Team or Single Person?

[Isabella Ava]

Hello, it's kinda boring to make a game by yourself, alone.
But i couldn't find someone fit me to make a game together.
I guess the only chance to find perfect team for me that after i become a famous
game developer but not now, a developer without any released game yet.
So what about you? Do you have a team? Are they good? Or you're a inde developer?
Can i see few screenshots from your current game project?

it will be good if i can find a friend to make game together via this thread though

 

[Milennin]

Teams don't work out well, because almost everyone who visits these forums has their own projects they work on. There are many other problems with teams. Most people can't even find the time and motivation to finish their own projects, what makes you think they could for a project that isn't even their own?
Teams result in being reliant on others, but when you know those people only over the internet, it's easy for someone to disappear for whatever reason and never return. What do you do when an artist made half of the artwork for the game and then decides to leave?

Best ways to get a team:
-Convince real life friends to work on it with you.
-Pay money.

If you can do neither of those, it's best to get to know the people on the forum instead of asking randoms to join your team. Make a thread that shows off your project to get people interested in your game and convince them that you are working on something great.

 

[UgyBoogie]

I'm working mostly alone as well. A close RL friend of mine does the graphics for me thou. But it's paid help nonetheless.
RPGM is something you can hardly work on as a team, in my opinion. Being depended on one or multiple people isn't helpful as well.

 

[padr81]

I pretty much build my game alone but have met some great people on here who offer their time to help me out. I think a "team" doesn't work but having a bunch of people you can rely to help out here and there is huge.
I would say I'm incredibly lucky to have some great people but the game is still mine. The bottom line is you have to do at least 90% of the heavy lifting yourself and take others help when it comes gratefully.

 

[Kaimen]

As long as your team members are not as passionate and motivated about your project as you are, it's not gonna work out. People are gonna lose their interest very quickly, especially if you as the team leader can't set a good example.
I would agree to what's already been said. It would be easier if you had a couple of IRL friends with different talents who share your passion about game-making. Other than that money is pretty much the only option to keep people motivated. You'll need a lot of luck to find people who are going to be willing to work on a project that's not theirs for free and stay motivated. For that to happen they'd really have to believe in your project and if you want that to happen you're gonna have to invest a lot of money anyway, so might as well pay them.

 

[Tai_MT]

I work on my game alone. To an extent. If I have a question, I come to the forums to ask it. I will likely commission artwork at some point in order to get things I want (like a title screen or maybe an enemy or two), but I'm not at that point yet. I also employ "game testers", but they're typically close friends or family. I can't rely on my own opinion of my game (because it's mine and I think my stuff is awesome all the time... I think a lot of people have this personal bias), so I seek it elsewhere.

I've never been a person who likes being a team.

1. I hate relying on other people to do work for me, because I know that I usually have a better work ethic than most everyone else, and I want those parts done as soon as possible, and I don't want to put my own work on hold to wait for someone else to finally decide to finish their part of a project.
2. I hate being relied upon because sometimes I'm flaky and I want to do something else for a while. Whether that's play a game, read a book, watch a show, or just stare at my ceiling. When I feel like working, I go all out. I work as hard as I possibly can, doing as much as I possibly can. When I don't feel like working, I rarely do anything and it's hard to motivate me to do some work.
3. I just really don't like dealing with people. For me, things are simpler when I don't have to deal with the myriad of problems involving someone else brings. Chalk this up to being a control freak if you like, but I'm even like this at my real life job. If I see something that needs done, I just do it. No need to confer on opinions or thoughts. No need to ask advice. No need to take a vote and try to convince people my way is the best way. It just gets done and people don't even know it needed done, and don't even question why it's done the way it is.
4. Games built "by consensus" aren't something I want to do. AAA developers are currently running their industries like this and it's showing in the lack of content, lack of story, bad business practices, poor gameplay design, etcetera. I have no desire to slip my QA to the level of current AAA developers and the "Good Enough" slogan they're all preaching. I'd rather a game have a single vision and it's easiest to keep it with that single vision if it's only you working on it.

That's just my two cents on it.

 

[XIIIthHarbinger]

Speaking for myself, I work alone & I prefer it that way.

On occasion I'll answer a question, on a rare occasion I'll throw up some work product that I made while working on a project, with the usual "free to use commercial or noncommercial, must have X, Y, or Z, no credit necessary" if I think it can be useful, but beyond that I don't have any interest in working with other people.

Partially because I would rather exercise total control over my project, additionally because I don't like my project being dependent upon other people. For example my project use to have a large amount of assets from people who put out resources for free on forums or their own websites. Eventually though I removed all of it, because I didn't like the idea of my project's assets being wholly dependent upon some random person's desire that could change in a moment. & then I replaced it all with a combination of RTPs, DLCs, & a bit of my own work.

I honestly don't see enough of a net gain from working with other people to warrant expending the effort trying to find people, that I could be spending doing my own work without incurring the detriments of additional people.

 

[kaukusaki]

I built my company from the ground up and for 10 years had a team and problems. I got fed up and fired most of the crew. It was down to 3 last year and I eventually sent them home too.
My company still exists (on paper) but there are 0 employees and I am the boss of stupid machines. I haven't stopped gaming production at all - it's just now technology caught up enough where I don't have to outsource everything like I used to then and can effectively do everything myself . I can save money and focus on my vision as I see it and not worry about knocking heads .
Yay future

 

[Rhino]

Has.... has anyone ever had a good experience working in a team? All the responses here make it sound so bad.

I've never been part of anyone else's team, but I enjoy contributing to other games doing small resource requests and stuff ^^
I think the part that makes it hard as a member, is that feeling of being an 'employee' and just working on someone else's game (maybe it'd be different if you got paid, but rarely does anyone offer that.) So I can't imagine anyone would feel very motivated to work... But if it was a close team, say people who were already friends, and everyone could have input on parts of the game that were outside their 'area', maybe it'd starts to feel like it was a "team" game?

It would also be incredibly frustrating as the leader to have people who couldn't produce at the pace you want, or are very fickle and drop out easily.

I'm bargaining on being able to recruit someone as there are one or two areas of game making that just don't inspire me and so I'm very weak on. Rather than forcing myself to make something pretty lame, I figured there must be someone out there who likes what I don't so we could compliment each other and be able to spend more time on what we each like most, in order to make a game that's well rounded.

I think the amount of people who would be able to write/event/use js/make maps/balance battles/make graphics/compose songs to a decent level all by themselves are very low. Of course, you can get help from the community for certain resources, but if you want something larger or more time consuming, you need someone willing to invest the time. The community are so amazing at helping out with little things and I think it's wonderful, but most of us are here because we have our own game we want to make, and so don't really have the free time to invest in someone else's project.

 

[JGreene]

I've tested out quite a few games and also watched first impression and "Let's Play" videos of nearly 100 different games. The trend I've noticed is that the most interesting games tend to come from an individual rather than a team. Now, that isn't entirely true for some of the big name games/companies out there. But we're just talking about RPG Maker.

Having a team of people with different skill sets seems great in theory. But, consider that the more people you have working on a single project, the more variation there will be. For example, music choices, taste in artwork, arguments over what the story and dialogue should be. The list goes on. Even the last part there, it happens in the real world. TV shows, or even movie series', with more than one writer sometimes get discombobulated somewhere along the line; which doesn't usually please the fanbase.

There seems to be a common consensus here so far, in that people enjoy working on their own more than anything. And it's understandable, especially given that when you finally complete your project, you have something you can be truly proud of. And, you can feel good about accomplishing something that not very many people have (regardless of how it turns out).

Communities such as this one are very helpful. There are so many people sharing their creations, artwork, scripts/plugins, random ideas, and feedback. No matter what you might be searching for, or what area you feel you lack in or simply don't have time to invest in, there is surely an answer and/or resource to be found. All you have to do is look around or ask!

 

[Kaimen]

It's just that people are more motivated to work on their own projects to begin with. If something's your "baby" so to speak you want it to turn out fine and not have too many people take influence on it. You get some advice and help when you need it, but that's about it. So in a way it really is like raising a child and seeing them grow.

 

[umbralshadows]

I work with a team. I'm all bout that teamwork. Tha only thing I work on alone now is gamejam game cuzz we hafta. But my other project's a small team a me an my Aibou an one a our friends. Team > solo all tha way!

 

[bgillisp]

I work solo on the game, and hire people as needed to fill in the gaps (art and music mainly). This way, since they are hired staff they have more incentive to deliver and not abandon the project.

The trick is, make sure the game is far enough along *before* you hire someone to do things like art and music. Otherwise you can easily be throwing money away as you will be ordering things you don't need. You can use RTP placeholders for everything until the game is done, for example.

 

[iorn]

I'm sorry Ava. I'm afraid I am currently unable to reveal any information regarding "my" project or the conditions surrounding its development. I am also unable to state the number of team members (Or lack there of) which may or may not be working with me.

 

[ChampX]

Working on both personal and commercial projects, I feel I can comment on both sides of the spectrum.

Teams usually work best in a business setting. A company hires you to work alongside other talented people and you are all given a project (or multiple usually) to work on and to have completed by the deadline. While your input is allowed, you generally are just fulfilling the needs of the project manager. You are being paid to help complete their project so you all generally have the same goal, see this as your full time job (because it is), and are being compensated appropriate payment (hopefully).

When teams work well, you get a lot of work done you yourself wouldn't have been able to get done otherwise especially with deadlines knocking around the corner. You also have the ability to fall back on others for help if you are struggling with a problem. Almost always in a well formed company, somebody will usually have an answer or at least be able to help you find it as you will generally be working with people who have been through many years of the development cycle and jumped through similar hoops.

That isn't to say teams don't have issues. Even if you are working with other talented members under a company name, you still have communication issues as well as interpersonal issues. Generally with practice, you can get better at these and having good team leads or managers really help bridge some of these issues. One thing I have seen is people working in teams are thinking more about their own needs than those of their team members and the needs of the project. Therefore, when something goes wrong, it is very easy to point fingers at someone else instead of just learning from the mistakes and moving forward.

When it comes to personal projects that are not your full time job, you simply just won't give it as much attention. When you ask other people to help contribute, because it also isn't putting food on their table and they have other obligations, your project becomes a lesser priority as well. You can always contract people (you should contract over hire if you aren't bigger than a small company in my opinion) to do work for you, but you want to be far enough in your project that you can provide a thorough list of what you need and to be specific for any changes/kickbacks you require as well. Not doing so will only cause headache for everyone.

Since most people here obviously are working on personal projects (that may or may not be sold) and usually can't afford to contract other people, the best option is to do as much as you can by yourself and keep project scope in small chunks. If you have to get help, I would only dump the amount of money on the project that the project itself is worth. In other words, don't hire a 20 year professional to provide high quality art for your 15 minute RPG, but on the flip side don't ask random Joe on the internet to contribute to a really serious project where the risk of him/her not working out is too high.

If you ask hire or ask others to contribute, you will have to practice your communication skills (people don't know what you want), have a solid plan, and be very versatile and adaptive when things don't go the way you expected them (and they never will).

All in all, if someone really isn't working out, get rid of them sooner than later as otherwise you'll only be hurting the project more and more both with quality and team morale.

Hope this sheds some light.

 

[TheOriginalFive]

I find that team projects tend to go better on commercial ones, did quite a few as a freelancer over the last year. Feedback from working on it was helpful for when I go back to personal projects.

For proof-of-concepts I prefer to go alone.

 

[HexMozart88]

Well, the thing is, even though team projects are usually more successful, I just can't stand it. You're basically relying on other people to do stuff for you, and you have no control over how it turns out. I've worked in several teams, but I've never been the boss of a team. A lot of people have just completely ditched, either because they've decided to work in another engine, or because they replace all of the graphics I made for the game, or sometimes even both. I try as best I can to get my stuff done, and I usually let the person know about it if I'm running late. However, there are those who just ditch you no matter what.