Need paid artist for Xmas Bonus 2

I need to hire a 3D artist and possibly a 2D artist for my next game Xmas Bonus 2.

Some history:

I made two match-3 games; Xmas Bonus and Easter Bonus in BlitzPlus and released them on Big Fish Games and Reflexive Arcade. They did pretty well, all things considered, but I realised that I needed more "bling" and so I've been working with a U.S. game producer who has hired a 2D artist for backgrounds and a 3D artist for game objects, plus a professional classical musician. I recoded my match-3 engine using my Grey Alien Framework and BlitzMax and the whole thing is looking amazing now, a surefire winner, you'll see it anyway at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about my next game, and I want to reuse the new match-3 engine to make a sequal to Xmas Bonus but with pro-quality graphics. I only really need to plug in the new art/music and change a few game mechanics. I need to get the game by ready mid-November so that I can show it to all the major portals ready in time for a mid-December release. This is why I need to find a great artist pretty soon because the art will be fairly time consuming and needs to be started ASAP.

So if you are interested in working with me on this as a 3D artist, you need to be experienced at making diverse 3D models (and animations) suitable as smallish game pieces (see Easter Bonus) and other game objects. You also have to put up with making "cheesy" Christmas stuff to, no guns, aliens and blood I'm afraid. I'd prefer to work with someone with a good track record of a) reliability (i.e. can complete projects) and b) good quality work of course. So please either post links or email me (email address is in my profile) with links or examples of your work and some background about yourself.

Also I haven't 100% decided if I want hand-drawn 2D backgrounds for the game, or 3D rendered ones yet. But if you are a great 2D artist (not sprite artist) who can make full-screen "paintings", and who would be capable of making a Christmas theme, then please let me know!

OK, I look forward to hearing from you soon, thanks :-D

I don't know what you're willing to pay, but I suggest posting on CGTALK.com's job forums, and state exactly what you're willing to pay if you're not offering much so you don't get lots of people who won't work for that much to apply. You're likely to get a lot of foreign artists if you don't offer much. But some of them, at least, can speak english. :-)

I would also make sure to specify what art you will need as best you can, (5 powerups, 4 colored blocks, menu screen, etc.) and that the artist will be paid upon completion of the work, or half when half the work is completed. Try to sound professional.

This is how I found the artist who is now working on Alien Space Beetles for me, and he's gotten almost half the work done in just a little over a week. I offered $1K upon completion (he negotiated to get half upon half being completed) and up to $2500 in royatlies payable at a rate of I think it was 10-20% of net sales. I got about 15-20 responses to this.

So $1000 with two weeks of work (but long days I assume)? That starts to sound like decent pay, considering the royalties. No wonder you got so many responses... IMO this is the way to go, offering a decent pay and 50/50 scheme before ad after completion plus royalties. That insures that the artist gets some money no mater what happens with the code/developer side (and usually happens, like total disappearing when he gets the art and should pay for it).

Mustang:
Well I thought I was gonna get like one alien every day or two, not all the art in two weeks. :-)

With royalties, sure it's more, but royalties are not guaranteed! The game could be a dismal failure.

Yeah... I meant that I would have thought that the "quaranteed" pay of $1K is already OK and everything else after that a bonus - but it's not something that I would include to my estimate if the job is worth the trouble. Often the game never gets finished (and thus sold) so royalties are very uncertain in most cases. But it's a nice "what if" with no added risk or cost to the developer.

Yeah I posted a thread a while ago on Indiegamer about paying artists royalties or money, and the general consensus seemed to be that artists want the cash of course because royalties are not guaranteed in any way.

Anyway I'll be paying an appropriate amount as this will be a professional game - a business venture, and I don't want "monkeys". I do need to explain things in English as well, as it's likely that some of the shapes will need tweaking.

I thought I'd give Blitz Forum members a chance first.

This is going to be Kick Ass :)

I'd help out in any area you like but by the sound of it you've got a fantastic musician now (and I mean fantastic!). Plus I don't have any spare time right now.
Anyway, since this is about visuals I will let everyone else jump in!

Grey, isn't a mid December release a little late?

Good luck with finding an artist :)

@Mustang
$1k for a two weeks work? Where do you life that this counts out? This must be really a warm swamp... :O)

Cyg: Thanks dude, I'll let you know if you can be of any help.

Qube: Well from my experience, you need to send the game to the portals at least a month in advance. Also when you release on the portals a game is only really "HOT" for around 2 weeks, so naturally you release a Christmas game 2 weeks or so before Christmas for the biggest sales in the time when people are most tuned in to it. Don't forget that people will still buy Christmas games between Christmas and New Year because they are on holiday and using the Internet. However, I often make the mistake of thinking that Christmas is the end of December when in fact it's a little bit earlier, so thanks for reminding me that I ought to release the game in the second week of December I think, for the optimum take up maybe on Mon 11th?

At the moment I'm jsut getting the ball rolling, putting out feelers for the art. I'm pretty confident that when people see the quality of my next game, that it will generate lots of interest for Xmas Bonus 2 and the right person will come along.

taum:
I make around $1500 a month. I live in a city in NH. It costs me $595 a month for a 1BR apartment which is pretty nice (other than being in a smoker's building) and the rest goes towards food, gas, electric, internet, cable, and phone, with enough left over to go out to eat three or four times a week. I work from home so I don't have to fill my tank but once every couple weeks. And I don't have any credit cards or student loans, so I have no debt to pay off. If ate out about half as much I could get by on just $1200 a month actually. It's not a great way to live, but it is possible, and I've got lots of nice stuff and live in a clean apartment so I feel like I'm living the middle class lifestyle. :-) I will however be earning quite a bit more shortly when I release one of my own games... HOPEFULLY.

So you spend the $1500 each month? Sounds nice eating out 3-4 times a week or do you inlcude takeaways in that. Hey with all this eating I hope your exercise! I look forward to Space Beetles, I thought it had died a death after I was the only one who showed an interest lol ;-)

Just to compare, our family brings in around $6000 per month and the house costs $2100 (similar proportion to you I guess), but then I have $320 Council Tax every month + other bills + loans (for home improvements) + have to feed a family of 4 etc + not much fuel as we both work at home. Having kids means we don't eat out much unless we feel like hiring a baby sitter, but we do get maybe 1 takeaway a week. Thing is, we have no spare cash as it's all for anything, so it seems like your lifestyle could feel more afluent for sure. It's all about *disposable income* not how much you earn, because we have practically nil disposable income until I start earning more money...However, I DO have many resources at my disposal which is why I can pay an artist.

I better start on my Xmas game... :-)

This all works out if you're living alone, are a student, life in a cheap area and so on.

And it doesn't if you have to pay taxes, assurances, pay a rental in a city like munich, have to feed your family blabla...

Grey:
I don't eat at fast food places much, but I do include take out with that. Like fish, and chinese. But for burgers and other stuff, I go to steakhouses and taverns. Costs between $12-$25 for a typical meal. I went a little crazy and spent a bit too much a couple months ago when i found this gourmet place with reasonable prices. Of course those reasonable prices were $5-$10 more than a regular meal, but OH so worth it. :-) I had a $50 meal at this one fancy place about six months ago (I didn't know what the prices were like before I went in or I probably wouldn't have gone!) and this other place is just as good but only costs around $16-$20 on average. Having nothing better to do with my time and money I've been trying all the local places to find the best food at the most reasonable prices. :-)


As for Space Beetles... I stopped working on that when I got some paid work to do, and I've been doing paid work since then. But I decided I wanted to release something of my own. And I always knew that the game would never sell great with those old graphics, but I was making do with what I had. So now I'm working on it again, and I've got an artist producing nicer stuff. Whether it interests other Blitz users doesn't matter because the game is aimed at casual gamers. But I think once they see the new graphics in action their interest will be piqued. :-)

you dare!

Taumel: Yeah basically when I was single and life cost lest and I earnt good money, say 8 years ago, life was pretty sweet, lots of spare cash but I worked too hard and never went on holiday (so swings and roundabouts)...But yeah, I think being an indie developer is *much* easier if you are young single and talented and live in a cheap place so you don't have to worry big-time about bills/supporting family etc and can just experiment and learn the Indie ropes. For me it's been hard trying to earn money traditionally and spend time doing Indie stuff so I can 100% switch over to Indie gaming, but I can only do this when my income from it hits a certain level - and to do that I need to make top quality games that hit the portal top spots...

sswift: sounds great, I'm jealous. However, some meals I can make pretty well myself and I've been out and paid for *worse* meals than I can make myself before! So yeah, finding cool places is neat. I'm still interested in the game, when can you release a screenie? Did you sort out the mouse control? Hey, I just played a mouse control shooter: Alien Stars. I reviewed it on www.binaryjoy.com

It's been 25-30C summer here so the swamp has been even too hot for my skin, but the swamp will freeze soon enough when the winter comes. As for the $1K / two weeks I thought it's a nice sum for someone who's:

a) still living home without extra costs (like many younger Blitzers here)

b) employed, but wants some additional cash (using evenings to do the gfx)

I couldn't live by that kind of income, but I have a house, wife and 1½ kids + car etc. But someone offering $1K here on these forums is much more than the usual "can someone do it for me free" or "I'll promise to pay you something if it gets finished". :)

Grey,

I've emailed you.

IPete2.

Hello.

Just to comment on the OT income stuff. I did some calculations the other day and after I'd accounted for beer, ciggies, partying, lunches, rent, loans and subscriptions I had £7 a month left for bills, food, petol, council tax, etc :o)

Time to adjust my lifestlye somewhat, perhaps?

Goodbye.

SoggyP: Yeah if you drink cheaper beer you'll have maybe £15 a month spare? Actually most people seem to expand their spending to fit their income, what's tricky is going backwards if you need to! My spare income each month if we earn £3000 as a family is more or less £0 or negative.

Mustang: yeah $1k is better than most offers on this forum of MMORPs made in 2 weeks, make all the 3D models and get paid at the end haha. Lots of people aren't full time so extra income is cool, but art does take a long time...

Ipete2: got it thanks + replied. Also had a great musician offer servies too.

Hello.

Grey: I read a report recently that to develop their beer bellies, on average, UK men spend £22 a week. Alas, I'm up to about £80-£100 a week. Forget the damage to my body, it's the fact I don't remember half of it that's upsetting :o) Still, I think I've enjoyed myself. I think it's the fact that clubs now don't close until 5am that's the problem - you'd think they should be responsible for kicking people out before it gets light. Y'know, if I won the lottery I probably wouldn't last two weeks ;o)

Goodbye.

hmm yes the self destructive streak is common, but it is possible to change your mindset although it takes around 3 weeks to form new habits and you have to be steadfast in your new outlook - but maybe you don't want to anyway ;-) I can't imagine you with a beer belly but then anythings possible, have you gained weight recently?

Grey:
What was wrong with the mouse control?

The new version fo the game will be done in BlitzMax so maybe there won't be an issue.

I thought there were complaints of it either felling funny (cos you'd limited it) or allowing you to move too freely (cos you hadn't limited it), but I can't remember, I just remember there *may* have been an issue...

Grey see signiture

http://www.jportfolio.co.uk

See also



- board hand drawn
- background hand drawn
- tiles + rack + bin 3d
- player pieces 3d

Recent art done for somones game (3d and 2d).. this was done to specifications with many modifications along the way.

Contact me if you are interested.

skn3[ac]: great thanks for the link and example. Actually I remember seeing your work before, nice. I'm preparing a list of assets shortly and will ask candidates to prepare a small example object to see what they can do...

Something I made a day or two ago for a game




What's the ransom for your project Grey? :P

nice stuff Gellyware. Hmm well I need to make a full asset list and work out what I think I could pay for it (perhaps trimming the list if need be) and then I can be more specific about my budget. Might have to do the list next week now. Whatever I pay will be fair of course, cos I'm not messing around :-) However, if my plan reveals the budget will be sky high I'll need a rethink, as this game needs to be churned out pronto + actually make *me* some money instead of just the artists/musician :-)

Grey, advent calendars kicko off on dec 1st... If your investing so much capital why not take the gamble and try to have it ready for december 1st ?

Grey I think you're leaving the release date too late - Christmas starts so early these days (been looking at Christmas Menus again today). :-(

You have to get the game out and noticed well before December.

btw I think the graphics in the first Christmas game let it down so you're right to put this right and improve gameplay.

My sales date is based on the peak I recorded for the last game and the fact that your game is only "new" for a certain amount of time on portals before it "disappears" from the main page and I don't want this happening too soon before Christmas. That's why I wanted a 2-3 week window before Christmas Day. I think I'll go for Mon 4th December in the end...but I'll listen to what the portals think too.

Steve Elliott: Yeah the graphics will be top notch, + what do you think I can do to improve the classic match-3 gameplay then? Lots of people thought the gameplay in Xmas Bonus was great. However, I've got great lists of stuff I could do to it, let alone the new bonus items I could add. I just wondered what your take on it was? Hey btw, your PC is so like mine: P4 3.2Ghz HT, 1Gb RAM, Radion 9800XT :-) I remember that my framework runs well on your PC.

I can't remember how much the gameplay varied between Easter Bonus and the Christmas version - but the graphics and general polish meant I bought Easter Bonus - but would have preferred a Christmas game.

I just mentioned gameplay and graphical improvements assumming you'd try and improve both.

I think our (now old) graphics cards are worth aiming for now as a minimum system LOL.

yeah, the graphics and polish were a whole lot better in EB for sure, but the gameplay was pretty much the same. My latest game has more gameplay elements and so would Xmas Bonus 2. It needs to have to compete against other modern match-3's and similar.

You might want to also consider the portal scheduling. With Real Arcade, I wasn't able to get a specific release date that I had wanted, the release date was based upon when they could work it into their scheduling. Plus if they have any comments in advance, then that will delay the initial release.

So Grey, have you found anyone yet? I still think a sprite based Christmas Bonus would look great but I`m biased. 3D graphics are fine but they lack emotion in my opinion which is what Christmas is all about after all. Good luck with it though and I hope you find someone. I`m still eager to see how your other game shapes up. Hopefully it will be the big seller your after.

Jason.

gellyware, yeah I know that portals work to their own timescales and rule sets, so my plan is to get the game to them very early and say OK can we release around this date, so providing they get everything ready early they can hold it until 1st week of Dec.

QuickSilva: Yeah a sprite-based one would look good, to me, but these days if you look at the casual portals, there simplya aren't any retro sprite games, they are either all prerendered 3D or cartoon style. So I'm going with what the market ecpects here, it's purely a business decision. Anyway, I have a couple of very good candidates thanks so ought to get this project off the ground. The current game will be out at the end of the month, the graphics have taken a long time because the artists are part-time.

Well I`m looking forward to finally seeing it. It`s a shame about the lack of sprite based games. If you look on consoles like the GBA and DS it is a completely different story. I would go as far to say that prerendered 2D games on these systems usually fair very poorly in reflection to their sprite based cousins.

Example,

Sprite based:


Prerendered


For me the sprite based one wins hands down everytime. Note also that the second one was nowhere near as popular as Yoshis Island which I am sure is mainly down to the look that was loved by many.

Jason.

yeah I agree with you, it's just that sprite-based isn't current on PCs unfortunately.

you might want to take into account how may developers
are delaying their releases til xmas - if you release too late,
the publishers may not have time to sort it out...and then
you will get shafted...release it earlier..

then again..i dont have a clue about these things ;)

well there are a lot of things released at Christmas it's true, I'll just talk to them and show them an Alpha early on to get them on-side for a correctly timed release as they'll know it makes sense.