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[handsome]

Hi guys, I'm developing games for iOS, as many of you.

But I'm having this big problem,  we are a team of 2, I'm the designer, he's the programmer,  we used to be friends, we work on a major mobile studio, and we decide to go indie on our spare time, almost 3 years ago...

Putting aside the fact he turned into an overly attached girlf...co-worker, friend.. and that we have some personality differences, the decisions he are making are truly based on earning money, and I'm here for the creating fun stuff business. I know this is a business but that's why I still keep my current job, to make stuff worth of playing, not to keep worrying about money, now that I've made some changes to the game to make it more enjoyable, he says we are losing money, and I kept losing time on useless changes, like a more nice loading screen, beautiful game over/pause screens and a story mode based on the objective reach experience, and shit like that. He says we must focus on the marketing thing, contact bloggers and reviewers etc etc.

At first it was fun! Now is hell for me. I did not see it coming, but now I'm stuck with 2 games, one of them is on the AppStore the another one is on progress.

I understand art guys sometimes, or the most of the time, we're such a pain in the ass to developers because of reasons... "Oh I HAVE THIS GREAT IDEA!" in the middle of the development, and, when it really is a great idea, we have to start over again, now, I've read a lot of articles about that, bla bla bla, now I know what I have to do first and stuff.

The truth is, I don't want to work with him anymore, one game is finished, I just have to quit to the idea to make it 100% finished to my point of view, the other one, the big one as he names it, it's almost finished, the art, game design and all the flow, but I just want to leave....

I talked already with him, he's mad, because we used to be good friends, and for him, I'm leaving the "ship" , but, well I don't know, he's to bossy for my to handle him, Am I wrong? He's the one who manages the sales and stuff, I don't know shit about money, the last thing I knew is we have like 50 sales, I know if I leave, I must forget about every cent, I'm thinking about keep my "big one game" resources, he keeps his engine, there's the 3 years time investment thing, now as I read, it sounds like a divorce.  

What do you think? Thanks in advanced, sorry for the long post.

[Nix]

I'm not sure I get why you are leaving this guy. You didn't enjoy working with him? Did your creative visions just not mesh or what?

[James Coote]

like a more nice loading screen, beautiful game over/pause screens and a story mode based on the objective reach experience, and shit like that. He says we must focus on the marketing thing, contact bloggers and reviewers etc etc.

I would have thought you need to be doing both. After all, the product is the most important part of the marketing mix

You should sit down and discuss what your aims are for specific games, so you're both on the same page

Maybe one game is just an experiment? Then spending extra time on the art is a waste, and you should move onto the next project.

Perhaps you are using a game to test out a marketing strategy? In which case, get user feedback on the new designs, and not just "did people like them?", but try to work out how much difference having the new, better art was. Then you can reasonably say for next time if it is worth spending extra time on loading screen art or whatever.

Or could be that the game has a tight deadline due to something out of your control, such as a new movie is coming out about vampires, and your game happens to be a vampire game. Waiting another few weeks to do extra loading screens means you miss the boat.

Maybe the extra work on the art will make the difference between an average game and a game that really sings and shines, and will get you far more sales than a mention on some blog.

Chances are the balance is somewhere in the middle. You may be being perfectionist, but your partner may be too eager to rush to market with a poor product. But you need to talk to your partner to find out

[SundownKid]

He is a programmer and is (understandably) concerned about how much money he can get out of the time he puts in. You're the one in this equation who seems to be undervaluing his work. I suggest you buck up and get together a detailed game design document as well as the artwork FIRST before starting development so you both can be on the same page... right now you seem to be flaking out and adding new features and treating it as a hobby when he treats it as a business. If you leave, he will be the one with the advantage.

[TeeGee]

When he start to see that we can make some money out of this on advertising and sales, etc, the game decisions started to go through the question, HOW CAN WE MAKE MORE MONEY OUT OF THIS? instead of, how can we make this game more fun,or different.

You do realize that the two go toe-to-toe? Fun and unique (or at least with enough USPs) games make more money.

Personality differences can be a serious problem, though.

[handsome]

Maybe one game is just an experiment? Then spending extra time on the art is a waste, and you should move onto the next....
....Maybe the extra work on the art will make the difference between an average game and a game that really sings and shines, and will get you far more sales than a mention on some blog.
Chances are the balance is somewhere in the middle. You may be being perfectionist, but your partner may be too eager to rush to market with a poor product. But you need to talk to your partner to find out

Yes it was an experiment first, but the personal differences start to popping out in the middle, so the experiments started to feel more like the first shot to give my best because I don't really know how much can I work with these guy.
Then I really think, some adjustments can really make it shine, not big deal of coding, just rework some sprites and add a little bit here and there, but, again the time is money he said.

Yes, I think I'm being a little perfectionist, but at the end, it is my work to make it look good, and if I wanted to be reviewed, I wanted to look good, not, just ok, at the end, that's why we started to work on these projects, not to rush on with a poor experimental project.

You're the one in this equation who seems to be undervaluing his work. I suggest you buck up and get together a detailed game design document as well as the artwork FIRST before starting development so you both can be on the same page... right now you seem to be flaking out and adding new features and treating it as a hobby when he treats it as a business. If you leave, he will be the one with the advantage.

I'm not undervaluing his work at all, If I add new features it's to make it worth the 6-8 months of spare time work we spend on this, I know we struggle on this because it was our first game, no game design documents just napkins sketches, but If we finished it was because we ended with some kind of game flow document, maybe you're right, the problem may be that, for me, it's not something I do thinking in money, and for him, maybe it is a business.

And trust me, If I leave, I will not be the one with the disadvantage, I just trying to have some ethic, fair ending about this relationship, remember it ends because of unmatched personalities, not professional ones.

[Eponasoft]

You have to strike a good balance between profitability and creativity. Making something wholly unique to avoid "cliches" rarely works and tends to sell horribly, but making something cliche-soaked might sell well but you end up feeling like a regurgitation machine. You simply can't only focus on the profit, but at the same time, you can't dismiss it either.

[Chris Koźmik]

I talked already with him, he's mad, because we used to be good friends, and for him, I'm leaving the "ship" , but, well I don't know, he's to bossy for my to handle him, Am I wrong? He's the one who manages the sales and stuff, I don't know shit about money, the last thing I knew is we have like 50 sales, I know if I leave, I must forget about every cent, I'm thinking about keep my "big one game" resources, he keeps his engine, there's the 3 years time investment thing, now as I read, it sounds like a divorce. 

You have been making this game for 3 years in 2 person team and made 50 sales total (so 25 sales per team member, or 0.5 sale per month per team member). Don't tell me you are surprised he is mad :D He wasted 3 years of hard work and got nothing out of it and in addition his team member says there is no problem... If I were him I would kill you :D

If you don't want to make sales why making a commercial game in the first place? Maybe make freeware instead?

[handsome]

You have been making this game for 3 years in 2 person team and made 50 sales total (so 25 sales per team member, or 0.5 sale per month per team member). Don't tell me you are surprised he is mad :D He wasted 3 years of hard work and got nothing out of it and in addition his team member says there is no problem... If I were him I would kill you :D

If you don't want to make sales why making a commercial game in the first place? Maybe make freeware instead?
[/quote]

Haha, nah, 3 years of spare time means, 2 games, 1 on the AppStore and another almost finished, months of doing nothing because we were too busy in our actual jobs to work on the projects, depressions, he also spend the most of the spare time with his girlfriends,  the birth of my son, another months of leaving the project, etc etc.
I wanted to make them free, I fought for that, but the one with the developer account was my teammate so.. I know there's not big deal with money here, the deal is that We still not finish our other game and I have huge problems with his personality problems to finish it. Look, I know It's my fault, too, things didn't work out, I have to move on, but If I leave he will continue doing the game with my resources and no giving a shit about me, I want to keep my art, he can keep the engine he made, why things can't be easier? Should I sell him all my work? Trusting he will give me the right amounts of sales is not an option, or how much he will make of advertising, and stuff.

[Dacke]

If you are almost done, then just finish it and then move on. If you don't want to work with him any more, well, then just don't. Creating games for fun should be fun! I think you are doing the right thing

[Hima]

I agree with Dacke. I was in the same state as your friend once, though. It's all about making money, we can't lose time, etc.

In my case, it was actually my team mate who came up to me and said that we were happier when we were making freeware. Then I realized that I enjoy it more when people play my games and talk about it, whether they pay money for it or not.

If I were you, I would see how much work left in that big game, and will finish it as soon as possible. Otherwise if it's still far from finish, I'll leave the project. He can have all the resources.

[Chris Koźmik]

but If I leave he will continue doing the game with my resources

So? What's the problem then? He is your friend, you don't care about sales or money and the whole project is very unlikely to bring any decent money anyway. In such case it would be a no brainer for me to say "just take whatever I already made and do with it whatever you want without owing me anything, just don't ask me to make games with you and keep being friends".

I thought he was asking/forcing you to stay and make more art assets till the game is finished :D If it's only about all assets you already made and you don't need them for anything anyway and it took not much time to make anyway I see no problem at all.

[Dacke]

I missed that part, I completely agree with you Archibald.

If don't want to sign them off completely, you could give them to him under a liberal license. For example CC-BY. Then you can both use them as you see fit (if they are general purpose enough).

[mikejkelley]

It sounds like he quit his job to make a go of this and you still have something of a "for-shits-and-giggles" attitude about it. If this is the case then you're the bad guy and would be an even worse guy if you abandoned the project now.

[IndieEmma]

The programmer is always right.

[Dacke]

It sounds like he quit his job

Where did you get that from?

a "for-shits-and-giggles" attitude

I'd take someone trying to create something unique for free over someone who wants to push a polished turd for money, any day.

[Hima]

I know this is a business but that's why I still keep my current job, to make stuff worth of playing, not to keep worrying about money,

I think it's this part. It is not certain, but it's implied. 
Still, I don't think calling OP "for-shits-and-giggles" is fair. Trying to polish the game and make it as best as possible is a good thing.

[nico]

It sounds like you just have different visions and goals. And that's OK, people are different. Don't try to get one of you to compromise for the sake of the other, because that's a losing game.

Tell him that you think you should split up in order to save the friendship. Figure out some agreement on what to do with the shared resources. If he's going to keep your work, then it's fair that he buys you out somehow, even if just from future profit.

[handsome]

THANK YOU guys for all of your replies! It's been a hard week, full of decisions. I work in the same place as my team mate, but this week he took his vacations and gave me a break for all this anxiety in my chest, and I worked all week to finish the last things of our recently published app and I'm ready to start the marketing stuff, and I've reorganized our "big" project and I figured out that I'm only at a week and a half to finish all the resources for it.  You all were right, I've been too perfectionist to admit that I'm just starting...

So, I've decided to finish it, polish it, just the necessary, and give him the resources he needs, and then move on. I don't care about the earnings, I've leave it to him, as a moral thing, he knows if he's fair or not, as long as I don't get fired, ha. :p I know I have worked hard on this, but I keep my satisfaction, and all the experience! I don't want to get frustrated for a bad work relationship, as Dacke said: "Creating games for fun should be fun!" and I want to keep it that way.

I told him we're NOT going to add all the stuff I've planed for the game, but in the other hand we are going to have another game in the AppStore soon, so I'm going to work hard in the stuff we currently have in the game, and nothing else, as long as I keep my team mate busy, I can have a peace of mind. The only thing left are his jealousy at me talking to another programmers in the studio.. hope I don't start scream at him at his face in the studio.

I already started a third project, but with other 3 guys, I know my 4th and 5th games are going to be in Unreal, and after that, my big personal project for the vita! I must see my goal to keep things going.. well, thanks. What are your thoughts about my decisions? Sorry for all of you who are developers, we designers at the studio have a saying, "or you love them, or you hate them" Ha!    

[Charybdis]

Let me tell you a little story about what happened to me.
I was working in a big company and it was my job to work with a designer to make a fairly small graphics visualisation thing. I had a meeting with the designer and he came completely unprepared. During the meeting, he pulled about 5 or 6 vague ideas out of his arse and told me to implement them all, and then the follwing week he would come by and choose the best. I didn't do that of course.
Programming is great fun, but not when you are working with a slacker and you want to get stuff done.
I say end the relationship and let him find someone who is more serious about it, and likewise you can find someone who doesnt mind if things take a long time.