Industry rate card
Feel free to tell me that this is a stupid idea..... but, would it be feasible for makegamesSA, as a representative of the industry to release a standardized rates and fees card, much like the editors guild does ( see this link http://www.editorsguildsa.org/news/2014/sage-rate-card-2014), to help ensure people do not under-quote, and to prevent clients from taking advantage of artists / programmers...
What made me think of this was a friend of mine asked what he should quote to build an interactive ipad app... and what he was considering was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too low. Jobs executed in such a manner is not only detrimental to the producer of the work, but the industry as a whole (imo as it helps drive a race-to-the-bottom, which the animation industry in SA suffers from pretty badly at the moment).
What made me think of this was a friend of mine asked what he should quote to build an interactive ipad app... and what he was considering was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too low. Jobs executed in such a manner is not only detrimental to the producer of the work, but the industry as a whole (imo as it helps drive a race-to-the-bottom, which the animation industry in SA suffers from pretty badly at the moment).
Comments
:D
Actually it's a good idea, but where game devs and editors differ is that editors belong to an industry body - game devs do not. We would effectively have to form a professional association, with membership requirements, etc etc. I don't even know what the laws are in SA in this regard
What would work better though, is some transparency from the developers, even if anonymous. If we can get an objective assessment of cost-to-quality for games, with real life samples, then it'll give new devs a better idea of where their skills rank, and what they can reasonably expect to charge.
I was working for one of the large SA companies when they had to pay one of the most hefty fines every, and we had to do so much boring courses on this.
Tell your friend to look on freelancing sits like oDesk and Elance to get an idea (of the bottom end of costs), and then consider his own skill level and time costs... It is never easy, and you have to learn on jobs what to quote from experience mostly and new industry trends...and I'm sure still many more ways I will still learn.
At the end of the day a budget is a good tool to estimate, if your friend can do it fast enough to compete and charge enough hours (or skill) to make a profit. For the customer there will also be a optimum point in terms of their profit margin and budget.
You should never under value yourself, but you also need to prove your value..which can be daunting task to newcomers.
So ask what you need, and if you offer discount, be clear on what...and be strict on receiving milestone payments. Do not accept the job if you cannot afford to do it.
If someone can do the same job, but has better managed resources so is cheaper - they should be allowed to use that competitive edge.