[PAID][Writer] Story-Rich Rhythm/RPG Looking For Writer

[DreamweaverDesigns]

(For our pretty recruitment posters which are too large for this forum, please click here, here, and here.)

Who Are We?

We're the developers of Nijito, a rhythm/RPG hybrid with unique gameplay which can be best described as a cross between musical chairs and Rock Band. Unlike most rhythm games, players do not stick to just one track for the entirety of the song. Instead, they frequently switch which member of the band is playing which instrument -- each of which has its own unique gameplay -- and with it their own style of play. No more looking on while your teammate gets to shred their way through an epic guitar solo! In Nijito, you can take that guitar right out of their hands and play the part yourself, only to switch to the drums right after. Earning the perfect score in Nijito is not just about perfect execution of the rhythm elements, it's also about putting the right character -- yourself included -- in the right seat at the right time to maximize the glory!
Our team currently consists of our Director, our Lead Designer, our Producer/Team Lead, an innovative and driven design team, some wicked programmers, and our marvelous art team.

What Are We Looking For?

We're looking for a writer who has a passion for deep, character-based narratives to join our team. The ideal candidate will be experienced in Visual Novel-style writing and particularly excellent at writing conversations. While there are parts of the narrative that are already firmly established, there’s also plenty of room for adjustments and improvements, so they’d also be skilled both at working within an established narrative with established characters and at developing narratives and interesting characters. Students and hobbyists are welcome to apply!

We are looking to write in the ballpark of 50-100,000 words, though the exact number is hard to estimate until we've seen you in action. We are offering paid work, the rate of which we'll negotiate on a case-by-case basis. If you're interested, shoot us an email so we can feel each other out before we get to the brass tacks! We also have revenue-share options available for compensation, if you prefer. Our intent is to lobby the game for a publisher or, barring that, crowdsource.

If you are interested in joining our team, or even in just keeping tabs on the project, please contact us at Director@realitycheckdev.com and shoot us some writing samples! If Discord is more your drug, you can feel free to contact Dreamweaver#0001 on Discord as well, though we strongly prefer you to contact us via email.

[Firgof]

Hey there!

I'm curious to know what the ballpark is for your budget with this project re:payment. Also worried that this might be yet another project that says 'revenue-share is optional' but goes immediately to 'please do revenue share, otherwise I can't guarantee payment'. Could we get answers on those before I submit an app?

[DreamweaverDesigns]

@firgof

Our budget is literally the numbers in my bank account, so we're most likely looking at the high triple digits and low fours, though much of that depends on experience and ability.

The rest of the team is on a revenue share agreement, so we obviously prefer that arrangement but aren't married to it. We prefer to get the best candidate, regardless of how they want to be compensated. We will not pressure you into a revenue share agreement for any reason but the one highlighted above -- well that and because we're very confident in the marketability of our game and you'd be missing out -- and we won't make an agreement we can't keep. The funds for any agreement will be put into my savings the moment it's completed. I can't give you any better assurance than that, unfortunately. If we offer to pay you hard cash, you'll get it, barring any breach of agreement, such as substandard or excessively late work.

[Firgof]

I wish you luck, then. With a budget of $900 for up to 100k words, that's less than a cent per word for a medium that usually goes anywhere from $0.06/word to $0.25/word for just editorial services (I know because I've had to scrounge up to pay for good editors on a number of occasions). If you're truly looking for the 'best candidate' then I guess I'd recommend pursuing a small business loan or seeking a small investor to get the capital to hire someone who won't work for effectively free.

If you don't have a stable of games behind you, it'll be hard to attract 'best in class talent' when your options for payment are 'rev. share for a startup company with no loans or investors with significant risk of business failure/default due to basically no capital' or 'almost no compensation for a large body of work'. I'm much more fearful of not being adequately compensated for what would be months of work (especially now, given the state of the world) than I am of 'missing out' and I doubt I'd be alone on that. Though I'd like to take your personal guarantee that you don't make agreements you can't keep, I've also been burned many times by folks who say 'I'm good for it' and then their check bounces.

Technically speaking you could give a better assurance by putting the contracted monies into escrow, to be delivered upon project completion. 50% upfront might also help justify the high risk nature of what you're proposing.

[DreamweaverDesigns]

You have chosen just about the lowest possible pay and the highest possible word count to support your position. While that's certainly feasible from where you're sitting, I would point out that you could very well look at a situation where we're paying a skilled writer $1600, a number just shy of our maximum, to write 75,000 words, the mid-point between the bounds I mentioned earlier. This results in just above 2 cents/word, which, while admittedly meager, is far from the slave labor the least generous example gives. In either case, had we access to more resources, we would happily be using them, but this is not the case. We're looking to give as much of what we have as what we can, but that isn't much. We know this, and I don't believe we were obfuscating that fact at any point during this posting. If you think we have been, then I apologize and would very much for you point out the confusing language so it might be adjusted for future readers.

A small business loan is an idea that we pursued. Still, even with excellent personal credit, it's quite hard to get a small business loan during the worst event to happen to small businesses in recent memory. This project is not older than the current pandemic and thus hasn't benefited from the far more generous business climate present then.

You quote me as looking for "best in class" talent. You quote a strawman. The only person to use that phrase on this page is you. Are we looking for the best possible candidate? Yes. Of course. We would be fools not to. Do we believe we'll hire the best author present on this site with our resources? No. Of course not. We'd be fools to think so. We're looking to hire the best talent for whom our terms and goals are amenable. No more or less. There is plenty of room to criticize our offering without resorting to misquoting us. It merely makes us out to be more naive or malicious than we are for no apparent reason.

I'm sorry you've had experiences with not being adequately compensated for your work, and I understand it's difficult to judge someone's integrity based on nothing but their word. I would be at an impasse with you and anyone with similar concerns, especially since I've been the victim of overpaying for substandard (read: nearly nonexistent) work in the past. We were already planning to offer a deposit to all candidates who would be either a portion of a lump-sum payment or the first month's compensation if that helps ease your or anyone else's suspicions regarding our intention to pay.

[Winterslice]

This results in just above 2 cents/word, which, while admittedly meager, is far from the slave labor the least generous example gives.

No, that's still really bad. 2cpw is considered an amateur rate -- I would normally charge between 8 and 15, myself. While I'm sure there will be plenty of people eager to apply, you're not going to get an experienced and reliable freelancer for that. And it's far lower than anyone should be willing to accept.

[DreamweaverDesigns]

I don't disagree. We didn't expect our interested candidate pool to include and seasoned and veteran freelancers at this rate, and I have made extremely clear to those which have contacted me what our financial restrictions are. I wish we could -- or, more specifically, I could -- afford to pay something close to 10 cents/ word. When we have access to more financial resources, however that might come about, we would certainly increase our rate for ongoing work to be far more competitive. I spent much of my life as a beat writer myself. I am familiar with how harsh the struggle can be, and I'm not asking for nor would like to accept as a candidate anyone who is truly struggling. We aren't paying enough to pull someone out of a difficult financial situation.

All I can do is make the limitations of the position as crystal clear as possible, and work with candidates who wouldn't be putting themselves in financial jeopardy by doing so. Not everyone can be driven by passion alone.

[MaliGarnet]

I'm sadly too busy to dare try to take up a 100k words project, but I want to say:
I wish you guys good luck. The posters look great, and it sounds like a fun game.
Payment is always a complicated issue but I think there are many people who would be happy to be paid for writing at all. It might not be the most ideal payment, but you guys are students so I think it's damn amazing that you can offer payment at all. Keep your heads up!