I'm living in Alaska and there may be another game dev up here, but I've never spotted one in the wild. I'm thinking of finding some folks to remotely team up with to make iOS games but am really leery about going into something like that.
While you can look at what people have done in the past as a way to gauge their ability, what happens if a member of the team doesn't pull their own weight?
That's just one potential problem that I could see happening and I'll bet there are a billion others.
On the other hand, a team can typically do better than a "lone wolf" and the sky's the limit on what could be accomplished.
Any words of wisdom/warning from people who have been involved in this kind of thing?
Thanks.
Jay Jennings
__________________ Game Dev Nation - Tips and tutorial for Corona SDK developers. http://GameDevNation.com
Those things are hard to manage. The problem is that even if the other developer is on location they can still be slacking off or delivering sub-par results. It is however easier to monitor progress.
Be sure to organize things well. Managing a team is never easy. Devise development plans, decide who's going to do what, clearly state the goals and time frames. Set up a SVN repository and ask developers to submit progress every day or two so you can monitor changes. Keep in contact online via instant messengers (Skype, Yahoo etc).
It can indeed work, but you need very strong leadership, very professional individuals and well defined goals and expectations. If it is your intent to lead such a team, I'd give up on the idea of writing any code yourself.
Second, you need some infrastructure to make geography less relevant. Video conferencing tools to allow for face to face interaction, Everyone should be available via chat client at ALL times, white-boards and screen-sharing tools like Adobe Connect, etc. Finally, don't forget a solid source control depot, like Perforce, or GitHub.
Moreover, distributed teams can work, but its best to start with a core localized team to begin with and then build the team further by adding highly professional individuals who can be trusted to perform remotely. In this way, you can establish a strong team culture into which external resources can integrate.
$.02
Bob
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Jennings
I'm living in Alaska and there may be another game dev up here, but I've never spotted one in the wild. I'm thinking of finding some folks to remotely team up with to make iOS games but am really leery about going into something like that.
While you can look at what people have done in the past as a way to gauge their ability, what happens if a member of the team doesn't pull their own weight?
That's just one potential problem that I could see happening and I'll bet there are a billion others.
On the other hand, a team can typically do better than a "lone wolf" and the sky's the limit on what could be accomplished.
Any words of wisdom/warning from people who have been involved in this kind of thing?
I think I accidentally found the ideal way to start doing this. My business partner is a subject matter expert who is good at mockups, and does all the content creation, testing and user experience feedback. This way I get to keep coding instead of having to become a manager. And Skype and Unfuddle are enough infrastructure for now.
In your case, if you can find an indie game designer who can handle a lot of the non-development tasks, it's much easier to coordinate your tasks. And it would be a good environment to learn to manage a project. I actually saw an ad on Craigslist for a graphics designer who had a game idea, so I know such people exist. I have no idea how to find a good one, though.
Of course, the best way to learn would be to become part of someone else's team. Then it's not your problem when it falls apart. Which it probably will the first time. If you have good apps on the App Store, it might be worth it to be a contract programmer for a while to see how other people manage a remote team.
Whatever you decide, Good Luck! It's an exciting time to be a developer.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and ideas. I can see a lot of the pitfalls, like I said, but it would be so cool to work with two other people -- one to do the artwork and one to do the sound. "Simple" little team of three.
I may try it with high hopes but low expectations.
Jay Jennings
__________________ Game Dev Nation - Tips and tutorial for Corona SDK developers. http://GameDevNation.com
Nice to seem some WF forum members
on this forum !
Just curious, will your dev team guys
be % partners in your business (and revenue)
or are they on salary?
While I'd love to start an actual "game studio" with actual employees at some point, my plans right now are to find other indie-types and we'd just be partners in the game.
As someone pointed out earlier, if I'm "running" things I probably won't be coding, and that's not something that would be enticing to me. I just went through that for the last few years and realized I'm happier when I'm "hands on" and not just outsourcing stuff for other people to do.
I'm looking for a better balance between fun and money than I've had the past few years, which is why I decided to get back into game dev.
Jay Jennings
__________________ Game Dev Nation - Tips and tutorial for Corona SDK developers. http://GameDevNation.com
Any words of wisdom/warning from people who have been involved in this kind of thing?
I've been handling remote teams for more than 3 years now.
You really can't avoid those people who don't perform well with the tasks that they are required to do. However, the least you can do is just to be hands-on with every project you have. Track their work hours and tasks to make sure every thing is monitored and in control.
Be involved and passionate with every project. That will motivate the team and make every one productive.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and ideas. I can see a lot of the pitfalls, like I said, but it would be so cool to work with two other people -- one to do the artwork and one to do the sound. "Simple" little team of three.
I may try it with high hopes but low expectations.
Jay Jennings
All we do is work remotely. Our strengths are in artwork/interface and we're always looking to team up with someone new if you're interested. We have about a dozen ideas in the queue that we'd like to do, and we're always looking for new stuff. Shoot me a PM if you'd like!
They can indeed work. I recommend setting up a forum where your team can post news accouncements, share ideas and coordinate work daily. Also setup an SVN or Git host for source control.
I managed a team of artists and recently added a second programmer (all remote) to work on Dragon Lords, so this definitely is possible and doable. It's not easy, though.
Your main problem will be finding the right people to work with. Finding someone who is talented, passionate, responsible and hard working is a tough, TOUGH job.
Once you have a group that works well together, results can be quite wonderful.
Hey Jay, we too run our team remotely and work tremendously well together. We got very lucky, we are all hard workers and perfectionists, but we love to have fun and work very well together.
Since we are wrapping up RoboHero in the next few weeks, we are looking to expand our team and take on another developer to start making some very innovative F2P games that we hope will expand people's understanding of what a free game can be. There's more to F2P than Farmville smurfberries!
I sent you a PM as well. Let us know if you'd be interested in joining up.
I've been working remotely with a team of five for over a year and it has worked really well. I'm more productive by far than I would be on site. The key, as stated before, is having a team that is professional and responsible. We check in by phone every morning, we set clear progress goals, and use webex as needed to share desktops. We do get together periodically to touch base.
In my opinion this is a great way to work. It does require some management.
Remote Indie Dev Teams: Can/Do They Work?
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