15 hours ago, frob said:

A lawyer is not that expensive for this type of work.  They are simple business agreements, mostly boilerplate.

Assuming you've done your homework (clearly you have not) a friendly lawyer can hook you up with all the forms you need with a quick meeting and transferring some electronic documents.  Depends on your local lawyer costs, around here it is about $150/hr for this type of work. If you haven't done your homework it may be 2-3 hours, so perhaps around $500 for you.

If your game isn't worth $500 then it isn't worth the effort your putting in to it.

Otherwise you need rights assignments, perhaps in the form of an independent contractor agreement or partnership agreement or collaboration agreement. Exactly what is assigned, who it is assigned to, what happens for succession of rights, payment for rights, and other details are all up to your agreement. What are the exit clauses? What happens if someone becomes bitter and wants to leave? What happens if some of the group want to sell it to another group? What happens if some people want to buy out the others?

You will probably need to create a legal entity (a business) to hold those rights since your friends are unlikely to trust it all to you personally. Revenue sharing needs many more details. Who ensures revenue is handled correctly? Who verifies the limits are met? Who can audit the system to ensure they are being paid? How often can they audit? Who handles tax forms? Who handles distribution of money? What happens if someone dies? What happens if someone is no longer in contact? 

 

If you don't think it is worth hiring a lawyer than you've already decided it won't reach enough money to justify paying anyone. 

So either go get a lawyer or recognize you already know deep inside that the project won't make money.

Hi Frob,

Is there any way I can let them keep their rights to their IP and also have my own unconditional rights to their IP? My team wants to keep rights to their IP but they're all happy to let me own it too for the sake of releasing it. Can I not state in a contract that I have indefinite rights to the publication of their IP?

Cheers

2 minutes ago, Tom Sloper said:

That could be a cheaper way to go. Talk again to your team with this approach - just post it online as a portfolio piece for all of you. Then when you want to go into business, do it right (with proper agreements on paper) from the start.

 

eee I know I could just release the game for free (which the team is happy with) but I reeaally wanted to release it for a price because a proper marketed game sounds better than a free release... Especially if that game was to make some level of downloads/ revenue.. I already have a job in game development so I want something more robust for my portfolio I suppose.

10 minutes ago, Tom Sloper said:

 

Looks like you need to make up your mind.

Publish it for a price for the sake of learning & portfolio*

The fact that you release something for free, or for payment, will not impact that thing's value as a portfolio item to anybody (reasonable) who is reviewing your portfolio for a job.

On 7/28/2017 at 8:36 AM, jpetrie said:

The fact that you release something for free, or for payment, will not impact that thing's value as a portfolio item to anybody (reasonable) who is reviewing your portfolio for a job.

+1 for this.  Employers aren't going to care if the game was free or not.  They aren't hiring you for a marketing or distribution position but as a programmer or designer.

If the game is making money could even be a potential hangup for an employer.  Easily could be a conflict of interest or a potential source of distraction at work.  Not to mention you have to deal with business and personal taxes from two different income streams.