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[bateleur]

(Edit - Applications for this job are now CLOSED. See here for more details.)

I am currently in the late stages of production of The Unicyclist, a web game developed in Adobe Flash which I plan to publish on a free-to-play basis with revenue generated via sponsorship. I currently have no music for the game and am posting this in the hopes of finding someone interested in supplying some. I'll describe my requirements in detail in a minute, but first a bit about the game.

The gameplay revolves around the capabilities of the protagonist, Otto. As well as the eponymous unicycle he also has a grappling hook and a hat with helicopter blades. Thus equipped, he sets out to find his way through lots of teleporters and retrieve lots of boxes of treasure.

Here are a few screenshots from early levels which may give you some idea:


Music Requirements

* A piece of music suitable for inclusion in the Flash SWF (so probably mp3 and not too huge in terms of file size) which can be looped during gameplay as background music. The piece must sound reasonably natural when looped, although a one-time-only intro section is fine.
* The music itself must not be too manic, since if the player is stuck on a puzzle they may be listening to it while they think.
* But equally, since some of the advanced player gameplay is based on completion times the background music must not be too calm and mellow.
* The protagonist is a folk hero opposing an oppressive regime. Something slightly more relevant to this than random techno or ambient would be preferred.
* I do not require an exclusive licence, but will ask for a list of previous uses of any piece of music offered. Some pieces may be unsuitable for this reason.
* I do not require unlimited rights, only the right to use the music for this project.

What You Get

* I am happy to negotiate individually with musicians, this section is just to give a rough idea.
* Flat fee of $100.
* Or, if you prefer, 2% royalty on the initial sponsorship deal (which will be most of the game's revenue).
* Credit on the game's credits page (which will be short enough that your name won't get lost in an endless parade of scrolling lines).

How to Apply

Interested parties should comment below or message me. Don't email me because my spam filter won't recognise you and might decide it doesn't like your face. If you would want more than the above fee but believe what you can offer is good enough to make this worthwhile for me then that's cool too. Make your case!

[hyperduck]

I've a few questions. Looks great by the way.

1. I don't understand the revenue from sponsorship comment, would you mind explaining more about your particular set up in this field?
2. How long do you want the track to be roughly?
3. Have you any influences, or style references you could suggest?

Either video or audio, or just game references, as you've outlined what you do not want, which is very useful, however you are not totally clear on what you do want. Which is understandable if you are not sure yourself. Is this to say you're quite open to variety of ideas? Regardless, a more precise indication of reference material or suggestions would be really useful.

[bateleur]

1. I don't understand the revenue from sponsorship comment, would you mind explaining more about your particular set up in this field?

Sure. This is a fairly standard approach for modern Flash games. Basically the big sites like Armor Games, Crazy Monkey Games, King.com and so on (as well as lots of smaller ones) pay pretty decent fees in order to brand games with their badge. They host the game on their site, of course, but also their splash screen appears in the game on any other site it appears on, creating extra traffic for them.

Take a look at http://www.flashgamelicense.com/ for more information.

2. How long do you want the track to be roughly?

Good question. I haven't got a precise length in mind, but I would expect it to be quite short simply because file sizes end up excessive otherwise. Maybe 1-2 minutes? But it's a bit flexible and would depend on the piece.

3. Have you any influences, or style references you could suggest?

Hmm... nothing immediately springs to mind. On the other hand I don't want to restrict creativity. I have no musical ability myself and my experience of creative fields is that it's better to give a bit of freedom the the professionals to do their thing.

Still, you've asked for a rough target so I'll try to oblige... somewhere in the approximate space containing:

*


*


* All I Do

Except of course that they're all too long and some of the recording quality is a bit suspect!

Please don't anyone feel restricted by those links, though. I'm the kind of person who'll listen to something way off from what I was expecting and decide I actually really like it.

[pgil]

I sent you a PM with a song of mine that I thought might be appropriate based on your screenshots--though it may be more "chiptuney" than what you're looking for.

[bateleur]

Thanks! I agree - it's a good track, but is indeed a bit on the chip-tuney side for this project.

[moi]

* Flat fee of $100.
* Or, if you prefer, 2% royalty on the initial sponsorship deal (which will be most of the game's revenue).

Do you estimate that you can get $5k from this game? I'm just asking I have no idea about sponsorship prices.

[oganalp]

Greetings;

I am interested in your project and would like to work with you. Your fee or the option of royalty income over revenue sounds ok in means of percentage (of course, your estimated project sales etc. are necessary to discuss upon the preference).

I worked on several projects before on various levels. This topic on this very forum has all the CV info you need.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=11150.0

All the best;

Oganalp

[bateleur]

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=11150.0

I like your website - some great stuff there!

I'm going to wait a little while to give people a chance to see the thread before making a decision. Thanks for showing an interest!

Do you estimate that you can get $5k from this game?

I honestly have no idea, which is why I'm letting the contractor express a preference!

Feedback from playtesting so far has ranged from "The character is really hard to control. This is irritating!" to "This is stupidly addictive, I was up until 3am trying to shave another second off my time for level 12". Makes it quite hard to tell what its value is to the portals. $5000 was my extremely rough estimate.

(Given the development time so far I'd need to make more like $8000 for it to pay for itself. But then that's partly because I haven't released a commercial project in ages, so would much rather make a small short term loss than release a mediocre game. A lot of the code is reusable library stuff anyway.)

[oganalp]

Alright, I am around when you have made up your decision

[hyperduck]

Consistent feedback, and you seem quite friendly too! Excellent stuff :D alright, I can see you've made a rough estimate of $5000 but ideally you would want to hit $8000 to break even? How realistic do you think this is? In your professional opinion.

Also, this 2% of net receipts or royalties, would you pay this monthly? quarterly? Seems for this size of project I personally would vouch for a decent flat fee for the rendered services over the percentage stake royalties.

[bateleur]

I can see you've made a rough estimate of $5000 but ideally you would want to hit $8000 to break even? How realistic do you think this is? In your professional opinion.

Bearing in mind I'm not an expert here - so this is based on discussion by other developers - I'd say $8000 is not at all likely and $5000 is optimistic. That said, gaming is a hits-driven business.

Also, this 2% of net receipts or royalties, would you pay this monthly? quarterly?

That's not what I'm offering. It's 2% of the sponsorship fee, which is a one-time-only payment. (And the above discussion of $$$ also relates to the sponsorship fee.) Sponsorship fee is expected to be most of the game's income.

[hyperduck]

Ok I understand now. Well, now that is clear, I'd like to mention that one of my colleagues and long time friend would be really suited to this project, I highly recommend him. He's got a great compositional manner and I've worked on (and am working on) projects with him with much ease.

His email is kevincarville (at) hotmail.com . So put that email on your "not junk" filter He will contact you with some material within the next day or so. Check out our demoreel on the Hyperduck website as he has helped me with some of the projects we've worked on.

[Sos]

I can do it for free, just credit me there.
I'll show some of my work later today.
Aaaand one more time, what genre would you like?

[bateleur]

His email is kevincarville (at) hotmail.com . So put that email on your "not junk" filter

Whitelisted! Thanks.

I can do it for free, just credit me there.

That's very decent of you!

However, for this project, competition will be on quality rather than price. Honestly, I'm being slightly terrified by the huge number of amazingly skilled musicians expressing an interest. The last thing in the world I'm thinking right now is that I want to pay these people less!

That said, your interest is welcome anyway and you'll just have to live with me trying to pay you!

Aaaand one more time, what genre would you like?

Honestly, I don't have a genre in mind. The way I see it, the question of what would fit well is mostly a musical question. I really am about as musical as a brick. Even being in a position of having to assess the various applicants and work out who to go with arguably leaves me out of my depth!

Also, if I say something like "underground baroque-punk jam" you'll only start asking more questions about what I mean by that anyway.

[Sos]

Also, if I say something like "underground baroque-punk jam" you'll only start asking more questions about what I mean by that anyway.

I'm your man there, behold "underground baroque-punk"
"no-action" theme
"badass action" theme
"expect action soon" theme
Also, these three are same lenght and tempo and can be crossfaded at any moment. Originally made for assemblee compo, but nobody used them, so you can have them exclusively. And they fit the genre perfectly

Do I win?

[bateleur]

Do I win?

Nobody wins yet since I want to give a bit of time for people to see the original post before reaching a decision.

Good track, though.

[Sos]

Thanks I can make more tranquil songs too. And electronic if needed.

Sooo..... Am I going I win?

[Carlo Castellano]

Hi, I sent you a PM with my works, let me know.

[bateleur]

Applications for this job are now CLOSED.

Many thanks to everyone who expressed an interest. The quality and quantity of applications was mindblowing. For any other developers reading this, I strongly recommend hunting for musicians here!