What game studios do contract work?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Mooflet, Aug 8, 2012.

  1. Mooflet

    Mooflet Member

    Jul 31, 2012
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    Hey guys. I'm having a pretty hard time discovery game studios that do contract work. Was wondering if anyone knew how to uncover them or knows any....I've gotta be missing something. PS, oDesk isn't helping lol. Thanks guys!
     
  2. Thomas Lund

    Thomas Lund Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2008
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    IT consultant and game developer
    Sweden
    I think most game studios do work for hire to stay alive. We certainly do.

    But on same time page, we dont do everything - and we only have capacity for so and so many jobs.

    What exactly is it you are looking for?

    /Thomas
     
  3. Mooflet

    Mooflet Member

    Jul 31, 2012
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    In search of a studio that can develop a polished (Jetpack Joyride, Ski Safari) 2D sidescroller. I have the idea fully fleshed out (design document complete) as well as character art and logos.

    Do you have any suggestion as to how I can find other game studios such as yours? And what type of money do you think this project would cost? For maybe a team of 2 or 3. Thanks for the reply!
     
  4. coby_pxs

    coby_pxs Member

    Oct 10, 2011
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    Technical Director
    Missouri, USA
    A lot of studios that do work for hire don't have to advertise or go and search for work due to previous connections/relationships. At least that's the case for us and the other small studios I know personally.

    Now that I think about it, I don't know know where one would go to find such a thing, other than posting bid requests in game developer related forums (like this one.)

    As to answer your question on cost, it varies greatly between studio to studio. Past experience, current work load, country, timeline -- all of those things make a big difference on cost. We provide a programmer/artist pair at a monthly rate of $9k but there are much cheaper (and some more expensive) options out there.
     
  5. MightyGate

    MightyGate Member

    Feb 21, 2012
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    Spain
    We, in MightyGate, had made more contract work than own work :) ...you can contact us at: [email protected] if you are interested in something.

    Cheers!
     
  6. Thomas Lund

    Thomas Lund Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2008
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    IT consultant and game developer
    Sweden
    Yeah - generally you should calculate at approx $4-5k per man per month at a small/medium sized, professional work-for-hire studio.

    Can you get it cheaper? Certainly. Will the result be cheap? Most certainly.

    How long to create your game? Impossible to answer without doing a lot of estimation work. The devil is in the detail. Gut feeling would be 4-6 calendar months.

    So just to finish this small non-scientific and non-binding calculation - to give you an idea. If this is a 6 months project with 3 guys on the team (1 programmer, 2 art guys) - that would end up costing you 3 * $5k/month * 6 months = $90k

    How to find? If I were you, I would find a studio that made games in similar style (art and/or gameplay wise). Download a ton of game demos, google their website and other work, contact them directly. There is no directory that I know off.

    Hope that helps

    /Thomas
     
  7. Mooflet

    Mooflet Member

    Jul 31, 2012
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    Well the game doesn't have levels, it would be similar to the game Robot Unicorn Attack, where the environment structures are in random orders every time the player has an attempt. Wouldn't this be a considerably smaller job compared to a level game because of that?
     
  8. Thomas Lund

    Thomas Lund Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2008
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    IT consultant and game developer
    Sweden
    Actually I dont think so, no. But contact some studios - get some quotes - but dont expect it to be much lower.

    I'm simply blind guessing not seeing your design and ambitions - but making games is not cheap :)

    /Thomas
     
  9. nvx

    nvx Well-Known Member

    Jan 7, 2011
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    Agree with that +1
    Though most of everything else you said is also spot on


    @OP
    There might be many small aspiring (read: cheap) indie developers lurking through the forums, you could try pique their interest:
    post more info about your game, maybe some rough concept sketches and more specific project details.

    Then you wont even need to search or ask anyone, they will contact you ;)
     
  10. worldalpha

    worldalpha Active Member

    Jun 29, 2012
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  11. mattmanp

    mattmanp Well-Known Member

    Dec 8, 2008
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    I found several small studios with links to contact them for contract work when I was checking out studios located near me. I don't remember off hand which they were but I found them using GameDevMap. You can try that too. BTW, I'm in Austin if you're wanting to search the game devs I was looking up.

    http://www.gamedevmap.com
     
  12. Mooflet

    Mooflet Member

    Jul 31, 2012
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    Thanks guys, all this info really helped!
     
  13. mobile1up

    mobile1up Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2008
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    Technical Director
    Munich, Germany
    just sent you a PM..

    be sure not to think exclusively about iOS - while it is a great platform to work on - beware of the iOS trap. you can spend a lot of money working on a title and with little or no exposure, you get screwed because no-one can find your app. find a publisher/developer who can offer you a cross-platform experience.

    my games run on multiple platforms (from same code base) - iOS is actually not the most profitable due to visibility in the app store. when you get some publicity, expect sales :) no publicity - expect nothing.
     
  14. FluffyLogic

    FluffyLogic Member

    FluffyLogic

    I imagine most independant developers will accept contract work, if the price is right. We (FluffyLogic) do contract work not only in the game realm, but also developing functional apps.

    I don't think many developers advertise it too openly, as it tends to be something most studios are happy to take part in when the opportunity arises, as opposed to something they actively go out and seek. That may have been why you had problems finding studios that advertised it.
     
  15. Charybdis

    Charybdis Well-Known Member

    Apr 2, 2011
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    Kyoto, Japan
    #15 Charybdis, Aug 17, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2012
  16. Rubicon

    Rubicon Well-Known Member

    Feb 22, 2011
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    Lead Programmer, Chief Bottlewasher
    Isle of Wight, UK
    Another problem you're going to run in to, is that if they're any good they're probably either busy already or better off writing their own jetpack joyride beater.

    We're a small studio and have done a ton of wfh in the past. Because of our overall experience levels and proven reputation for getting anything finished on time, we even charged quite a bit higher than the "standard" $4-5K a month. A lot higher tbh.

    But I wouldn't do it now. Given we have all the kit and knowledge in place, it's better to put our own apps out and keep all the royalties forever.

    All wfh does is pay you whilst you work. (I guess the clue is kinda in the title). We did it as Rubicon for seven years, and after seven years all we took out was having existed for seven years - on average earning less than we did over the past 10-20 working for bigger studios as employees. (Due to dry periods between jobs).

    Big fail, should've gone indie much sooner.

    So my advice would be to start a company and hire your talent permanently, or give shares to get the best.
     

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