ID:1292094
 

Poll: Offer cash up front or through contest?

Cash Up Front 50% (13)
Contest Winner 30% (8)
Other (comment) 19% (5)

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What do you think of these ideas to get people interested doing work?

1. Contest and offer up to 200$ in prizes where the winner would win the bulk, name in credits, plus earn some percentage of any earnings.

2. Offer 200$ outright to a single taker where they get name in credits and some percentage of earnings?

Any other options to get decent work for decent price?
I've seen you mention this but I don't think enough people know what work you need done.

What do you need done?

Depending on what it is I could probably deliver.
Just look at the picture mid way down. The spec can be overwhelming I think. I just want a single line dungeon. I retract the need for it to scroll. Hero's slide from left to right on 17 turfs left to right. They enter on left, exit on right, battle and loot on the way as they slide along.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/ 1U2X6tIjXZJDlRhdO3tJR31OdNGtRdtBi_r8QdtftNc0/ edit?usp=sharing
What do you mean by that though?

Do you want people to make the dungeon for you or the art or the programming or what?
Check out the spec for details. Looking for someone to create the dungeon generator.
Ah okay, I have a generator but it cannot do something so specific; However, there are snippets and demos/libraries that can generate dungeons, towns and other more specific things.

Have you tried manipulating any of them?

I made my generator off of something, if I remember correctly, garthor posted years ago.
I know how to do it. I'm looking for someone else to do it.
In response to PopLava
PopLava wrote:
I know how to do it. I'm looking for someone else to do it.

Well I just figured if you could easily make something out of one of the existing systems then you could save your money but if you want I could try to whip up whatever it is you want, if you describe in enough detail what you want and you could pay someone who is always in financial need ~ me. :P

I will try to make something out of one of the dungeon generators or my own generator and see if it is what you want. My generator could work as it is very customizable and fairly fast, I'd just need to figure out how to limit it to one tile on the bottom of the map (if that is what you want); which shouldn't be too hard.
Just looking for feedback on how I should approach the work at this point. I'll have more of it to follow.
Well, so much for getting feedback...
In response to PopLava
PopLava wrote:
Well, so much for getting feedback...

You can't expect people to respond within 5 minutes of your posting, this isn't social networking.

For example, I barely got up 40+ minutes ago and I just barely got to this post.

My suggestions have already been made: Find one of the generators and crop it until it fits your purpose.

It is easy to customize most of them where you can add any items/decoration/turfs you want and they spawn based on probability.
Comment wasn't directed at you or the timing of feedback. It was that it was getting buried in Design Philosophy where nobody will see it.
Reading that spec I'm still not entirely certain what you want. A kind of instanced dungeon version of the Candy Box webgame? That might explain why you didn't get any bids.

If you're looking for work, and trying to pay for it, it's even more important that you have an understandable spec than if you're not paying. Maybe add some 'user stories', as the hip terminology goes. That is, describe, from a player's point of view, what happens when they interact with the system you want programmed. "I walked onto the dungeon entrance, and then the first level of the dungeon appeared in the top row of the screen. My hero started walking right automatically, and then..." etc.

I think trying to get bids for it or pick particular people you know to be good programmers and offering them the job are going to be the best ways to get what you want. A contest is less likely to get something that matches your spec.
If you are referring to this candy-box, I can't even fathom how you came to that comparison. Did you see the screenshots in the spec?

http://jayisgames.com/games/candy-box/


ahhh... I made it to a quest...

Yes, exactly like that in terms of the hero moving from left to right and stopping to fight monsters along the way in a pre-generated dungeon where you can see everything from start to finish.

Although, I'm now intrigued by candy-box.

I updated the spec to include a basic walk through. Still making some revisions as I play through candy-box. :)
In response to PopLava
PopLava wrote:
Comment wasn't directed at you or the timing of feedback. It was that it was getting buried in Design Philosophy where nobody will see it.

Uh, where the thread is located is going to have very little effect on the responses you get compared to that incoherent spec. I've read and re-read this thread and your document and I still have no idea what you want.
In response to MagicMountain
MagicMountain wrote:
PopLava wrote:
Comment wasn't directed at you or the timing of feedback. It was that it was getting buried in Design Philosophy where nobody will see it.

Uh, where the thread is located is going to have very little effect on the responses you get compared to that incoherent spec. I've read and re-read this thread and your document and I still have no idea what you want.

He wants a one tile high horizontal dungeon generator.
In response to PopLava
I saw the screenshots. If you've played Candy Box to the point that you've bought a sword and unlocked the Quests tab, then that's the comparison I was making.

I saw the pictures and read the spec. If this is a completely off-base understanding of what you want, that suggests your spec isn't clear.
In response to Jp
Jp wrote:
I saw the screenshots. If you've played Candy Box to the point that you've bought a sword and unlocked the Quests tab, then that's the comparison I was making.

I saw the pictures and read the spec. If this is a completely off-base understanding of what you want, that suggests your spec isn't clear.

No, you had it spot on as I mentioned. When I first started CandyBox, I had no idea what it was. I sat there and ate candy and threw it on the ground to no avail. I played it a second time and then I made enough progress to do a quest which was my ah-ha moment.
Anyhow to answer the question of your thread:

Neither.

Don't do a contest, and definitely do not give someone your entire budget as cash up front.

When you find someone you'd like to work with, figure out some payment schedule. For example 10% up front, another 15% when the design is fully worked out and locked down, another 25% when some core parts are done, another 25% at the first alpha and the final 25% after fixing bugs and polish.

That's just some numbers out of thin air, you could work it out however you like. The point is only give a small amount and set a good plan from the start if you want this to work out.
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