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[wisetaner]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here could offer advice on how to assemble an unpaid small development team (say three or four people), to assist me in developing my 3D point and click episodic game (which will include over the shoulder camera and cutscenes with dialogue choices). If it were me looking for a team to join, I'd be very weary of giving any of my time for free for someone elses project. Especially if all they had to offer were future promises.

With that in mind, how do I ask others to commit there time and effort to my project. If my team and I are able to get crowdfunding, I will be paying them a respectable wage, along with a percentage of the earning the final game makes after completion. That plus the game has two sequels (its essential a three part story all connected), so my team will have constant work for at least the next six years. Only the first year would be unpaid...assuming crowdfunding is successful...and other considerations.

Oh and is it wise to ask the team to sign a non disclosure agreement? In the unlikely event a team member decides to go rogue and gives details to some competitor for pay. Or is that just me being a bit paranoid?

I would be grateful for any advice!

Thank you,

Mike

[Uykered]

Look at their history, how long have they been making games and in particular have they finished anything before?

If you or your team haven't finished a game before then

[wisetaner]

That is certainly useful advice once I find people, Alastair. And I thank you for that. But first I need advice on assembling the team to begin.

i.e. How do I find people and persuade them to work for free until funding is achieved?
 

Look at their history, how long have they been making games and in particular have they finished anything before?

If you or your team haven't finished a game before then

[Tobers]

I feel like you have to pitch the project well. First, it has to be a good project haha; but you have to be enthusiastic about it. You gotta be able to answer any questions they might ask too. If they ask about something critical and catch you with your pants down they won't trust you know what you're doing.

The second thing is be ready to lose even the most dedicated person at just about anytime. Always be on the lookout for backups just in case; don't think IF this person flakes, think WHEN.

[wisetaner]

Indeed! Very true, TobyHefflin! Thank you for the advice. I tend to think of my future team as a family of friends, but you're right, that could be dangerous. Because if one suddenly decided to bail on the project, I would need to move quickly to find a replacement team member in order to stay on course and on a timeline. Also good idea with thinking up a list of answers to potential questions, that the team members might ask in addition to questions I would ask them.

I'm still also interested to know if an NDA is a wise course to take and how to approach the subject with a potential team member without appearing like an arse. Personally an NDA seems like a smart choice, as it protects the IP and its (potential) value, as well as keeping team members from disclosing potentially plot twisting spoilers.

Lastly, what is the best gauge to know when to bring on team members, to help complete tasks that I don't have time for? As I'm writing the multi-path story, assembling parts of the models, and putting together the business end, and along with working a full-time job. That doesn't leave much time to complete the 3D modeling of the characters (which I am also attempting to do what I can), buildings, or environment, plus the coding or website.

All additional advice is most definitely welcome!

Thank you again!

I feel like you have to pitch the project well. First, it has to be a good project haha; but you have to be enthusiastic about it. You gotta be able to answer any questions they might ask too. If they ask about something critical and catch you with your pants down they won't trust you know what you're doing.

The second thing is be ready to lose even the most dedicated person at just about anytime. Always be on the lookout for backups just in case; don't think IF this person flakes, think WHEN.

[RaconteurNick]

Hi wisetaner, I think I can help you a bit with this. My indie startup is Raconteur Games, and we've been unpaid for several years now -- though summer is our target and the light at the end of the tunnel is visible!

The key here is selling not only the game, but the company, the future, and the idea that you'll be in a better place. I use a very specific pitch when recruiting people for Raconteur: If we succeed, then you have an awesome job. If we fail, we've given you the experience to get an awesome job!

We're in the same boat -- unpaid until release.

The key things to emphasize: 1) contributing to the team helps both the team and yourself; 2) you have nothing to lose by gaining experience; 3) at the end of the day, you'll either end up with a dream job or be several steps closer to that dream job.

It was brought up that you should anticipate people leaving at any time. While this is true to some degree, I disagree -- if people have faith in your vision and your project (showcased through effective leadership and project management) you shouldn't have a problem with this. Now, if you plan to give them ownership in the company, that's a different story entirely, and it should be in writing.

Finally, NDAs: if you're doing something highly innovative and revolutionary, I would recommend this. I.e. if it's radically different and you fear a copycat. It's not hard to find NDAs online and just make one yourself, copying the simple parts. Here's a pretty solid sample:

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/tradesecret/simple-confidentiality-agreement/

Hope all this helped! Best of luck with your project, I'll keep an eye out for ya. 

[wisetaner]

Thank you for the information, RaconteurNick! I'll read through all of that by Wednesday evening and reply back. This week is a rather busy at my day job.

Hi wisetaner, I think I can help you a bit with this. My indie startup is Raconteur Games, and we've been unpaid for several years now -- though summer is our target and the light at the end of the tunnel is visible!

The key here is selling not only the game, but the company, the future, and the idea that you'll be in a better place. I use a very specific pitch when recruiting people for Raconteur: If we succeed, then you have an awesome job. If we fail, we've given you the experience to get an awesome job!

We're in the same boat -- unpaid until release.

The key things to emphasize: 1) contributing to the team helps both the team and yourself; 2) you have nothing to lose by gaining experience; 3) at the end of the day, you'll either end up with a dream job or be several steps closer to that dream job.

It was brought up that you should anticipate people leaving at any time. While this is true to some degree, I disagree -- if people have faith in your vision and your project (showcased through effective leadership and project management) you shouldn't have a problem with this. Now, if you plan to give them ownership in the company, that's a different story entirely, and it should be in writing.

Finally, NDAs: if you're doing something highly innovative and revolutionary, I would recommend this. I.e. if it's radically different and you fear a copycat. It's not hard to find NDAs online and just make one yourself, copying the simple parts. Here's a pretty solid sample:

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/tradesecret/simple-confidentiality-agreement/

Hope all this helped! Best of luck with your project, I'll keep an eye out for ya. 

[Layl]

What parts of the project do you plan on doing yourself and what parts are you looking for people for?

As a personal note, NDAs extremely scare me off from any project. It's a nightmare for me to work on a project that has to be hidden and can't be playtested publicly or shown on a devlog. I'm personally of the opinion as well that ideas are cheap and implementation is the expensive part.

[RaconteurNick]

I think it comes down to there being a clear understanding of how early you're willing to show the project, and who owns the contributions. If those two are covered then showing off the project should be fine! For our project personally, we didn't want to show off until our mechanics were done for the obvious reasons (not promising anything that didn't make it into the game) as well as not opening ourselves up to potential copycats.

[Cheesegrater]

When you're looking for free help, you should focus on what you can do for your prospective teammates - what value you bring to the table, what things they won't have to do so they can focus on what they're good at, etc.

An NDA is focusing on they should give up for you - freedom to talk about their work, and (depending on the terms) freedom to vote with their feet and take their portion of the work elsewhere if the project turns out to be a bad fit.

[wisetaner]

Ok, I finally have a little time so I'll read through the comments and if I can, I'll answer this evening otherwise it will be tomorrow evening. I apologize if my delayed response appears rude, but I had a major exam this week at my full time job, which I learned today that I past (Go me!!) (I work on developing my video game during the weekend and after working my day job during the evening when not studying for something).

So anyway, I'll respond more later to each of your comments later tonight or tomorrow. I just wanted to let you each know that I am thankful for your input and I didn't just disappear. 

[Polyflare]

I would like to comment on the NDA thing specifically:

NDAs and non-competes are two things that a brand new startup company (Which is what a new game dev team is regardless of how it's legally set up) should avoid at all costs as it is unfair to the worker due to the high chance that the company will not survive for very long. Startups in general have a 90-95% chance of not surviving 3 years but I'm not sure what the percentage is in the games industry, it's probably higher than that. By signing either of those agreements the worker has limited their future work and potential career prospects.

NDAs limit future work as they typically contain clauses that limit the use of anything "learned" while working for the company. Regardless of how innovative you think your idea is chances are that the underlying concepts have already been applied elsewhere and can also be applied in completely unrelated future projects. By preventing a worker from using a generic concept they are unable to work for anybody in the future at all. By removing the clause it decreases the strength of the NDA, potentially making it completely worthless in a court of law. It's just not worth your time as a small team to get a properly worded NDA. Instead spent it actually making your game!

A professional will know when things can be discussed openly and when things should be kept secret. If you are planning on working with somebody then make sure you can trust them. A small team that doesn't trust each other is unlikely to be able to work efficiently together and therefore will be unlikely to break even financially. This is one of the reasons why many of the successful small teams started out as groups of existing friends or professional acquaintances (Network, network, network!).

For larger teams NDAs and non-competes start making sense as it's unrealistic that everybody will work well with everybody else. It is at this point where a traditional business structure starts emerging in order to be able to be competitive in the market and workers start distancing themselves from others on the team professionally.

[knifeySpoonie]

A lot of great advice... I'm currently running my team as unpaid (self funding) So here's a few tips I have.

Be professional - seems obvious right. The more professional you act, the more likely higher calibre people will want to work with you. Business plans and contracts, Game design documents, plan of actions, project management, basically if your taking care of all this, people will see your not just another team that will run out of steam in a few months/weeks and then there comes fallout etc..

Start with friends you trust - my initial team consisted of myself and two friends who wanted to make a game. If you already have a small core team who are committed you might attract people easier. We now have 3 part time contributors (who are all full time employed in the games industry, because they're sold on our idea, and believe in the project and team)

If you have experience leverage it - I'm an 8 year Industry veteran with Lead experience on 5 released games, I know how to manage a team and organise it, I make this clear to people. I'm not here to fuck around, I want to make a great game and we'll make it as awesome as we can and people will love it and that will bring financial success that will lead to a stable studio we can make more games with.

Be flexible but realistic - life gets in the way, some people want to work their bollocks off, some only have a little time, you need to work out a plan around this, if your UI artist is vital to your game and he/she can only do 4-5 hours a week in their spare time then you need to look at alternatives, another UI artist?or can you wait for your current one to finish stuff at their pace etc. Just make sure that any profit share you and your team agree too will scale according to value committed to the project. (this is very tricky in some countries) I'm currently working out the contracts for new members and how their share of profits will work etc.. It's not easy or fun organising this, but getting something that is fair and will reward people for their effort is key to keeping a team all working towards a common goal and feeling the whole set up is fair.

NDA's and Non-competes - NDA's are necessary, everyone should be under a mutually beneficial NDA for their and your protection... Non-competes... pfft.. that's big company bollocks, you're indie, I hate clauses in contracts that say shit like you can't work for another games company for X months after leaving etc. It's not enforceable in the EU for a start as you have a right to work and live.

@Polyflare - NDA's protect you both, I wouldn't work with anyone who wasn't prepared to sign an NDA or stick to it, it's basic professionalism. Things like not showing artwork in your portfolio before the game is released is standard because it damages marketing campaigns potentially... It also means if you tell me something in confidence etc your protected by the NDA's powers. etc. Also since your writing the NDA/tailoring it you your company you can set it up however you want. It doesn't have to limit anything you don't want to restrict. You might want to check up on NDA's as they're one of the most useful things. Also if you eventually get to the point of wanting a publisher etc, they will be happy to see how professional and prepared you are no matter the size of your team.

[joseph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Personally, I only work with people who impress me and that I trust. I rarely work for someone paid unless they have demonstrated they can make games I have found collaborators and been offered collaborations by talented people by making friends with developers who make very good things, and being approached because people saw me making good things.

So, demonstrate skill and independence. I am hesitant to babysit a client, let alone someone who isn't paying me. Learn to make your game on your own, start doing a good job, and then you may find it easier to recruit helpers.

Alternatively: Demonstrate expertise in project management and offer money. Producers are extremely valuble if they're good and can, via whatever means, fund the work.

Lastly: NDAs are ludicrous in the context of a passion project and if you want to roll with one you will need to demonstrate a lot of value to offset the cost. Working for someone else is very hard and lowers the quality of the work you will make. An NDA makes me think you value your business more than you value me... Which in some (rare) cases might be justifiable, but I'll need to be convinced.

99.9% of indie dev teams are worth vastly less than the sum of their parts, and it's hard to imagine a brand or idea which can't generate the funds to pay for my time is worth more than my skillset.

NDA presents a really easy choice for me to make:

A: make A++++ art for myself and be able to show it at will (and see something i deeply care about come to fruition)
B: make A++ work for you, on your project that I'm not as invested in, work harder, and not be able to show it in my portfolio

[wisetaner]

Well, this is extremely amazing, this conversation has taken on a life of its own, which is great.
Also, since I'm replying to a week's worth of posts right, I'm splitting up two per post. So there will be two or three in addition to this one.

With that said, Raconteur Nick, I Googled RaconteurGames, but the only site that appeared to be it, is currently down. What is your website URL?

Also I like what you said regarding, "The key here is selling not only the game, but the company, the future, and the idea that you'll be in a better place. I use a very specific pitch when recruiting people for Raconteur: If we succeed, then you have an awesome job. If we fail, we've given you the experience to get an awesome job!"

I like that philosophy! If I may ask, what type of game is your team developing, such as story or non-story? What type of genre?

In regards to "anticipate people leaving...I disagree", I certainly don't want to anticipate that and I do want to think of my future team as a family of sorts. It is perhaps a good idea to be cautious, which is partly where the thought of the NDA (and having everything in writing) originally came from. Because it is good to hope for the best, but also be prepared for the worst.

Also thank you for the link to the sample NDA!

Hi wisetaner, I think I can help you a bit with this. My indie startup is Raconteur Games, and we've been unpaid for several years now -- though summer is our target and the light at the end of the tunnel is visible!

The key here is selling not only the game, but the company, the future, and the idea that you'll be in a better place. I use a very specific pitch when recruiting people for Raconteur: If we succeed, then you have an awesome job. If we fail, we've given you the experience to get an awesome job!

We're in the same boat -- unpaid until release.

The key things to emphasize: 1) contributing to the team helps both the team and yourself; 2) you have nothing to lose by gaining experience; 3) at the end of the day, you'll either end up with a dream job or be several steps closer to that dream job.

It was brought up that you should anticipate people leaving at any time. While this is true to some degree, I disagree -- if people have faith in your vision and your project (showcased through effective leadership and project management) you shouldn't have a problem with this. Now, if you plan to give them ownership in the company, that's a different story entirely, and it should be in writing.

Finally, NDAs: if you're doing something highly innovative and revolutionary, I would recommend this. I.e. if it's radically different and you fear a copycat. It's not hard to find NDAs online and just make one yourself, copying the simple parts. Here's a pretty solid sample:

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/tradesecret/simple-confidentiality-agreement/

Hope all this helped! Best of luck with your project, I'll keep an eye out for ya.  

Hi Layl, my two biggest parts in my game project are developing/writing the overall story and everything that goes with that, from the environment, the characters, antagonists, everything. My second biggest part will be the business side, such as legalities, I'll also be the project leader. I am also creating the 3D constructs/concept buildings and environments. Futher more assuming the eventual crowd funding is successful I will be voicing one of the characters.

The positions  I will be trying to fill are: Unreal Engine programmer, 3D artist, web designer/programmer. Once I have enough information about how to go about putting together a team properly, I will begin looking for these people. I'm attempting to keep the team small, because even assuming the eventually crowd funding is successful. There will be other expenses on top of paying wages that will deplete the funds very quickly.
Lastly Layl, if NDA's scare you away from a project, how do you plan on playing beta's? Or for that matter, potentially working for big company? NDA type agreements are almost common place, depending upon the field.

What parts of the project do you plan on doing yourself and what parts are you looking for people for?

As a personal note, NDAs extremely scare me off from any project. It's a nightmare for me to work on a project that has to be hidden and can't be playtested publicly or shown on a devlog. I'm personally of the opinion as well that ideas are cheap and implementation is the expensive part.

[wisetaner]

Hi Cheesegrater, I can understand what you're saying about the NDA, but I think you're misunderstanding the point. As the NDA (at least in the way I referring to it) is not to diminish my team's overall freedom or silence them about their "own" personal work. The NDA is to keep them from disclosing any particular information related to the game project that they are working on for/with me.

Now if by chance a team member began thinking about my game project 24/7, that would be a little different. Because although their personal time is theirs, they are still in fact (of their own free will) thinking about my game project. Therefore the NDA does apply, because although they are on their own time, they are using that time to think about the game project and thus are bound by the NDA.

If need be, I can clarify that further, just let me know. 

When you're looking for free help, you should focus on what you can do for your prospective teammates - what value you bring to the table, what things they won't have to do so they can focus on what they're good at, etc.

An NDA is focusing on they should give up for you - freedom to talk about their work, and (depending on the terms) freedom to vote with their feet and take their portion of the work elsewhere if the project turns out to be a bad fit.

Hi Polyflare, I think you're misunderstanding what an NDA is, or perhaps you're thinking of something I think is called a gag order(?).  At any rate, consider your sentence, " NDAs limit future work as they typically contain clauses..." I.e. "typically contains", that does not mean it must contain, it just means that the companies in question, choose to have those clauses in them.

Each large company is different, just as each indie company is different.
 
Also I mean no offense by pointing some things out here, but instead because I don't understand your logic or reason. Ie. Your paragraph, "NDAs...should avoid at all costs as it is unfair to the worker due to the high chance that the company will not survive for very long." In this sentence you seem to be saying that the employee (if required to sign an NDA) is the victim, while at the same time you're assuming that the new startup company (almost any new startup) is bound for failure. How is that not a contradiction?

 "Startups in general have a 90-95% chance of not surviving 3 years but I'm not sure what the percentage is in the games industry, it's probably higher than that. By signing either of those agreements the worker has limited their future work and potential career prospects."

This simply does not make any sense to me at all. An NDA i.e. Non-disclosure agreement, is intended to keep employees from revealing information about a game. Or perhaps in specialized cases to keep employees from talking about company secrets for a number of years.

Also an NDA is not all encompassing, they are suited to the specific need of the company. As written earlier some are simply to prevent employees from talking about specific game details, until after launch. Whereas others are to keep employees from discussing company secrets for a number of years.

The type of "contractual agreement" that is more of a gag order, used to prevent x-employees from working at a competing company for a number of years. That is something else entirely. That is extremely different and far from any sort of NDA that I would ever even consider. I don't even think that is an NDA or non-competes.

Lastly, Polyflare, feel free to respond to this and I apologize if I misunderstood anything your wrote. Oh  and knifeySpoonie's post makes a lot of sense.

I would like to comment on the NDA thing specifically:

NDAs and non-competes are two things that a brand new startup company (Which is what a new game dev team is regardless of how it's legally set up) should avoid at all costs as it is unfair to the worker due to the high chance that the company will not survive for very long. Startups in general have a 90-95% chance of not surviving 3 years but I'm not sure what the percentage is in the games industry, it's probably higher than that. By signing either of those agreements the worker has limited their future work and potential career prospects.

.....

For larger teams NDAs and non-competes start making sense as it's unrealistic that everybody will work well with everybody else. It is at this point where a traditional business structure starts emerging in order to be able to be competitive in the market and workers start distancing themselves from others on the team professionally.

[wisetaner]

Hi knifeySpoonie, I definitely wanted to start my indie company with friends, but in my case, the only people I know who have the knowledge to create video games are former classmates. Of which I don't have a close connection with. Which is why I'm starting this endeavor solo.

That is very nice that you have that much that wealth of experience and knowledge, as for myself, I have my bachelors degree and a very creative mind. I have attempted to get a job in a AAA company to start, but after two years of applications. I learned that there are too many applicants. So I figure developing an in indie game/company will either help me create my successful company, or it will make me (and my team) more desirable by other companies.

Aside from that, I think I agree with pretty much everything you have said, KnifeySpoonie!

A lot of great advice... I'm currently running my team as unpaid (self funding) So here's a few tips I have.

Be professional - seems obvious right. The more professional you act, the more likely higher calibre people will want to work with you. Business plans and contracts, Game design documents, plan of actions, project management, basically if your taking care of all this, people will see your not just another team that will run out of steam in a few months/weeks and then there comes fallout etc..

.....


NDA's and Non-competes - NDA's are necessary, everyone should be under a mutually beneficial NDA for their and your protection... Non-competes... pfft.. that's big company bollocks, you're indie, I hate clauses in contracts that say shit like you can't work for another games company for X months after leaving etc. It's not enforceable in the EU for a start as you have a right to work and live.

@Polyflare - NDA's protect you both, I wouldn't work with anyone who wasn't prepared to sign an NDA or stick to it, it's basic professionalism. Things like not showing artwork in your portfolio before the game is released is standard because it damages marketing campaigns potentially... It also means if you tell me something in confidence etc your protected by the NDA's powers. etc. Also since your writing the NDA/tailoring it you your company you can set it up however you want. It doesn't have to limit anything you don't want to restrict. You might want to check up on NDA's as they're one of the most useful things. Also if you eventually get to the point of wanting a publisher etc, they will be happy to see how professional and prepared you are no matter the size of your team.

Catguy, while I can certainly understand that you a very cautious person and weary about having a company take advantage of you. You need to consider that the companies (Indie or AAA) out there are equally as cautious and weary.

Your thought process, such as "I only work with people who impress me" and "I am hesitant to babysit a client", "An NDA makes me think you value your business more than you value me", simply put that is a very one-sided way of thinking. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, you always need to keep in mind that the work you do must be mutually beneficial. I.e. you are getting paid, are able to expand and have creative freedom, etc. but also that the work you do benefits your employer, contractor, or whomever it is you are working for.

If your only consideration is "how will this benefit me", then I really don't see how that type of person could become successful. But that is just me and my philosophy.

Personally, I only work with people who impress me and that I trust. I rarely work for someone paid unless they have demonstrated they can make games I have found collaborators and been offered collaborations by talented people by making friends with developers who make very good things, and being approached because people saw me making good things.

.....


99.9% of indie dev teams are worth vastly less than the sum of their parts, and it's hard to imagine a brand or idea which can't generate the funds to pay for my time is worth more than my skillset.

NDA presents a really easy choice for me to make:

A: make A++++ art for myself and be able to show it at will (and see something i deeply care about come to fruition)
B: make A++ work for you, on your project that I'm not as invested in, work harder, and not be able to show it in my portfolio

[Polyflare]

Thanks for the comments everybody about NDAs. Maybe all the NDAs I have seen have been overly restrictive gag orders and as a result has made me try to avoid them at all costs. By the sound of things the NDAs that everybody else is referring to are far more lax and only restrict information about the game as a final product instead of the underlying concepts that make up the game. In this case it may be acceptable to have an NDA for a brand new team.

My only advice though is to not forget the underlying reason why you're making a team: To make a game. Due to the the complexities of running a company it's extremely easy to forget this and you may end up spending way too much time and money on things that ultimately don't matter to the underlying goal. I have fallen into this trap myself multiple times as it's extremely easy to do. Think of it this way: If you have an NDA in place and your worker breaches it, do you actually have the time and money to follow through with court action to claim the damages? If you don't have the money to pay your workers then you definitely don't have enough to go to court. Any time you or your workers spend on getting those NDAs signed is therefore wasted time that would have been better spent on actually making the game itself.

[wisetaner]

Now you're talking, Polyflare!  Indeed, the NDA I would put in place is too both protect my team and I and our eventual profits, from anyone who might have malicious intent. As well as protect against any company whose objective is to have someone go undercover to gain story ideas or unique code that I or my team has created. Obviously that's an extreme case, but it's an example of things I hear about in the news.

If a team member of mine decided to leave for another company for different prospects. I would definitely want him or her to succeed. But at the same time if there were unique details or something about the game my team is working on, I would not want the individual who left to start talking about that or using that at a new job. Because that could potential hurt my teams profits. 

Also good point you made, stay focused on the main aspect of the game and getting it complete. Don't let yourself get distracted on unnecessary things.
 

Thanks for the comments everybody about NDAs. Maybe all the NDAs I have seen have been overly restrictive gag orders and as a result has made me try to avoid them at all costs. By the sound of things the NDAs that everybody else is referring to are far more lax and only restrict information about the game as a final product instead of the underlying concepts that make up the game. In this case it may be acceptable to have an NDA for a brand new team.

My only advice though is to not forget the underlying reason why you're making a team: To make a game. Due to the the complexities of running a company it's extremely easy to forget this and you may end up spending way too much time and money on things that ultimately don't matter to the underlying goal. I have fallen into this trap myself multiple times as it's extremely easy to do. Think of it this way: If you have an NDA in place and your worker breaches it, do you actually have the time and money to follow through with court action to claim the damages? If you don't have the money to pay your workers then you definitely don't have enough to go to court. Any time you or your workers spend on getting those NDAs signed is therefore wasted time that would have been better spent on actually making the game itself.

[RaconteurNick]

Well, this is extremely amazing, this conversation has taken on a life of its own, which is great.
Also, since I'm replying to a week's worth of posts right, I'm splitting up two per post. So there will be two or three in addition to this one.

With that said, Raconteur Nick, I Googled RaconteurGames, but the only site that appeared to be it, is currently down. What is your website URL?

Also I like what you said regarding, "The key here is selling not only the game, but the company, the future, and the idea that you'll be in a better place. I use a very specific pitch when recruiting people for Raconteur: If we succeed, then you have an awesome job. If we fail, we've given you the experience to get an awesome job!"

I like that philosophy! If I may ask, what type of game is your team developing, such as story or non-story? What type of genre?

In regards to "anticipate people leaving...I disagree", I certainly don't want to anticipate that and I do want to think of my future team as a family of sorts. It is perhaps a good idea to be cautious, which is partly where the thought of the NDA (and having everything in writing) originally came from. Because it is good to hope for the best, but also be prepared for the worst.

Also thank you for the link to the sample NDA!

I didn't know our site was down, this must have happened in the past 48 hours! Thanks for the heads-up, we're on it! It's still a WIP at the moment. www.raconteurgames.com is indeed the site.

We're actually very close to showing off what we're working on. It's called Close Order, and it's an arcade shooter with one simple goal: become a badass armada! More to come soon, including a devlog here on tig. We wanted to finish working on our website before we started actively showing it off. It's very story-driven (I mean, we are "storyteller" Games!), and we have options for those who want just the action as well. It's basically bullet hell... meets strategy. And very soon, the "huh?!" you just said will make sense when you see it!

I can attest from personal experience that a lot of indie devs can be overwhelmed or intimidated by business. I've mentioned in other threads before that I'm far from the standard dev -- I can't write a line of code (I'm a business student), but I've built our team from the ground up and here we are! My best advice is to not worry about the business until the game really starts taking shape, but definitely have the conversation with the team about your plans. Again, if anyone plans to be a part owner, get it in writing. Make sure there is an understanding about who owns the contributions so in the event that anyone leaves, they can still show it in portfolios but you own the content to release in the game. That's mainly what you want out of your NDA.