Game Developer Pricing

TaeMan

Hello everyone im not looking for someone to build my game until September/October but can i get a good game built for me for around $1200-$1500??

colander

From what I have seen here the good developers are charging $40 to $50 an hour. $1,500 / $40 is only 37.5 hrs it could take that and more just to do the art work depending on what you want.

It is not possible to give an answer to your question without more information. What type of game do you want made? Can you point to an existing app for game mechanics and another one for the art style/look you want. This will give people a rough idea of what you want and whether they can do it for your price or not.

TaeMan

TaeMan

Ricochette Kills

Socks

@TaeMan said:
Ricochette Kills

You can build this in 20 minutes in GameSalad.

zweg25

Yes, @Socks is not really exaggerating, but yesterday he posted Solipskier and it was a video of Solipskier...

Little weird

TaeMan

@zweg25. Im not so sure if doing something like solipskier is possible but ricochette kills im sure. Will something like solipskier be glitchy?

Armelline

Bear in mind that most of the time spent developing a game isn't on getting the core mechanics in place. You could get the mechanics of that game in place in a very short time but fine tuning it, making the levels, making the menus and the options, putting in achievements and leaderboards... it's all the ancillary stuff that takes most of the development time.

Socks

@Armelline said:
Bear in mind that most of the time spent developing a game isn't on getting the core mechanics in place. You could get the mechanics of that game in place in a very short time but fine tuning it, making the levels, making the menus and the options, putting in achievements and leaderboards... it's all the ancillary stuff that takes most of the development time.

Yep ! +1

RThurman

@TaeMan‌ -- both Ricochet Kills and Solipskier are incredibly easy to make in GameSalad.

But @Armelline‌ hits the development nail on the head. That is, basic mechanics are easy - but the real development costs are in level design, menu design and development, graphic design and development, social media design and development and all the other 'ancillary stuff'.

It takes about 20 percent of your development time to get a game to about 80 percent done. Then it takes the remaining 80 percent of the time to complete the final 20 percent of the work. (Thats why so many games are started, but relatively few are completed.)

TaeMan

@RThurman said:
TaeMan‌ -- both Ricochet Kills and Solipskier are incredibly easy to make in GameSalad.

But Armelline‌ hits the development nail on the head. That is, basic mechanics are easy - but the real development costs are in level design, menu design and development, graphic design and development, social media design and development and all the other 'ancillary stuff'.

It takes about 20 percent of your development time to get a game to about 80 percent done. Then it takes the remaining 80 percent of the time to complete the final 20 percent of the work. (Thats why so many games are started, but relatively few are completed.)

@RThurman, thanks but ive been kinda slacking at Gs. I downloaded it in December 2013 and havent been using it, but i really want to make a game im just new and need to learn the rules which probably will take a while. I shouldve started in December!

RThurman

@TaeMan said:
RThurman, thanks but ive been kinda slacking at Gs. I downloaded it in December 2013 and havent been using it, but i really want to make a game im just new and need to learn the rules which probably will take a while. I shouldve started in December!

Yes, we know! You've been skirting around actual development since May. Its as if you have filled up a wading pool with water. But you haven't done much more than put your toes into it. Its time to just wade in and enjoy it.

You have been dabbling with the idea -- but its time to dive in and invest some time to learning how to use GameSalad. (Toying with the idea of paying someone to do the development does not count. Thats like paying someone to learn to swim for you.)

Here is your chance to really get started!

Here is an idea. Get a copy of the pong template from GameSalad. Then learn how it all works. (Study it out until you can rebuild it from scratch.) Then start modifying it to make a simple version of Ricochet Kills. Just make one level!

Ready -- Set -- GO!

TaeMan

@RThurman You are right. I have a pc( Hewitt Packard) and will be getting a mac sometime soon. There arent many tutorials on the pc version( assuming most of you have MacIntosh) but that shouldnt be an excuse. Im going at it alone on my pc and will port it over to Mac when i get one!! The longer i vhold off the longer it will take to finish my game. I want it to be a masterpiece!!

TaeMan

I need that @RThurman

Wboko

Good Luck @TaeMan!!!!
Hang in there and it will all be worth it!

RThurman

@TaeMan‌ -- I like this quote:

Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you. -Darren Hardy

-Timo-

@RThurman said: "Here is an idea. Get a copy of the pong template from GameSalad. Then learn how it all works. (Study it out until you can rebuild it from scratch.) Then start modifying it to make a simple version of Ricochet Kills. Just make one level!"

we have a pong template you can use? http://www.gsinvention.com/store/p65/Pong.html

tatiang

@TaeMan said:
I want it to be a masterpiece!!

This is your mistake. @RThurman is giving you tough love so I'm doing the same: go make a simple, terrible game. It's the best way to learn GameSalad because you won't be a perfectionist and get stuck. You'll just plow through and make a game that works (sort of) and learn so much from the effort.

jamie_c

@TaeMan, I agree with @tatiang. Make anything but don't expect a masterpiece for your first project. I have so many 'dead' projects laying around that maybe someday I'll get back too... at least that's what I tell myself. I may never have completed them but from everyone I learned something and got a little better, to me that is what is important.