I wanted to offer some helpful advice and suggestions to those new to hiring a person on Eclipse. (For those lacking time to learn VB6 or just in a hurry to make your game.) Well I have had the pleasure of working with and paying a few programers now. It all started on RPG Maker XP. I hired a guy named Mr,MO. (He made a summoning spell, and an extra bar, and some projectile thing with his (back then) well known ABS system. Sadly I don't think Mo is here on these forums, so I had to look for someone else! So thus, after finding this place my search for talent started all over again. When I first got here at Eclipse I was thinking all these questions about who would be right to hire? How would I know if they did the job well enough? How can I tell if I'm getting ripped off? How will I know if they will even do the work at all? And so on! I thought I'd give some advice to people looking to hire a programer. Well before I start I realize I might not actually answer your question. So please feel free to ask any thoughtful question you'd like to ask me. **1\.** Probably the biggest question if you are a newbie is **"How can you tell if they did the work before you pay them? How do you know if your engine is not full of bugs?!"** Do Well they can send you a testable version of the engine, the lingo here is (without the source files.) This protects their work and they can do something like change the max maps you can make to something utterly useless like 2\. Maybe there is a way to rip their work from the ".exe" files, but I think if you knew how to do that you'd probably know how to program yourself. So far I have not had a problem with this method. Don't Don't go with anyone that says something a long the lines of "I'll do the work and tell you when its done, then you send payment and then I'll send you a link to the files." Hold on! What?…... No thanks.... can you send me a testable file without the source files please? So I can confirm the work is done the way I like? **2\. What happens when I find bugs?** Do Do find a programer that tells you he/she fixes bugs for free. This should be standard… Its just asking them to do their job correctly. No one should be paid for work that is incorrectly done. Don't Don't work with a programer that tells you he or she charges to fix their own mistakes,bug, or glitches. Ok I can understand if they would charge to fix a bug not related to their work, but otherwise steer clear guys/gals. **3\. Communication… This goes a long way.... Before you start having them work for you,make sure of a few things....** Do Do you have enough time work on my project? Do you have any big plans coming up with in the next couple of days to a week? Are you busy? Do you see anything coming up? These are some questions you should ask your programer before asking them to work for you. If you don't feel you are not going to have your work completed with in an acceptable time, get back with them when they are not as busy. Work with someone friendly, and that gives suggestions, and warnings about the changes you may not like in your work. Don't Don't work with someone that won't give you a "lol" or "jajaja" or "hahaha" or anything of the sort… Seriously, if you feel you are working with someone with no personality, move on to someone else... Hey....how long does it take to get on the internet and send someone a message? Ok... right a couple of minutes... So unless someone is really hurt or dead, there is no reason they can't spend a couple of minutes to tell you something came up, right? If you are waiting longer then you'd like just to hear about how your engine is going then move on to another programer. When the work is done from the other programer, and its been a whole week later, don't be surprised when you see a message from the first person saying "hey something came up, sorry." lol **4\. How much should a I pay?** You went to the tutorial section and you thought you'd add DJMaxus's NPC spells, and why not add Lightning's Pet system too?!! Well…...You been staring at the Computer screen for 6 hours and you still don't know what compile means.... Or how to make a button in the first place... Do Do pay fairly, Well if you simply want someone to just, and only add a "source tutorial" (i.e Pets, Quests, projectiles) This should seriously be like 5$USD a piece at tops! If you are paying 5$USD for each one, guess what? It better be bug free, right? Look….. use common sense guys and gals, if the tutorial you want is seriously just a few lines and needs no form work, you can do it yourself its not that hard. OR someone should or might even do that for you for free if you do not have VB6, just ask nicely. If you want to have something done like say just simply be able to add HP to armor ( not via END) or be able to change the NPC's attack speed. Maybe a little more right? If you are lucky someone might even do this kind of thing for you for free, just be nice and polite about it. Want to add something original ( like for this time frame, weather system, making a weapon attack, darken the screen, and use a spell at the same time, then afterwards lighten the screen again) I'd pay some where around 10-15$ USD for these kinds of things. Don't Don't let yourself feel Ripped off… Guys if you have a questionable quote. Programer says he wants 30 dollars for a pet system and a few little edits to it. Ask why its costing so much? Bring it up on here " Hey guys a programers said he is going to charge me 30$ for.......... Does this sound fair to you guys?" If someone says "I'd do it for x amount lower." See if they will take the job. If not they were most likely not telling the truth lol.... But mostly just use common sense.... You know what? Honestly I'd pay a pretty penny just for some honest and good programing work. **5\. Common sense ** Well obviously you wouldn't want to work with someone much more if you keep getting a testable file plagued with bugs over and over and over again. And you wouldn't want to work with someone that tells you its going to take two weeks to finish a job that should only take a few hours, like making a party chat or something of the sorts. Don't work with someone if they request more money from you mid-way in the the job, and you have not asked them to do any more then when they gave you a quote. Just use some common sense people….. **My personal recommendations would be** **Jcsnider-** He has the best pet system and he knows it. He charges a hefty 25$ USD for it, but its well worth the price. He has all the do's I listed above. Once he told me he wouldn't be able to do any work for me because of a game he wanted to play for a non-stop period of time. Instead of lying and saying "My grandma died, or I'm failing school." lol… He is funny and honestly, but I guess he is a little pricey (this just comes from people I talk to, but I personally think his prices are fine.) I find that he negotiates and he does packages deals. **Captain Wabbit** Pretty good personality, he is nice and loads of fun as well. But something I can say about Cap here is he is a hard worker… Even thou he was busy with some things he still let me know he was working on my project and where it was going every couple of days, if not, once a day. I find Cap likes to negotiate his pricing but I think it would fall well under what I said above. **Robin** I think you're only problem with this guy is his time to work for you. He may or may not have the time for you. But who better to work on your EO or CS:DE engine than the one who made it? I have never hired him, but he did offer to do some work for me once. He has offered the cheapest price then anyone I have talked to yet thou. Probably the one person out of all these people you wouldn't need proof of work before payment. But I'm sure he'd be fine with the (no source) idea. **Kibblez** He has offered to do some simple work for me for free ( I'm not saying he would do free work for anyone that PM's him this very second " OMG lel said you did free work") He was polite, and honest. He did do something for me, but since it wasn't completely everything I asked, he did it for free. I never really made use of that request, but I thought he was worth mentioning. **Aaron** He has offered to do some cheap work for me, I can't say I had the chance to know his personality but I can say he was not a jerk or rude or anything. Very negotiable prices, and is willing to show proof of work in probably anyway you'd ask.
