Organizing a team

[kaizokuace]

This is my first post, I am not sure if it should be in this section so bear with me.
I am doing an indie project with intent to aim for XBLA. I am not a programmer, but I have 2 guys with me that are amazing. I do all the art, direction and business dealings. My problem is, besides that we are doing this project with no money so I can't pay my guys, that they seem to be not making any time for working on the project. They have their regular jobs but want to do this project with me in their spare time but their spare time seems to be used for recreation only these days. The project can be finished soon if they just make some free time. What can I do to get them to want to work on the game?
Any advice is appreciated.

[Sybixsus]

Pay them.

Seriously, if you want people to behave like professionals, you have to treat them like professionals. And professionals get paid. If you treat it like an unpaid hobby dealy, they will behave like it's an unpaid hobby dealy.

[OremLK]

You can't aim a project at XBLA with no money, as many indies here have discovered. I believe the development kit alone costs $10,000 and there may also be additional costs (certification?). And yes, you can make a game in XNA, but you still need the dev kit to actually get the game on XBLA.

MS is coming out with that Live Community games thing at the end of this year which could be more plausible for an indie without major funding, but as of yet we don't know anything concrete about the revenue model, as far as I know.

As for organizing a team, Sybixsus is right, you'll have a hard time trying to find professional quality (unpaid) volunteers. You might be able to do it if you've already proven yourself by having made games in the past, led some big mod projects, or something of the sort, but even then... It's a crapshoot.

[Jack Norton]

Actually from my personal experience is even hard to find reliable PAID people... :rolleyes:

[Mattias Gustavsson]

Of course, there's always the option to learn programming and do everything yourself... :cool:

[Sol_HSA]

Three ways to get things done:

1. Do it yourself
2. Pay someone to do it
3. Tell your kids not to do it

[GeneralGrant]

You don’t need a development kit to get onto XBLA if you use XNA, a standard Xbox 360 will do, but if it’s a commercial game you’re aiming for you need to buy XNA Game Studio Professional which hasn’t been released yet. The details are kind of sketchy right now so I wouldn’t bet any money on it. The good news is that you can develop a game for the PlayStation Network if you get certified and buy a $1200 debug PS3 and they are apparently hungry for new content. :D

Other than that, I agree with Sybixsus.

[kaizokuace]

Thanks for the input. Now I need to find money to pay my buddies! I don't know if I want to go the VC route. We have a lot of the game running, it just needs a bunch more work done. Losing steam half way through the project sucks!