How many programmers and 3D/2D artists are needed to make a game?
Author
I need to know how many programmers and 3D/2D artists are needed to make a high quality game.
The answer is...
Blue
Without more details about the game in question, it''s impossible to say.
DavidRM
Samu Games
Blue
Without more details about the game in question, it''s impossible to say.
DavidRM
Samu Games
Author
How about a 3D adventure game at least 10 hours long with graphics close to MDK2 or Unreal Tournament.
you must realize that w/ those types of games, the programmers are probably more needed than the artists...the artists help, yes, but a lot of it''s the programming.
with 2D artist have more influence on the overall quality of the look of the game...at least IMO
"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.
Click here to see my current project.
with 2D artist have more influence on the overall quality of the look of the game...at least IMO
"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.
Click here to see my current project.
Still depends on a lot of things.
Are you liscensing any technology? If you got the Unreal Tournament engine, then you''d need far fewer programmers. And if you want to code an engine of the same quality in a mixture of Ada, Perl and assembly, well... you''re going to need a lot of programmers (And a huge QA department).
What kind of character density are you talking about? Will you create a village full of 50 completely differently skinned peasants? Or will each place have only one or two characters, and most of those clones of each other.
How many different levels/zones are you using? It''s a lot easier if everything happens in one place. ex: staying in one mansion (ala 7th Guest) vs. cross continent trip including trips to the Incan, Mayan and Egyption ruins and the top of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.
Will it be cross platform? If yes, you''ll probably need specialists for the the different platforms, on top of other programming needs.
What''s the time scale? You need more people to ship something in a year than you do to ship something in three years.
I''m sure there are other factors. Sometimes in the post-mortems on Gamasutra, they''ll specify the size of the programming and art teams in the closing statistics, so you might want to check that out.
Are you liscensing any technology? If you got the Unreal Tournament engine, then you''d need far fewer programmers. And if you want to code an engine of the same quality in a mixture of Ada, Perl and assembly, well... you''re going to need a lot of programmers (And a huge QA department).
What kind of character density are you talking about? Will you create a village full of 50 completely differently skinned peasants? Or will each place have only one or two characters, and most of those clones of each other.
How many different levels/zones are you using? It''s a lot easier if everything happens in one place. ex: staying in one mansion (ala 7th Guest) vs. cross continent trip including trips to the Incan, Mayan and Egyption ruins and the top of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.
Will it be cross platform? If yes, you''ll probably need specialists for the the different platforms, on top of other programming needs.
What''s the time scale? You need more people to ship something in a year than you do to ship something in three years.
I''m sure there are other factors. Sometimes in the post-mortems on Gamasutra, they''ll specify the size of the programming and art teams in the closing statistics, so you might want to check that out.
Author
I would probably have to have it finished in a years time (limited funding). I have no plans to liscense a game engine, although I might if it doesn''t cost alot. The levels would be laid out closer to MDK2 in size, length, and design. It would be for Windows(for sure) and MAC(if time permits); then later go to consoles if it sells well. I was thinking about 5 programmers and 5 artists, but I''ve never produced a game before so I don''t know if thats best.
These days, you''re looking at something like a 2/3 ratio of artists to programmers. Ie, way more artists than programmers. A good estimate for # of programmers for a full scale 16-24 month project is 4-6. These numbers will vary by game type of course, but that''s a pretty good average. And you need to factor in at least one sound guy, at least one lead designer, and probably a writer or two.
And most importantly, a publisher willing to part with 2-3 million for product development.
And most importantly, a publisher willing to part with 2-3 million for product development.
Sorry to wade in as usual on these posts ...BUT
I have two points to make here:
1)You do not NEED 2 or 3 million dollars to make any kind of game. Remember this is not landing on the moon we are planning here, its a GAME. look up the word GAME in the dictionary, dont be surprised to see the word FUN in there somewhere.
I used to work with a guy who would play PacMan all day, even though he had Half Life installed. why? BECAUSE ITS FUN!
spending millions of dollars on a game will not make it a better game automatically. In fact, you are just making it harder to recoup your investment, and making it more likely that you are directly competing with the real big franchises like Quake, Sim City et al.
2)Are you trying to persuade someone to invest several million in your game? If so, and if you have to ask the gamedev boards for help on how many people you need, then you are NOT at the stage where somebody will lend you the money. (That is what they are doing after all).
I have several completed games under my belt, some of which are selling quite reasonably, yet I stil find it hard to get thousands of dollars from publishers in advance, let alone millions, and I know exactly my requirements, and have a firm commited business plan.
Its probably better to start small, get a finished product that shows you can deliver the goods, and THEN ask for the big sums.
Just my opinion, Don''t flame me
http://www.positech.co.uk
I have two points to make here:
1)You do not NEED 2 or 3 million dollars to make any kind of game. Remember this is not landing on the moon we are planning here, its a GAME. look up the word GAME in the dictionary, dont be surprised to see the word FUN in there somewhere.
I used to work with a guy who would play PacMan all day, even though he had Half Life installed. why? BECAUSE ITS FUN!
spending millions of dollars on a game will not make it a better game automatically. In fact, you are just making it harder to recoup your investment, and making it more likely that you are directly competing with the real big franchises like Quake, Sim City et al.
2)Are you trying to persuade someone to invest several million in your game? If so, and if you have to ask the gamedev boards for help on how many people you need, then you are NOT at the stage where somebody will lend you the money. (That is what they are doing after all).
I have several completed games under my belt, some of which are selling quite reasonably, yet I stil find it hard to get thousands of dollars from publishers in advance, let alone millions, and I know exactly my requirements, and have a firm commited business plan.
Its probably better to start small, get a finished product that shows you can deliver the goods, and THEN ask for the big sums.
Just my opinion, Don''t flame me
http://www.positech.co.uk
Hehehe RM, That''s a classic answer 
In my opinion you''d need 1 or 2 3d Modeler''s, 2 or 3 texture artists, and a 2d artist just to do stuff like the GUI.
As for programmer''s, it really depend''s on several thing''s. Sicne you can''t afford to license a 3d engine you''ll have to develop your own. Also, is it going to be multiplayer at all ?
How about graphic libraries, you going to use OpenGL ? D3D ? or some other third party.
For a full 3d adventure game 10 hour''s long of game play to be completed in 12 months. 7 Programmer''s approx. In my opinion, of course it depends on the skill''s of each person that''s in the project. And if you''re going to be producing it which no previous experience, I wouldn''t expect to finish on time, if at all.
In my opinion you''d need 1 or 2 3d Modeler''s, 2 or 3 texture artists, and a 2d artist just to do stuff like the GUI.
As for programmer''s, it really depend''s on several thing''s. Sicne you can''t afford to license a 3d engine you''ll have to develop your own. Also, is it going to be multiplayer at all ?
How about graphic libraries, you going to use OpenGL ? D3D ? or some other third party.
For a full 3d adventure game 10 hour''s long of game play to be completed in 12 months. 7 Programmer''s approx. In my opinion, of course it depends on the skill''s of each person that''s in the project. And if you''re going to be producing it which no previous experience, I wouldn''t expect to finish on time, if at all.
A publisher giving 2-3 millons to someone who starts planifying a game by asking "how many programmers and artists should I hire?"... well at least is nice to see that some game developers keep having a HUGE imagination.
I agree with Cliffsky.
No offense MetaIIika but I think that if you have just no idea about managing a game development team then you should not be doing it basically cos you will hurt people, those programmers and artists you hire will end up having wasted their time, you can start by doing something else related to games, or maybe selling hamburgers cos there''s a lot of people who are now selling hamburgers that know more about making a videogame if they would have the chance ($).
Does anybody remember the address of that site that had something saying "You know your game is in trouble when...", I want to add this.
I agree with Cliffsky.
No offense MetaIIika but I think that if you have just no idea about managing a game development team then you should not be doing it basically cos you will hurt people, those programmers and artists you hire will end up having wasted their time, you can start by doing something else related to games, or maybe selling hamburgers cos there''s a lot of people who are now selling hamburgers that know more about making a videogame if they would have the chance ($).
Does anybody remember the address of that site that had something saying "You know your game is in trouble when...", I want to add this.
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