Is there currenly any companies you can go to who develop custom games for clients? Perferably online network games like counterstrike or RPG games. If no, are there any standard figures for what it cost to develope a game? Programmers, program managers, writers etc. Some estimate total, and time it takes. Thanks for all your help B

In answer to your first question: Yes, tons. Check out the studio list over at Gamasutra.

As to the second (average cost of development): That''s a BIG OL'' can o'' worms. It *REALLY* depends on your scope and experience.

Developing a AAA title typically costs upwards of $2 million in the U.S. Some have tipped the scales well into the double-digit millions (like Final Fantasy games).

Some indie developers brag about how they can crank our a Flash game in a weekend for the price of a couple of pizzas. An experienced programmer with a pre-existing code base of game code for handling sound, music, input, varying screen modes, graphics, etc. could easily whip out a functional (but probably not polished) Pac-Man or Space Invaders clone in a weekend.

In order to answer this question, you need to determine the scope of the project. Your #1 cost is in people - either employed or contracted out. Then there''s licenses for tools. Licenses for third-party content, code, or intellectual property (sound effects or game engines, for example). You need to know your team, you''ll need to figure out all tasks for your game, and realistically evaluate the timetable required to make completion (that''s always something of "mission impossible", but your business depends on pulling it off!) You also need to include risk assessment - if, for example, you are relying upon a particular technology that might not be working out, what sort of fallbacks do you have?

Once you have what you think is a rock-solid estimate of the total cost, increase it by 25%-50%. Because there''s ALWAYS unexpected costs and extra jobs that take time.

I''m personally VERY focused on figuring out how to cut costs in game development - and much of what it comes down to is knowing how to limit your scope and using extremely effective higher-order tools to make everyone more productive.

look at it this way... most programmers with decent experience make what? $20/hr..

just take that amount for your graphics guys too..

a team of 5 guys is $100/hr.. $800/day, $4000/week, $16k/month.
$192k/year.

that''s just the 5...

and that''s just $20/hr.. i''m sure there are expert people out there making more then that...

The cost of a AAA title is huge. 15-30 person teams for two years can easily burn up $4 million.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions (www.obscure.co.uk)
Game Development & Design consultant

Here are some numbers from Ubi''s "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" published today (geez what a coincidence...):

Staff: 80 people full time
Timeframe: 24 months of development
Language: edited in 9 languages
Distribution: 52 countries
Expected WW Sales: 2 million units
R&D Investment: Upward of C$6M.
Mktg Investment: US$8M in the US/Canada

As for per-job specifics, each business region publishes its own numbers from time to time. For Montreal, the numbers can be extracted here:

http://www.numeriqc.ca/Francais/F_Activite/2003/etudejeu/Sommaire.shtm (French & English, $$)

http://www.numeriqc.ca/Francais/F_DeveloppementAffaires/F_VeilleInformationMarche/pdf/Veille-jeu.pdf (Free, but in French only)

so you can scale them appropriately with the PoP numbers above. The IGDA also publishes the annual salary survey. You can get your copy here: http://www.igda.org/biz/salary_survey.php (free)

> Perferably online network games

We should get some of Uru''s numbers in the coming weeks but it''s too soon now.

-cb

I''d say $20 an hour for a skilled programmer is pretty low... unless you are talking about driving them into a bunch of "free overtime" that you can get out of salaried employees.

Last time I checked, the salary range for a junior-level programmer (trained, college degree, 2 years or less of experience) was about $25,000 to $45,000 per year. That is just salary - you need to figure benefits, physical and administrative overhead on top of that (renting the office space, having someone handle payroll & keeping the computers networked, etc). A mid-level software (about 3-6 years) is about $45,000 to $65,000 ... plus overhead. A senior-level individual... the kind you''d want to be a team lead or chief engine architect... draws in excess of that, sometimes even in the six digit figures. Your costs for even a small studio of a half-dozen developers plus a manager / president / biz guy, subcontracting out for sound, music, PR, accounting and so forth, could run a burn rate of a half-million per year easily.

cbenoi1 > those figures are quite interesting. do you happen to know where more information like that can be obtained?

The numbers come from LaPresse (Jeudi 11 decembre 2003) and the interviewee was Martin Tremblay, Ubi''s General Manager. Conference proceedings and IGDA meetings are other ways where numbers are published (and from where I can ''officially'' quote them).

-cb

wing commander 4 cost $10 million to make <-- ouch

I heard the latest few Final Fantasy games cost nearly twice that price.