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+---- Thread: Recruiting a team for your game? (/thread-8373.html)
Recruiting a team for your game? - SethWillits - Dec 1, 2010 07:03 PM
Have a great game idea? Need to recruit a team to work on it?
Good luck.
Game programming is a difficult and laborious process. Unless you are offering paid positions, the chances of finding a game programmer to work on your project for free are about the same as winning the lottery. The simple truth of the matter is that game ideas are cheap; everybody has one. Game developers aren't super geeky coders with no ideas and lots of free time just waiting to be directed, so unless you're an established game developer with a proven track record of shipping games, it's unlikely anybody will ever respond to your plea for free labor. The "promise" of profit sharing is not motivation enough to get someone to work on your idea for free in the mean time.
Consequently, in order to be taken seriously, you absolutely must present yourself in the most professional way possible and have already undertaken a serious amount of work.
Here are some things which MUST be in your post:
- Include information about the game itself.
If your idea is locked up in a vault somewhere, so too shall your post.
- List what you bring to the table.
Do you have any skills, such as coding, art, or sound and music? Have you ever worked on and shipped a game before? If so, be sure to list this. Include your resumé. How can you expect anyone to do 90% of the work if they're not going to earn 90% of the profit?
- List what work you've already done
Dreaming of a game is easy. Actually starting real work on a game is hard. Finishing a game is the holy grail. If you haven't done anything, the odds are that never will. Show your prework upfront.
- Have a link to your website.
If you can't even take the time to have a decent website with information about your team and/or game, how can you possibly be taken seriously? This is where you should include your past experience.
Some things you absolutely do not want to do:
- Do not use exclamation points. It does not make your enthusiasm contagious.
- Do not claim that adding up the estimated sales of similar games is "extensive market research" and proves your game will make money.
And finally, some harsh realities you should prepare for:
- Nobody replying to your post.
If this happens, you have two choices. You can either slink off into the darkness and never show your face again, or you can get your hands dirty, learn to code, and make the game yourself. The latter, of course, we would be happy to help you with.