[font="Garamond"]Let me preface my questions by saying that I currently have no experience in the game industry but I am actively researching all of the aspects of game development (specifically game design).

I have already graduated college with a Masters Degree and have started 2 small businesses. I am now looking into possibly starting an indie game studio or at least hiring freelance programmers, artists, etc. to develop an action RPG. I have been really focusing on game design because it best fits my skill set (creativity and organization).

I have been working on a very detailed high concept document over the past few weeks and I am interested in getting some feedback relative to:

• [font="Garamond"]Approximately how many people it would take to develop an action RPG?
• [font="Garamond"]Approximately how long would development take?
• [font="Garamond"]What costs will be associated with development?[font="Garamond"]
  I am looking at 2 possible gameplay styles:
  • [font="Garamond"]Hack and Slash (i.e. Diablo & Torchlight)
  • [font="Garamond"]Open World (i.e. Oblivion & Red Dead Redemption)[font="Garamond"]
    Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!
    
    [font="Garamond"]
    Thanks!

Well I'm not a pro dev, but I can brainstorm some ballpark figures. Take Torchlight for an example, you can find some information about it and their team online.

According to wikipedia, during development they had between 15-20 members, and the development ran through August 2008 through October 2009. I'd assume that most of these employees were fairly veteran, so maybe you can assume the annual cost per employee/year at around $100,000-$150,000 with benefits?

As for cost vs length there's probably some tradeoff between number of employees and development cycle, but assuming you were making Torchlight let's assume you spent $3,000,000-$5,000,000 on dev salaries? Throw in maybe another $500,000 for office space / computers / software for two years.

If you wanted to make Oblivion or RDR I'd have to assume to multiply these costs by at least 5-10x, as the complexity of those games would probably be greater by an order of magnitude.

Of course I'm just guessing and sure I omitted some stuff, but maybe that's ballpark enough for ya.

[font="Garamond"]Thanks for your response!

[font="Garamond"]I did some research on Runic's team this week and they currently employee 32+ people.
[font="Garamond"]
[font="Garamond"]I am looking for something much, much smaller in size. Realistically, I am probably going to hire freelance developers for this first game to establish the IP. I want to be as cost efficient as possible but have a quality product.

[font="Garamond"]I am now looking into possibly starting an indie game studio or at least hiring freelance programmers, artists, etc. to develop an action RPG.

Why?

What will you do with the game when it's done? What is your business purpose exactly?

Now that this post is in the Business forum, you should read this forum's FAQs (see link above).

What will you do with the game when it's done? What is your business purpose exactly?

I am very interested in the field of game design. Based on my research, it seems that someone is very unlikely to be overly creative when working for a game studio. It seems like you are simply given the concept and features and told to make it "work" basically.

I have a great interest in designing and producing a game from start to finish. I would obliviously need to line up a publisher but as I state in my original post, I am inexperienced in this industry.


Maybe you can give me more of an accurate view of game designers in the industry if this is inaccurate.

[font=&quot;Garamond&quot;]I am looking for something much, much smaller in size. Realistically, I am probably going to hire freelance developers for this first game to establish the IP. I want to be as cost efficient as possible but have a quality product. <br /> There is not nearly enough information in your posts to make an accurate educated guess. The scope of the design, the target devices, the amount of content, the publishing method, the experience of the development team, the tools they have available, and many other factors come into play.<br /> <br /> A tiny cell phone game using an existing game engine may require only a few months for a few people, and it also includes the costs of using the engine. Including QA you might have only two or three FTE years. A massive console game developed from scratch will take several hundred FTE years.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Your best option as an outsider is to look at the game credits for a game similar to what you want. That will tell you how many people to make that size of game. It will also tell you how many people were involved in each role of the game.<br /> <br /> Then look up the time the game spent in development; if that isn&#39;t available you can often guess by looking at the release dates from past games that key team members worked on. That will tell you how much time it takes.<br /> <br /> During development salaries dwarf all other expenses. Figure out the salary for that many people over that much time, double it, and that will be your approximate development costs. Marketing is often as much money or more.

'Tom said:

What will you do with the game when it's done? What is your business purpose exactly?

I would obliviously need to line up a publisher

I must have been oblivious -- that was not obvious to me (otherwise I wouldn't have asked).
Most publishers would likely want to make changes to the game, if you develop it to completion before submitting it to them. And of course, the chances are very high that they won't want your game, or won't give you much for it. Read:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson21.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson35.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/article60.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson29.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/finances.htm
So maybe what you'll want to do is just develop an incomplete version, rather than the full game, before submitting it.

I would obliviously need to line up a publisher....

Not necessarily. You could self publish on iPhone via the iTunes App store or on Xbox Live Indie Games or make a PC game and publish it via your own website.

What you will obviously need is money to fund your game.

but as I state in my original post, I am inexperienced in this industry.
Because of this the chance that a publisher will fund your game is virtually zero. There are hundreds of new development companies out there started by people who do have industry experience, a track record of games they have made and a great game idea. The publishers will put their money into those ventures rather than take a massive risk on someone with no experience/track record. That means you need the money to fund development.

How much? As others have said, that depends on the scope, quality, format, genre etc., as well as a host of other factors. It could be anywhere from tens of thousands for a mobile game up to tend of millions for PC/Console. Mostly it depends on how much money you have. It is much easier to scale back a game to match your budget than it is to make a game that costs more than you have.

There are several ways to calculate the cost of your game:
1. Get the necessary qualifications and skills to secure a job in the industry. Make games in a team full of experienced people, learn what you need to know then head out on your own. You will then be able to work out what your idea will cost to make.
2. Find an existing game that is like yours and find out how much it cost.
3. Hire an experienced producer to help you work out what your game will cost.

Maybe you can give me more of an accurate view of game designers in the industry if this is inaccurate.
One size does not fit all. Many designers get to be very creative - of course they are generally the ones who have a proven track record making games. The majority of designers in a team may contribute to the design but ultimately it is someone else's idea they are working on.

Thanks for everyone's replies. I will review the links as well as the FAQ's in this section of this site.

Thanks again!