Collaboration category survey + post your gripes

At glance, the Collaboration category seems like a graveyard of projects that failed to attract developers – this is obviously a bad thing in an environment where collaboration is critical to success. So we can gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Collaboration, please post your gripes and success stories below. I’ve also included a number of polls to help gauge common use cases of Collaboration.

General:

I use the Collaboration category never (1) - frequently (5)

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0 voters

The benefits of the Collaboration have been awful (1) - amazing (5)

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0 voters

Looking for developers:

Polls inside

As a project manager, I get no (1) - many (5) applicants for my collaboration threads

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0 voters

As a project manager, it’s difficult (1) - easy (5) for me to get skilled applicants

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0 voters

As a project manager, it’s difficult (1) - easy (5) for me to get entry-level applicants

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0 voters

As a project manager, it is difficult (1) - easy (5) for me to find suitable applicants for the positions I post

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0 voters

As a project manager, applicants want minimal (1) - insane (5) compensation

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0 voters

As a project manager, my applicants quit rarely (1) - almost always (5)

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0 voters

As a project manager, Collaboration has allowed me to release no (1) - many (5) games

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0 voters

As a project manager, the forum post replies my threads get are unhelpful (1) - valuable (5)

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0 voters

As a project manager, I usually want to hire for these positions (select multiple if applicable)

  • Programmer
  • Builder
  • 3D Modeler
  • Artist - Renderer
  • Artist - Media (non-rendered thumbnails, logos, etc)
  • Audio Developer
  • Other

0 voters

As a project manager, I’m okay giving compensation in the form of (select multiple if applicable):

  • A % of final project game revenue
  • In-game benefits (e.g. currency, premium items, etc)
  • Single payment at project completion
  • Partial up-front payment before any work is done, rest at completion
  • Milestone payments (project manager establishes tasks, and applicant gets paid for each task completed)

0 voters

Looking for work:

Polls inside

As an applicant, I rarely (1) - frequently (5) find projects I’d like to apply for

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0 voters

As an applicant, projects usually offer awful (1) - perfect (5) compensation

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0 voters

As an applicant, compensation aside, it is difficult (1) - easy (5) to find projects I’m uninterested in (genre, ideas, etc)

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0 voters

As an applicant, compensation aside, it is difficult (1) - easy (5) to find projects I’m interested in (genre, ideas, etc)

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0 voters

As an applicant, the scope of projects (#tasks – not difficulty) offered are negligible (1) - too massive (5)

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0 voters

As an applicant, the difficulty of projects offered, scope aside, is too easy (1) - difficult (5)

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0 voters

As an applicant, I am usually disappointed (1) - satisfied (5) with my project manager who hired me

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0 voters

As an applicant, I usually want to apply for these positions (select multiple if applicable)

  • Programmer
  • Builder
  • 3D Modeler
  • Artist - Renderer
  • Artist - Media (non-rendered thumbnails, logos, etc)
  • Audio Developer
  • Other

0 voters

As an applicant, my preferred form of compensation is:

  • Only a % of final project game revenue
  • Only in-game benefits (e.g. currency, premium items, etc)
  • Single payment at project completion
  • Partial up-front payment before any work done, rest at completion
  • Milestone payments (project manager establishes tasks, and you get paid for each task completed)
  • No compensation

0 voters

5 Likes

Great topic. There’s a lot of friction in finding great talent that’s not working on their own awesome projects.

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I’m seeing a lot of “Other” on “I usually want to apply for these positions”. Can anyone who voted for that clarify which options I’m missing from the poll?

UI design is one of them. I’ve been hired twice on here now for that position.

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Game design tasks

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Only designing, or implementing as well?

I do a lot of voice acting, and I’m also an experienced video editor. I usually jump at the chance to take any of these openings, but they’re rare.

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Brainstorming, documenting, rapid prototyping / trial-and-error phases (so I guess both design and implementation)

Those are only only the early stages of development. Do you not stick around for the completion?

Oh sure, I ticked both “Programmer” and “Other”

1 Like

It’s annoying finding an “offer” where you’re basically supposed to do the bulk or the harder portion of the task for the game and then you’re offered 15-40%

Collaboration on games is great, but sometimes I find it a struggle to actually trust somebody to get the work done, especially when they want an upfront payment, or milestone payments.

1 Like

Project manager, tester.