How much would I likely spend on my game?

First off, I am just looking for a very rough price estimate based on the details below. I want to know how much money I should expect to spend, on the following parts of my game. I am not currently looking for artists, programmers, etc. So this doesn't belong in "Commercial and Collaborative Work".

I am capable of creating the whole game on my own, however my lack of artistic skills, and experience, would make my game look pretty bad. Therefore, after making a full game, I will most likely look for people to redo everything for me, to make it look the best it can.

The game I am working on, is a 2D side-scrolling platformer, so most of the money would probably be spent on sprites.

Here is a list of the things I know I would need, and who I would be looking to acquire it from:

Sprites

7 animations (running, jumping, falling, attacking, shooting, damaged, death), around 10 sprites each (32x96). I would most likely look for an experienced pixel artist to do this. Somewhere between a full-time professional and a really good hobbyist for hire.

10 sets of terrain tile sprites, each set consisting of 30 sprites (32x32). I would likely depend on the same artist, to keep the art style consistent.

A 500x5000 sprite, which would be a sky backdrop used for all levels. And would consist of 10 different cloud sprites with varying sizes (min 32x32, max 100x100). This would mostly just consist of slowly darkening color, which would be used to depict the player's increasing height as they go through the stages. For this I would look for an experienced pixel artist, but far from professional.

A 1000x1500 sprite, which would be a map that depicts the location of all the stages in the game. I would look for yet another artist for this one, somewhere between the skill level of the first and second artists.


Code

A script for controlling the player character, which uses raycasts for collision detection. The script would need to make the player move in a realistic and smooth manner (create the illusion of gravity, momentum, etc.). It would also have to play all 7 animations, based on what triggers them.

A script for creating the player's health, and deducting it from a HUD, based on collisions with certain objects. It would also have to take care of things like player lives, restarting the level on player death.

A script for respawning enemies on level restart, and limiting other items from respawning, such as collectibles and money.

For all of these, I would look for a professional C# programmer with years of experience.


Level Design

100 levels, all of which should take at least an hour to complete (in total). I would need these to be fun, but also a little challenging, enough so that the player would feel rewarded and not angry after finishing each level.

I would need a level designer, that could both come up with new level designs, and work with existing ones. He would also need to take into consideration the height of the player, enemies, and the player movement.


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I understand that both the artists and level designer will make multiple versions of their respective piece of work, before a final version can be agreed upon. Therefore increasing the costs.

As I said, I am looking for a "very rough" estimate of the price. I realize that the price varies from person to person, and from task to task. So I am just looking for a basic image of what I would be looking at, in terms of costs.

Forgive me if I didn't go into enough detail, I was pressed for time as I have a lot of important things to do right after writing this.

Thanks in advance, for any and all answers.

 

Hi
As a professional .NET developer with 6 years experience, I would say between 50-100$ an hour. Depending on what country you hire from.

 

Your code specs are all very standard. Don't pay someone to reinvent the wheel. Use the Asset Store (e.g., Corgi or Platformer Pro), and pay a developer to integrate it into your project instead. Then you can reallocate those funds to your artists, level designers, marketing, etc.

Indie level designers are often extremely undervalued. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for you, you may be able to hire a level designer for $20-30 USD/hour, with an estimate of 1-2 hours for small levels and 4-6 for medium levels at the shortest.

 

For the code part, it's not as much reinventing the wheel, as it is smoothing it out.
Plus, both Corgi and Platformer Pro include a lot of features I would most likely never use.

 

Still, the value of a solid base on which to build your character is so vast. A few years ago I used platformer pro for my character, and it was the best decision for me. I didn't use anything else that came with the asset, but seeing examples of how to make extensions helped to make my custom work.

You don't have to use everything. hell, you don't even have to import everything if you don't want to. But while you're prototyping and ironing out the design, it's very useful to have a pre-built toolbox of features to draw from.

 

Shouldn't cost you anything, you want it done using low pixel art and anyone can do that even people with no art skills. Just spend a few weeks practicing and good to go. Even if it looks bad as long as the art is consistent and coherent no one will care. But with 32x96 there is enough tutorials and art guides out there to make it look passable easily.

Also you are forgetting cost for creating UI assets, music, enemies, items, pickups, marketing, etc. The stuff you listed probably only be sufficient for a complete demo. For scripting you will be missing a lot to get the complete game going, only scripting stuff you listed is also mostly just for getting a demo going.

 

Well as I said, the stuff I listed is for things I know I will need. All the other things like music, items, UI elements and enemies I'm still figuring out in terms of what I'll be looking for.

 

Depends largely upon how many frames of animation you want per animation.
I'm a 3D animator not a 2D artist, however I worked with another developer creating some 2D pixel art and animations.
He paid per sprite, and per frame of animation. I won't divulge the price he paid, but I think if you want quality assets completed a very rough estimate of $300-$900 for all animated sprites listed above.
The lower estimate is for 2-3 frames per animation, while the higher estimate is for a larger number of frames per animation.

Edit: changed the numbers because it was high!