Hey, everyone! Will cut right to the chase:

I'm a freelance illustrator with a bachelor's degree in graphic design, have done 2D animation work in the past and some illustration work for a few mobile games. However, my understanding of how an actual video game is made - especially, how to work with programmers - is very limited. That being said, there are Nintendo/Sega Genesis games from my youth that I'd love to, essentially, reskin based on my own designs and have them be playable on mobile devices with a more current day look and sound (reskin's maybe too strong of a word).

One such game is "Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing" (the old Sega Genesis game*). I'd like for the gameplay, the mechanics (the way the jabs, hooks, uppercuts, etc. are thrown), the fighter selection and the career mode to be pretty much identical to how EHRDB is, but - instead of realistic boxing - it would be a sci-fi themed game starring different monsters & creatures boxing each other. I'd like for it to be a 2D/2.5D game and I'd do all of the character designs & animations myself.

It's a fairly simple game by today's standards, but, judging by what I've read & heard - the Achilles heel in most game development is always the coding, the programming.  Mostly because artists - not unlike myself - lack understanding of how to work with programmers and how complicated & time consuming their job is.

So my question is, as programmers - how difficult and time consuming would a project like this be to you? How much would it cost me? How many programmers I might need to pull it off? What specific qualifications I should look for in a programmer? What are some of the potential underwater rocks I should take into consideration? And are there any rudimentary coding, programming, game development courses or books I should check out to have a better understanding on how to work with programmers? Assuming wannabe game developers pop up on forums like this all of the time - are there any Game Dev 101 videos or articles you'd recommend checking out?

Any replies and information would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much!

*

Hello Herwald,

Every programmer might give a different answer to: "how difficult and time consuming would a project like this be to you?" This depends, who you're hiring, how much experience do they have? How many hours per day are they working? Your team size, and overall team knowledge. What kind of design documentation do you have? This isn't something you would need a lot of programmers for anyhow, one seasoned programmer could handle this solo without any issues assuming you're just recreating "Real Deal Boxing", but with a re-skin.

"How much would it cost me?" People can only give a hypothetical answer here unless they want to estimate hours based on their rate. It could cost you anywhere from $5,000 USD - $50,000 USD+. It all depends on where you're hiring, who you're hiring, how many people you're hiring, their rates, and time involved. Considering this is your game idea, the more you change ideas around, or you're uncertain about features ( you don't have a completed design document ) the more money it will cost. If everything is pretty concrete and straight forward, the process will be much simpler if you're working with 'game programmers' who understand the full process.

Please understand that when you're hiring a game programmer to handle only coding and you're an artist, the programmer isn't a dedicated 'Game Designer' upon hire (regardless if they can do it 'all'). I'm assuming you're taking on the role as Project Manager, Artist/Animator, plus Game Designer. This means when working with a programmer you need to have a solid idea of what you're attempting to achieve.

"What specific qualifications I should look for in a programmer?" This depends on what platform you're wanting to release on. If you're paying money to hire someone, make sure they have a portfolio, and a track record of completed projects. You could make this game with C++, C#, JAVA, Python, and many more! This type of single player game with CPU and local mplay could be completed by someone with a few years of game programming experience.
 

"What are some of the potential underwater rocks I should take into consideration?" Sorry I don't understand the question.

"And are there any rudimentary coding, programming, game development courses or books I should check out to have a better understanding on how to work with programmers?" I personally suggest you join up with a hobbyist programmer and just make games for fun while doing the art work. This will give you practical experience working with a programmer.

I'm not sure if your objective is to make a game for commercial sale, but if it's not and this is your first game working as an artist, I wouldn't go out and hire anyone at this stage. There are a ton of programmers out there looking for artists, and this would give you a great opportunity to get some experience. You might not be working on your "dream game", but you'll get exposed to the work flow.

I'll throw another option out there for you. You could essentially recreate this using GameMaker Studio 2 yourself: https://www.yoyogames.com/

19 hours ago, Herwald said:

So my question is, as programmers - how difficult and time consuming would a project like this be to you? How much would it cost me? How many programmers I might need to pull it off? What specific qualifications I should look for in a programmer? What are some of the potential underwater rocks I should take into consideration? And are there any rudimentary coding, programming, game development courses or books I should check out to have a better understanding on how to work with programmers? Assuming wannabe game developers pop up on forums like this all of the time - are there any Game Dev 101 videos or articles you'd recommend checking out?

Any replies and information would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much!

While the game is relatively simple, if you're looking for a commercial-quality game you'll be spending quite a lot.  As a very rough estimate, for a highly simplified version of that game I'd say a MINIMUM of 4 work-months from a professional who already has access to the tools needed for that, so about $40,000.

For a hobby project something could be put together with far less effort and far less quality. You might even be able to do something simple that satisfies your goals by yourself with game tools like GameMaker Studio, GameSalad, Godot, Construct, or similar.  You may also pair up with another hobbyist who knows those tools, and work together on a passion project.

If you decide to hire someone, your role would be both for production work and art work. You'd need to share the design work to make sure the designs you both decide on can be implemented in code and in visuals.  You'll need skills in communications and negotiations. You will also need some guidance on contracts, it is best to have an actual lawyer draft the agreement to ensure you have all the rights you need.  If you are going for a commercial project you'll also need to know about marketing, and have a significant marketing budget.