Hello,
I’m pretty new to the whole game developing, and I would like to ask what the fees are for a 3d modeller, a programmer, a sound artist, concept artist etc… when working with Unity3D
Do these people charge per hour, per work?
Also, what are the estimated cost for a medium quality game??
Thanks, -smn- IXN
Unity3D is just a tool. How you hire people to form a team and what you pay them, is entirely up to you and the people you want to hire.
Quality is not the main determiner for cost. The scope of the project in terms of complexity will determine the size of your team and/or the time it takes to bring it to market. Multiply team size by time and you get the cost of wages.
In other words, a very small simple game can be very high quality and cost little to produce. If it’s got the right catchy design, even the simplest game can earn a fortune more than it cost. Conversely, a huge team with huge game complexity that takes years of work is not a sure thing, it may be of good or poor quality, and it will surely cost a fortune before you can find out if it succeeds. Compare Daikatana and GTA5.
Once you think you are near a successful completion of the game itself, then you work out the costs of marketing. Big marketing can sometimes (unfortunately for us game-lovers) make a game profitable even if it’s lacking in quality.
You are asking a very broad question, but to give an idea… here is what I have determined are the average costings…
Noob programmer/artist/sound engineer looking for something to add to their portfolio - free to $10 per hour.
Novice programmer/artist/sound engineer, has worked on a title or two… but not very experienced - $10 - $20 per hour.
Intermediate programmer/artist/sound engineer, worked on several published titles, knows what they are doing $15 - $50 per hour
Expert programmer/artist/sound engineer, top quality production only, extensive experience - $35 - $100+ per hour.
The estimated cost for a ‘medium’ quality game is about the same as the estimated cost of a medium length piece of string…
A simple complete mobile game, made by a team of two novice developers will take about 2 months, @$10 an hour, costing about $3200
A fairly complex game, done by an intermediate team of a programmer/artist/sound engineer can usually take about a year, costing about $144 000