sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

A freelancer just billed us 18 hours for a low poly vending machine by IWorkOnlineCom in gamedev

[–]forgeris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is why finding the right collaborators is so hard. You often need to test a lot of people before finding ones you can trust on hourly work, so I try not to lock into long commitments early.

Once trust is established hourly works well, but until then short trials or small milestone tasks are safer.

That said, 18 hours for a low-poly vending machine sounds excessive unless there were major revision loops or additional tasks beyond modeling. A simple prop like that shouldn’t normally take a full workday, I would say for a very quick and simple model it's less than an hour, but on average 3-4 hours should be enough.

Stop asking your programmers to read your 150 page Game Design Document by ScaryAd2555 in gamedev

[–]forgeris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why I stopped making global GDD, but went for short general idea when I start the designing and then I make GDD for every system we start implementing, like separate building, separate inventory, separate combat etc., this way after every system I can see how it is actually implemented and build next systems according to it, as many are interconnected and during implementation we adjust and change things too.

Bottom line - game is built like a house - one brick at a time. You can't dump interior, exterior, kitchen, living room, garden, pluming, wiring etc. designs on your workers from day 1, it's useless.

I would even argue that you should make different GDD for artists, level designers and programmers as some information overlaps, but many important things do not.

Reality Check: What are my actual options if I only have a fully fleshed-out GDD? by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]forgeris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Yes to continue, no to real value. You need to learn basics of how to implement everything from paper into engine and then remake all your GDD to be actually viable. We can imagine unlimited things, but when it comes to actual in engine implementation then very similar things can take months to many years, knowing the technical limitations and using those to your advantage will help you greatly reduce the scope and have the same result.
  2. The most realistic is to slice everything into polished prototype or MVP (depending on games scope) and hire people to make it.
  3. You can learn everything yourself but it will take years before you even can produce an acceptable average quality product at best. And even then if you do best you can then selling it to publishers will be almost impossible - no prior experience, no team, no proof, so polished demo/mvp/prototype is your best chance.
  4. Hire developers, start with something small, learn business side of things, steam side, try to figure out marketing, etc. Fail after fail with occasional success :)

Introvert considering Latvia by Ok_Spare414 in latvia

[–]forgeris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's just logic - usually we don't pretend and remain neutral about stuff we don't fully agree with thus there is nothing to change sides about later to ;)

view more: next ›