How to work as a team and share profit honestly

Hi My Dear Friends ,

I have a situation here .. I am not understanding how to work as team of with different people from different countries for one game . How to do an agreement between team members ... How to held copyright as a team ... and How can we share the profit among honestly ....

Help me please

 

Are you having issues with people trusting you, or you trusting others? Or is everyone just sort of iffy on the situation and would like some measure of confidence that if the game starts to shape up, someone's not gonna screw over the rest of the team and try to run off with the code?

If you have reason to believe certain team members are shady, cut ties with them now. Because no matter what you do, you won't be able to shake that feeling.

If it's more of a prevention kind of thing, just think the way regular companies work. How does the company I work for keep me from stealing the code I work on and selling it to someone else, or under my own name? How do they deal with payment distribution?

Setting up a legal entity for the group would allow you to set ownership of your product to the company. Having everyone on the team sign contracts that spell out what they're responsible for, what compensation they receive in return, etc... that'll help make sure everyone agrees as early as possible that they're being treated fairly.

I can only assume from your name that you're from somewhere in the MIddle East, and unfortunately I know nothing about organizational law there, so I can't help you any more specifically than that.

 

You need to get everything in writing and signed by all members.

You need to think of every possible situation..

- What happens to someone's rights/shares if they quit halfway through development of a game?
- What happens to someone's rights/shares if they quit after they've worked on a game?
- What happens if someone doesn't put in their share of the effort?
- What is considered their share of effort, and over what time?

Get a company registered, and get the shareholders agreement signed. Basically think of all cases where thyings could go wrong, and how you are going to deal with them.

Remember : The purpose of a contract is to keep you out of court.

 

Disclaimer: I've no experience in this, but going to throw up some food for thought anyway.

Do you really need to use people in different countries?

Laws between countries can get very complex. And if someone does run off with your code, its very difficult to make a court ruling in one country stick in another. Cases can get very expensive and/or political.

Set up the proper legal structures, in all countries that are involved. Kick off with a face to face meeting. Only work with people you trust. Avoid building a team of random strangers on the internet. Maybe a team of users you have met on the forum, but even that can be risky.

A modular project helps. You can't steal the entire project if you only have access to the one model you are developing. Its not always the best way to work.

 

In addition to what has been said above, if you're worried about how profits are shared, you could have your company's funds go through an accountant who is paid directly for their work and who does not receive a share of the profits. That person then distributes the profits after subtracting expenses. Since this neutral party doesn't get a share, there is no immediate incentive for them to distribute the money in an unfair manner. (Barring over-billing, of course.)

The problem I see is that if you are first time developers who expect little or no profit, even basic accountancy to cover the laws of multiple countries is likely to cost more than any profit you will make on the game. Trying to set up a company that spans multiple countries can be very expensive because of trying to find an expert who can then wrangle experts from all of the different countries to make sure you cover all of the business, tax, employment, and other law issues.

You may be best off consulting an attorney or other appropriate professional from your own country first in order to determine your risks and liabilities. Ultimately, the free advice you get on the internet is worth less than the pixels it's displayed on.

 

That really depends, the device I'm using is pretty old, I wouldn't rate it's pixels as worth much.

 

Thank you all of you .. I will keep your advice in my mind ..

 

Simple solution just let me collect all of the money and after deducting my fund management and distribution fees I will distribute the money to you and the rest of the team based on your contributions.

 

I did not get you ... You mean you want to handle my account ?

 

That was a joke. He was suggesting you send him all the money so he can do some skimming. It's probably about as smart of an investment as sending money to Nigeria to secure an inheritance from a long list relative.

 

Did I post that story here or something? How did you know that happened to me?

Spoiler alert: It was not a wise investment.

 

Would timeshares work, you each agree and log the time you spend each week working on the project then when the project is completed the time shares are used to divide up the royalties after any debts have been cleared.

You might also need a remit where people logging lots of time but not producing work of high enough quantity or quality might have to be limited to a budget or excluded from further weeks until they get more training.

This would also allow you to project forward with completion dates for milestones.

Hmm some people will want a larger timeshare, just like contractors and freelancers charge an hourly rate depending upon their skill level members of the team will probably want to negotiate a work value factor.

Which could be useful for dealing with people logging lots of time but not producing enough work. You could scale back their work value factor. Or scale up their work value factor if they are producing quality work at a good rate.

Or you could use money instead of timeshares you set an hourly or daily rate and pay people, but that has been done before.

 

It's a multiple choice - here's three options.

#1 - Odds are you won't make more than $100 TOTAL on your whole effort. So, take money off the table. Build a game intending to improve your skills and get noticed. Establish verbal/email agreements that people can keep what they contribute, and that the group can use those materials without remuneration. There will still be expenses that someone has to eat - it adds up.

#2 - Do it alone. Though extra people in various countries sounds like a great idea - in the end, it rarely succeeds, unless the people know each other well.

#3 - Gigi's way. I setup a company, and did 99% of the work myself. People helped out from time to time, so on a product basis, we'd come to an agreement upfront on how to split PROFITS (ex 10%, 5%). Which means, years later, I still send out physical checks from time to time.

Note - Statistically, with an untested group, you are 1) unlikely to ship the product; 2) even MORE unlikely to make back your investment; and 3) extremely unlikely to earn more than $100 in TOTAL profits. Use that info however you like.

Gigi

 

Hi Gigi ,
I want to know more about your way .. like how u open a company . How u handle copyright ... do you work with various countries .

 

Can you fix your QUOTE tags? You're missing an opening bracket above.

I charged in full-steam - using Legalzoom to setup an LLC with myself as the founder of Gigi Games. I established a website with Dreamhost, registered with Apple (and later Google), and purchased Unity + macbook pro + appropriate test devices. It was ~$8k of my own money (no debt).

With such a significant investment, determining profit sharing/ownership became straight forward. I invested and they didn't, so I own everything and offered a 5%-10% of the profit rate based on their effort (ie, after Apple/Google's 30%). Eventually, I realized my wife and I could do all the work, so I stopped asking for help. Over time, I slowly earned back my initial investment and can now afford to pay for extra art when I need it.

My way was EXPENSIVE. It also allowed control of my own destiny. I owe nothing, I'm beholden to no one, and I set my own time table. I take breaks, tackle 4 month dream projects, or crank out two-week hack fests, as I desire. Gigi's path required 1000s of hours of my spare time. Your mileage may vary.

Gigi

 

There are many many ways of doing this.

For example you can do any combination of paid work per hour, profit share, profit share for limited time, etc.
Copyright could be owned by the company, the individual. You could restrict use of assets. All sorts of things.

No way is right or wrong.

Well one way is wrong. That is if you pay people per hour (i.e. employ them) for less than the minimum wage.

In the UK there are only two types of workers. An employee and a volunteer. The volunteers don't have to get paid a wage but may perhaps own part of the company so they are motivated to work (but can't be forced to). There is no such legal thing as an "intern" in UK law although many company's don't know this and pay "interns" below minimum wage.

 

No, but internet scams are considered to be the primary export industry for Nigeria. I hear of emails at least once a quarter telling that someone has died.

 

I really need to start using the emoticons to indicate when I'm joking.

 

what about the game art ... ? are you drawing everything or you hire someone ...

 

Yes and Yes. I build it with Inkscape and Paint.Net, or it's hand-drawn by my wife, or I hire an outside artist like Iron Belly Studios, depending on the project. In theory, I could also purchase assets via the UnityStore, TurboSquid, or other, though they never feel quite right.

Gigi

 

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