I see so many people asking here, deviantart, and other sites. Wouldn't it be easier to work with people you know? How does someone work with random people that they don't even know yet? That's waht I'm confused about. I'm no good with asking random people I don't know to do and work with.
Is their thought "I don't know you, so I don't want to work with you"?
Here's the catch though: how would someone work with people they know if they don't know anyone doing game projects? The only answer is to meet new people that are working on projects. In-person events can be awesome but they aren't accessible to everyone (especially when it comes to financial costs and safety concerns for marginalized peeps like myself). So that leaves online communities as the best option for a lot of people (even if the relationship building is slower to start).
For me, it's kinda been like this when I've been looking for portfolio-building projects lately. Step one, what projects I am finding sound interesting to me to work on? Step two, contact them with some stuff I've already made for them to listen to (I make music). There's always some nerves but I get better at contacting people the more I do it. Step three once I'm in contact with someone, is this person nice and do we get along? I'm not just looking for one-off projects (although those can still be valuable). I'm personally looking to build longer term working (and very friendly) relationships where I can do repeated work with people if possible.
Yes but that might not happen right at the beginning. Not sure if this is the case for you but I tend to get a little anxious each time I reach out to a new person just from contact with a new person. And anxiety can be quite uncomfortable! That sort of initial discomfort is something I've had to practice intentionally going through to realize after a while that, hey, I may feel anxious during a new interaction but that will start to fade as soon as I start chatting with them.
Now after you contact someone and start chatting with them, it's important that you feel comfortable with the contents of the conversations themselves. Things such as feeling like your ideas are heard, having your identity respected, feeling like your time / energy is respected, and just having a good overall feeling about the vibe of who you're chatting with.
Hi,
I also feel weird AF working with other people I don't know. I would think, if they're posting here, they probably accept the necessary awkwardness of getting to know you. It is kind of scary and that's ok. I found a blog post on itch that was helpful for me. Perhaps it may be of use to you too. Scroll down and see best practices. TLDR: start small, define roles, set goals and respect timezones and each other
