Small Game Development Team?
Author
hi ppl,
i dunno if this is the rite forum for this question .... but i guess that u ppl cn help me with this ...
i wanted to know what is minimum number of ppl and their roles needed to develop a decent 3D FPS game ..... i mean if one wanted to start a small game dev company willing to put in some investment ..... developing their first game ..... how many ppl wud be needed .... especially what will be the roles played by the ppl in the company .....
i was dicussing this with some friends and here is wat we came up with:
Overall Game Designer: wud be the person who directs all non technical issues like story, concept art, cinematics etc
Programmers: for engine, gameplay etc.
Animators/Modelers: for the game entities, maps etc.
Sound/Music Artists: for game sounds (gunfire, splashes etc.) and overall game music....
we thought that these wud be the bare minimum ..... i might have not named them properly but u get the general idea
wat do u ppl have to say abt this?
i hope that i have expressed myself clearly ....
enygmyx.
In at least a couple of circumstances, a single person has created a relatively decent 3d game by themselves.
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quote:Original post by Run_The_Shadows
In at least a couple of circumstances, a single person has created a relatively decent 3d game by themselves.
I agree, but the problem is that single person is a programmer. And programmers are usually not very good at creating models, levels, textures, etc. But when that single person creates a nice demo of his 3d game then I think it''s not so hard to find some people willing to create content like maps and models.
I initially posted this reply to the cross-post in the Game Design forum, but as I belive it is more suited here I shall post again:
It really depends on a lot of things. For instance, it depends on if you are refering to an online team or a 'true life' team, how much you can contribute yourself, how dedicated and talented the team members are, how large the project is, how long you expect it to take etc. One large contributing factor is whether or not you have a engine to work with - if so then less programmers will be required.
Me? I believe it is best if a team is as small as posible, so as things are managed and organized. Here is my team at present day. Note that there is only four people, and of those four only three are actually working on the game. Now, if this were a 3d game, you might add one or two 3d modelers to that. If you are an online team and you can, I suggest you only have one 'main' programmer, so as that things do not get messy.
However, unless you feel that you are ready for a challange, it is unlikely that you will want to take care of game design, project lead, programming and graphics yourself, meaning that you will likely split these roles up and further expand the team.
Also, I suggest you build up some experience in game development before you attempt to recruit a team - it is best if you can at least contribute something other than 'director' and 'game design' to the game - you should be capable of understanding the progamming that is done etc. Another advantage is that you can still keep the project moving even if a member quits the team.
Note that my experienced in this subject is limited, but I understand what is required and our project is very near release.
Rule - you are very right. To recruit a team you must be either paying your workers or have something significant to show them (or have a exceptionally interesting idea). The other thing one needs is spelling a gramma, of which you may need to work on (enygmyx).
WarZone - A 2D Action Wargame
[edited by - jack_1313 on January 12, 2004 6:04:42 AM]
[edited by - jack_1313 on January 12, 2004 6:06:36 AM]
It really depends on a lot of things. For instance, it depends on if you are refering to an online team or a 'true life' team, how much you can contribute yourself, how dedicated and talented the team members are, how large the project is, how long you expect it to take etc. One large contributing factor is whether or not you have a engine to work with - if so then less programmers will be required.
Me? I believe it is best if a team is as small as posible, so as things are managed and organized. Here is my team at present day. Note that there is only four people, and of those four only three are actually working on the game. Now, if this were a 3d game, you might add one or two 3d modelers to that. If you are an online team and you can, I suggest you only have one 'main' programmer, so as that things do not get messy.
However, unless you feel that you are ready for a challange, it is unlikely that you will want to take care of game design, project lead, programming and graphics yourself, meaning that you will likely split these roles up and further expand the team.
Also, I suggest you build up some experience in game development before you attempt to recruit a team - it is best if you can at least contribute something other than 'director' and 'game design' to the game - you should be capable of understanding the progamming that is done etc. Another advantage is that you can still keep the project moving even if a member quits the team.
Note that my experienced in this subject is limited, but I understand what is required and our project is very near release.
Rule - you are very right. To recruit a team you must be either paying your workers or have something significant to show them (or have a exceptionally interesting idea). The other thing one needs is spelling a gramma, of which you may need to work on (enygmyx).
WarZone - A 2D Action Wargame
[edited by - jack_1313 on January 12, 2004 6:04:42 AM]
[edited by - jack_1313 on January 12, 2004 6:06:36 AM]
quote:Original post by jack_1313
The other thing one needs is spelling a gramma, of which you may need to work on (enygmyx).
[edited by - jack_1313 on January 12, 2004 6:04:42 AM]
[edited by - jack_1313 on January 12, 2004 6:06:36 AM]
... you edited your post *twice* and still managed to make grammar and spelling mistakes in a sentence talking about the need for proper spelling and grammar. Good job.
Anyway. The group I''m currently in has 13 people, of which 4 are programmers. We''re developing 2 games for cell phones.
Yes, good programmers can make a reasonable 3d FPS type game (on PC) by themselves (probably with not-stellar art and rather small levels). Developing content takes a lot of work compared to the (simple! don''t overdesign, build things as the need is proven) game engine.
But at any rate it seems like our ratio is about right, at least for cell phone development: count on at least two ''support'' people for every programmer. Too many programmers spoil the broth. (It''s hard to coordinate/merge code changes. Generally, the task of writing the code is a lot harder to divide up cleanly than the tasks of drawing art or composing sounds.)
quote:Original post by Zahlman
... you edited your post *twice* and still managed to make grammar and spelling mistakes in a sentence talking about the need for proper spelling and grammar. Good job.
Yes, that''s a bit ironic. But all in all, I didn''t have any problem reading his post.
I could decypher enygmyx post, but just barely. I think if your spelling is mostly correct then a lot more people will actually read your post and reply. How hard can it be? Everyone can get a spellchecker, or just read your post before you hit ''reply''.
Author
hmmm ..... interesting responses ....
well wat i am talking abt here is something equal to atleast quake2/halflife no multiplayer yet .....
To Rule:
i am definitley not talking abt a one man team ..... i am talking abt a small company that wants to develop a portfolio in game development ..... start off with a small/medium scale project and then if things go well move onto bigger things .... anyways i do agree with ur view that programmers are not good at creating models, levels, textures etc.
To jack_1313:
i am not refering to an online team ..... a true life team is wat we are talking abt here .... as for talent/experience of team members i wud say that i wasn't thinking abt experienced programmers(maybe one to lead) but otherwise mostly ppl who have basic know how of game development and have worked on a game in one way or another ...... as for the time/scale of the project i am thinking of an inhouse engine plus the entire game and contents .... how long shud that take .... i agree with u that a small team is easy to manage and good for an initial project ..... but what i wanted to know how small can we keep the team keeping in mind the project that i have mentiond here ... and also how much time did u spend on warzone and how many of the initial goals did u achieve ...... did u set a time frame for?
To Zahlman:
13 ppl .... hmmm .... wud u care to explain the roles of these ppl ...... i guess that 13 wud be a little more for an initial project ..... i wud say 2 programmers, 2 content creators, 1 or max 2 sound people and 2 ppl leading the project plus direction story etc. that wud make a max of 8 ..... i am not familiar with mobile game development needs nd was thinking in terms of PC and later console ...
enygmyx.
P.S. sorry for bad spelling/grammer but english is not my first(or even second) language and a faulty keyboard didn't help either ...
[edited by - enygmyx on January 12, 2004 6:51:50 AM]
well wat i am talking abt here is something equal to atleast quake2/halflife no multiplayer yet .....
To Rule:
i am definitley not talking abt a one man team ..... i am talking abt a small company that wants to develop a portfolio in game development ..... start off with a small/medium scale project and then if things go well move onto bigger things .... anyways i do agree with ur view that programmers are not good at creating models, levels, textures etc.
To jack_1313:
i am not refering to an online team ..... a true life team is wat we are talking abt here .... as for talent/experience of team members i wud say that i wasn't thinking abt experienced programmers(maybe one to lead) but otherwise mostly ppl who have basic know how of game development and have worked on a game in one way or another ...... as for the time/scale of the project i am thinking of an inhouse engine plus the entire game and contents .... how long shud that take .... i agree with u that a small team is easy to manage and good for an initial project ..... but what i wanted to know how small can we keep the team keeping in mind the project that i have mentiond here ... and also how much time did u spend on warzone and how many of the initial goals did u achieve ...... did u set a time frame for?
To Zahlman:
13 ppl .... hmmm .... wud u care to explain the roles of these ppl ...... i guess that 13 wud be a little more for an initial project ..... i wud say 2 programmers, 2 content creators, 1 or max 2 sound people and 2 ppl leading the project plus direction story etc. that wud make a max of 8 ..... i am not familiar with mobile game development needs nd was thinking in terms of PC and later console ...
enygmyx.
P.S. sorry for bad spelling/grammer but english is not my first(or even second) language and a faulty keyboard didn't help either ...
[edited by - enygmyx on January 12, 2004 6:51:50 AM]
quote:Original post by Zahlman
Anyway. The group I''m currently in has 13 people, of which 4 are programmers. We''re developing 2 games for cell phones.
how much do u get paid each $10?
enygmyx: No offense, but if you can take the time to fully spell out about, then what kind of shortcuts are you willing to take on your game?
Oops... me going on about grammar and then lacking it myself. However, it was a side note (it was an innocent suggestion – not an attack), and I believe that small errors like such are forgivable (if I am typing and ‘important’ post I will use Microsoft Word). Ironic none the less. Note that I edited my post to add information, not to correct spelling mistakes.
How much time has been spent on WarZone? Around four (or so) months. There was no initial timeframe because I began working on the game alone, but a general rough release deadline has been set. The game, as I mentioned, is near completion – coding is 99% done, with only tweaking and bug fixing remaining.
How much time has been spent on WarZone? Around four (or so) months. There was no initial timeframe because I began working on the game alone, but a general rough release deadline has been set. The game, as I mentioned, is near completion – coding is 99% done, with only tweaking and bug fixing remaining.
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