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An appeal to game developers

Forum

Hello,
I’m seeking help to develop an online game. I’ve come up with a concept for a business and have googled around a bit and as far as I can tell my idea is original.
Apart of the business plan is the need for an online game. The game is quite simple and I believe it will be quite simple to develop.
I have next to no experience in programming or developing games and so here I am appealing for help to bring my idea to life.

At this point I’ll tell you guys a little about myself. I am 24 years old, born and raised in Sydney. I am an undergraduate at Macquarie University studying science. Although I find I spend a lot of time coming up with different business models, most of them require more capital investment then I have and I don’t really like the idea of being screwed by capital investors and so they mainly reside inside my head. However, this time I feel I have come up with a strategy that is within reach and has the potential to grow at a steady rate that is comfortable and won’t hinder the future prospects of the business.

As mentioned above I don’t like the idea of being screwed by capital investors or anybody else for that matter and it is that reason that I won’t specifically describe the game I want developed. Instead I will describe something similar to the game, but totally different(an oxymoron if there ever was one). It is my hope that it gives you enough information so that you could tell me how long it would take to develop and how much money it would cost and so on.

Ok, here goes.
I want an ice rink with no boundaries. In the centre of the ice rink is a wall that has a video screen where the players skate around it.
For the camera perspective, Image the ice rink is surrounded by a Grand Stand, I want the main camera angle to be fixed and located in the one of the corners roughly ten rows back and 10 meters high. My reason for wanting a fixed view is that I want the ice and any other features like the surrounding of the screen to be pre rendered images so as to make the ice look more real.
For the character I want a 3D version of the guy and girl on them toilet signs.
I want players to be able to interact with other internet players and skate around the ice rink together and I want them to be able to communicate with each other, something similar to msn messenger.
The point of this game is to simply skate around the good looking ice rink and interact with people.
At the end of the game I want certain information to go to a server for processing.

I think that’s all I need to say for now as the description I have given is in no way connected with what I want but knowing the costs involved in producing this game will give me a good idea of what it will cost to produce the game in mind.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 11/10/08 - 11:40 AM Permalink

Hmm, I'll give it a shot... I -think- I've got a rough idea of what you're describing.
I've never worked on a project like the one you're describing, so these figures might be totally off but here's my guesstimate:

To get it complete and polished will take 6-12months (full time and assuming the specifications don't change much), half of that time being polishing. Developing a prototype of your game would take about a month in XNA for example.

You'll need 1-2 programmers. given it sounds like a flash application I'd suggest getting people who can demonstrate prior work in flash (especially with networking).

Probably, one artist should be enough. As long as they can handle doing concept/3d modeling/animation or whatever else you might need themselves.

You'll need a designer (or one of your programmers or artists can take the role but only if they are -very- competent in this field).

And finally you'll need someone who can make a website for the thing (especially if it is a flash app) and after it's gone live it will need some people to maintain it. Probably a part-time DB admin and a programmer that can be called in if things break.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/10/08 - 12:36 AM Permalink

If it's like what you described I don't see much appeal.
But you said it's not so I can't offer anything.

It's like... drawball with chat?

Forum

Hello,
I’m seeking help to develop an online game. I’ve come up with a concept for a business and have googled around a bit and as far as I can tell my idea is original.
Apart of the business plan is the need for an online game. The game is quite simple and I believe it will be quite simple to develop.
I have next to no experience in programming or developing games and so here I am appealing for help to bring my idea to life.

At this point I’ll tell you guys a little about myself. I am 24 years old, born and raised in Sydney. I am an undergraduate at Macquarie University studying science. Although I find I spend a lot of time coming up with different business models, most of them require more capital investment then I have and I don’t really like the idea of being screwed by capital investors and so they mainly reside inside my head. However, this time I feel I have come up with a strategy that is within reach and has the potential to grow at a steady rate that is comfortable and won’t hinder the future prospects of the business.

As mentioned above I don’t like the idea of being screwed by capital investors or anybody else for that matter and it is that reason that I won’t specifically describe the game I want developed. Instead I will describe something similar to the game, but totally different(an oxymoron if there ever was one). It is my hope that it gives you enough information so that you could tell me how long it would take to develop and how much money it would cost and so on.

Ok, here goes.
I want an ice rink with no boundaries. In the centre of the ice rink is a wall that has a video screen where the players skate around it.
For the camera perspective, Image the ice rink is surrounded by a Grand Stand, I want the main camera angle to be fixed and located in the one of the corners roughly ten rows back and 10 meters high. My reason for wanting a fixed view is that I want the ice and any other features like the surrounding of the screen to be pre rendered images so as to make the ice look more real.
For the character I want a 3D version of the guy and girl on them toilet signs.
I want players to be able to interact with other internet players and skate around the ice rink together and I want them to be able to communicate with each other, something similar to msn messenger.
The point of this game is to simply skate around the good looking ice rink and interact with people.
At the end of the game I want certain information to go to a server for processing.

I think that’s all I need to say for now as the description I have given is in no way connected with what I want but knowing the costs involved in producing this game will give me a good idea of what it will cost to produce the game in mind.

Thanks in advance for your help.


Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 11/10/08 - 11:40 AM Permalink

Hmm, I'll give it a shot... I -think- I've got a rough idea of what you're describing.
I've never worked on a project like the one you're describing, so these figures might be totally off but here's my guesstimate:

To get it complete and polished will take 6-12months (full time and assuming the specifications don't change much), half of that time being polishing. Developing a prototype of your game would take about a month in XNA for example.

You'll need 1-2 programmers. given it sounds like a flash application I'd suggest getting people who can demonstrate prior work in flash (especially with networking).

Probably, one artist should be enough. As long as they can handle doing concept/3d modeling/animation or whatever else you might need themselves.

You'll need a designer (or one of your programmers or artists can take the role but only if they are -very- competent in this field).

And finally you'll need someone who can make a website for the thing (especially if it is a flash app) and after it's gone live it will need some people to maintain it. Probably a part-time DB admin and a programmer that can be called in if things break.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/10/08 - 12:36 AM Permalink

If it's like what you described I don't see much appeal.
But you said it's not so I can't offer anything.

It's like... drawball with chat?