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[nihilocrat]

This is a neat article about running a tech company while also holding down full-time employment. However, it also clearly relates to creating and ESPECIALLY selling indie games while employed. Covering your ass when it comes to this kind of thing is a good idea, but in my experience the specific companies I've worked with don't mind as long as it doesn't get in the way of work.

http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html

[Zenorf]

When I started doing Indie games I was fully employed as a games designer in a development studio. My contract said that anything I designed belonged to the company. This is fairly standard and as designer coming up with game ideas and game mechanics ideas was part of my job.

To cover my ass I made sure my contract was changed to specifically allow me to do games on the side. I think this is the only way to be absolutely safe but a lot of employers will be reticent to do this I imagine.

[TeeGee]

When I started doing Indie games I was fully employed as a games designer in a development studio. My contract said that anything I designed belonged to the company. This is fairly standard and as designer coming up with game ideas and game mechanics ideas was part of my job.

To cover my ass I made sure my contract was changed to specifically allow me to do games on the side. I think this is the only way to be absolutely safe but a lot of employers will be reticent to do this I imagine.

Same here. During the interview with a new employer, it's a good idea to explicitly ask if the company has anything against you also being an indie developer and can you have it specified in your contract.
Though, I've also saw few cases of successfully hiding one's indie activity and using pseudonym for one's past-time work. Some companies will simply never allow you to work on anything game-related outside of your job.

[Mipe]

I'm going to start the job as a website designer. I doubt that has anything to do with game development.

If you work in game industry, however, that may be another story altogether and you have to prepare your contract very carefully.

[hatu]

When I started doing Indie games I was fully employed as a games designer in a development studio. My contract said that anything I designed belonged to the company. This is fairly standard and as designer coming up with game ideas and game mechanics ideas was part of my job.

To cover my ass I made sure my contract was changed to specifically allow me to do games on the side. I think this is the only way to be absolutely safe but a lot of employers will be reticent to do this I imagine.

This is important to do and most companies have no problems with it. If they do then you should probably think twice about working there.

[Oddball]

When I worked in film marketing my contract stated that any intellectual property, including even patents, I created automatically belonged to them. It's not an uncommon practice. It stops you using company resources to develop new techniques or products and then leaving the company to profit from them yourself. Don't forget you are a company asset too. As stated above though if you are honest with them, and it doesn't interfere or compete with your day job, then they'll usually be cool with it.

[C0ldf1re]

When I started doing Indie games I was fully employed as a games designer in a development studio. My contract said that anything I designed belonged to the company. This is fairly standard and as designer coming up with game ideas and game mechanics ideas was part of my job.

To cover my ass I made sure my contract was changed to specifically allow me to do games on the side. I think this is the only way to be absolutely safe but a lot of employers will be reticent to do this I imagine.

I negotiated the same sort of thing years ago with my employers. They were stoopid. Of course, I spent more effort on my business than on theirs, but still took their salary. They went bust and I got money.

I'd never ever let one of my employees work on the side. I learned from someone else's hard way.

[Zenorf]

I negotiated the same sort of thing years ago with my employers. They were stoopid. Of course, I spent more effort on my business than on theirs, but still took their salary. They went bust and I got money. MWUH! HA! HA! HA!

You're just an evil person as demonstrated by your evil laugh, but that does probably make you better at business than most of us Indies. Unless you pull out the laugh whenever you close a deal, right in front of them. They may begin to suspect.
Actually, I put even more effort into my day job because my bosses had given me the freedom to do what I enjoy and trusted that I wouldn't let it screw with their interests.

I'd never ever let one of my employees work on the side. I learned from someone else's hard way.

Yup. Bad, mean and evil.
What percentage of people would decide to screw their employers over do you think?
Commence a debate on the nature of man/greed/Kung fu.

[mewse]

To cover my ass I made sure my contract was changed to specifically allow me to do games on the side. I think this is the only way to be absolutely safe but a lot of employers will be reticent to do this I imagine.

My personal experience is that it's easier to get the company to agree to it if you don't propose adding language that allows you to make your own games on the side;  instead, propose adding a few conditionals on their standard "we own anything you make" clause, amending it to something more like:  "we own anything you make using work computers, during work hours, or on work property."

That way, you just need to make sure that you only work on your side-projects outside of work hours and at home (and not on work-provided laptops or suchlike, if you're unlucky enough to have something like that), and you're free and clear.  And work gets to keep their beloved "we own everything" language, just with a set of provisos that look fair from their point of view.

[bateleur]

I'd never ever let one of my employees work on the side. I learned from someone else's hard way.

I have the opposite attitude. My previous employer got some excellent work out of me because the fact they let me make games on the side meant I wasn't desperate to leave. Sure, I eventually left to go full-time indie, but that was after eight years and we worked well together.

[Notch]

I quit my last job specifically because I wasn't allowed to work on games on the side. I got a great job working for a company that started out as an "on the side" type of deal that went good, so they have a very relaxed policy about stuff like that.

If I could give one advice, however, it would be to get everything in print. Verbal promises (while legally binding), don't really hold up too well if they decide to change their mind.

[drChengele]

Huh. That's some food for thought, I never thought about this. I am fortunate my dayjob has absolutely zilch to do with games or indeed computers so I do believe I am safe in that regard, but I can see how this is a problem especially in modern-day corporate culture.

STOP MAKING IT HARDER FOR THE INDIE DEVELOPERS, YOU EVIL COMPANIES.