What does it take to build your own computer game?
How many people does it generally take? Are there any good, royalty free 3D gaming engines that could be used as a start? What sort of departments should the game have to create it at top quality (art department, coding department, modelling department, etc.)? How much time would it generally take to build an excellent video game that could be comparable to games made by EA with about half a dozen people working on it in different “departments”?
Thanks for the answers so far, guys! Yes I do realize it takes a hell of a lot more than half a dozen people to make what would be considered the norm for either a $60 XBOX or PS3 game, but I wanted to know what you guys think. We’re thinking very very small, considering it’s an attempt just for shits and giggles.
And yeah, I know nothing about programming; two of us are planning on doing all of that stuff.
In order to develop a hi-quality game comparable to EA games with only half a dozen people working in different departments … it would probably take anywhere from 5-7 years or more.
Commercial game studios have a highly talented team of anywhere from 25-30, even hundreds of individuals who all specialize in their own area. For example, the coding department is split up into sub-departments, I guess you’d say:
Graphics
Gameplay
Networking
Physics
And so on, and so on
Torque is a good 3D game engine. Ogre3D is also a good free 3D engine. Torque isn’t 100% free, but it isn’t extremely expensive for an independent license.
You’d probably need:
Art
Coding –> Split into sub-departments as previously mentioned
Marketing
Design
Story Writing
Dialog Writing
Audio Engineering
And so on, and so on
There is a lot more to it than you probably think.
Commercial developers with teams of 50 team members or more take 3-4 years or longer to develop a game from design to releasing it on store shelves. Think about how long it would take with half a dozen team members who are nowhere near as talented as the commercial developers. Not to say that you or your potential teammates aren’t skilled. But think about your skill compared to their YEARS AND YEARS … and PROJECTS AND PROJECTS … of experience working in a 100% professional environment.
They spend countless hours straight working on one portion of the game.
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