Honestly, unless you find a way to get quite a bit of money your best shot is learning to code yourself. This is why I tell fresh grads to stay away from these types of agreements. Assuming you split the revenue 3 ways, there's a 1% the programmer is going to make at least 33 cents. Out of 100 games that get released, only 1 make at least 1 dollar in profit. It is almost exclusively used to extract free labor from recent college grads who are desperate to get their foot in the door. Having a released project will look much more impressive to perspective hires in the future. Also consider limiting the scope of your project, or doing something "simpler" for your first commercial venture. Either one of you takes up programming, or look into visual scripting (Like Unreal's Blueprint system). My advice to you would be to see if you can do it yourselves. You are right in thinking you will not be able to afford the general salary of a senior, that said, you may be able to afford the salary for someone living in a different country, so make sure you're looking internationally. Most people do not want to work for revenue share exclusively. Realistically speaking though, here's what you're likely to encounter: Additionally, make sure you form a company to protect yourself from personal liability. I.e, dont say "We will increase your salary by X at some point" because if you don't (i.e - The game never makes enough money to fund this) you could be sued. My advice to you would be not to suggest anything that isn't based on a contingency. You offer them a percentage of the revenue that the game makes in lieu of salary. And even if what we can pay now is far from the standard (obviously, there is also the option of a part-time job, although progress will be slower), our intention is to reward in the best way possible within our means. I ask this because, when we start the search for a programmer, we want to do the best we can within our humble possibilities. The thing is that I don't know how common this type of agreement is and what formulas are the most widespread and well received among potential candidates. But I think that, beyond the interest that the project may generate, there could be other ways of compensation in the future: either a certain salary increase if the project receives investment (publisher, crowdfunding, government aid, etc.) or a fixed percentage of sales. Let me give you an example: in our current situation it is literally impossible for us to pay a salary equivalent to what a mid or senior programmer could have in an indie company with some experience (not to say a AAA). And about that I wanted to ask you: I have read a lot of books, articles and interviews about the videogame industry, both AAA and indie, but I don't have much information or knowledge about how things are usually done, in contractual terms, in humble developments and in teams with not too many resources that can afford to pay an industry standard salary from the first day. We are at a very early stage and, in fact, in order to get the best possible result, we will need a programmer with some experience. It’s sort of a Dark Souls thing.After a season of making small jam games, a fellow artist and I, design focused, are looking to take the plunge and start our first commercial game while both keeping our jobs and investing our humble savings. Oh, and unlike Super Meat Boy, you have to wait like 10 seconds for the level to reload in order to attempt it again, so that makes you try harder. I couldn’t figure out how to integrate it with the platforming but it’s all readable there in the options menu. The developer believed the game will soar to the top of the charts on its unique elements, explaining, “First of all the story is epic - an entire world with warring tribes of turtle men. “I turned down a big promotion with a company car to work on this,” Petrov added. “For years I’ve wanted to make a game that was like a cross between Super Meat Boy and Celeste, you know? Completely my vision.” Sploosh!” said a proud Petrov, who estimates he is less than two months from finishing Turtle’s Jumping Journey. “I figured the best way to get my feet wet with game development was to immediately quit my full-time job and just dive in full time. Local independent game developer John Petrov has staked his entire financial future and personal stability on the success of Turtle’s Jumping Journey, a game sources close to the 32-year-old don’t have the courage to tell him is doomed to fail.
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