Artist royalties?

[Dr. Light]

Lets say I got an artist to do a few simple animations for me (10 animations @ 7 frames a piece). What average percent of the royalties, given that I can find one to work with that, would be fair?

[Jake]

It depends on the quality and size, there is no set % for art.

[applekid]

If the art's for Microbian, I think I can help you there. I'll throw some samples at you once I finish the review and send you my finds.

[Joseph Duchesne]

I can help with art to. Just reply or email me, JD@staronesw.com

[Dr. Light]

Well Jo, do you have something I can look at to review your work?

Darn, it seems I'll have to turn one guy down. This job just keeps getting tougher, and tougher, and....:(

[Joseph Duchesne]

Um, I don't have anything big right know. The icrobe I drew up was destroyed by gifbuilder :( so I can't show it to you. What do you want exactly? I'll draw you a 7 frame microbe at (what x and y) for free and you can use it if you like. How big do you want it?

Also you can try Leuardra, www.staronesw.com/Leuardra_1.0.1.sit (120k)
I made that game entirely my self. 100% of the graphics snds and code. Only problem is that is was made for the metal contest so I could only use 256*256 total graphics.

[Jake]

And the tiles are 24x16, so thats probably not a good example :wow:

[Dr. Light]

Just an example of some of your better work, or a proposed sprite for Microbian. Your example doesn't have to be an animation either. No promises right now, since I'll have pick the guy with the better graphics

[Joseph Duchesne]

Um the thing is I don't have any other work :( . I just have Leuardra and my avatar. I can also post a screen shot of a new title screen for leuardra(256*256) if you want. I'll post it soon.
I can't blame you for wanting the best artist :D . I just want to be the best artist myself :) . Well actually I hopw there are better artists than me :bored: .

[Dr. Light]

he he. Well, its nothing personal is all. Just the way its gotta be I guess.

Ok, just do a single good-guy-microbe sprite (not an animation) and that can be your reference.


BTW, is everybody else out of school yet? Or is that in a number of weeks? I don't know what everybody else's schedule is, being a home schooler. :(


However, looking at "Leuardra Preview" from the contest, and your old-schoolish icon, I might have work for you in the distant future. Not any time soon though.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Not old-school, pixel art. that's the style of art I do. I don't know if I can do your game. I can only do Pixel art and 3D modeling/rendering. What style do you want though? Pixel art, 3D, line art, vectro, hand drawn? Other? (also being a home schooler I have no clue :D ) What's your AIM or iChat ID if you have one?

[Dr. Light]

Cool. I used to have an AIM, but the last time I fiddled with it was back in classic a couple of years ago. As for iChat, I only have 10.1.5. I'll look into AIM sometime soon though.

When Microbian is finished, I have an idea for a game I want to work on. Its graphics will be in the style of Glider Pro, only more than 256 colors. So, anything that is SNES in style, only more slicked off, will do.

[Joseph Duchesne]

OK so you will find another artist? iChat works with your old AIM screen name :D . I can do graphics for something later if you want. Sorry I can't do the job :(

[Dr. Light]

I was refering to that "later" project. Yes, by all means try. Try to make your sample either "super cool" or "cute". I'll look over them, and have my publisher take a look. I'll also need your ballpark estimate of what you think is fair for your pay, in % of course. Mail them to me at: dr_light@beau.lib.la.us

[macboy]

Originally posted by Joseph Duchesne
iChat works with your old AIM screen name :D OT: He said he had 10.1.5 :p (iChat's only for Jaguar)

[Joseph Duchesne]

OK so you want me to make a SD character animation for a later game?

[Dr. Light]

I'm saying you should draw a single frame for Microbian, so that I can gauge your abilities. I have not ruled you out, since I have yet to see your finer work, and I would like to see your skill in order to make a decision. Just one 40 x 40 pixels concept.

However, I have a project that I wish to take up after Microbian that I know with a fair degree of certainty you would be well suited for. Whether or not you'd like to, or if I am able to hire you at that time would be decided at that time.:cool:

[Joseph Duchesne]

OK there! finaly I get it:D . I'll post a 40*40 microbe as soon as I can:)

[Dr. Light]

lol.:D

"Once I was blind, but now I can see" :p

[gatti]

If an artist were to develop all visual assets of a game, the programmer should either give a 25 - 35% in sales, or lower the percentage in sales and pay the artist for their services. Artist hourly earnings can range from $5-$125.

I will say one thing...if you want the game to sell, it has to have marketable "eye-catching" design. This goes beyond sprite development.

[Dr. Light]

Well, the interface is very "ambient"(for lack of a better word), and very eye catching as well. The in-game sprites are my current concern, as I want the two to match in quality.

[Mars_999]

Originally posted by gatti
If an artist were to develop all visual assets of a game, the programmer should either give a 25 - 35% in sales, or lower the percentage in sales and pay the artist for their services. Artist hourly earnings can range from $5-$125.

I will say one thing...if you want the game to sell, it has to have marketable "eye-catching" design. This goes beyond sprite development.

Eye candy is just one aspect of a game. Game play is very important. Why do people keep playing CS on the PC? GFX suck if you ask me compared to what's out today. But then again I don't want 8bit graphics either!

[applekid]

I agree with Mars_999...

Graphics still need to be able to reperesent something. You can't just draw a one pixel dot and say that's a character in a RPG. Choose different colors and you've got a whole party! I bet 99% of the people will give up on the game because the graphics do not represent enough. You can have the greatest plot ever invented and a new creative battle system, but the game will not be fun and that's what matters to the player.

But yes, there are plenty of good examples where simple graphics and sometimes simple gameplay created a hot game. Microbian has simple graphics and a little polish would definitely give it the right about of representation. Dr. Light, you should get an e-mail later today with my mostly finished analysis of Microbian and my portfolio.

[David]

Animation and behavior!

The actual graphics are much less important than how things move and react; the environments in Duke 3d feel much more 'real' to me than most new games, just because in new games if you shoot fire hydrant/clock/etc. it usually doesn't break, or even get a hole in it, while in Duke 3d if you shoot a fire hydrant it explodes and creates a fountain of water, and clocks explode in a shower of springs, and so on.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Yes, or the new James Bond game. You hide behind a lamp post, you stand up, they shoot at your head, it hits the lamp it's self and it bursts into glass and there is a small spark of electricity in the lamp shooting around.

[kemalyun]

Here's the way I split the royalties for a game:

Concept, idea, story
10% for a very special story or a complex new idea
5% for a standard-idea and concept

game-graphics
10% for simple single graphics
20% for complex or multi-graphics (multi means more than one set, i.e. different worlds)
30% for complex and multi-graphics

user-interface
5% for backgroundpicture and titlescreen
10% for titlescreen, optionsscreen, sharewareinfoscreen, highscorescreen, enteryournamescreen, shareware-ad screen

sounds
5% for some sound fx
10% for a lot and very nice fx

music
5% for one music
10% for multiple tracks

levels
5% for simple todo levels
10% for a lot of levels or very complex levels
15% for a lot of complex levels
20% for a real lot of very complex levels

coding
10% for a simple program (i.e. snake)
20% for a more complex program (i.e. zador)
30% for a very long and complex program
40% for multiple games in one (i.e. vector games)

marketing
20% always

explanation:
marketing means putting up the game on the download sites, getting it on the CD's, putting ad banners and of course, sending out the registration codes and handling the royalties. Since this part is 20%, the other 80% have to be shared between the others parts.
For example if all the categories above are in the "high-percentage" level because the game has a lot of complex gfx, a lot of music, a very complex code and so on (like gnugs), the percentages have to be adjusted since the total must be 100%. On the other hand, when a game is that complex, the salesprice will be higher so the lower percentages will get more payment.

This is the way i handle it. Adapt it for your own purpose.

Here are some samples how the royalties for my games are split
(these are just hypothetical since I did all the stuff for those games)

ZADOR
concept 10% (different and important)
graphics 20% (different tilesets)
interface 5% (standard)
sounds 5% (standard)
music 10% (different tracks)
levels 15% (50 levels)
program 15% (complex)
marketing 20%

CAN YOU FIND IT
concept 5% (simple concept)
graphics = 0% (no graphics)
interface 5% (title + backgroundpic)
sounds 5% (a few sounds)
music 5% (one music)
levels = 40% (more than 100 edited pictures make the levels)
program 20%
marketing 20%

VECTOR GAMES
concept 10% (vector-idea, multiple games)
graphics 10% (simple vector-graphics)
interface 5% (standard)
sounds 5% (standard)
music 10% (multiple tracks)
levels 10% (simple leveldesign)
program 30% (multiple games)
marketing 20%

Hope that helps.