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GDC '13 Going Rogue
- 1. Going Rogue: Game Design Freelancing 101 Aaron Cammarata Partner, voidALPHA acammarata@voidalpha.com http://www.voidalpha.com/goingrogue
- 2. Box Cover Can you put it down? ● You can! ● Should you? Can you get it done? Can you suck it up?
- 3. Press Start ● Getting Ready ● Support Network ● IT Structure ● Financial Clarity ●Cheat Code: $Annual Salary/1,000 = $Hourly Rate
- 4. Character Select ● Open up shop ● Cheat Code: Consider multiple audiences
- 5. Select Level ● Launch ● Networking = Listening & chatting ● Cheat Code: Networking is the fun part Stanford Game Industry Email List https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/gsb-videogames
- 6. Select Weapon ● Advertising = Promoting “...how to identify great designers, which is what I want to find.” - Clients ● Cheat Code: Show me.
- 7. Loading… ● Step 1: Can I do what they want done? “One thing that I noticed in working with the other contractor is that it is possible to take my directions literally, but of course, that's not really what I want.” – Client ● Done: ●Range estimates (“2-3½ weeks”) ●No blockers (“Invent time travel”) ●“Itch List” (Strategy / tone) ●Buy-in (See them nod) ● Step 2: Can I do it on their schedule?
- 8. Loading… ● Step 3: Can I do it for their budget? 1) Will/Will NOT 2) Pay (30/50/20) ● Done: Agreement, draft the contract 3) When 4) Warranty ● Cheat Code: 1-2 weeks 5) Maintenance ● Sider’s Law of Compensation: 6) Ad Hoc Rate 7) Exceptions ● “If you can’t scratch a window with it, it isn’t compensation.” ● Lawyers review. You decide.
- 9. Ready…Fight! ● THOU SHALT ALWAYS BE PROFESSIONAL ● Screw-ups will happen No, fear the ● And all are your fault (No “But you said…!” Ever.) 1337$p34k 8ull5H17 ● Check and confirm your Itch List ●Refine– do a little extra work ●Renegotiate “the time we have left” ●Reboot ● Document all changes ● Cheat Code: Master the Socratic Method ● Assume YOU missed something ● Bonus Cheat Code: Expect and enjoy silence ● Answer with correct, concise good news
- 10. Strategy Guide ● Designers – GIVE ME YOUR CARD ● Companies – EMAIL ME acammarata@voidalpha.com ● http://www.voidalpha.com/goingrogue ● Stanford Gaming e-mail: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/gsb-videogames ● http://luaz.blogspot.com/2012/09/freelance-programmer- survival-manual.html
Editor's Notes
- CG Notes:When it’s obvious, you kinda ride over it, but it may not be obvious.Running a business is a bitch, and takes time.
- Voicetrack:Good news - People ARE hiring right now, and it makes a lot of sense to hire / be a contract game designer.*** What kinds of jobs are there?So you can become a game designer. The question to ask is “would this be a good fit for my personality / would I be good at this and enjoy it?”<click>So I came up with a litmus test, based on my experience seeing those who made it, and those who flamed out.It’s really easy to be thinking ALL THE TIME about the work you need to do, getting the next client, getting out and selling the next job.You need to give yourself *some* guilt-free down time. Work a hard week, but don’t be ‘on’ all the time, or you’ll burn out.<click>Getting the job done – this was something I wasn’t expecting.You’re not in a company. You can’t go down the hall and ask the lead engineer. You need to deliver, and there are no excuses.<click>Everyone has design ideas, and most of them suck. The difference is you’re the contractor, so they can say so.Your trick is to roll with that and work with them to find the nugget of an idea. I have a system for that which I’ll talk about later, but if you freak out when someone disagrees, you’re probably not cut out to be a designer at all, much less a contractor.<click>This talk is about playing the game of being a designer, so I made sure that each slide has at least one “Cheat Code” to help you play the game better.This cheat code is the shortcut to making your client happy – and applies to design employees as well as contractors.Listen to what the client says they want. Integrate it into a whole solution, and give it back to them. It’s like a puzzle (the overall design) and a new piece (the new concept / feature). Your job is simply to make one fit into the other.The point? You don’t have to have the next killer idea. You don’t have to be responsible for making a trillion-dollar game design. You need to keep it simple.<click>The way to become a contract game designer…is to become a contract game designer.For me, this meant taking a REALLY small gig, which was going to stress me out as I tried to do what the client needed…AND stay in sales mode.The happy ending is that the client for that first gig was so pleased, they signed me onto a 3-month contract to continue, and then it turned into a month-to-month endless contract that covered most of my expenses, which I did for a year until I finally was the one to end the relationship. We still keep in touch, and they’re still happy with my work – so again, you get the first one, and then you have something to build on.
- Voicetrack:Ok, you need some basics.<click>Support Network – you need people you can call on when you need them, so you can focus on doing the work.Recommend an S-Corp - ~$800. Major tax benefits.If not, at LEAST get an EIN!Lawyer. $300/hourPlan to use them on every contract – it should be part of your priceAccountantAlso probably need QuickBooks or Harvest or something for billing, but that’s easy<click>IT:- If you don’t have it already, assume about $2-4K in startup costs plus $500/year ongoingComputerAND PRINTER – for contractsAND MAYBE EVEN FAXRepositoryGithub, Bitbucket, SubversionDropbox does NOT count!LOCAL BACKUP (Time Capsule, Carbonite, etc.)SoftwareOwn websiteIssue trackingOne for public, so you can ‘print a report’ for your clients at any timeOne that is private, either for tracking to more detail, or tracking personal stuff, sales efforts, etc.Way to share with clients<click>Financial ClarityThis is a big one- Cover your nut:Figure out your monthly nutIf employed, take your Gross paycheckAdd your employer’s taxes (30%?)Add your employer’s contributions to benefitsAdd your employer’s contributions to 401(k)Add your savingsAdd your padding for lean timesTHAT is your monthly nutYour job is to cover itAnother way to do it: Annual Salary / 1000 = minimum hourly rate. Should really start negotiations 20-50% above that.Beware Small Jobs. I try not to do anything less than $15K, when I started the number was more like $2500.
- Voicetrack:<click>Once you do open for business, customize your message for different audiences.First I made the resume on the left. But it wasn’t getting past HR departments, who just want to see work history. So I made the one on the right.That let me get the more creative resume to the teams themselves, since that was the audience for it.
- Ok, so now you’ve done your prep work, and it’s time to get to work!<click>So you launch your business, and you start to get the word out.And for most of us, that means Networking. Why? Because it’s free? You can’t get a better return on your investment than dividing by zero.Why network? Ok, you have a presence, now you need to EXPAND the presence, so you have a chance of the jobs coming your way.So let’s do a quick quiz here, show of hands, How many of you are *fantastic* networkers?(Hopefully not many hands raise)How many think ‘networking’ is what advertising and marketing execs do with expense accounts and is a huge waste of money(Hopefully many hands raise)Ok, good – so let’s correct this.Networking is easy.It’s having a presence.It’s reaching out to people, asking how THEY are doing, and how you can help THEM. It’s simply ‘being there’.Don’t get frightened by this! It’s tempting to think “Oh, I’m no good at networking’ – this is the most fun, easiest part.<click>Going to a party? NetworkingGoing to a hackathon? NetworkingWorking at a shared space like Hacker’s Dojo or Citizen Space? NetworkingReally want to be a bad-ass? Throw a party. Invite people to dinner. You don’t have to pay. You’re networking.Networking is having fun with people you like!Asking a friend how they’re doing on FB? NetworkingDon’t limit to game industry – talk to family, talk to business you frequent<click>Cheat Code: so hopefully I’ve demystified ‘networking’, and shown that it is actually the most fun part of being a contractor. It’s hanging out and being free and participating in this awesome career
- Now – here’s why I really think most people consider networking to be hard, and why they don’t network all the time.Networking has an evil twin.<click>AdvertisingIs when Networking switches to “Here’s what I’m doing, and you should hire me”That can happen as a result of networking – but keep them separate UNTIL THE OTHER PERSON ASKS. Even then, just talk about what you’re up to<click>Here’s what my clients say they’re looking for.Note that the second one is an Engineer with his own studio, 15+ years experience – and he still doesn’t know how to look for and reliably find good designers!The best way to advertise, I’ve found, is to put yourself into situations where people are likely to ask what you do, and be curious to learn more. Here are some examples.<click>If your pitch is “but I’m really smart” or “I can learn really fast”, that’s a really, really hard sell.If you sit down and make something happen on the screen, that’s the best.Go talk to your local coffee shop or your favorite retailer, and see if they want an interactive website or app doneAsk your city if there’s a volunteer organization that needs help. Maybe the city needs something to organize the summer camps.Offer to do it FOR FREE!Bottom line – in today’s market, the Contract Designer job is about getting something done onscreen. Nobody hires you to write their GDD.<click>CC: just do it.
- Ok, so someone is interested. You get a nibble. Now what? Now you’re negotiating.I negotiate in 3 steps<click>First, you do a skills check. If it’s an iOS game and you don’t know Objective-C, you’re at a huge disadvantage. This is where you really sit down with the client, preferably in front of a white board, or at least in the same room at a conference table, and take notes. Draw doodles. Talk it out. Ask questions. How do I get from this screen to that one? Do you want me to do concept art and level designs or just concept design? Who is the customer of the design doc I’ll be writing – is it to get money, or for the development team? Will I get to revise it? Is that part of the contract?All things are learnable – so you need to build that time in.BUT! Don’t get too bogged down in details. The sneaky, ultimate goal of this phase is to…<click>understand their itch. Do they want a finished, shippable product, or a game design doc? Do you share a vision on what you’re to build?Do you have all the tools – or know what to buy – to get the job done?Could you sit down and write out all the things you’d need to do to finish?Do you have a good handle on how they’re going to USE what you give them?<click>How’s this for a quote?The client is asking you to mind readHow do you become a mind reader? You write down the words she uses in this VERY FIRST MEETING to describe her pain point – the reason she wants to hire a designer.Then you put them on a post-it on the wall while you work, and spoon-feed them back what they REALLY asked for, not what they told you to do.<click>You’re done with this when you have estimated the jobUSE RANGESYou also have no big holes in your project plan that you have no idea how you’ll do it.The “Itch List” is where you wrote down what you heard their real need to be.Ideally you wrote down some saying, like “I don’t care if it looks good, but it needs to have great framerate, because we really care about the ‘feel’ of the controls”You should also DESCRIBE BACK TO THE CLIENT what you intend to give them.<click>Overlap it with your own schedule. It may be 1 week of work, but if you’re working for another client already part time, can you burn the candle at both ends?If it’s more time than they want, this is where you start negotiating.“The big piece is this one section, and it doesn’t seem like the killer part of the app – if we do it this other way, we can build it later or skip it altogether, and I can get it done on your schedule”I start with time negotiation because if they want it faster than I can do it, then no amount of money will change that. Which is really unfortunate, for me.You can consider bringing in help, but some contracts forbid that. Definitely suggest it to them if that’s your plan. “Hey, I think I *CAN* get this done on time if I can bring in a friend to work on it.”You’re done when you’re sure you could sign a contract and you feel like there is agreement on the milestones, and you think you can hit them all even in the worst case (i.e. overtime)<click>BudgetHome stretchYou have an hourly rate (remember?)You have a range of hoursYou have added it all up and come up with a range.You multiplied by 1.5 to account for the fact that you’ll need to work 60 hour weeksYou’ve divided by 1.2 because they’re letting you work from homeEtc.Start with your high number, and see if you can meet in the middle.<click>A note about Sider’s Law: the point here is that SOME of the payment will be money – so think about cash flow. You’ll need about 2 months to get started, and probably another 2 months for equipment startup costs unless you already have a laptop, PS, Word/Office, Etc.Of course, there are many other things to consider with contract negotiation, but they’re not specific to Design – this is why you have a lawyer. Just be careful.
- BudgetHome stretchYou have an hourly rate (remember the Financial Clarity section?)You have a range of hoursYou have added it all up and come up with a range.You multiplied by 1.5 to account for the fact that you’ll need to work 60 hour weeksYou’ve divided by 1.2 because they’re letting you work from homeEtc.Start with your high number, and see if you can meet in the middle.THEY are the ones who answer whether they can afford you.You’re going to put together your best bid, using RANGES, and you’re going to decide how hungry you are, how important this is, etc. But GOING IN, you’re going to know your top number, and your bottom number, and you’re going to know when to walk away from the gig.Figuring out the bid is simply hours times your rate.<click>So what goes in a contract?CONTRACTS SHOULD BE WRITING DOWN YOUR AGREEMENT. No contract is going to protect you all the time. You want to do your best, and trust that your ability to smell a rat will cover you for the most part.State clearly what is included and what is NOT includedPayment condition (30% upfront, 70% upon completion; if the delay is on the customer side - more than 6 months from project kickstart, the vendor automatically eligible for full payment of work done)Also, when you intend to get things done, and what your dependencies areWarranty period (2 months)Maintenance Contract (mandatory or not, start automatically after warranty period ends, must be continuous; online or on-site support; what is included, and what not)Adhoc Maintenance (RM 800 per day, minimum one day)Exceptions are where you put in some effort to say “What would really suck is…” and try to work in something that will cover your butt. Like, if you don’t reach a milestone, then the client automatically has to pay you for hours worked at your hourly rate.<click>- And remember – contracts take time. Here’s my rough expectation.<click>A note about Sider’s Law: the point here is that SOME of the payment will be money – so think about cash flow. You’ll need about 2 months to get started, and probably another 2 months for equipment startup costs unless you already have a laptop, PS, Word/Office, Etc.Oh, and “there’s more work where this came from” is worth exactly what you paid for it. It doesn’t count at all.Of course, there are many other things to consider with contract negotiation, but they’re not specific to Design – this is why you have a lawyer. Be careful, but don’t be paranoid.
- This is where I feel Designers are at the biggest disadvantage, as contractors. If you hire someone to write code, you can look at it, and it works or it doesn’t.If you hire someone to build models, or animate Flash characters, or make sounds, you can see right away whether their stuff is any good.A designers work is completely subjective – you can do the work, and guess what – it it’s right. So hear this now, and put it over your computer so you never forget this:<click>Ok, pet peeve time. You’re not that 1337. Use capitals. Use punctuation. Master the apostrophe rule, for god’s sake. Don’t look like a slouch, or you’ll be seen as one, and you WILL NOT BE HIRED BACK.<click>The client IS GOING TO BE DISSATISFIED. And it is YOUR responsibility to fix it.Notice that I say “All are your fault” – NOT “and are all your fault”. There’s a difference. It takes two to tango, to have a miscommunication. So it’s not completely your fault.However, it does you, as the design contractor, NO GOOD whatsoever to try and push that turd boulder uphill. You have no leverage.So how do you fix it, without having to start over and do twice as much work?<click>Here’s where the “itch” comes in. Remember – you wrote down what you think they REALLY wanted.You go back to this, and first ask yourself “I had a plan when I signed this contractNow is soul-searching time. When a screwup happens, it means you’re not on the right track. This is why you try to write as many quotes as you can on the itch list, so when they come back and say it looks terrible, your response is “Oh, sure – I didn’t put any artwork in. When we discussed it, I understood you were more concerned about the feel of the controls, and said not to worry about the look. Has something changed?”Ask yourself honestly if what you did addresses what they need. Confirm that they haven’t moved the goal line on you.There’s usually three things that can happen:<click>First, if you missed the mark a little, but most of what you’ve done is good, usually you can recover without having to spend a gazillion hours.You double-check to make sure you’ve heard them, refine your itch list (and task list), and just finish the contract.<click>Sometimes, you’re way out – or more likely, they changed their mind – but there’s still plenty of time left.So you scratch the current task list, hammer out a new itch/task list that remains in-scope (meaning it’s an even trade for time), and finish.<click>Rarely, though, it happens that the client tries to start over, pin it on you, and try to get a completely new thing out of you, which is a total scope blast, or outside your skills, or whatever.At this point, you need to stick to your guns that you did what you were asked. If you’re talking in these terms, it’s likely you’re getting past “are they going to be happy” and close to “are they going to pay me”, so it’s going to take your best negotiating skills to pull out of this.Don’t get me wrong – all is not lost. You need to remind them that you’re interested in them getting what they want, and that you can do it, and you’ll try to give them a break on the price if you need to do a new contract, or will prorate the current one if they decide not to. At this point, either they’re going to take another bite at the apple with you, or they’re not, so your goal is to salvage the relationship. Do what you can to help them out, but also make sure you get paid fairly for the work you did.Try to reach agreement with them on what you did, where it went sideways, and say “So I’ll send you an invoice for this much of it, and then you can think about how you’d like to proceed – I dig the project, and am happy to work with you again if you have new thoughts on where it needs to go.”Books like “Getting to Yes” are really good here.<click>How many people out there are aware of the Socratic Method: where you are asking questions as if you’re the student, but you’re actually the teacher. “The goal of this activity is to have participants work together to construct meaning and arrive at an answer, not for one student or one group to “win the argument.”WHENEVER you’re discussing, unless you’re talking about “here’s what I’m going to do” or “As a reminder, according to our contract I need to have those art assets by the 10th or I will not be able to hit our dates”, you should be taking a curious approach. “Assume you’re missing something, and ask questions until you get it.” There’ll be one of two outcomes here:The client realizes “Oh, wait – that’s a stupid mistake. You’re right” (and, of course, you didn’t even SAY anything – and yet you just won their respect! You let them keep their dignity, and THEY REALLY APPRECIATE THAT!)It will happen sometimes that you ARE missing something. It sucks to be leaning that far over the plate, and you just pointed out something that was so ridiculously stupid in the design – and they tell you you missed the point completely. Open mouth, insert foot.We finish with one of the other counterintuitive things I experienced:<click>This is KEY.Your client is not going to send you a DAMNED thing. No emails, no phone calls, no IMs. Unless you go to the office and are in their face, expect silence.Why do I enjoy it? It means things are going well! You’re the part of the team that does NOT require oversight – every day that goes by without you getting a worried email is another day of the project that went well for you.You, however, are NOT going to EVER let the line go dead.YOU are going to push status reports to them – correct, clear, and concise ones – that are good news if at all possible. “Hi Joan, just wanted to let you know that yesterday I got the login and main menus wireframed, and should have the platform section done by end of day today. This has me pretty much on schedule, so all things are good on my side. The latest is, as always, in the repository if you want to take a look. The next big milestone is next Friday when the first draft GDD is due, so it might be a good idea for us to plan a sit-down the following week to review. Would that work for you?”RememberThey’re too busyTHEY’RE paying YOUThis is the easiest thing you can do well and has the biggest payoff.Remember – you’re competing for their attention with a busy workplace, and being forgotten is worse than being disliked. If they sue you, at least you can learn why and improve. If they don’t hire you again, you usually don’t know why.The final reason for this is that should things eventually go south, you have a deep and rich trail to point to that shows you did the work, you told them what you were up to, and they never told you to do something different.