Update: Started doing pixel art myself, see a brief preview of what I'm working on down a couple posts. If anyone wants to take over and make it better, please let me know! I would make you more than an artist, you would be an all-around creative partner, and we can determine a fair percentage of sales to pay you!

I am currently building a video game, a remake of an old DOS game called Paragon (Screenshot of the original game) and need a great pixel artist. The game will be expanding the size of the tiles to 24x24px, and adding lots of detail, as well as multiple graphic packs/themes/worlds to give the levels more variety, so there will be many tile sets needed. I don't know the exact number of tiles/tile sets needed, and I won't be able to pay you until I start selling the game, but if you take on this project I would be willing to make you more of a creative partner overall than just a pixel artist, and give you a percentage of profits from sales! I want this to be more than just another pixel art job, I want you to have fun and be creative and come up with your own ideas for graphical themes/worlds! I want a great partner with the drive to make this game as great as it can be!

The game itself is going to be released on PC, and hopefully iPhone/iPod/iPad and Android units as well. The mobile games will be sold for $1, PC somewhere between $4 - $10.

My company, BipolarDesign, has yet to release anything commercially, just a few free Nine Inch Nails themed applications and screensavers. The old, badly designed, website his here: www.bipolardesign.tk

What do you say we build a great video game together?

Mike
[ + BipolarDesign - ] // michaeltl88 AT gmail DOT com

P.S. if you are interested, I can send you a mediafire download link that includes the original game and a DOS emulator so you can try it out for yourself!

Edit: To clarify, I am in contact with both the original designer and the current copyright holder for the game, so this is indeed a legit remake that I do have permission to sell. I have a contract with the copyright holder and have licensed permission to remake the game. The contract is for 5 years (starting last month) of exclusive rights to selling the game on PC and mobile devices.

The "percentage of profit from sales" will be discussed, and we will create and sign a contract between us.

Edited by BipolarMike - 24 March 2011 at 1:47pm

I would like to offer some words of advice, please take them how you will but please remember that I am trying to help.

That being said, you are going to find it difficult to find anyone willing to work for free based on the rare chance that this project is actually one of the ones that will be completed and see some profit many months down the line.


As someone who has gone through the difficult task of hiring employees with no budget and on a limited budget let me give you a few tips:

"...I won't be able to pay you until I start selling the game"
I hate to break it to you, but here is a fact that will save you hours of frustration; Anyone willing to work for free, is doing so because they cant get paid doing it. This means if they are willing to work for free they are most often not worth your time. These are usually students fresh out of school who are not good enough to get jobs, students still in school, and hobbyists. These people all have other priorities and committments that will ALWAYS come before your project. The advantage of hiring a professional is that they can do the work properly and on time.

If you are really serious about this game, save up some money for a month or two. You dont need alot of money, but you cant expect people to work for a "maybe we will get paid" scenario. Remember, we all have bills to pay, and time that people spend on your project NOT GETTING paid is time they could be spending somewhere else GETTING paid. You can offer a cash/profit share contract so you only have to pay them a little bit and the rest can be paid out of profit later.


"The game itself is going to be released on PC, and hopefully iPhone/iPod/iPad and Android units as well. The mobile games will be sold for $1, PC somewhere between $4 - $10."

Releasing a game on PC, iOS AND Android is a ridiculously huge undertaking and for a project with no budget and obviously not much manpower is wholly unrealistic. because these are all different platforms it would require recreating the game in 3 different coding languages.

Releasing a game on PC would require a programmer with C/C+/Java/AS experience. Releasing a game on iOS devices would require a programmer with Objective-C experience. Do you have the knowledge and experience to do these things yourself? Do you have the money to invest in these things? Do you have the time to invest in these things?

These are all questions you need to answer yourself.

and finally
"...I am in contact with both the original designer and the current copyright holder for the game, so this is indeed a legit remake that I do have permission to sell."
Being "in contact with" and "having licensed permission" are two entirely different things.
You didnt say the IP owner has given you contractual rights to recreate his work and to be honest i dont think anyone would give you the go ahead to recreate their work with no budget and no experience in the industry.

"oh hi, Blizzard? Yea, id like to remake starcraft. Yes. Yes, no i dont have any experience... No, no i cannot pay for the IP... hello? hello?"


When reading this post I am reminded of a friend of mine who constantly tried to fly before he learned how to walk. I always tried to convince him his project goals were not realistic and that he should take on smaller, more manageable projects to begin with. Unfortunately he rarely listened.

I am really not trying to sh*t on you here. But there are certain realities you need to face.

My advice is to start with something you can realistically complete within 1-2 months. Do these until you have the skill and experience (and hopefully money) to attract some good talent. keep building bigger and better and one day you will have your own studio. But you really gotta start from the bottom. Full feature titles are best left to the commercial studios.

Started doing some art myself, here's what I have so far:

They are hedges from a top-down perspective. Let me know if you would like to join my team and make better artwork for my game!