TL:DR: I have no budget and need an artist and general team (art/music/sfx). Offering rev-share feels wrong to do. It also doesn't feel like I have a chance with publishers given I cannot work full-time and the game is full of placeholder art, making a potential pitch look horrible. The entire goal of seeking a publisher is finding funding to hire an artist/musician/sfx-magician, but it seems like to make a pitch in the first place I already need an artist. What do I do?

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Hey.

Earlier this year (after making a bunch of test projects to learn the ropes) I started seriously working on a game - alone, with a Budget of 0. I am a university student, but made it a goal to at least fit 5-4 hours a day into the project, 7 days a week. I didn't think about art, I didn't think about music, I didn't think about marketing - I wanted to get something on it's legs first.

Fast forward several months and what I have is a very deep in development - often tested - game with all kinds of systems in it, a decent amount of content and seemingly fun gameplay as testers seem to tell me. The Problem: It's almost all Placeholder Art. 90% of it - Art, Sfx, Music, it's all Placeholder.

The gameplay loop works, I have a vision for the scope of the content of the game and I am tracking along this path very well. It's just that the game has reached the point where the backlog for art, sfx, music etc. to be done is absolutely massive and I have no clue what to do to fix that problem. Design/Context/Programming-wise the game is easily over 50% done, but all other fronts are at 5% at best, or 0%.

This week I made it my mission to finally figure out where to go, because it can't stay placeholder stuff forever, especially because the game is intended for commercial purposes, too.

However I simply do not know what the hell to do given I lack a budget. No talented artist will want to waste their time on a project that promises “rev-share”.

I have considered maybe contacting a Publisher, but I run into several roadblocks going that path:
- I am a student, I can't work on the game full-time. Is a publisher really up for that?
- The game is still placeholder art. A Publisher won't be “wowed" by placeholder art and sfx, why would a publisher care if I can't offer a vertical slice?
- The entire idea of contacting a publisher is to potentially get the funding needed to hire an artist, but to pitch to a publisher in the first place most sources seem to suggest that you already need an artist for the pitch itself to look good - which I can't hire because of no budget. It's a vicious circle.

What the hell do I do? Is my impression of Publishers wrong? Do I just suck it up and learn to do art/sfx/music by myself? Are there really crazy people out there that work for “rev-share” that aren't naive beginners? Offering rev-share feels like I am scamming people. I can't do that.

I feel very lost and without direction and wondered if someone here could maybe offer advice. I am confident others were in a similar situation and found a way to deal with it.

Thank you for your attention.

stinkysteve12 said:
I have considered maybe contacting a Publisher, but I run into several roadblocks going that path: - I am a student, I can't work on the game full-time. Is a publisher really up for that?

No. You are not ready. You need to give yourself more time. Try recruiting artists in our Hobby Project Classifieds. https://www.gamedev.net/forums/forum/29-hobby-project-classifieds/​ You do not have to pay money. You do not have to offer equity/rev-share. Creativity comes in many forms. Apply your creativity to this problem too.

@Tom Sloper More time for what, though? I have been pushing this problem in front of me for months now and do not view this project as a smalltime hobby anymore. How can I expect someone to consistently work on a project that does not provide pay in any form?

stinkysteve12 said:
I have been pushing this problem in front of me for months now and do not view this project as a smalltime hobby anymore.

Prepare yourself for a much longer process. You're a student. Your primary job right now is to get good grades so you can graduate with a high GPA. Applying pressure on yourself to get a publisher deal is not helping you with your degree.

stinkysteve12 said:
How can I expect someone to consistently work on a project that does not provide pay in any form?

You're trying to do something that's very difficult - that there is no answer for except be patient and keep exploring options, keep working on game jams, get to know other like-minded students. The pandemic is also going to slow this down.

Tom Sloper said:
Prepare yourself for a much longer process. You're a student. Your primary job right now is to get good grades so you can graduate with a high GPA. Applying pressure on yourself to get a publisher deal is not helping you with your degree.

I appreciate the sentiment but I feel like it's worth pointing out that I have been doing uni with a side of gamedev for a decent while now and my grades have been fine. As my initial post describes, I've been clocking in the necessary hours without problem. I don't see the big deal and I am sure there have been other student gamedevs which were juggling both gamedev and uni just fine.

All I'm saying is it's going to take time until you're ready to approach publishers. Keep working on game jams, get to know other like-minded students. You'll find someone to help you with your art eventually. There's no secret magic way to get art for free.

There is a secret magic way to get art for free!!!

Befriend artists.

Go to diviant art or art station or any other place artists like to hang out and become their friend.

Tell them about your project and see if any of them are interested.

I've shipped a command and conquer mod called tiberium secrets and all ~50 of the members we have had throughout the years have all been volunteers.

Rev share isn't so bad, everyone makes money if the project is shipped.

Post on reddit in the game dev classifieds and or teh INAT sub and see what happens.

It actually might be much easier to find people since you have done most of the work already.

People volunteer their time for all sort of projects. Just sell the concept in a job ad and see what happens.

Your logic asks the question “Why would anyone do anything for free?”

Any # of reasons:

• Maybe they just want to learn
• maybe they are burned out at there day job ad are looking for somethign to contribute to.
• They are bored
• They are interested in your project
• They got out of a bad relationship and need somethign to sink themselves into
• They think it would be cool
• They are workaholics

Publishers are looking for established teams to invest in, they are not likely to look at a project with out a core team.

You can apply my logic to audio as well, though there are places online you can find free audio, just google.

You might be surprised as to the caliber of people you can find online. And here in particular, I found my audio guy here, and he co owns a full sound studio.

Just keep looking, and your sure to find people.

However I simply do not know what the hell to do given I lack a budget. No talented artist will want to waste their time on a project that promises “rev-share”.

The key word is “waste.” Rev-share is a gamble but not necessarily a waste. The particulars are case-by-case, but talented people need an assurance that their efforts won't be wasted. If you can prove that you'll push through to finish the game (i.e., “here's what I've made thus far”), you can find a talented risk-taker to work alongside you for the prize at the end.