Questions about Commissions

[Aceri]

Hey everybody, I was originally going to post this in the classifieds section, but I figured seeing as how I am not looking to hire right at this moment(game isn't far enough along to my liking yet for that) I thought I should post it here instead.


I know each person charges different amounts, but I was kind of looking for like a baseline of sorts as to usually what's about average to spend on what I would like to look for in the future. Here's kind of what I'm looking for:

-Dark themed tiles(not like brightness dark, but atmosphere. Think Diablo I through III).

--Enough sets to build basically a whole game around(basically like a rural area, snowy area, desert area, marshlands, 4-5 chapters/acts worth basically).

---Field and residential tilesets to go with.
 

-Dark themed characters(kind of like a mix-up of styles ranging from Diablo to Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, the old Warhammer Online MMO, stuff like that).

--A full cast of both actors and NPC's to populate the world with.

---Made to fit the overall dark gothic theme of everything else.
----Thinking 2-tile sized sprites, similar to how Mack's' is. Though the standard 32x32 is fine with me also if that's all I can get.

-----Possibly animated battler version of them as well, if time/skill permits.

I know PVGames has stuff like that out, but I'm looking for the 2D style you know, not the... I don't know what you'd call PVGames' stuff? 2.5D? Either way, the High Fantasy (3D-esque)look isn't what I am going for with my game.

It's a lot to try and make an assessment on, but I am one of those people who wants to have all the money for something at the ready, then have to like pay in segments or chunks, you know? So I'm just trying to figure out that, for something like that, what would the cost I'd be looking at?

If you can help me I would be greatly appreciative!

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

the PV tiles in themselves are still just 2D. anyway, each tileset will probably costs hundreds to thousands of dollars for a commission...

 

[Shaz]

It's also pretty difficult to find artists who are prepared to do a full tileset. There ARE some here who CAN do them, but they're usually pretty busy with their own projects.


If you want to get a LOT done (full tilesets, numerous sprites), sure, post here, but don't limit yourself to here - go to other sites where spriters are offering their services. The issues with that are that they might charge more than someone here would (because they view it as a business and not just a hobby), and they may not be as familiar with the RTP so might be harder for them to match the style.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

yeah, especially since making a whole tileset is VERY time consuming

 

[boldpaste2]

Im commissioning right now for my commercial project and this is what I am paying atm.

Busts - $70 per char (first two discounted to $50)

Mack Sprites - $10 each

music - around $45 each

Tilesets - depends on the tiles, I am using cellinas set commercially for $200 (edit: purchased them at a discount for $100, forgot to include that xD)

User Interface - $200

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

it's not really a commission though (Cel's tiles)

 

[Aceri]

Hmm, well given that I have to give my dentist $3.2k, I think instead of hiring someone to do complete sets, I think my best bet would probably be to invest the time to learn GIMP and pixelling myself, then just buy licenses for whatever script/additional graphics I may need. Licensing seems like the more cost effective route.

On an unrelated note:

Why is Member+ paypal only? I hate paypal... <.<

 

[Andar]

On an unrelated note:


Why is Member+ paypal only? I hate paypal... <.<

Because it's a subscription, not a single payment...

 

[Aceri]

I pay for subscriptions straight from my debt card though, so it's possible .

EDIT:

Okay well what would it cost to do something like this? Doesn't have to be this character in particular, but I love that style of armor:





On tall and/or chibi sprites?

 

[cosmickitty]

would probably be to invest the time to learn GIMP and pixelling myself

only if you're an artistic type.  Otherwise, overused RM graphics are MUCH better than bad pixel art.  Sidenote, RM isn't pixel art.

but these aren't really things you can ballpark.  "Full tileset" can be any number of tiles/sizes, also style and level of difficulty come into play.

 

[Celianna]

As someone who makes tilesets for a living, their general cost would be ...


...


Your life savings.


So! Better to wait until one gets released in the store that tickles your fancy than to commission someone, if you still want to eat and have a roof over your head, that is.

 

[Lunarea]

Let's say you want a complete RTP tileset that would replace the RTP entirely. You're probably looking at 1500-1750 hours of work (this is assuming the artist is using something like Ace RTP that is painted and usually a little faster to create than pure pixel art, and also assuming that the artist is a speed machine in making tiles). If your artist was treating it as a full-time job and putting in 40 hours of work per week, it would still take 9-10 months to finish. And your artist would expect to be compensated fairly - i.e. more than just 1-2$/hr. They can't exactly put in 40 hours of work into creating your tileset and also have a side job to pay for living expenses etc. So, I would expect the final price to be somewhere between $22500 and $26250 -- this is at a 15$/hr rate, which is actually still way under the rate you would be paying a professional game artist.

You can reduce that amount by quite a bit by using existing sets as a base - either RTP, FSM/Mack or some of the other content we've got in store. Having a base often cuts down the amount of work the artist has to do, and a lot of artists will throw in a few edits and recolors at no cost.

The best thing you can do before even inquiring or setting up your budget is figure out EXACTLY what you'll need - down to the smallest detail. Then you can approach the artist with a list of things you need done and get a proper estimate.

 

[Aceri]

Thank you all for all the detailed information concerning my question. That is a lot more than I was expecting. I was thinking like at most four figures, not five.

I think I'll just stick to frankenspriting and re-coloring until I'm good enough to do it myself, and pay for some licenses in the meantime.

 

[Clord]

It depends who you hire and what his/her relationship is towards you. What some would charge you for example four digits number, your friend might do it for you very cheap due common interest and you know, being friend.

 

[Celianna]

It depends who you hire and what his/her relationship is towards you. What some would charge you for example four digits number, your friend might do it for you very cheap due common interest and you know, being friend.

Friends are very, very flaky, and rarely get ANYTHING done (and that's not even accounting for the quality of the artwork). You'd be much better off commissioning someone.

I think I'll just stick to frankenspriting and re-coloring until I'm good enough to do it myself, and pay for some licenses in the meantime.

Pretty good idea! We do have stuff being released in the store all the time which you can use instead, at least it won't cost you an arm and a leg.

 

[Clord]

Actually, his work is pretty professional but that is because it is just some additional tiles for the existing sets. He actually is studying graphic design related to games if I remember right.

 

[Aceri]

Yeah, except I have no friends haha. Well that's not true, I have one, but he's not into game design. I think it'd be better if I just taught myself being as how I have the time and ability to put 40+ hours a week into getting this done. Well, maybe take a break towards the end of the month when Reaper of Souls comes out haha but other than that.


Towards the middle of the post I linked two photos and inquired as to what just getting that one done would run me on average, anyone have any ideas? I think it got over-looked because I put it in an edit not a new post.

 

[Swifty49]

I don't know anything about commission work per say as I haven't hired anyone yet or been hired myself... but it seems like it'd be much more cost effective to use parallax and create your maps in Gimp/Photoshop/Whatever... creating an entire tileset takes forever... I tried and it just wasn't worth the time to me, let alone all the limitations creating maps in RPGMaker imposes on you.

I can create a tree from scratch in Gimp which might take me a couple hours, at most an evening... and use it as a brush on a map and quickly change hue, saturation, resize, remove foliage, change shadows, etc and whip up a forest map over the course of a few nights... wherehas creating each single variation of a tree for a tileset, each grass square, etc... takes FOREVER.

Anyways, I don't think that was very useful as far as helping you... but I just wanted to give my opinion on it.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

As much as you can parallax, parallixing won't help you if you want NEW TILES, and cannot create one yourself. For you, it seems like you can so no problem with that, but not all people can do that... and yes, making new tilesets cost a lot of time, that is also why they cost a lot... looking at your work for example, you spend 1 day per object... now imagine making a complete set of objects...


If you can make your own objects, then by all means do so, as you said it is more cost effective (maybe, depends on which cost/s you look at, if it's just money out then yes it is more cost effective). But don't forget that not all people can make art. And those are the people who commissions other people. It's not about cost effectivity, it's about what you can do and what you cannot.

 

[Aceri]

Yeah, the extent of my ability to do anything with graphics is frankenspriting. Beyond that I am rubbish and graphically inept .