I’m FlammableSnowan, and I’m fairly new to the Developer Forum as of May 2019. In this tutorial, I will try to explain how to make a contract.
What inspired me?
Multiple studios.
What does a contract do in game development?/What is a contract?
My simplified definition of a contract
A legal document that the individual who is signing it must agree to.
Google's definition of a contract
A written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law.
For additional information, a contract works like this:
- The employer creating the contract states what s/he requires in the contract
- The individual signing it must agree to every condition in the contract
Which was basically what I stated in the definition.
In game development however, a contract can secure payments, and secure anything in general. Is a developer looking for commission/contract work? Is a developer looking part-time/full-time work? Well, a contract guarantees it all.
The structure of a contract/Creating a contract
The basic structure of a contract (when I think of one) goes like:
By signing this contract, you hereby agree to …
You will hereby attend during …
You will hereby complete …
…And a lot more information included.
Knowing this, the employer can start on their first contract, knowing this information:
Information
- The employer is looking for commissioned work
- The commissioned work is: 2 GFX logos
The contract would look something like this:
Module 1 of the contract
By signing this contract, you hereby agree to respect all of its contents, terms, and conditions.
By signing this contract, you legally comply with (communication software, i.e. Discord) terms of conditions.
By signing this contract, you legally comply with (payment software, i.e. PayPal) terms of conditions.
I believe it is important to take extra precautions, because if the developer does not comply with a provided software, issues may start occurring.
Also, being able to legally comply with PayPal’s terms, the user has to be 18+.
Module 2 of the contract
Now that the developer agrees to legally complying with the provided software, it’s time to move onto the task.
You hereby agree to create two graphic logos.
You hereby agree to no material that may subject to copyright.
You hereby agree to create all material from scratch.
This part of the contract guarantees that all material will be created from scratch, and the two GFX logos will be created. It is important to include:
You hereby agree to no material that may subject to copyright.
In the employer’s contract.
Moving on:
You hereby agree to recognize our game's style, and make both graphic logos in relation to our game's style.
This is where the contract gets complicated.
- Who determines the game’s style
- What are the consequences of disobeying this
Both these questions are good questions. Writing “…will be determined by…” is still not enough, but contributes. Knowing this, we can add:
You hereby agree to recognize our game's style, and make both graphic logos in relation to our game's style (which will be determined by…).
You hereby agree to get $2 (USD) reduced from each graphic logo if you do not comply with this requirement.
However, the employer can determine it as “unworthy” and $2 is deducted, which also causes problems.
Module 3 of the contract
We haven’t yet established a proper method of determining a logo as not adhering with the game’s style. The employer should do some fixing:
You hereby agree to recognize our game's style, and make both graphic logos in relation to our game's style.
To determine if the logo matches the game's style, the logo must contain:
• A(n) (theme, i.e. eerie) (which would be determined by…)
• A(n) (prop(s), i.e. mask, skeleton) (which would be determined by…)
• A(n) (anything else) (which would be determined by…)†
You hereby agree to get $2 (USD) reduced from each graphic logo if you do not comply with this requirement.
†This is the new addition of this part of the contract.
But, even with these aspects, this can still be argued out. Well, not really. If the terms are broken, and the employer decides to go to court, the judge will determine this.
Overall, the contract looks like this:
By signing this contract, you hereby agree to respect all of its contents, terms, and conditions.
By signing this contract, you legally comply with (communication software, i.e. Discord) terms of conditions.
By signing this contract, you legally comply with (payment software, i.e. PayPal) terms of conditions.
You hereby agree to create two graphic logos.
You hereby agree to no material that may subject to copyright.
You hereby agree to create all material from scratch.
You hereby agree to recognize our game's style, and make both graphic logos in relation to our game's style.
To determine if the logo matches the game's style, the logo must contain:
• A(n) (theme, i.e. eerie) (which would be determined by…)
• A(n) (prop(s), i.e. mask, skeleton) (which would be determined by…)
• A(n) (anything else) (which would be determined by…)
You hereby agree to get $2 (USD) reduced from each graphic logo if you do not comply with this requirement.
It is brief and not intimidating to the developer. Now, for the final part, the date:
You hereby agree to completing both graphic logos and giving them to the employer by (mm/dd/yyyy).
The instructed employer is …
That’s a good contract.
Tips when creating a contract
- Make the contract as brief as possible
- Try not making the contract intimidating
- Make the developer comfortable
How to utilize your contract
Employer:
- Give yourself the permission to cancel the contract you made under certain conditions†
- Give yourself the permission to view all progress being made from the developer
- Give yourself the permission to extend deadlines*
- Give yourself the permission to edit the contract you made under certain conditions**
†By canceling the contract, the developer does not have to follow any terms from the contract, which includes them not being required to give the desired product.
*By giving yourself the permission to extend deadlines, this does not mean to shorten deadlines. Giving the permission to shorten deadlines will make multiple developers uninterested.
**This is very difficult to pull of, and there should be strict limitations on how much the employer is able to edit.
If I’m being honest, I probably made a lot of mistakes, so if you have concerns, or I messed up (most likely), feel free to contact me. 
Edit: This topic will not be moved to community resources. Reason: “The writing of the topic looks okay, but I am a bit hesitant moving over any kind of legal advice like this, if the person isn’t actually a lawyer in game development / creative industries. There’s also a lack of sources (none at all) given, so I don’t know if there’s much benefit to moving this over.” I agree to this reason.