Yes, it was a side project, but I had stints of doing it full time for a couple of months at a time. My main marketing push was going to always be when the game released on mobile. Even though I’ve paid for a PR Agency, I wanted it to be on as many platforms as possible.
I’m releasing version 2 of the game, as a free to play desktop game, same as the mobile version, and will do all the marketing around that, and I hope enough players will download the game to give multiplayer some good momentum.
If you can cover the costs then that’s the best option, but if not rather than partner, set up a revenue or (preferably) profit share agreement. This way you keep ownership , you are still the boss, and it can’t affect any of your other activities.
Its important to have clear processes and rules defined to protect against abandonment and delinquency:
in particular how ownership of assets transfers to your/your company;
and the effect of these actions on revenue share
I like to have a buy out clause too, i.e. if things start to break down you can pay a certain amount per hour worked (or per asset, or whatever other metric you prefer) in order to take ownership of all the work done so far.