Hello folks,
A bit of background first, a few friends and myself have been working on a project for quite some time now, roughly 5-6 months. Recently we put our development efforts into high gear. With the amount of time we had been devoting to the project we felt our progress was stalled, so we changed that. We’ve been tearing through a great deal of the work, and I’m quite confident in our ability to move forward.
However, we recently realized our initial design for a 2D isometric battle system was flawed in the amount of additional assets that would be necessary to allow character rotation (1 Extra asset per each side of the battle grid) and the difficulty of animating 2D assets. We have since been exploring 3D assets on either a 2D battle grid or completely converting our battle maps to 3D. Both seem realistic options. However, none of us are well schooled in model asset production (Including Rigging and Animation).
For the time being we are focusing our efforts on determining the plausibility of contracted work for character creature models, rigging, and animation. If we choose to convert the entire map to 3D we’ll explore the possibility later. However, we need some estimates for time and hourly rates of a model generalist. This will inevitably be influenced by the skill of the individual, and we’re aware a perfect answer is not possible, but even some general figures would be greatly appreciated.
A quick note, the animation will not need to be incredibly detailed and complex. The camera will an overhead withdrawn view, as mentioned earlier the original intention was an isometric view. I’m not asking about cinematic levels of work, but rather functional levels.
We are also aware of the options available in the unity asset store and may choose to purchase to utilize these assets for some, or potentially even all of our needs, but first we want to explore the choices available in contracting unique work. I’m aware that unique is synonymous with expensive, but please humor me nonetheless.
Our current work-list includes
10 Races
2 Models per Race, Male and Female. Around 10 Animations per model, however, the rig for the model only necessitates use of arms and feet. The animations sought include movement, a casting/charging animation, an attack animation for a host of different weapons, and a block animation. Most of the races are humanoid and will likely be able to share assets, our best guess is 4 that will require unique work.
~30 Creature
A single model per creature. At this point we only suspect a creature will require 3 animations, which will require different rigging depending on the creature in question. The animations will be a basic attack action, a flinch action, and a movement action.
On the note of size for creatures, as it can vary tremendously, let’s let’s average our assumption at no greater
I’m aware this list is dreadfully lacking in details however this is a relatively recent development and we have not yet constructed a full asset list for our general model requirements.
All responses, even if only personal estimates, are greatly appreciated.
Note: I am aware that this may not be the perfect sub-forum, but didn’t want to lead any professionals to false assumptions in job offerings. We’re not currently looking for a contractor, or even quite sure if we ultimately will. Any answers by the community here will help shape that decision.
Thank you all for your time, it is greatly appreciated.
If the information I provided isn’t sufficient to make an educated guess please simply point out my incompetence and I’ll be quick to do my best to correct it.