How much does it cost to make a mobile game?
My name is Yevgeny Litvinov, I develop computer games. I managed to work in large companies and small studios as a programmer, and also I have a hobby: to make small mobile games entirely: to invent, draw, program.
Now I am finishing the game Out of Brakes and I want to count on her example, how much does it cost to develop a game on my own for the App Store?
So, I started by choosing the technology on which I will make my game. The idea and idea of how the game should look like I already had, so I decided quickly - unity3d. Mobile platform support, freebies and ease of use - what Flash should have been turned into, but never turned.
After that, I picked up the site under svn. Version control is necessary if you work alone, if you work in a team - it is doubly needed. I work under Windows, Macbook is used only for the assembly: after the working day we take away all changes to the Mac and do the assembly for the iPhone / iPad. You can deploy version control on your own machine, or use a platform that provides free space of limited size: for a small project should be enough.
After the prototype of the game was ready, it was time to try it on the device. I do not include in the article the cost of buying an iPhone / iPad. For me, the question of choosing a platform consists of what kind of smartphone is in my pocket and whose methodology is closer to me. In general, as a former Android user, I’ll make a reservation that it’s more convenient to work with him in the early stages: first, you can build using Windows and MacOS, and second, you don’t need to buy a developer certificate for Android until you decide to pay for it content. What about poppy? It's all a bit more complicated. Developer certificate will cost $ 100 regardless of whether you make paid or free games. Here you need to make a reservation that you can download xCode and collect the game on your iPhone or iPad without a certificate, but you can’t do without feeling the iTunes and go through the whole process from the idea to the App Store. I did not know this, so the certificate was purchased immediately - 100 (all amounts are in US dollars).
')
Another difficulty when entering the Apple market is the mandatory presence of a Macbook (xCode for Windows is absent). But, as Baron Munchausen says: "There are no hopeless situations." You can deploy a virtual machine, for example, WMWare Player is free for non-commercial use. In the open sea on such a leaky pelvis you will not get out, but for acquaintance it can be useful: it slows down, buggy, but it builds. You can go the other way and search for used equipment: Macbook Pro 2008 cost me 250 - whoever is looking for will always find.
Next was thought out scheme for the monetization of the game: I stopped at freetoplay and in-game purchases. There are two ways: write your own plugin or buy a ready-made solution, for example, prime31 , 70. You can, of course, make the game paid in the store, but this way I would lose the trump card: the ability to offer a product for free, which in the absence of an advertising budget dramatically reduces the chances of success .
Another point that is required for any modern game is social integration, sharing of game progress and a leaderboard / achivok system. I decided to add AirDrop support: in the Unity Store, you can find a plugin from 10 (Diffusion - iOSSocialNetworking) to 65 (prime31 - iOSSocialNetworkingPlugin), or write your own solution. Adding social tokens is a must-have that takes word of mouth to a new level — another trump card in indie razbotchika. I chose the prime31 - more expensive, but also a functional plugin - 65.
Leaderboards and achivki - the standard package SocialPlatforms, which is included in Unity3d, is enough; the article on the topic: Unity3d: experiments with the Social Interface .
When the prototype of the game was ready, and its demonstration to friends went warm, 2 domains were bought (9 + 9 = 18 for a year): for the studio Pixelfresh Games and for the game Out of Brakes, as well as hosting them (25 for the year): declare about yourself is much more profitable on behalf of the company.
When the main part of the work was already done and I was ready to share the work done with the public, I thought over and made a video. When I wanted to post it on youtube, I was faced with the point of unforeseen expenses: the fact is that only a gmail user can create an account on youtube, which was not part of my plans. After studying the question, it turned out that you need to use Google Apps for Business: it allows you to "link" your own domain with Google services. Previously, it was free, now no longer. To create a youtube channel, I had to subscribe: 4 per month per user. 3 months for 2 users - 24.
Continuing to socialize, I created pages on Facebook , VK and Twitter - finally managed to do something for free.
The website Out of Brakes was uploaded onto the purchased hosting - my design + 35 per layout.
Since the design of the game is pixel, it was necessary to select the appropriate font. A large selection of free fonts can be found here www.dafont.com .
Music and sound design. I believe that the sound is a reflection and continuation of the game, so from the very beginning I wanted the music to be written to me, and not to look for a suitable composition on drains or free sites such as Freesound or Newgrounds . I was lucky, one of my friends ( Valentin Parkhomenko ) - the composer, agreed to write music and sound effects for 300 - in the key of current expenses this is a large amount, but in my opinion, it was worth it.
Localization is a strange item of expenditure to which I have been used to for a long time. It is clear that in our time we all speak English, and some even do well, so there is a temptation to do everything myself, but ultimately I decided that if I played the game in broken Russian or Ukrainian, I would quickly deleted. Immediately the question arose, maybe it is worth ordering other localizations? For example, the French reluctantly shake the English-language games, although they own it. Therefore, I decided to support the following languages: English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Russian, ї . In general, in the process it turned out that Spanish is more common than Italian. So it was more logical to start with him.
Three candidates were considered as translation sites:
ICanLocalize is probably the cheapest, plus you can bargain and collaborate with the same translators, which is convenient in the long term. But the number of translators from the Russian language is small.
Tethras - cool functionality, support for various localization formats, instant parsing, price calculation, the ability to add comments to each localization line. One problem, do not translate from the Russian language.
Alconost is a domestic resource, automation is replaced by warm communication with the manager through the mail. Translation is done by native speakers (if you believe the site), they work quickly, give fitbek translators if something is not clear to them or there are sentences, and most importantly, translate from Russian.
In general, the average price of translation turned out to be about the same - 0.09 per word, in my case it is about 30 for localization.
Using the Alconost service, 4 localizations cost me 142.
Quality - you will not repair all the bugs, you will not take into account all the wishes, but it is the responsibility of any developer to put all efforts into this. In addition to personal testing and testing by close friends, 50 were paid to a familiar tester. This is necessary, firstly, for initial in-depth testing, and secondly, for regression testing before launch, after final polishing of the product.
This item of expenditure has come to an end, it's time to take stock:
In general, it turned out not to be expensive, especially since half of the costs went to the certificate, plug-ins and MacBook Pro, which can be used for the following projects.
Two conclusions can be drawn from these costs: personal experience and connections can save on many aspects of development, and the ability to produce your product independently frees the time and nerves needed to find and work with an investor.
Now I am finishing the game Out of Brakes and I want to count on her example, how much does it cost to develop a game on my own for the App Store?
So, I started by choosing the technology on which I will make my game. The idea and idea of how the game should look like I already had, so I decided quickly - unity3d. Mobile platform support, freebies and ease of use - what Flash should have been turned into, but never turned.
After that, I picked up the site under svn. Version control is necessary if you work alone, if you work in a team - it is doubly needed. I work under Windows, Macbook is used only for the assembly: after the working day we take away all changes to the Mac and do the assembly for the iPhone / iPad. You can deploy version control on your own machine, or use a platform that provides free space of limited size: for a small project should be enough.
After the prototype of the game was ready, it was time to try it on the device. I do not include in the article the cost of buying an iPhone / iPad. For me, the question of choosing a platform consists of what kind of smartphone is in my pocket and whose methodology is closer to me. In general, as a former Android user, I’ll make a reservation that it’s more convenient to work with him in the early stages: first, you can build using Windows and MacOS, and second, you don’t need to buy a developer certificate for Android until you decide to pay for it content. What about poppy? It's all a bit more complicated. Developer certificate will cost $ 100 regardless of whether you make paid or free games. Here you need to make a reservation that you can download xCode and collect the game on your iPhone or iPad without a certificate, but you can’t do without feeling the iTunes and go through the whole process from the idea to the App Store. I did not know this, so the certificate was purchased immediately - 100 (all amounts are in US dollars).
')
Another difficulty when entering the Apple market is the mandatory presence of a Macbook (xCode for Windows is absent). But, as Baron Munchausen says: "There are no hopeless situations." You can deploy a virtual machine, for example, WMWare Player is free for non-commercial use. In the open sea on such a leaky pelvis you will not get out, but for acquaintance it can be useful: it slows down, buggy, but it builds. You can go the other way and search for used equipment: Macbook Pro 2008 cost me 250 - whoever is looking for will always find.
Next was thought out scheme for the monetization of the game: I stopped at freetoplay and in-game purchases. There are two ways: write your own plugin or buy a ready-made solution, for example, prime31 , 70. You can, of course, make the game paid in the store, but this way I would lose the trump card: the ability to offer a product for free, which in the absence of an advertising budget dramatically reduces the chances of success .
Another point that is required for any modern game is social integration, sharing of game progress and a leaderboard / achivok system. I decided to add AirDrop support: in the Unity Store, you can find a plugin from 10 (Diffusion - iOSSocialNetworking) to 65 (prime31 - iOSSocialNetworkingPlugin), or write your own solution. Adding social tokens is a must-have that takes word of mouth to a new level — another trump card in indie razbotchika. I chose the prime31 - more expensive, but also a functional plugin - 65.
Leaderboards and achivki - the standard package SocialPlatforms, which is included in Unity3d, is enough; the article on the topic: Unity3d: experiments with the Social Interface .
When the prototype of the game was ready, and its demonstration to friends went warm, 2 domains were bought (9 + 9 = 18 for a year): for the studio Pixelfresh Games and for the game Out of Brakes, as well as hosting them (25 for the year): declare about yourself is much more profitable on behalf of the company.
When the main part of the work was already done and I was ready to share the work done with the public, I thought over and made a video. When I wanted to post it on youtube, I was faced with the point of unforeseen expenses: the fact is that only a gmail user can create an account on youtube, which was not part of my plans. After studying the question, it turned out that you need to use Google Apps for Business: it allows you to "link" your own domain with Google services. Previously, it was free, now no longer. To create a youtube channel, I had to subscribe: 4 per month per user. 3 months for 2 users - 24.
Continuing to socialize, I created pages on Facebook , VK and Twitter - finally managed to do something for free.
The website Out of Brakes was uploaded onto the purchased hosting - my design + 35 per layout.
Since the design of the game is pixel, it was necessary to select the appropriate font. A large selection of free fonts can be found here www.dafont.com .
Music and sound design. I believe that the sound is a reflection and continuation of the game, so from the very beginning I wanted the music to be written to me, and not to look for a suitable composition on drains or free sites such as Freesound or Newgrounds . I was lucky, one of my friends ( Valentin Parkhomenko ) - the composer, agreed to write music and sound effects for 300 - in the key of current expenses this is a large amount, but in my opinion, it was worth it.
Localization is a strange item of expenditure to which I have been used to for a long time. It is clear that in our time we all speak English, and some even do well, so there is a temptation to do everything myself, but ultimately I decided that if I played the game in broken Russian or Ukrainian, I would quickly deleted. Immediately the question arose, maybe it is worth ordering other localizations? For example, the French reluctantly shake the English-language games, although they own it. Therefore, I decided to support the following languages: English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Russian, ї . In general, in the process it turned out that Spanish is more common than Italian. So it was more logical to start with him.
Three candidates were considered as translation sites:
ICanLocalize is probably the cheapest, plus you can bargain and collaborate with the same translators, which is convenient in the long term. But the number of translators from the Russian language is small.
Tethras - cool functionality, support for various localization formats, instant parsing, price calculation, the ability to add comments to each localization line. One problem, do not translate from the Russian language.
Alconost is a domestic resource, automation is replaced by warm communication with the manager through the mail. Translation is done by native speakers (if you believe the site), they work quickly, give fitbek translators if something is not clear to them or there are sentences, and most importantly, translate from Russian.
In general, the average price of translation turned out to be about the same - 0.09 per word, in my case it is about 30 for localization.
Using the Alconost service, 4 localizations cost me 142.
Quality - you will not repair all the bugs, you will not take into account all the wishes, but it is the responsibility of any developer to put all efforts into this. In addition to personal testing and testing by close friends, 50 were paid to a familiar tester. This is necessary, firstly, for initial in-depth testing, and secondly, for regression testing before launch, after final polishing of the product.
This item of expenditure has come to an end, it's time to take stock:
In general, it turned out not to be expensive, especially since half of the costs went to the certificate, plug-ins and MacBook Pro, which can be used for the following projects.
Two conclusions can be drawn from these costs: personal experience and connections can save on many aspects of development, and the ability to produce your product independently frees the time and nerves needed to find and work with an investor.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/266973/
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