Safety while working as a team?

News & General Discussion
1

Hi i recently had a unity project in mind and i believe i would need a group of people to help during the development but my question is how safe is it to work in a team and how would everything work out.

Questions: Copyright (How would you secure your game so that is can’t be stolen and be called something else and you get no credit for your hard work)

Scammers/Safety (My intention is to not give anyone the main game files but allow them to build parts of it such as models and areas and then they give it to me to assemble in the full game, but is there a more suitable way of making sure no one steals your game)

Priceing (I have a suitable price in mind which is around £15, and my idea is to have a small team of five and split the money 50/50 is this decent?)

Plot/Story (I have created a very indepth game story because you play a role in a game and i dont plan on giving out the story until the game is released, but how would i stop anyone from using the story in their own game or parts of my story this is apart of my “Copyright” question)

Trust (I don’t think i would work on a game with a bunch of people i dont know. but what i have in mind is that we create mini projects together which wont be released but just to play around and test our skills, is this an appropriate way of gaining trust or is there otherways?)

Thanks For Reading (I just want to know how teams work together)

2

Hmm, ok, let’s take a crack at these:

  1. copyright - laws vary based on local/regional/national geography. An NDA (non-disclosure agreement) is quite common for working relationships (enforceability … that’s another topic).

  2. if this causes you worries… better move on. If your game (end product) is worth stealing… someone will. Teams? well, 2 thoughts, 1, use common sense working with people, and 2) you aren’t holding on to gold (sorry, that’s not polite, but true.) If you come up with something genuinely unique from a technology perspective, that’s great, but in reality, if you take the “i’m guarding my hoard of priceless product” approach, you’ll never get/maintain a team.

  3. price? I assume you’re looking at paying a team with profit sharing. 50/50 with you taking 50 and the team spliting the rest… well, you’d better be bringing 50+% of the project to the table (not just the idea). Ultimately, it’s up to the people you talk to, but… royality based on ideas will get you no where…

  4. Again that depends on where you are, and where you send it. Copyright is implied by writing something in the US (and many other countries). NDA again is one legal form of binding information (if you have that clause).

  5. hmmm… I understand where you’re coming from (I think…). First let me say that it is true, that the people who use the word TRUST most often, are the very people you shouldn’t, and it has got to be earned. You may have a great idea for a game, but what you’re asking here has me concerned that you are going to start your project by creating an atmosphere of distrust. Not to mention, your approach to secreting your idea…

Truth is 1) game ideas (good, great, bad, or ugly) are everywhere, and 2) very few people actually want to steal your idea. Oh, make a game that’s great, and many people WILL steal your game [intentionally daring the community liberals who support hacking to pick me off :slight_smile: ]. And at the end of the day, IF you ever figure out how to prevent it… your players won’t be able to play it.

My advice, start a project yourself, bring it to the collaboration forum and ask for involvement after you’ve gotten so far. And do approach potential “team” members as though you are creating a team.

Cheers,

Galen

3

This isn’t important. Worry about that when you have more than some text to show. For example you might distribute on steam, which will take care of it for you. Or iOS which will take care of it for you. Stop worrying about nothing.

This sounds really like teen angst. No-one will want to steal your stuff tbh. What you make, isn’t going to be world shattering to the point people want to steal it. Just being realistic here… Again, stop worrying.

You mean 100/5 right? or 50% to you and the remaining 50/4 for them? Whatever you do, it’s a legal minefield and easier to pay for work up front before the game sells so you own it outright. You WILL need signed contracts to each contributor if you are going the payment route or there is nothing stopping them suing you for whatever they desire if your game sells.

This is the cheapest/most unimportant part. You’ll gain ownership of your story by publishing it first on a blog, or just generally publishing it first anyway.

I prefer to work with people who already (like me) have published a game or have references. If you’re working with randoms there’s no advice anyone can give you because it is random and we can’t predict what they are like. They are probably thinking the same about you!

Teams work far better where there’s prior work and references. If person A is an artist and has his work published for financial gain already then he is probably a lot more trustworthy. The problem is, can they trust you? I wouldn’t trust you at all and would immediately reject you from my team without hesistation.

This isn’t meant to be insulting, it is just a wake up call. You are an unknown quantity to me (which is where all your fears are coming from here).

My real advice to you is that you go it alone (for sure) and publish an android or iphone game - just a simple, super simple game - to prove you have what it takes. If you can’t do that, there is no way on earth you will attract reliable developers or manage a project team or even finish it, it is doomed to failure.

So my real advice is: make a tiny but published finished game. Even breakout is fine. You will learn the answer to nearly all your questions doing just that.

Good luck, stop worrying and start finishing something :slight_smile:

4

In my opinion you should do yourself and release a prototype; after that you may ask for collaboration: it is not impossible to get on with like-minded (age, interest, will, potential) people if you are serious enough and do your homework … it is mostly common sense at your level

5

Trust is the last of your worries.

People aren’t going to make items on demand and send them to you in the hope that in several months time they’re going receive a pay check.

6

Hmm i see what you mean, i’ll probably make a little sidescroller :slight_smile: