Bogdan Nesvit, COO Crystal Clear Soft, analyzed how to work correctly for the customer and the contractor within the framework of an autosourcing development in his fundamental work.

Today, when it comes to the prospects of a particular type of development and potential earnings in game development, product development is considered the most attractive.

It often implies that in any case, the team will develop its own project. And here it does not matter how it will be financed: with their own earned funds (if the company has already achieved success), with their own resources (indie development) or for someone else’s money (crowdfunding or investment project).

It is this thought that for some reason came into the head of many. They say that developing your own project is an axiom that is not subject to any doubts. The future of product development seems too sweet.

At the same time, it should be noted that outsourcing is also a rather attractive direction in game development, which may well bring a good profit.

Naturally, this business also has its pros and cons. There are things lying on the surface, and there are pitfalls and problems.

In this article, we will not consider the fundamental things, since they have long been described in numerous literature and on publicly available resources. But it’s worth talking about the pitfalls, because this topic is not only very voluminous, but also multifaceted, because each outsourcing customer or outsourcing developer has his own unique experience, which may well differ from the experience of colleagues. And it is the topic of pitfalls that we will discuss today, albeit in the context of the author’s personal experience and the experience of colleagues.

Optimal outsourcing development in game development. Expectations.

In short, outsourcing involves delegating some types of work to other developers who are not part of the delegating company. And in general, it seems that, going through certain stages of this type of cooperation, neither the customer nor the contractor have any problems. Let’s take a closer look at these steps.

1. Availability of money and resources

Naturally, it is impossible to start outsourcing cooperation if the customer cannot pay for the required work (we do not take into account a small partnership without remuneration), and the contractor does not have the required resources to complete the task.

Ideally, the first party has enough money to pay for the required work, and the second party has enough resources to do the ordered work. I.e., somewhere in the space of the Internet universe, there are 2 halves of the same soul who have not yet met and united into something bright, pure, great.

2. Search for a potential partner

The Internet is big and huge, and game development progresses at the speed of rotation of a centrifuge in a washing machine, so the process of finding a potential partner does not cause any difficulties. The performer already has a reputation and a name, therefore he is well-known in the industry. As a safety net, he posted information about himself on all major portals for such purposes and has a lot of positive reviews (well, or at least a few). The customer also has information about all potential performers (by studying the market, through acquaintances or by searching for a partner on those very large portals), contacts them.

That is, it is not a problem for the customer to find a potential performer, and a huge number of orders allows performers not to worry that they will remain idle.

3. Choosing a potential partner

Before choosing a partner, a potential customer always carefully studies candidates. And based on the conclusions drawn, he chooses the most suitable partner for himself. Naturally, the selection process will be accompanied by various accompanying gestures: from reviewing the resumes of potential performers for the availability of appropriate qualifications and work experience in the area required by the customer to Skype interviews and test assignments. But in general, if the approach to the selection process is correct, the customer will have no difficulties.

For the performer, everything is simple: if the customer gives favorable conditions, then you can start work. If there are no favorable conditions, then you cannot choose such a partner.

4. The presence, formulation and discussion of a clearly defined task

Naturally, even before the start of work, you should immediately identify future tasks, formulate them correctly and put them into work. There should be no problems with this item. The customer gives all the necessary documentation and other related materials, gives a clearly defined task and asks to do it.

The contractor accepts materials and understands the front of potential work, evaluates deadlines, resources and budget.

5. Discussion of working conditions

Financial conditions of joint work, as well as some other factors, are actively considered by partners when discussing the terms of cooperation.

Consider these factors:

but. Type of cooperation

• Outsourcing

It assumes that the customer company gives specific tasks, and the team within the implementing company, under the guidance of an internal project manager, performs the tasks and provides a pre-agreed result.

• Outstaffing

Assumes that the customer company gives any tasks, and the team within the implementing company, under the guidance of an external project manager, performs all the desired tasks set by an external manager and provides the result that the external manager wants to see, even if the desired result will change every day.

b. Scope of work

• Complex outsourcing development

In this case, the customer company gives the contractor a full range of tasks related to the development/support of the game/application.

• Partial outsourcing development

It involves the development of a separate set of tasks for the development / support of the game / application.

b. Terms of cooperation

• Pure (“naked”) outsourcing

Assumes that the partners discuss in advance the scope of work, a fixed amount of payment (rates), the period, and work according to these agreements

• Partner outsourcing

Assumes that the implementing company not only performs work for a fixed fee, but also receives some additional percentage of the profit of the developed product, or a percentage of the product itself

• Time and material outsourcing

Assumes that the payment is based on the time spent on completing tasks.

In an ideal parallel universe, both partners are not only aware of these factors and their specifics, but also rationally consider them when discussing the terms of cooperation. They consider mutual arguments, find common ground and launch production.

6. Coordination of the work format

The format of collaboration and acceptance of the intermediate and final result is an incredibly important point that needs to be agreed upon by both the customer and the contractor. Having worked out the rules of collaboration, partners will be able to act as accurately as possible and provide exactly the result that the second party expects. In addition, knowledge of standard cooperation schemes helps to avoid unnecessary work (changes, alterations, fixes), and, as a result, helps to save money.

Naturally, we assume that both partners have not been in the first year of a vocational school called “Game Dev” for a long time, so they not only know the whole theory, but also successfully apply it in practice, and also have extensive experience in cooperation of this kind.

7. Signing of contracts and start of work

As soon as a preliminary agreement is reached, lawyers enter the case. The process of signing contracts may be different, but with proper preparation and the most correct approach, it does not take much time. The customer or contractor throws a standard contract to each other, it is signed and the workflow starts directly.

8. Workflow

In a clean and bright, but parallel universe, the workflow you have built and adjusted will proceed perfectly, or close to perfection. You will receive the full TOR and other materials (from the outcome of the game to the outcome of resources, all documentation), give all this treasure to your PM, who will start the development process.

The development itself will proceed according to previously defined rules, there will be a minimum of fixes, and the pitfalls will turn out to be pebbles, but not reefs. There will be complete harmony between the customer and the contractor, they will become full-fledged partners, will understand each other and correctly assess the progress of work and make professional informed decisions regarding all bottlenecks.

9. Summing up the work and getting the result

At the finish line, of course, each of the parties will get exactly the result they expected. The customer will have the desired product (or part of it), on which you can earn a fortune, and the developer will have a net profit in the form of the amount received for development. And perhaps also a percentage of the profit, as well as a new reliable business partner with whom it will be possible to launch the following joint projects and increase turnover.

Optimal outsourcing development in game development. Reality.

Any outsourcing development is a set of interactions between the customer and the client, and it will be successful only if this interaction is mutually professional and mutually beneficial for both parties. And in all this harmony there is one problem: both the customer and the contractor need the most acceptable conditions for cooperation. But, as practice shows, in many situations the concept of “mutually beneficial conditions” may differ. That is, in fact, very often the desires, requests, appetites and views of the customer and the performer do not coincide, or in general are directly opposite.

If the customer has enough money and is ready for small concessions, and the appetites of the performer are adequate, there will be no problems. But when the balance is not found, all the fun begins …

1. Availability of money and resources

As we said above, in an ideal situation, a potential client has a sufficient budget for development, and the customer has enough resources for it. However, in our world mired in debauchery and lies, there is nothing perfect, so the first problems begin already at this stage.

Customer and availability of money

To my personal great regret, potential and real customers do not always have an unlimited budget. If not to say that it is extremely rare. And even a large budget is a rarity.

Any customer is a businessman, and a businessman tries to save money even when he does not have to save. Such is the nature of this activity. But it is worth noting that either due to the cheapness of prices for CIS resources and a higher standard of living in the USA \ Europe, or due to a different mentality, foreign partners are more loyal to this issue and understand that you always need to pay for quality \ speed\ interest, and pay well. But on the territory of the CIS, it is often customary to bargain for N days first (and it is not very important whether this makes sense, or it is done just for fun), then try to lower the price bar as much as possible, and then come down to mutually advantageous conditions.

Performer and availability of resources

The performer, oddly enough, also has problems that are concentrated in such a point as “availability of resources”.

Usually, a large performing company does not sit and wait for manna from heaven to fall on it in the form of a profitable outsourcing order. On the contrary, the work has already been typed, it is boiling, projects are being “sawn”.

At the same time, of course, the process of searching for potential partners is constantly underway, sales managers are not asleep. But, attention, this does not mean that some part of the team is sitting idle.

Outsourcing orders are specific in that they, like the tax police, come unexpectedly. And at this moment it is necessary to allocate resources correctly. Some work has to be postponed, some completely stopped. It often helps to decompose one large task into smaller ones, which allows you to attract resources precisely in those stages of development and tasks in which they are needed. In other words, it is necessary to plan competently not only the work on the project, but also the work of the company as a whole.

How to get around the pitfalls

Simply. The customer needs to understand that normal development will not be cheaper than the average market cost of these works. And you need to be ready to spend this money. It is enough for the performer to understand that he will be able to fulfill his obligations and get a good review, and not a blow to his reputation.

2. Search for a potential partner

There are also many problems in finding a potential partner, and each of them has its own.

Naturally, those cases are taken into account when it is necessary to establish some kind of large-scale production (a whole project, a series of projects), or at least give some direction of work “on the side” (art, development, game design). We are not talking about small jobs, because finding a couple of freelancers is not such a global problem.

Customer’s search problems

The customer’s problem is that, despite the huge dynamics of the game development market, it is quite difficult to find a good outsourcing contractor in the CIS, because:

• There are a lot of small teams, but they are not trustworthy. It is enough to throw an ad on thematic Internet resources or a cry on social networks among friends from the field of game development, as they will immediately write you an answer. But can such a search be considered successful?
• Large companies are harder to find. More precisely, the problem is not just to find some large company. The problem is to find one about which someone from the trusted persons would give you a positive review, and that there were the right specialists in it, and also that there were free resources, yes, I would also like to have the experience of the necessary skills and that the price corresponded to the quality. In general, it resembles a list of requirements of a man to a woman, or vice versa.
• It is very difficult to find very large companies. It’s difficult not because they can’t do something, but because they rarely have free resources, and they prefer to work only with very rich and famous clients.

As a result, when the customer is determined with a list of search criteria, it turns out that no one falls under this list. And you either have to search longer and more carefully, spend time and “wool” the entire industry, or cut down the list of your criteria.

Search problems with the performer

The potential performer faces other problems regarding the search.

• Small outsourcers face a struggle for orders. They will have to look for orders on their own, literally knock them out. To do this, it is advisable to go to conferences, make friends and acquaintances, have something in your portfolio. To do this, you need to start with small jobs, set lower prices. Be able to establish contacts, win over and get an order. Gradually build up feedback and connections. Grow and develop.
• Life is not much easier for large outsourcing companies. They already have stable proven partners, there are orders, there is a name, there is advertising. They are approached, they want to work with them, but in return they are looking for favorable conditions, it is not enough for them to work for the sake of work and small profits. And this desire requires a partner who can give what he wants. And there are few of them.
• Very large companies are looking for not only very favorable conditions. The name of the partner is also important to them, because they want not just to work with someone, but to feed their authority. And there are even fewer such customers.

Obviously, it is necessary for both sides to do a solid stack of work in the process of finding a suitable partner.

How to get around the pitfalls

The customer needs to create search criteria and look for a partner who fits these criteria as closely as possible. And understand that if it is not possible to find a suitable partner for 100%, then reconsider the selection criteria.

And for the performer, everything is simple: look for someone who is ready not just to pay, but to be a full-fledged partner.

3. Choosing a potential partner

The paradox and absurdity of the situation is that, it seems, both potential partners have already found each other and are one step away from choosing. But at some point it turns out that each of them has their own list of requirements for each other, their own position on these requirements, their own views on the ideal partner. As a result, both sides are trying to dock, but they do not dock together, because someone is not satisfied with someone in something. And they don’t choose each other. And they return to the second stage (search for a partner). It’s like the good old program “Love at first sight”, where guys and girls look at each other, wink, smile, everything seems to be fine, and then the selection process begins. And then the whole Santa Barbara: Petya chose Margarita, Margarita chose Yakov, Alla chose him, and Yakov himself chose Athanasius.

Customer’s choice problems

The main problem of choosing a potential partner is that there are very few suitable partners. And there are too many criteria for determining a suitable partner. In fact, any customer needs a team capable of performing a certain stack of tasks.

But working with different types of teams has its own peculiarities. Let’s look at them:

• Small teams are the most common and they are the most active. However, such teams rarely value their reputation, and contracts in the CIS are not a guarantee of a good result. Yes, they can be paid many times less, but these are risks, and business does not like risks. Besides, who will give you a guarantee that a small outsourcer will give a high-quality result? If he had had experience and success, he probably would not have been so small and would not have taken cheap for his work.
• Large companies take more money, which is not always acceptable. But at the same time they have a reputation, as well as reviews about their work. This allows you to significantly reduce the risks when choosing a partner. In addition, the presence of a large portfolio, name, reputation and positive reviews allows us to hope that this team will do its work faster and better. But, as already mentioned, they are looking for quite favorable conditions for themselves and are actively considering partner development.
• There are very few very large and well-known companies. Usually they are really professionals who work with partners all over the world, including very well-known studios. They have a reputation, qualified specialists, and a name. But they take very large sums for their work, at least according to the standards of the CIS game dev industry. In addition, they often work not only for profit, but also for a percentage of profit or product. Or, if they are not given it, they further inflate the prices for development.

In addition to the financial issue, the difficulty is that it is necessary to choose performers for a specific task. And the tasks are always specific. That is, if we talk about a specific example, you can search for:

• An ordinary unity developer;
• A unity developer, but also with experience in “native” development;
• A unity developer, but with experience in native development and with experience in client-server applications.

The more specific and complex the task, the more the performer’s requests (because the number of suitable performers is less, the competition is less), respectively, the higher the price. But other desirable conditions are imposed, which are set by the customer. As a result, all this leads to the fact that he wants to get the golden mean in the form of the price \ quality \ speed\ experience \ knowledge ratio (and often in this order).

Here is a “short” list of requirements for a candidate. Candidates fit these criteria, but problems arise when choosing.

Problems of choice for the performer

The performer has a different headache. It is easier for a potential performer, because in most cases it is not he who chooses, but him. It is enough for him to guarantee himself favorable working conditions and understand that he is able to guarantee the necessary result in return.

However, there is another problem. The professionalism of the customer is important for the contractor, because in addition to taking on obligations, they also need to be fulfilled. And it’s no secret that many problems will have to be solved during the development process. Therefore, it is important that the partner is a professional and can clearly say what he wants to see, set the vector of work and help solve possible problems, or that the client has a person responsible for this.

And the paradox of fate is that you often have to choose between favorable financial conditions and the adequacy of the customer.

In general, both sides should not forget that during the selection process they will have to spend time on letters, conversations, interviews, drafting (if the performer is a beginner) and studying resumes, discussions, calls, meetings. Sometimes business trips. These are the costs that fall on the shoulders of each of the potential partners. And in 90% of cases, these are not recoupable costs.

How to get around the pitfalls

If, after a lot of tossing back and forth and weighing all the pros and cons, you still have doubts when choosing a partner, but it’s a pity for the time spent, try to start small. Do some small project or small work together. Work together, get to know each other. Understand how pleasant and convenient your partner is in work. And after that, make more global decisions.

4. The presence, formulation and discussion of a clearly defined task

It is no secret for all developers that in order to do the work efficiently, it is necessary to get the maximum amount of necessary starting materials that are important for solving problems.

In the CIS, many customers think that if they pay money, the contractor must solve all the problems himself and deliver the minimum number of problems to the customer.

The attitude is often like this: “I’m paying, you agreed, so do your job, don’t ask questions and don’t create problems for me.”

However, this is a fundamentally incorrect statement, since outsourcing is, in fact, a partnership in which both parties should strive for maximum results. And each of the parties assumes the responsibilities that it must fulfill.

This does not mean that the contractor can write a dozen stupid questions every day and shift some work to the customer. But this means that the necessary metered attention of the customer to his brainchild will be required.

Foreign partners are well aware of this, so it is always a pleasure to work with them. They pay great attention to documentation, discussions, meetings, analysis. They understand that only such a general painstaking work allows you to achieve the maximum. They have this axiom.

Unfortunately, this approach is not always found in the CIS. However, I am glad that many partners are understanding and work professionally.

In an ideal world, all documentation and other necessary conditions are present. And in such a situation, the performer only needs to jump up in his chair, scream with happiness and do his job professionally.

In the real world, God grant that there is at least something concrete to start from. This will allow you to conduct an analysis, think over a development plan, and at least approximately pre-calculate the necessary budget.

But personally, I would not advise counting on such a jackpot. Usually everything happens exactly the opposite. The customer has a rotten concept document for 3 pages 18 in bold Times New Roman, where the main place is occupied by a link to the reference game and the phrase “I want the same, but with pearl buttons” and a massive document with requirements for the future game. Or there are sources of the current game without documentation and you need to analyze them, figure out all the crutches, and then figure out how to port this whole “Lucky set” from conditional Flash to conditional WebGL.

The problem is that the customer is sure that this is enough for an adequate assessment and launch of the work. The performer is always not enough. Even if they give him 95% of the necessary information, he will still want to get 100% and will swear in his heart that he is not given complete documentation. Sometimes this is what eventually becomes a stumbling block.

How to get around the pitfalls

In such situations, it is also recommended to start small. There is no documentation – select a person who can write it according to the wishes of the customer. Write (of course, for payment) and on the basis of what you have written, do all the other preliminary work.

There are source codes – negotiate, put someone to understand them, do an analysis and look for ways out of the situation. The outcome in any case depends on both sides, and if they are interested in cooperation, there is always a way out.

Even if you do not agree on the results of the work carried out, both sides will still remain in an advantageous position. The customer will have ready-made documentation (or initial analysis of outcomes), thanks to which he will be able to clearly form his requirements, find another contractor and talk to him more specifically. And the performer will have payment for his work. And let the profit be minimal or it will not be at all, but this is the price you have to pay for finding a partner.

5. Discussion of working conditions

Possible types of cooperation were described above, but they were not discussed in which situations it is relevant to apply them and what are the pitfalls

but. In which situations certain types of cooperation are used:

• Outsourcing

The rationality of work on this model is justified if the customer does not have its own quality management, or remote management works inefficiently.

• Outstaffing

The rationality of work on this model is justified if the customer has a professional manager, or there is a need to manage resources independently.

The pitfall is that the customer may be looking for an outstaff team, and the contractor, fearing that his people may be scammed, does not want to work according to this scheme. Or when communicating with the customer and the team, mistakes will be made (rudeness, incorrect answers, etc.).

b. Determination of the rational volume of outsourcing development:

• Complex outsourcing development

It is rational if the customer company does not have any opportunity / resources to do the development on its own, or it can take on its side the minimum amount of work. In such cases, it is easier to give everything “to the side” at once. Also, Western companies often consider this approach, since development in other territories is cheaper.

• Partial outsourcing development

It is rational if the customer company needs only certain types of work (due to the lack of its own specialists, or due to the scaling of work).

The peculiarity of this point is that foreign partners often prefer to completely transfer all the work (and sometimes the infrastructure) to a third-party partner-the company. The fact is that in Western culture and Western mentality, reputation and jurisprudence play a big and significant role. For Europeans and Americans, the signed agreements are an unshakable guarantee of partnership, fixed on paper.

In the CIS, the mentality of people is such that everyone tries to “throw” the other. Contracts, courts, etc. do not work, because contracts are concluded for offshore companies, it is practically useless to sue them. Sometimes, when it comes to big money, they don’t even pay attention to reputation.

Therefore, in the CIS, they do not trust entire milestones of production, but try to give a small stack of works or single projects “to the side”. Very rarely it comes to a full-fledged partnership, which can be discussed in the context of the example of Western colleagues.

q. Under what conditions is it rational to work in a given situation:

• Pure (“naked”) outsourcing

It is rational to work on such conditions if the volume of the proposed work is small, so the customer company is not ready to pay for the work and give a percentage of the project’s profit.

• Partner outsourcing

The rationality of the model is due to the fact that the implementing company does a large or entire amount of work using a minimum of other people’s resources. In such cases, it is necessary that she be as interested as possible in the final result, since the outcome of the development depends on her.

• Time and material outsourcing

It is rational if it is difficult to predict the timing of the task, or there are factors that can significantly change the timing of development in one direction or another.

But this point is fraught with many pitfalls. The contradiction is that it is profitable for the customer to work exclusively on the terms of pure outsourcing. But the performer needs to try to enter into partnerships at all costs, well, or at least follow the path of “Time and material” outsourcing development, since it is more profitable. And this is a significant reason for lengthy negotiations.

How to get around the pitfalls

If we approach the issue rationally, then there is a way out. The main factor that needs to be taken into account is the amount of work outsourced. If it is small, then the conversation about partnership closes by itself. If it is a full-fledged game or a group of games, i.e. the amount of work is quite large – the terms of cooperation can and should be discussed.

The customer, of course, does not want to give a percentage of the potential profit. But at the same time, he must understand that there is no better motivation for a partner than a good profit. There are such concepts as “build for someone” and “build for yourself” in our mentality for a reason. If the performer is interested in profit and understands that he will continue to receive it, he will work 100 times harder. And it will be possible to ask him more harshly.

However, this does not mean at all that if work is going on according to the “naked” outsourcing scheme, then everything will be done carelessly. No way! And I want to emphasize this! I am strictly convinced that a high-level professional should do his work qualitatively in any conditions, if he took it up and made commitments! But this does not mean that it will be useless to raise the motivation of the performer to an even higher level.
At the same time, the customer cannot always guarantee such favorable conditions. The circumstances are different, they are so specific and unique that it is impossible to describe it all in words.

But the fact is that in order to work together, you still need to find common ground and mutually make some concessions. If both partners discuss these concessions and take a step towards each other, the result will be achieved. And if someone puts pressure or sets strict conditions, then be prepared for the fact that the second partner simply does not understand this and will leave the dialogue.

6. Discussion of the format of the work

As we have already said, the format of joint work and acceptance of the intermediate and final result is another very important point.

In most cases, the customer pays the main attention to the final result and the compliance of his expectations with the plans received from the developer, therefore, a minimum of time is given to the format of work.

The periods of the payment amount are most important to the performer, so the main attention is focused in this direction. And, of course, in the direction of the future layer of work and its analysis.

As a result, paradoxically, the format of work is very important for everyone, but very often it is forgotten. Why is it so necessary, you ask? Because if you do not discuss this point in advance and do not develop an approach to cooperation acceptable to both sides, the whole development will be accompanied by continuous problems.

Let’s take a concrete example: Company A ordered a concept car from Company B. Work has begun. At the stage of the concept of the car, the comments were given by the art director of the company A. Then he went on vacation for 5 days, and instead he wrote comments by the art lead of the company A. As a result, the art director arrives a week later, the concept is in the finalizing stage, and he fundamentally disagrees with the edits made this week. As a result, the alteration of the car begins according to new comments that are opposite to the previous ones.

What we have:

• Company A does not get the result on time
• Company A incurs losses due to the work thrown out
• Company B is starting to lag behind the deadlines for implementation
• Both sides are dissatisfied

But if both companies had initially worked out the format of work and switched to other works that do not require his comments during the absence of the art director, all this would not have happened. And similar situations occur all the time.

It is also interesting that in the vast majority of cases, the customer never sees his fault in such situations. And it turns out something from the category: “In someone else’s eye, a speck is visible, but in your log is not noticeable.” He is always sure that it is the fault of the performer, that it was he who did not read the thoughts, did not guess the desires, unprofessionally approached his duties. For some reason, many customers either reject the formats of cooperation altogether, or they have some special idea of the format. And, of course, only it is true and has the right to life.

As a result, sooner or later the showdown begins. But it does not lead to anything good. Never. And for both sides. It very often leads only to the rupture of relations. Oddly enough, this is one of the most frequent factors of termination of cooperation. And it’s a shame that two once close partners go their separate ways because of such trifles and joint misunderstandings.

How to get around the pitfalls

The solution to this problem lies on the surface: discuss the format of work on the shore, before the start of work. Naturally, this will not save you from all such situations, because no document can take into account all the subtleties, and the winner of the Battle of Psychics is hardly among the employees of your company. However, this will allow us to consider specific situations and clearly understand whose fault the inconsistency occurred. And if there is this clear understanding, then the responsible party will take on the risks for the wrong decision and no one will be dissatisfied with the partner. You can only blame yourself.

7. Signing of contracts and start of work

In practice, the stages of signing contracts and starting work pass quickly, only if some small work is carried out, or if there are good relations between the partners that do not force them to subtract every letter of the contract. Although in the latter case, it is recommended that legal departments pay maximum attention to this issue. Life is unpredictable and, unfortunately, in our realities, too often today’s good partner tomorrow becomes an enemy or even an enemy.

Therefore, if large-scale cooperation is expected, then proofreading contracts, making adjustments, discussions and controversial points are boring, sad, but inevitable procedures.

If a very large cooperation is planned, then this whole process can last until the blessing of the Lord descends on both partners, and all issues will not be closed.

How to get around the pitfalls

Unfortunately, nothing. As already mentioned, this is an inevitable process. The only question is its duration and the loyalty of both sides to this process.

And what is even worse, it can be stated that on the territory of the CIS, as already mentioned above, all signed agreements may still not work. Moreover, the vast majority simply have no opportunity to sue. Unless only if we are not talking about large-scale companies in which the staff of the legal department is larger than the staff of an average CIS company, and the budget is equal to the budget of some small state.

In the CIS game development format, reputational risks play a more significant role, because in the case of outright deception, one of the companies can raise a fuss and pretty much damage the reputation of its former partner. But, if we are talking about a tidy sum, then sometimes this does not save either.

The only detail is that the contractor can speed up this process by having a high-quality template for the contract that would cover the range of controversial issues as much as possible and describe them as much as possible.

8. Workflow

And now, when all the formalities are finally settled, the development process begins. And don’t think that at least there won’t be any problems. Development in game development is generally a separate universe. You can write about its pitfalls and methods of overcoming them forever. Here everyone can write their own story, and then tell it to business partners with a touch of sadness and a barely noticeable note of suffering. Therefore, only the main points that were met on personal experience and the experience of colleagues will be announced.

Customers should be prepared for the fact that:

• Even despite all the preliminary work and carefully reviewed plans, the development may go wrong if adjustments are made to it;
• You need to follow not the development methodologies that you like, but those that are most effective in the current situation;
• It is necessary to try to get the highest quality, but at the same time understand that there is a so-called “sufficient quality”, and it is this that is the threshold that it makes no sense to cross. You will spend a lot of time on improvements, but you will not win much, and you will also increase your costs;
• Constant pressure on quality and timing issues is fraught with local victories, but in the long run it will lead to a constant rollback;
• You will need to allocate time and perhaps even resources to your brainchild.

Developers should understand that:

• A very big responsibility lies with the project manager, who is obliged to control not only the development, but also the wishes of the customer. Explaining to him that any changes and adjustments lead to changes in plans and deadlines;
• Development is never perfect, but it should be conducted according to suitable project management methodologies, which will allow achieving the necessary quality and efficiency.;
• At all stages, the customer will get into the development process and try to build it not in the right way, but in the way that is beneficial to him;
  You will always be adjusted according to deadlines and demand maximum quality, and you need to be able to withstand this pressure.

How to get around the pitfalls

In the entire development process, the main key to success is the most enlightened and most partnership relationships. In every sense of the phrase. The customer and the contractor should have a common understanding that there will be problems in any case, but both sides are interested in solving them, as well as in the final result, so all problems need to be solved together. Remember that no matter how pathetic it sounds, you are one team.

And you will either agree, or jointly fail the project.

9. Summing up the work and getting the result

At the very end, at the stage of summing up, there may be only two situations, so it is necessary to consider them autonomously.

a. The work done is successful

In this case, the success criteria may be different, since success depends on the type of tasks. However, in any case, whatever the work, each of the partners has its own risks.

Customer’s risks

In fact, the customer has only a couple of risk criteria:

• Getting the finished work on hand

This is a small risk, because in very, very rare situations you will not take your work from the contractor, because in 99% of cases payment is made upon the fact of work.

• Use of developments belonging to the customer

A very big risk is that there are unscrupulous performers who, upon completion of the work, can use the customer’s code (art, game design, it doesn’t matter) to create clones or, for example, show the concept art of a new project made to you to your competitors as an example of their work. Or in general, with the help of these developments, they will look for new customers and offer to make cheaper competitor games based on them. Naturally, this is absolutely unacceptable and contradicts all the principles of honesty and professionalism, but nowadays it stops few people. Education is no longer the same and many have lost their understanding of honor in doing business.

Normal outsourcing companies behave differently: they say they have experience working with similar projects, but they never use the bare code, unless it is their own work done on their own.

Contractor’s risks

As usual, the contractor has its own problems, different from the customer’s problems

• Getting a payment on hand

As you understand, the developer needs to get paid for his work. If this is a “naked” outsourcing, then everything is simpler here. You gave the materials, received the payment and dispersed.

• Obtaining other types of profit

But if, in addition to the first point, there is also a point about the percentage of profit, then problems may begin. Many unscrupulous customers, at the sight of a large profit, begin to think, they say, “Why should I pay them if this is my project?”. The fact that it was these people who made this project is abruptly forgotten. And then the backstage dancing with a tambourine begins:

1. Absolutely incomprehensible or inadequate expenses begin to fit into the account of the customer’s costs for the project, from the costs of a cleaner in his office to the costs of girls of easy virtue in the sauna for the director. And, of course, all these alleged “expenses” are deducted from the total net profit;
2. Sometimes no profit is paid at all if the business was conducted with a small outsourcing company that cannot sue or raise a fuss in the industry;
3. Tricky operations of cashing out and transferring money, as a result of which the lion’s share of the developer’s profit is “eaten up” on currency transactions;
4. Other schemes.

How to get around the pitfalls

In the first point of both sides, the simplest option is the gradual termination of cooperation and consistency in matters of payments and the return of the result. That is, the scheme is something like this: they gave a part – they received payment. If you gave another part, you received another part of the payment. And go in such iterations to the finish line. And, of course, so that such a scheme does not turn out to be a surprise, discuss the issues of acceptance and payment of work in advance, before the start of cooperation, and not at the end.

In the second point, both sides will be saved by competent concluded contracts that take into account these little things, and the presence of reputational risks. You need to understand that if there can be a hype that is unprofitable for both companies, it is easier to find common ground and disperse peacefully than to fight.

But in general, it is clear that if the work is successful, it is unlikely that the partners will have claims against each other.

b. The work done is unsuccessful

If the work done is unsuccessful, then there are completely different risks for both sides.

But, of course, failure is the same vague concept as success, so it also depends on the situation.

Risks of the customer and the contractor

Paradoxically, the risks of the customer and the contractor in case of failure of the work are almost the only point where the interests of the parties coincide.

• Time spent

Both partners wasted their time (the customer did not receive the product on time, the contractor did-did, but wasted time, because during this time he did not make a profit);

• Money spent

Both partners wasted their money (the customer paid for some work in vain, and the contractor did not make a profit);

• Termination of the partnership

Both partners will no longer work with each other. The customer will have to look for a new contractor and pay him, and the contractor will have to pay for the downtime, because a new order still needs to be found.

How to get around the pitfalls

Obviously, if unsuccessful cooperation is unprofitable for both sides, then blood from the nose needs to make it successful. And there is only one golden rule that will help save the day.

In fact, it doesn’t really matter how you work, because the main thing is that the client is always satisfied.

If he is satisfied and satisfied with the result, this is already a victory. And the methods and ways to achieve it are just methods and ways. Do the work so that both sides are satisfied, and then success awaits you.

Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing development

As a conclusion, let’s look at the general advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing development for both parties.

Advantages for the customer

• Resources of any level

There are many companies and people on the market who are able to do tasks of any level, so today the customer does not have the question that he cannot find a specialist of the necessary level with the necessary skills and experience to his company.

• Rapid expansion of resources

Large outsourcing companies can provide customers with any number of personnel, and they have no problem in quickly hiring employees for projects.

There is no full responsibility for outsourcing personnel

Plus, it does not matter to the customer whether the person leaves, he is ill or his motivation has dropped and he works very poorly. A normal outsourcing contractor company covers all these risks. But there is another responsibility: if the customer starts to “run away”, then, no matter how adequate the implementing company is, the project may still suffer. And quite strongly, since people take knowledge and expertise with them. Therefore, it is in the interests of the customer, at least, not to demotivate their guys, and to review the rates in a timely manner

• No fixed costs

The bottom line is that if the customer’s project is not successful, then there is no need to fire someone or pay people for downtime. It just stops outsourcing work. However, it is worth adding here that in many companies and on many projects there are contracts that prescribe both the term of hiring a team, and penalties for changing these terms, and even vacations \ sick days. Also, the customer continues to pay for the entire team, even if the load is now only 50%. In this situation, everything depends on the agreements.

As a result, the outsourcing scheme is ideal if you want to make a project and if it fails, do not continue working anymore. You took people, tried to do something.

It turned out – everything is super. It didn’t work out – you don’t lose anything except money.

Advantages for the performer

• Outsourcing development is a tit in the hand, not a crane in the sky

Product development is fraught with high costs and risks, because payback and profit are achieved only as a result of the success of the product. And outsourcing development is practically guaranteed money here and now. Without expenses in the form of in-house development costs and lost profits.

• There are no risks based on the results of the project

The contractor has no risks for the final results shown by the project. If he is successful, the performer wins. If he is not successful, the performer still received money and profit in the development process, even if he did not receive profit from the success of the project.

• Getting a versatile experience for someone else’s money

By doing various projects, the performer gets a lot of diverse experience. And, most importantly, he does not pay for it! He does not fill his bumps, and even if he meets obstacles in the development process, he overcomes them for someone else’s time and someone else’s money.

• Establishing contacts with partners

As a result of a lot of outsourcing work with different partners, contacts are established that help to conduct business. In product development, there are many times fewer prerequisites for this.

Disadvantages for the customer

• Cost

Outsourcing development usually costs more than internal development. However, it all depends on the city where the customer is located. If, for example, he is in an expensive city, such as Moscow or St. Petersburg, then he will be able to find outsourcing cheaper than internal development. But in smaller cities it is cheaper to have your own development than someone else’s.

• Risks of an outsourcing company

An outsourcing company can simply close down and not finish an external order. Or, for example, after the first order (or at any other time), sharply raise prices for other orders. Or it’s trite just not to want to work together further, because she was offered more favorable terms of cooperation. These are the risks that are possible, and they need to be taken into account.

• Dishonesty and dishonesty

Unfortunately, this is a very common disease of CIS outsourcing companies. This is a violation of the NDA, when a client, for example, orders a prototype of a project and, when it is ready, stops development for some reason. And the implementing company takes it and shows it to other customer companies, and perhaps even to the customer’s direct competitors. It very often happens that an outsourcing company has made, for example, 20% of the art, and shows others all the art, presenting it to their own.

But the most unpleasant thing happens when the partner ordered the project and received it, and then the outsourcing company starts using his code, for which he paid and which, according to the contract, they have no right to touch. Such outsourcers begin to offer other companies to make a competitor based on this code, or simply use it for their own good.

There are also cases of price increases for support. For example, in situations when it will no longer be profitable for the customer to look for another outsourcing partner.

Unfortunately, most outsourcing companies in the CIS suffer from all these diseases. And, unfortunately, including the big top companies. To avoid this, you need to look for an outsourcing partner based on recommendations and check it carefully.

Disadvantages for the performer

• Limited earnings

Unlike product development, outsourcing development has a profit margin that will never go over. Let’s say if the development of a project costs a conditional $ 100, then the performer will never be paid $ 1,000. Not to mention larger amounts.

• To make a profit you need to work

The disadvantage is that your own project can make a profit even without constant work. You made it, polished it, left a minimal support team and gave it to the marketing and analytics departments. Then the traffic flows, the game converts it into money, the profit goes by itself, and the resources are transferred to the following projects. In the context of outsourcing development, profit stops exactly at the moment when development stops.

• During downtime, risks and costs need to be assumed

The risks are that the customer can stop the development at any time, even the most unexpected. And then the contractor’s resources will have downtime, which is fraught with costs and lost profits. Naturally, all these risks and costs are borne by the implementing company.

• Specifics of development

In fact, outsourcing development can start and stop at any time. The tasks facing outsourcing are very diverse. Customers always have individual specifics, so each of them needs its own business approach and its own approach to development. All this implies that implementing companies must be very flexible. And also financially stable, psychologically stable, resource versatile. And this, believe me, is quite difficult.

Finally, it should be noted that not everyone can do outsourcing development. If you have a preference to develop your own projects, there is no great desire for outsourcing, but you decided to temporarily do it to earn money, and then return to your own brainchild and favorite business, then you will not succeed.

Outsourcing needs to be approached systematically, you need to have the desire to do it, understand its features. You need to understand that in addition to money, you also get experience, new friends, partners. You are developing, but in a different direction. And if there is no soul to this, then it is better to concentrate on your own project and not be distracted by outsourcing projects.

If you want to do something, then give it 300%, or don’t do it at all.