content you will have to create some basic workflow that either starts with the story and the art will be based on that or vice versa - get some art and spin a story around it. Both approaches are tricky at times but managable if you are willing and able to be the 'spider in the middle' keeping all the threads in hand and helping with oversight etc.