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Development Cost for indie game?

by Dylan Jones · in General Discussion · 07/17/2007 (1:46 am) · 3 replies

Hey,

I am thinking of maybe funding a game to be made with the torque engine, and I would like to know how it would cost to get a game development. To the quality of the other games that are currently being sold at the garage games store.

I wouldn't need a graphic designer, but I would like to know the avg. cost for a entire game from these types of positions:

programmer
3d modeler
level designer
character design/artist
music

I guess it would depend on if it was 2d or a 3d game, but could I get an estimate for both?

I am not sure if I want to develop a full on game, or a funny-parody quick game with simple game logic.

Where would I go to find such talents, and how to find the good ones! :)

Thanks for any help!
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Torque Owner Very Interactive Person
#1
07/17/2007 (1:56 am)
This is a question that is impossible to answer. It all depends on what type of game you are going to make. How much work you can do yourself. The overall quality you are trying to achieve. There are so many parameters that can have a huge influence on your budget.

It is defenetly possible to put together a decent TGB game with a budget of around 1500-2000$. I've done it before, and I'm doing it now. My budget is so low becuase I'm able to do most of it myself. But if you need to hire a lot of freelancers, this can quickly become a lot (!) more.

Dylan Jones
#2
07/17/2007 (2:03 am)
Hmm...

Yeah that's the kind of answer I thought I would get, because I forgot to take into account the vast genres games could be...like first person shooter or one of them really big multilayer games.

Okay, well how about this:

A promotional game used for marketing, 2d game that has simple game logic, isometric view with basic walking around, and some platforming elements, maybe sider scroller action - all simple logic!

The game would mainly be information, but done in a very fun way. Kind of educational tool.

How much would it cost for a artist for the animation, character design, and what not and a 2d programmer? (i would assume the programming would be cheaper because of the simple logic in the game.)

Would $800 for the artist, and $500 for the programmer be good?

Thanks :)

Torque Owner Very Interactive Person
#3
07/17/2007 (2:36 am)
If you are planning on hiring profesionals, then no, that won't be enough. If you want to hire students, or developers from non western countries, then you can get something done with that kind of art-budget. But, I doubt you'll find a quality programmer who is able to create a game for 500$.

There are some ways to make a quality game without spending a lot though. For example, for music I now use www.shockwave-sound.com/. For voice overs, I recently heard about this site : www.voices.com/ (haven't tried it yet though).
There's also www.rentacoder.com... sometimes you can get lucky on that site and find real talent for little money. Most of the time you get tons of bids from incompetent people though. But I'm getting really good at filtering out the good ones ;)