I'd like to work with people to develop my own projects, but I don't have any method of paying people for it, and if I were to promise royalties, then I'd have to figure out how to release the game somewhere where it'd get attention and can be sold, and work out the necessary contracts for sharing royalties.
I've been thinking along the same lines, in terms of thinking this is a very common problem.
The problem in a nutshell: "I'm trying to put together a hobbyist team to produce a video game to sell. I have no money to pay anyone. I can offer royalties but I don't have enough money to consult with a lawyer to produce effective, enforceable contracts. The other people I'm trying to recruit are complete strangers, who have no reason whatsoever to trust that even if the game is a huge hit, and I promised them a significant share / equity, that they will receive any payment at all."
The basic solution to this involves eliminating or vastly reducing counterparty risk. There are several ways to do that, including coming up with a 3rd party website (whether gamedev.net is interested or another site) that keeps track of the time spent and business contracts used by the parties involved. These log entries of who worked what hours when, along with the business contracts that detail what everyone is entitled to in terms of profit split, are going to potentially hold up in court far better than "we verbally agreed to xyz", or "here you go Your Honor, you can see I as the artist own 20% of the company because it is on the back of this napkin".