I’m a conceptual artist working on a 2D game very similar to zelda. The game mechanics are running around an large map, hitting enemies with swords, fighting bosses, and using a few items along the way.
I have no knowledge of coding and programming, and was hoping to find out some information from the community about how much time it would take to program those game elements only for a Kickstarter trailer, and also what are the current rates for programmers in the US.
Any information would be really helpful as I try to budget this project out.
Thanks for the reply. Do you think getting some basic coding of game elements just to show intent would take a long time to do, or is a maybe a month or so of work?
It could take longer than a month if you have no experience programming. I recommend you get started right away. You could always come back here and ask for help with any problems you have.
Thanks. I may try a bit myself, but would probably just hire someone to do the code for me. I think it would go much smoother, as I’ll probably just muck it all up.
My suggestion: break up your project into small chunks, engage 2-3 developers in your price range and hire them for each chunk. See how responsive they are, willing to work with you, quick and quality (i.e. you’re able to test what they give you and it works), etc… Choose the one you feel works best for you and THEN ask them to investigate kits and let you know what impact will be on timelines.
“Based on an industry salary survey conducted in 2010, Game Developer magazine reports that game programmers working in the United States earned an average salary of $85,733 per year.”
If all that’s required is movement, combat, some AI and an inventory system, then I’d say a month is a good estimate. That’s assuming you have all of the art prepared. With the help of a few kits from the asset store and a knowledgeable programmer with a lot of free time, I’d say it could be done in a week.
Check out the link in my signature for an example of what can be accomplished in a two week game jam with only a few hours of work per day.
It really depends on the technology, the level of the programmer, etc. It’s kind of a loaded question to just ask how much. Every programmer is going to be different based on how much experience they have and what the market demand is. The .NET works tends to be on the high end (I’d be taking a substantial pay cut at $85k and that’s before factoring benefits). Java programmers even more so in some areas because there are less of them around.
What you really need to do is determine what the level of difficulty is, how much experience you need your programmer to have and then do some market research. If you’re comfortable with outsourcing you may be able to pick the labor up cheaper, even if you stick with a US based programmer (since you’re in the US), but there’s a higher degree of risk.
Thanks, that’s really impressive for such a short amount of time.
Thanks, I’ll do some more investigation. I’m sure that the higher the salary, the more you are able to tackle more complicated issues. It sounds like the gameplay programming I’m looking for is not too specialized and should be able to be done by someone in the $50-60K range? I’d rather pay for good work in the US, rather than monkeying around with cheap labor. I’ve found going cheap usually costs you twice as much in life!