HOG budgets

DhondonDhondon Member Posts: 717
edited November -1 in Art, Graphics, Music and Sound
Found an interesting thread on indiegamer: http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?p=232223#post232223

"Here's a rough breakdown:

1. For AHOGs (adventure) which requires environmental scenes:
a. 30-50 scenes - ~$700-1100 a piece
b. Animations added - $100+ each

2. HO Scenes:
a. 20-25 scenes - ~$600-$1000 a piece
b. Items construction per scene - $300+ each
c. Clipart license

3. General art: Huge range here
a. Cutscenes ~ $500+; really good ones ~$2000+
b. Main menu & Interface ~ $1000+
c. Custom puzzles x # of puzzles ~ $1000+ per puzzle
d. Other misc art: ~$1000+

4. Audio (music, sfx, environmental loop, voice): ~$2000-$10k+

5. Programming: Someone can better answer this than me, I'd estimate ~$10k+ and another ~$5k+ for design implementation"

Comments

  • firemaplegamesfiremaplegames Member Posts: 3,211
    That seems pretty accurate to me.

    I would increase the programming budget though, as programmers generally get paid more than artists.

    A company like Big Fish Games who make the Mystery Case File games, take about a year on their games.

    They have an internal staff. I would say that about 15 people work on each game. 1 - 3 programmers, an art director, and bunch of production artists and animators.

    Those games take them about a year to complete, and their budgets are between 500,000 and 1 million dollars.

    Those games are programmed and created in Flash and then 'wrapped' in a program like Director.
    Director allows you to make the game Full Screen/ windowed as well as lets you write to the File system so you can save your game.

    This is the same exact process that I use in my Desktop games.

    To contrast the above prices though, I too am working on a HOG adventure game. However, I am doing all of the artwork, animations, and programming myself. So my costs are 0$. Except for my time of course, but I enjoy working on the game so I don't mind!

    It is a massive amount of work though. Thousands of hidden objects, tons of animations. 15 or so mini games, plus all the environment screens. It takes forever!
  • chosenonestudioschosenonestudios Member Posts: 1,714
    firemaplegames said:
    That seems pretty accurate to me.

    I would increase the programming budget though, as programmers generally get paid more than artists.

    A company like Big Fish Games who make the Mystery Case File games, take about a year on their games.

    They have an internal staff. I would say that about 15 people work on each game. 1 - 3 programmers, an art director, and bunch of production artists and animators.

    Those games take them about a year to complete, and their budgets are between 500,000 and 1 million dollars.

    Those games are programmed and created in Flash and then 'wrapped' in a program like Director.
    Director allows you to make the game Full Screen/ windowed as well as lets you write to the File system so you can save your game.

    This is the same exact process that I use in my Desktop games.

    To contrast the above prices though, I too am working on a HOG adventure game. However, I am doing all of the artwork, animations, and programming myself. So my costs are 0$. Except for my time of course, but I enjoy working on the game so I don't mind!

    It is a massive amount of work though. Thousands of hidden objects, tons of animations. 15 or so mini games, plus all the environment screens. It takes forever!

    Can't wait to see yours!
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I'd love to see a break down of budgets for some of the really big developer games.
  • firemaplegamesfiremaplegames Member Posts: 3,211
    Thanks! That game is different than my iPhone game. The iPhone game is just a straight up adventure game. No hidden object scenes.
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    Still... care to share your budget? :-)
  • firemaplegamesfiremaplegames Member Posts: 3,211
    For the iPhone game?
    $35 for music. Plus a few bucks here and there for some royalty free photos.

    Not too shabby!

    But of course there's all the time I spent on the game...

    Hopefully it pays off. We'll see!
  • VoidedSkyVoidedSky Member Posts: 1,095
    I'm sure it will pay back!
    Warning There was an error rendering this rich post.
  • MotherHooseMotherHoose Member Posts: 2,456
    we all have access to digital cameras/iPod/iPhones...so use them to get photos/video (use stills) for your BG and items...

    easy to make a light box and pseudo tripod (or buy one $20) for your device...for snapping pix of small things.

    much easier to layer graphics (and erase/delete areas) to get the effect you want from your photos, than actual drawing...

    voice-overs you can do yourself or use Verbalize (free) to have your computer voices do it.

    there is some good free music out there....and there is ASCAP....or make your own.
    there are some free sound efx...or record your own.

    do something small first..
    MH
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