How do I classify my workers, and how should I pay them?

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#1

For most of my time developing on ROBLOX, which spans around 10 years (with a few years on and off again here and there) it was more of a creative hobby for me, but in the last 2-3 years I started to focus more on monetizing it and have been making decent amounts of cash. That being said, I continued to focus on school primarily and other IRL things, where game development continued to be more of a hobby, so the cash earned has been lower than previously.

I’m just about to graduate college, with a degree in IT and a concentration in Cybersecurity. That being said, the job market is looking rough, and the economy in general even rougher. After graduation I want to make an effort to make considerable cash again from ROBLOX, and take it way more seriously than I have been to this point, in order to secure a decent earning if the job market continues to be bleak.

Anyway, back on topic. In the past, I have paid any developers who have worked with me a % of some sort. Usually this % royalty would be anywhere from 5-33%, which is a considerable amount of revenue to be giving to a single worker on a project I came up with and am managing. Generally, I gave % royalties to developers and contractors to:

  1. Remove some of the risk off of me. I would not need to put a lot of robux or USD into labor before the project released, though, if the project does well, a considerable amount of it is going to them.

  2. Keep them interested. From my experience with contractors, they would do a task, and then quickly move onto the next client. This was problematic, as if I required updates/maintenance for whatever they made, sometimes they were not available, or sometimes they quit commissions completely. This is an issue because then I would need to bring a new contractor on who might not be able to work with the previous one’s work, meaning a total re-do was needed, costing me more. But, if I paid them a recurring % royalty, typically that kept them very interested and very involved with me.

I have been told by multiple much larger developers that such a payment plan is a horrible idea. I do agree that it is a lot of money that I have to pay out recurring, but I always viewed it as a safer bet to having to pay hundreds if not thousands of USD/robux to labor on a project that may or may not do well or break even.

My most successful game in recent times, I pay the builder 33% of the game’s revenue.

So, I have come here with some questions.

  1. How should I classify people who work on my ROBLOX projects? I am looking at classifying people into contractors and full-time developers.

  2. If I am overpaying someone a % royalty on a project, how should I go about negotiating that?

  3. What are fair prices for paying contractors? Typically I pay either robux or USD based on how many hours they work. I’ve seen some people say they pay/get paid by the day, not per hour.

  4. What should I pay contractors, if on a per-hour basis? Usually, I start out at 15 USD an hour, though I know of people who are getting paid 30-50 USD an hour, on average.

  5. Ways to ensure that the contractor doesn’t fudge per-hour numbers?

  6. What constitutes a contractor vs. someone who should be a full-time developer? Like the amount of work they do on the overall project as a %, etc.

  7. Finally, how should I pay full-time developers? I’ve seen some people say salaries, and what should those salaries be, and paid how often? Weekly? Monthly? And when should I pay a full-time developer a salary over a % royalty, or vice-versa?

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#2

These so-called “large developers” decided to say that your plan was a horrible idea, yet they did not give you any pointers??

#3

Some of them gave me pointers, others did not. If they gave pointers, many of them would differ from each other, so I wanted to establish a thread where I could get multiple people not only giving me pointers, but also criticize or support pointers given by other people.

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#4

EVERYTHING IS MY OWN OPINION

  1. Contract developers - are more like people who A: You pay after they do that task or B: You pay them at the end of everything, and they just created a list of everything they did, but either way, they get paid off. Full-Time Developers - people who will usually work for a certain percentage or will accept payment after the game’s release and focus on your project.

  2. If you decide to do the % route, I would sit down and discuss it with them, and don’t be afraid to speak your mind to them. Just sit down and think about their work as a scripter would do the entire game so they could get like 15% maybe an animator who only does like 20 animations shouldn’t get that large of a percent.

  3. Paying contractors I would do whatever is easier for you and the dev are okay with. Hourly is hard because you don’t know how long they’re working, so it’s usually easier to do by completing any payment you feel okay with.

  4. Kind of the same question as 3

  5. If you decide to, set the hours you will pay them for every week like you will pay 10-15 hours per week, and they must complete the task by this date.

  6. Contractor someone you pay off before the game in some way NORMALLY. Full-time developer is percent and is paid after the release of the game

  7. I wouldn’t do a salary unless you already have a strong, established game and can keep that salary pay going. I recommend a percentage for developers that were there before the game and are working long-term, then, developers after the games should be paid on a 40-hour time every week or bi-weekly. I wouldn’t do monthly.

I MADE THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING AND TIRED SO MIGHT NOT BE FORMATTED THE BEST