Development Cost vs Time

I have been working for a while on a concept for a game, I have almost all of the details mapped out and very well documented with pictures and description using milanote.

TLDR; I have very detailed plans but I have never created a game before. I have some expendable money and this is a dream I have so I am willing to invest in it. I am willing to pay someone else to make it, but how much do you think it would cost and where would I find someone? Alternatively, how long should I assume it would take me if I did it myself?

The game is a top down, multiplayer game, with slightly random world generation. Essentially a mix of “They are billions” (survival not campaign) combined with “Terraria”. Your main base is a vehicle that throughout the game you and your friends upgrade and travel around the world gathering recourses, unlocking classes, building new homes for NPCs, killing mobs and bosses, and experiencing random events based on your location. It will have around 13 different playable classes each with 8 abilities for the player to choose from 2 of which are very powerful ultimate abilities, around 10 biomes to explore, around 8 different tiers of recourses to gather and craft through, plus many more special items for every class. There are around 20 NPCs to build homes for in your town, around 30 enemy types, around 10 bosses, random events, etc. I have detailed out with pictures and explanations almost every detail from player HUD, equipment menu, vehicle and town layouts, when and how events take place, class descriptions with detailed abilities down to the names, how they preform, and even how animation could look. I feel like I have almost made the entire game in detail on paper, I'm just not sure what my next step should be. I would love to be able to sell the game on steam and continue to add to it after it is complete. I have posted a request on Fiverr for a game developer but I'm not sure that is the route I should take for this scale of project and my expectations. I have some expendable money and this is a dream I have so I am willing to invest in it. I am willing to pay someone else to make it, but how much do you think it would cost and where would I find someone? Or how long should I assume it would take me if I did it myself?

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply,
Matt

 

15 years man-hours.
If you already got the skills needed.

 

You're aiming too high and the project can take years with this kind of approach. A studio likely would be able to make this sort of things but the budget would have at least six zeros in it.

I would recommend to try to implement a single thing from your list yourself, and that will dial down your expectations.

For budget examples, see, for example, Shadowrun Returns (1.6 million usd), Pillars of Eternity (4 million usd). "They're Billion" has spent two years in early access meaning its development likely was twice as long. Also see Factorio - almost ten years in development with a small team.

 

Prepare to part with all your time AND money. That's just how game dev works.

My suggestion is simple: do whatever it takes to create a narrow prototype with full functionality (but no bells and whistles) so you actually know what you'd be making rather than just theorizing. Once that is done, return to your plan, rewrite all of it now you have some idea of what you actually want to do and what each thing would entail, and figure out how to turn it into reality.

 

To be brutally honest, if you even have to ask this question for such a complex game design, you are definately not capable of making this game. This is not a game that 1 person will ever make, not unless you spend the majority of your life doing it. Sorry but it just isnt feasible at all.

 

Yeah, I would also suggest to implement at least one feature on your own. You will get the taste what it take. Try to implement another one.

Get number of features, multiply by man hours you spent per feature average, and you may get minimum, what it may need to be taken.

That is probably jus programming side, to get base Gameplay concept draw out.

Now need also to consider graphics, audio, networking and community building. In the end you want multiplier right? You need someone to be able play with online. Then device integration and testing. Lots of testing and bug fixing.

Now, go online, search freelancing job offerings, and get the idea, how much you need to pay for each of these skills.

You may get at least a glimp of the cost. Just don't assume cheapest offer will get you what you want. Yousulay will cost you more. But there are some exceptions.