Revshare is garbage. Thread

Maybe this isn't officially the right place to put it but it is where it needs to be.

Revshare is just begging for free labor.

You're paying for literally everything else in your life. Don't rip artists off by saying you'll pay them if your project gets off the ground. A massive percent of revshare projects don't make it. Unless your idea is blindingly incredible and you can prove it has enormous potential, asking for someone to make art for you for free while you practice your C++ is degrading to the artist and devalues their work. Artists don't need you to increase their portfolio value; making assets for a game is something they can do for free all on their own. You're not doing anyone any favors by offering "exposure" or "portfolio expansion."

I get it-you're poor. But if you have enough faith in your project, take out a loan. If you don't have that much faith in your idea, then set some money aside, make a contract with the artist, and pay them in installations, at the very least.

Preeeeetty much

I tell myself it'd be OK if ppl are experienced (have seen studios pull this off) or maybe if there's a crapload of creative freedom and a contract that also protects the contributors. I like making games for fun, but there's no way I'm blindly following orders without getting paid for it.

Perhaps some lessons are best learned the hard way. Enjoyed the rant, thanks :]

Rev share does suck.

But most people don't havet he money to pay people.

Even if they did, They would be paying for when the person has free time. There is no way most indie projects can pay enough to make it so they don’t have to go to a day job.

The other thing is not everyone is good enough to be paid. That is the simple truth, most are hobbyests and don't have the skills and experience. If i was paying someone, I would have no reason to get a beginner. No reason to pay for someone who has no a or little or even less experience.

This field is built on passion, and working for free is the best way to get there. Everyone has to start somewhere, exposure is good, but they are mainly just getting experience.

working for free in this field is just a fact of life. It would be a sad day if people stop doing that. Game development for most indies is not something you can rely on to pay your bills.

You also need to consider, if your being paid, that changes the relationship, vs, if you’re not. Also what happens if they are out of money, does everything stop?

Never under estimate how much can be accomplished with volunteers.

Edited by: GeneralJist

Revenue share can be a good deal, it's just misunderstood by many people. If someone offers me to work with revenue share only then I'll ask them to provide me with their full business plan, marketing plan and give me a pitch on why they are the right people to get the product out successfully. Cash is always very important in development, but it's absolutely critical to have as much as possible at the beginning stages. Saving money to then spend it on paying people right from the start can actually hurt the company and lower their chances of a successful product launch.

Revenue share as a model is not garbage, just the way many people offer it in the modding/indie realm is garbage. If a team offers "A possible revenue share when we sell the game" it just screams "We have no idea about actually launching a game and coming up with a solid marketing and monetizing strategy". But everyone is able to inform themselves. If you see offers like that, just don't reach out to them. And boom, chances of getting "scammed" (is it really scamming, if you know what you're getting yourself into?) is absolutely zero percent.

Edited by: iqew

It's a bad idea for programmers too. I'm not working for free, lol. I contribute to open source projects, but they don't require me to do meetings, and 20+ hours a week work hours for nothing. And some of them pay with donation money.

Edited by: analyticrye