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I need a flash game made
eatmosushi
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Hey guys,
So, my company makes nail polish.
I want a flash game that is basically a bejewelled clone, but with bottles of different colours of polish.
Basically I want to add content to our facebook
Send me a PM if you're in the business of doing such things, or know where I can look!
So, my company makes nail polish.
I want a flash game that is basically a bejewelled clone, but with bottles of different colours of polish.
Basically I want to add content to our facebook
Send me a PM if you're in the business of doing such things, or know where I can look!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] Spun uncontrollably skyward... Driven brutally into the ground
eatmosushi on
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Anyway, E-Lance is a good site for finding things like this. You could likely get an Indian/Chinese contractor to whip that up for under 2 grand.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
This is a terrible thing to say, because it gets people in the frame of mind of, "why should I pay for art/programming/writing if I can just tell them they can use it for their portfolio!?". That's all well and fine until, surprise, 75% of the commissioner community thinks that way.
It happens a LOT to those of us in the freelancing community. We do work, we need to be paid for our work. I don't know how many times someone has said, "i won't pay you with money, but i will pay you with the ability to put the work in your portfolio and keep all rights to it!" Oh, really? And how am I going to pay for the tools I use to create work for you with the "rights" (which you wouldn't have gotten aside from an additional fee anyway) and "portfolio" work?
That being said - students will be cheaper, but do NOT think you can get some poor shmuck to do this without being paid. The idea of finding a similar game and tracking down the individuals who made it and having them reskin it sounds like a brilliant idea to me, as well.
Pay your artists. Pay your programmers. Everyone's happy. Good luck.
If I'm going to have an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist client having me make hundreds of tiny little changes for a project that I'm getting nothing out of besides the project itself, I want that obsessive-compulsive perfectionist to be me..
Just sayin'.
So, your clients are all avid Facebook users? Or are you purposely limiting your range to that small amount of prospects that also happen to use Facebook?
There is also a very practical reason why you absolutely should not do what Demerdar suggested: you get what you pay for. If you are at all concerned about getting a product that:
1) Ever gets finished at all
2) Works
3) Works in the way you want it to
4) Is finished even remotely close to on time
then volunteer or student labor is not for you.
edit: Also, have you worked with freelance developers before? Even among professional Flash freelancers there is a huge range of quality. Because so many flash "developers" are designer / artist types who have picked up a little code it is especially difficult to pick out a skilled developer for a project like this (where a designer / artist type is absolutely not what you want)
By all means, go ahead and do it. Just be aware that it wont lead to your big break in the industry. In fact you won't een actually be a part of the industry.
1. ipod app - i want to upload all 500 colours and let people browse them in a free app - and if they like the product, they can press a button and get hooked into our online shopping cart via safari
2. flash sims ripoff - you can have your own little <brand> Girl and dress her up like a virtual bratz character. The more products you buy, the more <brand> Points you earn, which lets you buy things for the house, clothes, etc.
3. the bejewelled clone, but certain scores generate promo codes which make free products with purchase available. (one-shot codes)
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Here would be my ranking in order from doable to batshit crazy
3
1
2
As I said, 3 is something you could easily buy on the freelance market for a reasonale price.
1 will probably cost you a little bit more and the extent to which people would actually use such a thing is questionable.
2 is overkill for a first time project.... cut your teeth on #3, gauge the success, and then act accordingly.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
1. drive traffic to our site, making us, the manufacturer, pop up on search engines well before slanty-eyed-ripoffs.com
2. keep that traffic purchasing something - make it fun and easy for loyal fans to get product plus value plus entertainment
3. more reasons for facebookers, twitteres, and bloggers to talk about my site - viral marketing is a.o.k. usa #1
Because options 1 and 3 are right at the edge and 2 is way over the edge of what you could throw at a single person and have any chance of things working out.
There is a lot more to development than coding. Even for the small projects you need to think about who is doing the project management (basicially: keeping track of the schedule, the money and telling the developer what to make - the dev then figures out how) and source control.
For a one man project you can kind of skim over those issues and hope for the best. If the dev is sufficiently experienced (read: expensive) they will get by. They are your safety net and if nothing goes wrong they seem kind of pointless. And with a really good dev sometimes things don't go wrong.
But in a project that spans more than one person (which #2 would probably be) they become essential. Every person you add to a project increases the management complexity exponentially.
I've already got graphic artists employed, I don't need music, so I'm really just looking at coders, right?
chicks between 15-65
chicks dig bejewelled, chicks dig the Sims.
dunno if anyone anywhere could argue that
If you are going to take on the role of Program Manager then yes. The role basicially comes down to three things:
1) Communicate, preferably in writing, to the dev(s) what the project needs to do. What it should look like, how it should act from an end users point of view. This document ("spec") does not need to mention code at all. It is describing what the project should be from a users point of view when finished. This is where you would include any notes about look and feel, color palettes, feature requirements and nice-to-haves etc... This document can be as little or as much as you want, but with devs you don't know personally or are freelancers more is better. Basicially, if its not in the spec do not expect it do be done.
2) Keep track of the schedule (and therefore the budget). If things are taking longer then expected then you decide what features get cut or if the deadline gets pushed out.
3) Keep track of bug reports from testers (in a small company often the PM is also a tester), users and management. Decide the priority of bugs. Keep track of which have been fixed and which are going to be "defered" (ie: ignored).
edit: With regards to #3, some kind of bug tracking software is essential.
What you are talking developing is not something that will take a weekend or be cheap. Some of the simpliest things can take months for very little if ever profit.
EDIT - Premature posting.
Like RiemannLives said, you need to follow some basic steps
- You may need to get approval from higher ups / legal in your company to make sure it's ok to represent your company with these games. If they aren't done to their (usually high) standards, they might not want NailPolish Inc attached to it.
-you need to write down what you want IN DETAIL what the END product should be. How you get there is up to the dev but the END product should be there. If you want high scores, you need to mention it in the spec or the dev won't make a high score list.
-You need to talk with the Dev, at least weekly on what and how far along they are. Budget/time/technology are all YOUR responsibility
-You need to hire a tester / test yourself.
Good luck but I think you underestimate the size/scope of this.
I feel like a thief getting such great consulting for free
Er... let's be fair. This guy has a business that, presumably, makes money. He is not, presumably, working off of millions of dollars in investor money. He has a business plan that describes a revenue stream - i.e. sell nail polish.
That is the opposite of about 90% of what caused the Dot Com boom.
I've certainly been paid to do far dumber things in the name of "growing the brand".
limiting it to facebook is a bad idea, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that.
I am thinking of putting on our main site, proper.
our facebook following is only at 300 people, i only made it a week ago
i'm slowly but surely getting our 7000 twitter followers over there, and our blogspot site is pretty hot at the moment.
That depends entirely on what you are trying to acheive and how much risk you are willing to take on.
All right I get that and I'm probably a little harsh. It's just I'm just a little protective of a non-trivial task that others have suggested that could be free / portfolio boost that I do for a CAREER. You'd definately need to pay someone to do this.
Re-reading the post, the OP is actually just asking where to look for coders. Depending on where OP lives, all he'd need to do is draw up some firm requirements and either a) hire a coder to work for the nailpolish Inc OR b) contract out to an existing development company. Maybe a listing on some job listing sites can give him an idea of what kind of talent is out there.
Exactly. It may not even be your decision based on your position / size of the company though it sounds like it's a smaller one.
The chance that the project will for some reason fail. EG: cost more than expected, take too long, not have the desired effect etc...
With this one one of the main risks is that even if the game is done on time and works well it won't have much benefit for the company.
There is no short way to answer this, but the wall of text I'm about to write can be summarized in one phrase: Know your client!
All advertising entails risk. There is a chance that you'll fall flat on your face and loose all the money you tried to invest or you could hit it big with a really innovative new scheme that no one thought about. However, you can reduce the margin of risk by studying your target audience. At work, when ever we have to come up with a new product meant to gain membership to my corporation we don't go "Oh, I think this might be cool! Lets do it!" We sit down, discuss our client's needs, study to see areas of opportunities and what the competition is offering and then from that we come up with a new plan.
I don't know much about the nail polish industry, but I have to wonder if these devices that you want to develop are appealing to them... or to you. I you're not sure, ask yourself about the profile of your average customer. Is it old asian ladies, or teenage girls? Is it a guy in a truck that buys boxes in bulk or is it a make up artist that buys 2 bottles per week? Is he gay? Is he straight? What hobbies do they have? What worries them?
When you identify them, get to know them and see what their needs are and if these apps are the right tool to get their attention with.
As someone who lives and breathes advertising, I believe that there is a horrendous misconception that advertising, as a tool, is some sort of magic wand that will instantly get you what you want. Advertising is like an avalanche; Yeah, it's fast! Yeah, it's destructive! But before all the power comes into play, all that snow had to slowly pile up on the mountain.
Your goals tell me that you want all the power, without enough snow for your avalanche.
1. You want to drive traffic to your site
Good! How many of those that you are driving aren't already your customers? Those which aren't, how will you keep them? You didn't build any loyalty with them. You also have to ask yourself, is this the best media to attract new customers?
Perhaps as a developer, you are suffering from tunnel vision. To me, an ad in a specialized magazine will reach more people than a search engine.
2. You want to keep loyal customers purchasing
Excellent! But they are already loyal to you... why are you wasting your time in preaching to the converted? Get out there, find some heathens!
3. Facebook and Twitter traffic
10 points for thinking about using free media to advertise, but if your audience does not use these social networks... the effort will be in vain. Also, once again, you're not really reaching anyone who doesn't already know about your product. 300 Facebook users and 7,000 Twitter fans form what % of your income? Is it really worth spending so much money on developing aps, when you could instead mail a free sample to key people in the nail polish industry who have yet to switch to your product?
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound cruel. Nor do I want to crush your dreams, but to me this is a terrible idea. If someone presented this to me at work, I'd politely suggest to explore other directions.
Edit:
I once developed a facebook app. It's great! Works awesome! Guess what! Noone uses it!
Edit 2:
I'm sorry, I'm being more destructive and less constructive that I should. I can see that you are eager to work and put your skills to use. You're very passionate about this because you've thought of all these ideas. However, point your avalanche in the right direction, why not set up a meeting with the marketing team and see what is out there? Get to know where the oportunities are.
If I have not discouraged you, I want you to know these points about your business which will help you identify opportunities and problem spots that should be addressed:
Who is your customer?
What do they like? How old are they? What kind of budget do they have? How do they spend their idle time? Usually, there is not one group of customers, but rather one main group and several other smaller groups.
Who is your competition?
What do they sell? How much does it cost? Where do they advertise? Do they sell other things? How are you perceived when compared to them? Knowing your enemy is the key to beating them.
What benefit can you offer that noone else has?
If you don't have one, make one. Don't make one up... but rather dig deep in your creativity and find a way to team up with other beauty products that will help piggy back your lack luster nail polish!
Set goals
They must be realistic, tangible and measurable. Saying, "driving traffic to my site" is ambiguous. Be specific.
Once you know these things, you'll be able to better asses your market's situations and know how to tackle the industry specific problems.