Thanks for the tips! Still learning the landscape so feedback is greatly appreciated

For sure, that's the best way to do it. Best of luck to you!

Interesting, i think i understand whats going on here. Instead of specifically looking for a "game dev" look for someone who is a true "jack of all trades". Because you have to realize freelancers are mostly ALL solo-devs, meaning the chances of a 1-man army specializing in all the fields within game development required to make a full battle royale game is low. You must look for someone who is the Gordon Ramsay of Video games, a pioneer, an originator, innovator. The dev you choose must be a damn near genius and so do you IF you want the work to get done right the 1st time. Someone who can take your verbally spoken idea and turn it into a virtually spoken one. As for myself, i do specialize in this type of thing. I do just about everything you can think of game dev related but I know what im good and and what im not good at. Your developer should be upfront about their weaknesses, if they aren't then thats a forsure sign you're not dealing with the correct individual for the job. For you id reccomend breaking your game up into small fractions of features youd like to add & paying for custom assets that make up the fractions, then learn how to make multiple assets work together without the help of a dev. the assets MUST be modular & universal so that the development process is as simple as playing with lego blocks. That way you are giving the dev a specific job without being too complicated then you can incorporate it into your game as long as you explained to the dev that you need the asset to be modular/universal so that you can peice it together with pre-existing assets or future assets. Basically the custom assets should work in any game you drop it into, it should be SUPER modular to the point to where you feel like you made it yourself...... THEN take the prototype you have created, and send that to a dev in-order to turn it into a PLAYABLE game, when you like the way it plays now we can focus on the way it looks, so maybe reach out to a couple designers who can polish the game's graphic assets & elements... and now you have the finished product...... Don't expect someone who is just trying to make some easy money to provide you with great quality ALONE when you are asking for a project that normally requires multiple groups of dedicated people. you must split the game into more simple and specific tasks instead of asking for a whole entire project in one go.