Thank you frob, my original question was not 'how much will this cost?' - my original question was 'what would a programmer need from me in order to give a time and cost estimate?'

I understand even narrowing the time down to a number of months can be difficult, as much if it depends on balancing and bug fixing, however I am preparing to put a lot of money behind this, so when it comes time to ask for cost estimates I will not be asking 'what is the minimum price I can pay for this work?' - it will be 'what would I have to pay in order for this to be done to a high quality and standard.'

Right now the focus is just to get my design, writing and artwork to an appropriate state so I can even begin talking to coders intelligently.

Thank you frob, my original question was not 'how much will this cost?' - my original question was 'what would a programmer need from me in order to give a time and cost estimate?'

I understand even narrowing the time down to a number of months can be difficult, as much if it depends on balancing and bug fixing, however I am preparing to put a lot of money behind this, so when it comes time to ask for cost estimates I will not be asking 'what is the minimum price I can pay for this work?' - it will be 'what would I have to pay in order for this to be done to a high quality and standard.'