I've been in kind of a rut with my programming lately. A lot of what's causing that is design troubles, and while I assume that's normal for someone at my stage in learning the de-motivational effects of re-coding and re-designing every couple of days are stopping me from getting anything done.

I've been thinking of posting an ad in the Help Wanted section for someone to help me with program design. I'm interested in help with class design and separating class responsibilities in particular, though I suspect that I'm deficient in more areas also. I'm not expecting the consultant to do any coding, just help me plan sound classes, their interfaces, and manage the flow of information in the game.

But I'm not sure how much money to offer since I have no idea what the going rate is for this sort of thing. I don't even know how to quantify the amount of stuff I want to design in a meaningful way. What are some ways that you have seen in a job posting for a design consultant that the amount of work is estimated? What kind of costs might I be looking at, and how are they determined? Should I list as much information about my goals as possible and then entertain bids?

The program I'm working on is a fairly basic RPG game which will take a visual novel approach to gameplay. I'd like to add lots of features in the future, but I think that getting a basic, linear-progression prototype up is a reasonable goal for now. I'm working in C# and using SFML for the interface (which is already up and running, though it will probably need to be updated to accomodate the game as it progresses).

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know that you really need to employ someone for this, nor how you will select a suitable qualified person to hire.

These forums are a huge resource with respect to software design. I'd recommend that you start a thread in the Game Programming forum, post up your current class and interaction diagrams, and ask for advice - there are plenty of highly knowledgeable people around who would be happy to advise.

Thank you for the reply.

I've thought about posting my questions in the forums, but it seemed like a lot of stuff to ask about at once. Maybe i'll try breaking up some of the segments into smaller chunks and posting them for feedback.

But I'm not sure how much money to offer since I have no idea what the going rate is for this sort of thing.

I don't even know how to quantify the amount of stuff I want to design in a meaningful way. What are some ways that you have seen in a job posting for a design consultant that the amount of work is estimated? What kind of costs might I be looking at, and how are they determined?

There is no "going rate" - each freelance designer sets his own rate. The more experience, the more expensive.

The estimate the designer needs from you is what units of time you require. Do you just require a few hours, or a few days, or a few weeks, or a few months? That's what he or she will need to know.