How to commission for programming?

[demonangelz]

Hi all,
I'm a college student who needs a bit of money for tuitions and stuff and I was considering doing some commissions but in programming for renpy. I was wondering how one would go about setting that up? Besides the recruitment thread, how should I go about payment and delivering products for any client who might be interested in my skills.
I have experience with screen language and can code things like a typical rpg battle system,inventory system, crafting, trading and etc. I also know python so anything else, I most likely can do as well.
I looked into paypal a bit, would that be the best site to use? I'm sort of new to this since I've programmed in renpy only for my own games and never did commissions before.
Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in, I wasn't sure since it didn't fall under any of the other categories.

Thank you for reading!

[SundownKid]

I recommend using Paypal for receiving payments as it is pretty ubiquitous. You can have people send half as a down payment before you start and the other half when you finish.

It also would help to have a portfolio, not just a forum post. Maybe a link to videos or GIFs of UIs you programmed so people don't have to download things, but it could also have downloadable samples. The best thing to do is make a personal portfolio website of samples. Because without samples people have no idea whether you can actually do it well and all they have to go on is your word.

Finally I use Dropbox links to deliver stuff to people or make a dropbox folder if they want to send you assets.

As for pricing, maybe look at the typical salary for a programmer and weigh that against the time it takes you to do a certain thing? It will probably be higher as you are a freelancer, but it also depends on your experience and stuff (which is why portfolios are good).

[demonangelz]

Yeah, I have the files and everything that I will post up once put a post in the recruitment thread. I can get together a portfolio showing all my works so far in a video format and I'll look into making a website.
Dropbox sounds like a good idea, thanks for telling me.
I am not sure how long it takes since I never timed myself but I will check and see how other programmers do their commission.
Also, I was wondering if it would be a good idea if I distributed a free very basic RPG engine in renpy as a way to show off my work? It will be similar to a framework so anyone can use and customize it as they see fit. I know there is one already for renpy but I had an idea of making an engine similar to RPG maker's default battle engine.

[Demetis]

Personally, I am looking into hire programmers atm so just listing a few things I look out for XD

In my opinion, it would be good to have both a video of what you can do AND download links to the shown examples. So I support your idea of distributing your RPG engine.
I always download the programmer's frameworks / samples to check out their coding styles. I can't speak for others but I don't think I am the only one to do that. If I consider hiring someone whose samples I can't look into, they either has to have high reputation in getting things done, or I have played their games before. Even though there might already be an RPG engine in the work out there,there's nothing wrong with uploading yours, especially since it belongs into your portfolio and you probably have a different coding style.

A few other things you wanna list might be:
- Categories with estimated prices (How much for GUI, Screens, Inventory etc) This is probably optional but it gives ppl a general idea what kind of budget they will spend on you XD
- Are you available for free games or commercial games only? If for both, what's your price difference? (Many programmers adjust the prices depending on the project and discuss it with the project managers individually. Idk if you want to do so as well XD)
- Are you willing to work for time sensitive projects? (In my opinion very important to mention since some project managers give out a strict time schedule XD)
- Bugs fixing. Are you willing to do them? For what time frame after the development has been completed?

[fioricca]

Ohmygosh YES to programming commissions! I'm particularly interested in skills related to mobile such as IAPs/Android/iOS ports, since the upcoming Ren'py update will have mobile support, and I've always wanted to have a little something on a mobile marketplace. Not that I have any work that I need done anytime soon -- a little busy with upcoming game jams at the moment -- but I always love to get to know more programmers so I can recommend them to friends and so on. Are you on Twitter?

As for payment, Paypal is great, and as for delivery, I recommend Dropbox. From my experience with programmers (I've never coded anything I release and I have about 5 games under my belt?), code isn't like art in the sense that there's a lot of back-and-forth communication. First I'll supply some notes, those get coded, then I notice that some stuff aren't to my liking/lacks polish, that needs to be touched up, then I notice other things that are broken... it's a pretty arduous process so it's hard to give out full payment up front without seeing the build first. (I did this once and I had to fix the issues I wasn't happy with myself and with the help of other friends, it was a 1/10 experience and I never want to do that again.) A payment method that suits me -- keep in mind that this is a client's POV -- is upfront payment, I get the build and give feedback and get it polished until I'm happy with it, and then the rest of the payment when the game is ready to ship. (From my experience also, programmers aren't the best when it comes to transitions; I'd always get a game that's coded perfectly but with missing transitions such as custom dissolves and stuff. These little code details need a lot of back-and-forth.)

I've never really had to ask programmers for tech support before because VNs are pretty straightforward, but I hope that's also covered of course.

[demonangelz]

Thank you for your answers everyone, this is super helpful since I'm new to commissioning in general. I've only been programming for my friends but that was never involving any form of payment. As for deliverable, I am definitely considering using dropbox as my primary site unless a client wants the product to be uploaded on a different site And of course paypal would be ideal for me too.
Unfortunately, I am not on twitter at the moment. I considered using it a while back but since I was programming for fun, I didn't feel a need to make one =/. I will get a twitter most likely once I start to take commissions and everything.
As for mobile experiences with Renpy, I don't have any at the moment but I can look into it and take a day to learn everything so I will consider that as a potential commission opportunity.
I've been focusing a lot on the coding aspect of my framework and less on making it super pretty with transitions and such. But I see what you mean, I like the method of paying half first and then the other half once the work is completed. I will try to get out a general RPG framework for everyone to use and also give people a sense of what I can do. I do need to build my portfolio anyways so I might provide some free stuff as a method of showing my work.
The video is a good idea as a way to provide a preview of the product in case the client needs it changed or anything. I don't have any games out but I hope that providing an RPG battle engine would be at least enough to show how I work?
I have looked into some gui prices and I am thinking of charging less for free games over commercial although I can't code for free since I do need the money XP.
A set date for deliverables would be my ideal way of working so the client has a good idea on when to expect the product. I was thinking multiple deadline dates as a way to check in with them and ask if they want to adjust anything as well.
I am willing to do bug fixes although I don't know the general time frame for that. I will have to look into it.

[Breci]

Hey,

I can give you my own feeling about all this as a developer.

For the paiement: for me, the best would be Paypal because a lot of people have it and it can be use in any country, it's really easy to use and we can and can be linked to your bank account safely. Furthermore, the fees from Paypal are not that high.
I prefer a 3 time payment for example, at the beginning, after some deliveries, at the end.
For the delivery: It will depend a lot... Personally I would prefer to use github but this is because I cam a developer and I know how to use it. Using dropbox is great too but less advanced. So for this it will depend with who you are working.

About the recruitment thread, I am currently remaking mine because a lot of useful stuff were missing. For example : short video to show my work. I have to make some of these. Or just screenshots.
having a website is also a great point but require a lot of work of course...
In fact if you describe what you can do and show that you are good enough it should work. But try to be clear. And yes it's never easy

[demonangelz]

Awesome! Paypal definitely seems the way to go based on everyone's opinions so far =D.
I have used github but I think I will stick with dropbox unless the client is someone who knows how to use github and prefers that instead.
Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, it's not easy so I'll work my hardest. Thank you for your reply. ^^

[mike_bibbs]

Well, I barely can suggest you anything directly, but I know for sure that there are great amount of market places for such services like these you are providing. Don't know, UpWork or something - that's what I'm talking about. Obviously, you need some way more concrete resource, like this one that brought to people homework and assignments done by professionals https://www.assignmentexpert.com/programming Did I understand your question clearly, by the way? Because people here suggested you to use PayPal and other stuff, but I consider all these tips as something obvious, so maybe you meant something else?