Hillstrom's Forum Posts

  • Procrastinator,

    I know there's a "unfair" share here. It's personal matter only for this first project and only with her because i try to help her impulse her career with a project that, as you said, she can show in her portfolio.

    In this, and only this, first project i play a little like santa. So i can keep this 50/50 and also pay a reasonable amout of money for her work. Just to make it as some sort of safety net if anything goes wrong at relase times.

    My question is how much is good enough to pay for an artist work and what methods of payment worked better for all of you. But forget the end shares in the equation.

    In my opinion, a debugger/profiler should come far before multiplayer or any complex feature like that. It helps already made projects and the ones to come, especially when mobiles are the targets.

    Modularity sounds nice but since it's a more abstract feature i think more explicit features could be made faster or more easily.

    Sounds like it could have it's own poll. Or could be added in mini updates.

    The most needed feature, along a debugger/profiler to me, it's a more focused atention into microtransactions on the most popular platforms (iso/android/windows phone). Similar to the level reached with windows 8.

    I think that close the circle better for us as developers.

    Then, with a foundation that works good enough at development times and also at release times you could add more features like multiplayer and the like.

    Well, that's my two cents (I never liked that expresion ;) )

  • Rabidsheep and EatCreatures,

    Thanks for your examples. That's exactly what i was looking for.

    So we have a $15-20-25 up to $70 with or without further sharing.

    I decided (with my partnert agreetment) something like EatCreatures said. I pay her for her work based on the complexity of the art needed. Since we are both partners in the enterprise we will go 50-50 as planed and for my personal decision as i said before.

    Seeing your examples of payment per hour and resuming the total amount of artwork needed we agreed in a monthly fee for x months until the job is done. For that fee my partner do any art needed. So far i'm happy, she is happy and we keep motivated each on it side of the project.

    We will use this first project as a test for every detail and for the second project we will rework our contract with the best solution we found at that point. In the end we are close friends.

    Keep sharing your thoughts about this, could help people in my position!

    Thanks to everyone for your help! ;)

    PD: Running a hosting company i will broke a golden rule and posted this in the middle of a server migration. Was lost into oblivion of course so i posted today again.

  • Fat40oz,

    Whatever resolution we take about this will alway be backed up with a contract. That's totally in mind. I'm looking into a good "contract" to make so i can keep my friend/partner/artist motivated and payed (i don't know if that word exist) for her work.

    My obstination about that 50/50 share is more of a personal decision than a concern about the contract, a condition from my partner or any doubt about this topic. That share is the only thing i want to keep writed on stone.

    My concern is more in the "while" than in the "when".

    I want to cover the possibility that our project never sells enough (or at all) to make taht share worth the work.

    That's why i want to pay "something" as the work is done. No matter the future 50/50 share (wich remains as my stubborn way to be in peace).

    I like those hourly/pay examples because it helps me to round a number. This number is mostly my concern, no matter the release shares.

    My partner is a soon-to-be graduated from Art's Faculty, she enter in the inexperienced bag but i already saw her works and it's far enough for the project. I don't have much problems with payments. And the project, in terms of art complexity or amount of content is not demanding at all.

    That's what i can add to help round a good number based on your experiences.

    Thanks for your help on this, all of you! ;)

  • rogueNoodle, it's true that our relationship is a partnership and with a 50/50 of any sales i don't need to pay extra. But, in the other hand, hard worked art has it's cost in time and effort and no one can, for sure, know if a game it's going to sale enough or even get released.

    So, to cover that possibility, i preferred to paid for the work as is being done.

    I talked with my partner-artist and she, since is her first work, is happy to whatever decision i make (contract beforehand).

    Thehen, nice insight about your experience. I will take your numbers as a reference.

    For now, we are two. Any new member would require a revision to our divisions and payments. For all this my friend/partner agree.

    I wan't to cover failure of sells with payment-for-work. The shares for sales is more a matter of my personal decision than a condition from her.

    I will take Thehen example as a reference and all your thoughts about not go with big payments if i will share 50/50 in the end. Maybe a cut in the Percentage will work.

    Thanks everyone! And any more insights are always welcome!

  • Hello all!

    Dealing with a team of two, soon 4, i come into something that i never had to deal before. Paying an artist for his/her work.

    I want to now how do you dealt or deal with this based on your projects.

    This is the background of my story about this:

    I'm the main programmer. And a friend of mine is the artist. Both of us conform the "enterprise" so we decided to go 50 - 50 for any penny earned for sales.

    She is in charge (is a she ;) ) not only in drawing but also every other graphics decision. Like a Artist Director. We both decide and write the story of the game and decide the setting and general gameplay (more i than her here).

    So, to short the story, i need to pay her for her work. Even if she is part of the enterprise at a point to earn 50% of everything. (we will see when others comes)

    I don't know how much, if i should pay per page, per final "usable" work, per time, per month no matter the results done.

    If you have any experience about this that didn't end in bullets and regret i all ears. My friend too ;)

  • C2 actually makes it's own folder structure. The one you see when you save as a project. Then depending on the final export could change but usually project structure only matters on design/programming phase.

    Then you also have internal folders on c2 editor. Here you better do as Alexixiv said before, make a subfolder for every area (sounds, music, graphics, backgrounds, etc). But also you should add more and more subfolders so you can track easily (and so your team) any file.

    I usually divide my files into: Graphics/Enemies/Level1 or something like that. Sprites/Enemies/Generic and so for sounds, backgrounds. Nothing in the air.

    Finally containers should be "thinked" as some dangerous but very handy kind of organization. Requires deep previous knowledge about how everything will work. But it pays in the end.

    Foldering a project is a matter of your own sense of order. No one will order better your "stuff" than you.

  • Nice addition Alexixiv!

    I wonder who much you can do without relying on local variables. Your method of jsoning variables could solve many of my initial questions about how to "debloat" an object. Maybe you can tell more about this to us.

    I also do flowcharts but (silly) i do them on paper. Somehow, i don't know if it's C2 graphic programming or what, but prototyping a concept or mechanic is so fast that going to a second program, to draw a quick flow is a test to my cofee-made anxiety. I guess i better use a program for bigger games or when i add saves with the new feature.

    I'm blambling too much again. I also used google drive before switching to Dropbox.

    I'm also trying to condense as much as possible everything to functions. Without actual code i lose focus all the time trying to figure what and what not to make into a function. Damn me.

  • As was told by Scirra team:

    Missed lesson 1 of the Construct 2 Live Class? The full recording is here: twitch.tv/scirra/c/2120175 You can still enroll as well: ureddit.com/class/76284/making-games-with-construct2

    I enjoyend the lesson 1. I learned indirect picking usage and some "checkpoint" mechanics in the process.

    Do you like it too?

  • At es-es.twitch.tv/scirra/c/2120175

    Or ureddit.com/class/76284/making-games-with-construct2

    Go for the button "Cass Location" to the right of both their names!

    Follow them and let's see what they do.

  • Yeah, i developed some kind of OCD with those Groups. There's always a better way to organize them.

    Kanban, i never heard of it, but i also used (when i was forced to code) this kind of flow charts. Now i do quick ones on paper because, somehow, it's faster to prototype in C2 than drawing the concept on a chart.

    But this will be a must for big concept games (micromanagements, rpg, AIs, etc)

    I ditched my first implementation of "object controller" for thoose Groups. In the end they do the same thing. And you don't need a sprite and there's also quick ways to disable them.

    Just to throw some logs to the fire, How do you tackle the multiplatform barrier? (that's for everybody)

  • Damn, I have to steal this topic...

    What about a static background like in Battleheart or in Final Fantasy's combat system (old ones 4,5,6, etc.) and similar games?

    Should be better to use the full image as tiled backgound, as a sprite or should i strip this background image into tiles and use tiled background forming again the image? This sounds like a pain in the back.. but if it helps with performance i will take that route.

    Sorry for the topic stealing!

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  • Yeah, that "master controller" thing is what Game Maker and Multimedia Fusion recomended (mayby because of their particular workflow). Then in C2 i found little use for such object and that make me doubt if i was understanding something wrong.

    About that "objects in objects", it's the only thing in all the recomendations i readed that i didn't use. Since there's families now, it's still usefull to go that way?

    I guess i have all the necesary insights to not program like an ape now.

    Thanks to all!

  • I need the licence damn it. Every time i can buy it something happends and i have to pay other things. My president Stupid as IT's called is killing me..

    I cannot still reach a big level project with "free version" limitations. And Scirra put some serious good tools in later releases :(

    I will set a little fire here:

    In what degree you (all the people) believe is better to array all objects variables instead of put the bunch as individual instance variables? (And, of course, global variables should be used at a minimun.)

    I tend to fear how an array, or many, could eat ram just to call one cell.

    Maybe i'm wrong with this though...

  • Thanks for the link Whiteclaws! Just what i was looking for! :D