Commissioning graphic designer to create sprites / graphics

Games
#1

Hi all,

I’ve been hard at work on my game off and on for several months now. I’m nearing the completion of the code-end of things and I’m curious as to how I might go about commissioning someone to do the graphical interface for my game. _ Please note that at this time I am not asking for applicants, _ I’m just asking what a fair price would be to commission graphical work and if there is a resource I can use to find such designers.

This comes with certain caveats:

  1. How do I handle scaling my images? Should I just ask for the highest possible resolution for the sprites and do the scaling myself later? I ask this because of the multitude of devices that I would have to build for; iPhone w/ retina, iPhone w/o retina, various Android resolutions…
  2. Will I run into any legal issues? I would like to make it such that I hand the designer $X and conclude our business at that point; i.e., if I decide to make my app a paid app, s/he doesn’t claim intellectual property, etc.

To give you an idea of how much I need done for my app (you could basically call it a platformer game):
-Game logo (maybe)
-Menu items; standard menu buttons (pause, start game, return to main menu)
-Platform sprites; various sizes, colors, thicknesses
-Backgrounds (non-scrolling. remains stationary)
-Various effects; lasers, explosions, projectiles (I’m seriously considering ParticleCandy to do most of the legwork for the animation end of things)
-LOTS of SMALL various enemy sprites. Perhaps ~50 different varieties.

SOMETHING TO THE TUNE OF RETRO GRAPHICS, i.e., perhaps 8-bit NES graphics or 16-bit SNES/Genesis.

NO player sprite/animations, NO level designs.

Any idea of a ballpark on how much I should offer for this amount of work? Thanks for any input :slight_smile: [import]uid: 52208 topic_id: 20166 reply_id: 320166[/import]

#2

Hi,
If you know how illustrator works or inkscape, you can have your artwork done in a vector format and you could scale it yourself to the desired size.

Give someone x amount of money is usually not an option. if you worked with someone often it will be easier.
But what almost always happens is that what you have in your mind is not what the artist has. So the artist draws something. You make your changes. The artist changes it for you and back and forth till you are happy. Unless you are really well in communicating what you want or the artist hits a home run on the first try you will have changes.

Changes cost time. Time is money.
On the internet you can find a lot of companies that do logo design with a set price, BUT they often have a max amount of changes allowed.

Graphics can be really expensive depending on the expertise of the creator. 50 euro’s per hour is not strange (Holland) Prices vary per country naturally.

Also having examples of what style you want helps heaps. Else the artist has to come up with a style and that costs time too.

If you find an artist that will work on a preset price be sure you get what you want. And be sure they realize the amount of work it is. If they underestimate the work they might give you a cheap price but in the end they will either quit or raise the price. Not give you their art until you give more money (yes sorry to say this can happen). Going to court over the art is costly and if you are starting often not worth it and most people opt to pay more but the working relation ship will be bad.

Intellectual property is easily handled with a good contract (might cost you more)

Someone I know had a simple app done one game screen some menu items and it was around 500 euro’s.

Starting artists are usually cheaper so are internet companies. The risk with internet companies is the communication can be rough.

Also realize that there are countless jokes, infographics of the client from hell. Make sure you are not one of them. If you have a good artist s/he will do her best to create your idea. If your idea keeps changing and you try to get the most amount of work done for the least amount of money, in the end you will get what you pay for. Make sure that what you think you want is actually what you want.
i have had this happen too often. Client says he wants a 5 minute video with relaxed mood. Client gets video. Says that the video is too long and not enough tempo it should be quicker etc. So client does a 180 degrees turn. And it becomes a completely different video. After two videos the client finally realized that what was in the script didn’t work and now is cool to work with.

Dunno if this was helpfull. But this was just to kind of show that ball park prices are often dangerous as a reference. [import]uid: 100901 topic_id: 20166 reply_id: 78774[/import]

#3

Very insightful! Thanks for the reply.

I guess a good thing to do would just be to poke around and see if I can find a solid graphic designer. Luckily, I’m in the DC Metro Area (US), so I’ve been seriously considering going to a college campus and maybe finding a young person to work with. I myself am kinda young (25) so I can kinda go along with the college crowd and maybe find someone for hire.

Also realize that there are countless jokes, infographics of the client from hell. Make sure you are not one of them.

I agree with you here. My day job deals with such clients, and I have a keen understanding of how frustrating it can be to deal with a client that changes their mind often / doesn’t have a clear idea of what they want. This comic strip comes to mind… haha

Thanks for the tips, though! [import]uid: 52208 topic_id: 20166 reply_id: 78782[/import]

#4

Lol I was thinking of that image. But had no idea where to look.
College grads or students are good too, just don’t under pay them.
Saying they can put it in their resume or portfolio, is not looked kindly upon. They might do it if they are tight for cash. [import]uid: 100901 topic_id: 20166 reply_id: 78783[/import]

#5

This graphic, while related to web design, still applies here;
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Peach :wink: [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 20166 reply_id: 78884[/import]