Elysian Shadows

I was just wondering about how people who are making games with others generally go about this.

It seems like one thing you can do for graphics/music, you can commission it, so you pay one fee and then it's yours.

But if you're selling a game and have a "team", like other programmers, artists, etc. how do you pay everybody?
Has anyone had to deal with this?

My best guess is printing out a monthly statement of profit, giving that to everyone plus their share.

Also, how would you even split payment for work? If I got someone to do just level design for me, it doesn't seem like it'd be enough to justify a 50%/50% cut.

Thoughts?

Well if its indie, you probably divide the profits of your games. Like before it goes out, you decide who gets what cut, and then pay them. But you could also just pay them a set amount each month, and then when you get the game out and get revenue, you hope it makes up for it.

hmm, I think that if the whole team is doing equally challenging things i.e.
Lead Programmer
Co Programmer / Scripter
Lead Artist
Level Designer / Co Artist
etc..
Then I would split profits equally after sales, then whoever the project leader is would get a bigger cut.

But if it's just some art or some level design, I would give a small cut or commission it like you said

This is something I've had to think about once we started talking about releasing a game on the app-store. After Apple's cut, which is 30%, I plan on dividing the 70% between Myself, Tyler, Duncan, and our musician. Whoever our musician is(still yet to be announced) I've decided gets 20%. This is under the assumption they are only creating a couple pieces, and because this particular project is rhythm based, I'll be using a lot of pre-existing music. Next is Duncan, our tester, who gets 5%. I know testing is an important position, but Tyler and I are also play-testing. He's more for a fresh take on things. Last we have Tyler and myself, who are splitting the rest evenly. Some of you may wonder why that is, especially since I'm putting in about twice the hours Tyler is. The main reason is that people care less about code, and more about the way a game looks. (in a casual space) The initial sales are the main part of being successful in the app-store, and those come directly from the way a game looks. So the break down:
30%- Apple
20% - Musician
5% - Duncan (Tester)
22.5% - Ty (Artist/Designer)
22.5% - Myself (Programmer/Designer)

Of course, it's probably not going to look this way for a PC game. Especially if you're getting it published by someone else.

Sometimes I used to work with an artist when making Flash games, and when we got licensing / sponsorship deals, we would just split the cash 50/50.

I would say that my team is a socialistic team, so the money goes to the team, not the individuals, use that to fund the next project

davidthefat wrote:I would say that my team is a socialistic team, so the money goes to the team, not the individuals, use that to fund the next project

I think you have it backwards.