August 8, 2010: Request for Proposal: Zombie Dice for Android

We are looking for a contractor to port the Zombie Dice application to run on Android touchscreen devices. ZD is only our third app, and this will only be our second Android port, so this contract is not routine for us. The notes below represent what we’re looking for, but - explicitly - we’re looking for a contractor with a lot more Android experience than we have, and we will listen, within reason, to a potential contractor who advises us that we ought to be looking for different things.

We will consider proposals from individuals, partnerships, or companies. Experience matters more than size. We’d expect to pay on a milestone basis, with the final payment being due the day the app appears in the Android Market. Contractor will be credited in the “About” section and in the description on the Android Market. Feel free to suggest other places we can credit you. Credit is important to us, and we expect it to be important to the people we work with.

We want to support all Android touchscreen devices without requiring use of additional hardware.

We are looking for a full port with no added features - that is, we expect the Android version to do everything the iPhone version does, the way the iPhone does it, and that’s all.

Two exceptions to the above: (1) The “free download, 99-cent full version” format has to be adapted to the current requirements of the Android Market, and (2) the Android’s hardware back button must be appropriately supported.

We will supply all art assets: .png files and spritesheets. We can supply Photoshop files as well, if desired.

We will supply all sound assets. Braaaaaaaiiiinnnnns!

We will supply the iPhone code, which uses cocos2d. We don’t insist that the port use cocos2d. We know that attempts have been made to support cocos2d for Android, but we do NOT know how complete and useful those attempts have been.

The size of the iPhone app is 11 megs.

What we want in a proposal:

• Tell us about yourself. Or yourselves, as the case may be. Details of your experience, with a list of the apps you already have in the Android Market, and what part you played in each. NB - I want text, not a slideshow. (If you already have a canned slideshow for prospective clients, sure, send it, but on no account should anyone create a PowerPoint abomination just for me.)
• Briefly describe the systems you use for keeping track of work process and for reporting and tracking bugs during development.
• Tell us what you think we should pay you for this job, and on what milestones. How long will it take? Obviously you can’t be sure right now. Duh. Give us an estimate, and tell us what further info you’d need to make a better estimate!
• Reply to sj@sjgames.com. Please don't start by phoning, and OMG I'm already getting *tweeted* questions about this, and, for me at least, this is too involved to handle in 140-character blips. Please e-mail. Thanks!

-- Steve Jackson