So, me and a friend of mine was talking about making our own for android and ios. We talked about it how do we proceed and what engine(still a bit undecided) we’d use and what kinda art work would fit the kind of game we have in mind. We had no problem talking about those stuff and deciding on it but we got stuck on the programming area cause none of us has the slightest bit of knowledge on that particular skill set as to how much would a programmer charge us. What do we do when we have a fixed budget limit? I told him that maybe hiring a programmer on per project is much cheaper than hiring him for an hour cause we don’t know the amount of coding that would be required for specific project.
So what i’m asking is what would be a cheaper solution if I wanted to hire a programmer? The art, animation,engine license and everything else will be handled by us. We just need a person to write the code for us.
When somebody from India is asking for cheap programmer I fear to ask what hourly rate they target.
Aside the well known elance, odesk, get a freelancer sites where your co-nationals bid insane low prices, have you considered trade art for code?
@raincole: Yes, I’m considering outsourcing my entire programming dept.
@scarpelius: Well, that’s what I don’t know about programming side. What’s it worth? I know its a integral part of game developing but me not so being familiar with the work stress it involves. I can’t quite put a price on it. Though I’d read somewhere that 60$/hr is a average price of a programmer. But I was thinking if we can get a programmer for per project maybe he might work us for the entire project for 300$? or is there any other way. Hmm… I might consider the trade part. Seems fair enough. Though I really wanna hire somebody from outside. Here the people works just won’t meet my standard of polished work.
I think your going to need to go with an hourly rate. If you are serious about your product, you will need to be willing to pay at least $40.00 per hour. Thats my rate. Theres a huge trust factor on the internet. Things can get really messy if you don’t pay hourly. If you can’t afford to pay a decent hourly rate, you may want to look for programmers who are willing to partner up with you and receive a percent. But that will be hard, its a huge risk for both sides.
Just remember to do a background search before hire somebody…trust me…
When youo feel that the guy your going to hure is THE RIGHT GUY , do a background search about him, ask for references, and don’t do payment at front.
Have a contract too to make things clear.
Thats ridiculous I wouldn’t turn over my work unless i get half the money. if they want proof of work i would give a sample to the person asking for the request such as a video of the working code or in unity a web player demo…
Most contracts typically allow contractors to use sub-contractors to complete the job. That doesn’t change your responsibility to the original contractor at all. You pay them what you agreed. Period. If the sub-contractors don’t get paid, they have to take that up with the person who hired them (not you).
At $300 you are going to get a wanna be programmer. A novice willing to learn. Or a scammer.
At that score there is no guarantee you will get your game done.
Agreed, i’ve worked for free on a project of my personal intrest, and i’m trully not a scammer. Just do a background, and of course, don’t go to the lowest price always, unless you know well the person, or have some good references from the guy.
But the true is, a professional programer (unity or other kind of software development) would not be satisfied to work on a full project for U$ 300, unless like i said he likes your project and wanna help you
Again: be aware of those fu**** scammers, they always say they gonna work for less and do much more than you expect… just shit talking
LOL !! That sounds like the beginning of a funny joke!
First, I must ask what kind of game project is it? What’s the scope of the project? Since you are considering hiring a programmer to do it - I would assume it is fairly complex and at advanced level - basically not something simple or beginner stuff. Not “Pong”.
And another thing. Honestly, at $300 per project - is ridiculesly low. Even web design projects are around $2000 per project and that’s fairly simple stuff compare to game project. I think you need to raise that price much higher to attract a decent programmer to even look at your project, or do it on your own.
Of course, there is another thing to consider - since India is the current out-sourcing central of IT/Pragramming - where standard of living is low and thus the standard wage is low too - perhaps $300 is a lot over there (I have no idea) - but in most of the developed countries $300 per project is way too low for a trained programmer to even consider. You are only going to get kids/teenagers/scammers at that price.
EDIT: A quick scan of ODesk (https://www.odesk.com) seems to indicate around ~$30 per hour as the average price for programmer. Which means if you are only willing to spend $300 - the programmer only get 10 hours to develop this project. So unless this is something extremely simple, I doubt you are going to get your game project done in 10 hours (That’s not including testing/debugging/support).
I can’t imagine that for the budget you’re looking at that you’ll be able to pay someone professional to write your game for you. Even if you were only paying $10 / hr it’d be less than a week’s work. To be honest I think you’d be better off posting in the collaboration forum to see if there’s anyone there who would like to join you in making the game. Is there a Delhi Unity User’s Group?
Come on people, this company is trying to figure out what they can charge for programming as the prices on oDesk and such are low and there is a ‘gold rush’ now with ‘apps’ and ‘Unity’ so if they want to see if they can charge more.
The best way to do that is actually bid for work at US pay rates or even better Swiss pay rates and you’ll be living rich in India, China, and just about every other place in the world where you are not carrying a car payment, a house payment, rent payment, insurance payments, and so on.
Thanks for all your helpful comments. I’ll definitely put them in mind when hiring a programmer. I’ll definitely be willing to up my price if I find a good programmer and the project is a simple game but the thing is I don’t know jack shit about programming and its for android and ios. So, I’m trying to hire a good programmer to work with. Hmm… hiring a programmer problem is solved I guess. I should have a good amount to tempt a good programmer or else i’d have to settle for a novice or not so good ones.
Thanks fano_linux for your advice. I’ll do my background check on the programmer if I do tend to find that person.
But this contract thing is bit confusing. Can anyone tell me what should be included in it apart from the basic stuffs?
And no I won’t be paying the programmer upfront without seeing the working video with my iterations ofcourse. I can tell him to write my name on the ground or make a completely ridiculous model in the middle of the arena and/or stuffs like that.
Payment via iterations is perhaps the safest way to go about things.
Although most programmers/artists will ask for 50% of the iteration cost upfront before they even begin on an iteration.
I’ve been burnt a couple of times and will only start work on a clearly defined iteration once the 50% upfront has been received.
Best bet is to keep the first couple of iterations small, so both parties can build that trust when it comes to the larger amounts.
I typically ask $3000-4000 USD a month. That’s a junior programmer salary, even in an actual studio.
The good news - if you don’t have that kind of money - is that code is pretty easy to pick up. Consider the tutorials for Unity, and remember that there is a coding forum!
That sounds like the beginning of a funny joke!