Questions regarding commercial game development

[Hope i hit the right forum this thread, couldn't think of a better one]

Hi there,
I usually developed small games on my own and self-published them, but currently i'm being offered a job to develop a complete small game for a company for marketing purposes and am wondering about some rights-things, that I'm not completely sure of, yet, and hope to find some help here. Had a hard time finding anything worthy with google, so i figured i'd give it a shot asking here. Like:

Source code:
As it sounds my client wants to have the source code once the project is finished to keep things up to date later on.
Q: Afaik Source code is usually not included in a sold project, only the built project files, and if requested source code is billed seperately, is this correct?

Copyright:
Q: How does it work when i sell the project, including source code wich they'll eventually edit?
Am i still copyright holder? Is this another subject to bill the client for obtaining full rights to everything developed? Would he automatically obtain the rights otherwise? Or are we both copyright holders?

Misc.:
Q: Also is there anything else to pay attention to that i'm missing when i just think of sending them an invoice, billing for work hours for the final product?

Hopefully someone here is experienced enough to give some advice.
So thanks in advance for any helpful replies!

 

Freelance jobs are usually work-for-hire, in which case you're paid to develop something, and when you've done that, you turn everything (source, copyright, etc.) over to the company paying you. But it depends entirely on the contract. So the only true answer is another question, "what does your contract say?"

--Eric

 

Yeah when I contract I give them everything including stuff that didn't make it into the final project but was potentially useable.

I contract at 2 companies, one makes you sign a non disclosure as well as publicity rights, meaning you can't claim to have worked on it, and aren't supposed to even have anything in your resume showing it. The other company doesn't care but is much smaller and they only care about the final product. Pay is 2x+ as high at the first company with the NDA + treat you very well.

 

Yeah, that really sounds like a "freelance" gig. You should google it and look for tips from people that do it all the time. There are people out there that has compiled comprehensive lists over things that you should be careful with. A lot of skilled artists and developers make their living this way but it is a bit different and the contract will be very important. The contract needs to contain the correct stuff to protect you and the client.

 

@Eric5h5
Well, that's what i call a quick and simple answer.
Makes sense, so thanks for that!

@lmbarns

Dang that sounds nasty.

So okay, i see in the end it's a matter of the contract.
But the basic thing just seems to be get paid for work (hours&complexity) and hand everything over at the end.

@Deon Cadme
Thanks for the tip, will google in this direction.

 

I used to do freelance work a lot. Made my living from it for a few years and did it part-time for a long time as well. Small projects for mom & pop shops and big projects for corporations. The small businesses just wanted the end product simply because they had no idea about source, what to do with it, etc. The larger companies usually wanted the source too. Knowing that meant they would have access to my "secrets" (so to speak) and be able to maintain and add enhancements internally in the future using their internal developers (= no additional need for my work on this project) I charged them accordingly. I really see it all as deliverables but the question comes down to how much do they want to spend? The working product is a deliverable which always included a user manual. The source is a separate deliverable including a tech document