#game budgets

[askagamedev]

So how much $ (in general) does it cost to produce a fully animated/rigged, fully voiced 1-3 minute cutscene in a game that’s in ongoing development (something like SWTOR, where they have a lot of prebuilt assets)? Like just a general low range and high range?

I’m seeing a lot of people complaining about prioritizing content they want, and don’t know enough about the behind the scenes costs to properly communicate they’re being unrealistic with their complaints.

The cost of any content in game dev is directly proportional to how much new stuff needs to be created for that content. In order to create a basic conversation cutscene to put into a game, we would need:

A narrative designer to write the script for the cutscene

A cinematic designer to script out the cinematic - which characters speak, in which order, with what timing, in which location, and what other actions they would take over the course of the cutscene

Animations for the characters to play in those positions

A rig for those characters to play those animations

Character models for the characters involved

Voice recordings for the characters to speak

A tool with which to set all of these parameters and organize the cutscene

A game system that can parse the tool data and assets and construct the cutscene from them

A script system to start playing the cutscene when the proper conditions are met

This doesn't include extra stuff like VFX, music, lighting, environments, props, etc. that might need to be created for certain specific cutscenes. In an ongoing game like SWTOR, element numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were already built long ago and already exist. As long as the designers can create the characters with the in-game character creator and reuse the existing rigs, no new resources need be expended to create them. If you need a completely new custom character model, that takes time from a character artist and a texture artist. If the character needs to animate differently than everyone else (i.e. needs its own rig), that's time from a rigger to create. If the cutscene needs new animations we need to bring on an animator to spend time building the new animations needed for the cutscene.

Using some napkin math, let's consider costs. We usually use the $10,000 per month figure to pay for a developer (salary, benefits, rent, utilities, software licenses, etc.) or approximately $2,500 per development week per person. Let's assume that each task takes a developer a week to complete.

Write the script (Narrative designer)

Script the cinematic (Cinematic Designer)

Record audio (Sound Designer + Voice Actor + studio time)

Rig one new character (Rigger) x however many new characters

Animate one animation (Animator) x however many new animations

Model one new character (Character Artist + Texture Artist) x however many new characters

Track all tasks and keep everyone on schedule (Production)

Test and validate that the cutscene works (QA)

At the very minimum, we need the script, the cinematic, production, and the QA tester, so a very bare bones cutscene that reuses all assets and has no new VO (say it only reuses the alien language) would cost 4x$2,500 = $10,000. If we add voice recording and keep it to one voice actor (let's say she voices both characters in the cutscene), then the cost jumps to 7x$2,500 = $17,500 because we need the sound designer, the voice actor, and the recording studio time. Adding in two new animations (e.g. one character throwing a punch and the second character reacting to getting punched) would add another two weeks of animator time, raising the cost to 9x$2,500 = $22,500. And so on and so forth. Those costs add up very quickly.

There are ways to get a "bulk" discount of course - we hire voice actors for blocks of four or eight hours, so we can record multiple cutscenes during that session and share some of those costs. We can create one new character and reuse her across multiple cutscenes so that we get more value out of her. Things get cheaper if we reuse stuff more, but they still cost a lot up front. The bulk discounts only really work if the things we're paying for can be reused multiple times though - the more specific an asset is (e.g. a kissing animation), the harder it is to reuse and the more expensive it tends to be relative to other assets.

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[bamsara]

I want to play dragons dogma 2 so badly. i was obsessed with the first game and now I'm just watching videos of it on writing breaks and aaaaARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

i already have a lamb and narinder pair made in the character creation demo to switch over so those two have go on adventures together. I need to play the game SOON

#sara shush #its 70 bucks so i need to budget first #but on god #i will play and stream the fuck out of that game #i think i will try and get it after this chapter is done

[fras-redacted-shapes]

and another piece for @wankernumberniiiiiiiiine :D

Come and check the story this scene is from hehe

#artists on tumblr #control remedy #control 2019 #control game #jesse faden #emily pope #jesse x emily #wlw #sapphic #lesbian #my art #fanart #thinking about height difference thanks to aw2's budget hehe

[robottheodorlasso]

I’m in the process of moving rn so art isn’t really happening but I hope these lil pixels Sillies™️ I made a lil bit ago find you well

#ted lasso #ted lasso fanart #the bottom one is meant to be like #what if ted lasso was the mascot for a budget soccer mini game collection on the GBA/early ds #my art

[jahiera]

listen it's very. even when playing gale's romance I am guaranteed several solid cutscenes of Astarion talking about his life, his perceptions of things, his ideas; the bite scene, the after that, the talking about your companions blood, the proposition, all the little conversations about being a vampire + how to become a vampire + what life was like that have several dialogue options. whereas these same "stock" conversations with the other companions tend to have ONE, maybe two dialogues with choices following if that much (for example, with Karlach it tends to be 1. ask question 2. she answers and it ends). there's a solid foundation of pacing and work put into astarion's storyline that even without his romance, his presence WILL be felt unless you just straight up never speak to him. which is to say, that THAT writing is really good! but if they couldn't uphold that same standard of effort and time across the board and ensure all the companions have some measure of equality, theeeeeen... something shouldve been done there to make sure it was at least somewhat equal. it also sucks that gale/wyll/lae'zel/shadowheart were all received ""poorly"" in contrast to astarion during EA (or received harsher critique anyways). I still believe there was a lot of solid character work and richness to their EA personalities that I dont know totally carried over in rewrites--decreasing the amount of conflict, lessening the "flaws" of these characters--contrary to what larian says about staying true to their core ideas in some places. so it sucks that you can see how with that effort and focus, astarion's storyline really is really well done for the kind of game that it is, and no one is saying bg3 is wanting for stuff to do, but there is a clear gap in effort and time put into the other companions when they absolutely deserved just as much time and effort as astarion, and the thing is. the writer confirmed it! confirmed that more time was put into him. like cmon man

#it's just not funnyyyyy #it's extremely disappointing just in terms of Designing The Narrative that several companions got the shaft #Now of course there are lots of compounding factors here; budget; time; voice-acting and mocap; etc. all costs I Know #but it still doesn't negate that it was confirmed that at least there was a focus on him that wasnt quite there #with the others #baudelaire welch was the senior narrative designer iirc and I know crutch sucks but like. cmon #you had a job there to ensure there was some measure of equality across the cast #and this isn't even getting into halsin who I'm pretty sure was written in an afternoon with no overview of #what was being put out #ANYHOW. I love the game love the cast love the characters. I will fix the pacing. in my brain #critical /

[gentil-minou]

student council au where wei wuxian ran "as a joke" but won president with lan wangji as his vice president and their shenanigans as wwx uses a sizeable amount of their budget for carnivals and student events and lwj just...lets him

his uncle, the principal, asks him what on earth are you doing and lwj just takes out a research paper that shows the benefits of fun and relaxing activities on student mental health while wwx is shooting a t-shirt canon at the crowd behind them

there's a sofa in the student lounge that wwx uses to take naps and everytime he does his shirt rides up revealing a sliver of skin and lwj has one hand in a tight horny grip as he calculates how much of their budget they can devote to a bunny petting zoo even though the insurance will be a nightmare but wwx really wants one so he will get one.

(at the petting zoo, wwx tells him the bunny petting zoo was a birthday gift for him)

(lwj kisses his big stupid perfect little face)

#i think i'll probably repurpose this into a student activities council au which is extremely niche and personal for me specifically #but oh man i have so many ideas and 90% of them are gonna be from my own college experience #get ready for falling in love while stapling flyers to dorm hallways during office hours #bed sharing because your advisor booked the wrong hotel room at a convention leading to activities that are never spoke about again #planning for weeks on a single event that flops but then the weekly low budget game night is a sucess cause you got jalapeno poppers #all of this has happened to me personally this au is just my college experiences and love sdkjfhdskjghsj #mdzs #mdzs au #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #bushy writing #mdzs fanfiction

[lynnedrum]

started rain code today. im so glad someone gave kazutaka kodaka more money than ever before so he could finally deliver on danganronpa's truest ambition. That's right: Hangman's Gambit 4

#master detective archives: rain code #danganronpa #rain code #homie has more budget than ever to make a game like this and its morally just that he used it all on the fucking minigames #you gotta respect it

[cozylittleartblog]

:)c

queen pin real. we all have to be a little self-indulgent sometimes 💙

#deltarune #queen #Q5U4EX7YY2E9N #enamel pins #utdr #video games #deltarune chapter 2 #turns out the budget Did allow for this and i instantly could not help myself #alright boys now don't let all these milfs be shelf warmers #deltarune fanart #pins #i wanted to do something more interesting with the wall but i was like 'this is a backing card and i need it done Today' so . window #gotta take advantage of those sales!!!! backing cards probably go in the trash anyway #.... i save all mine though 👉👈 i have a box full of backing cards from all my pins. they're pretty...... #ok in the tags or the replies: do y'all save your backing cards. yes no or only sometimes #this is the tallest pin i've ever made. the first pin with screenprint. aND THE MOST EXPENSIVE PER UNIT LMAO

[dmbakura]

Bg3 hitting the "actually this game is bad" part of the hype cycle more than like half a year after it released is so fucking funny to me. Usually it only takes like a month or 2 for people to start overanalyzing the fuck out of a good game and convince themselves it's actually shit but the fact the game is so big and dynamic that it took this long is impressive

#not to say a decent amount of the criticism is unwarranted #the game has flaws and could definitely be improved #but saying larian doesnt care or did a bad job is fucking nuts to me #also bg3 is an indie game (granted a very high budget and high profile one) #thats what makes bg3 such an impressive achievement

[kurozu501]

i really really love the conscious choice in armored core 6 to never show a human being. people and their factions are represented only by their symbols, their voices and their mecha. its really effective and gives you a lot from very little. the soulless corporate logos vs the rubicon liberation front's more noble symbol, for example. especially for the main character it adds so much to their narrative about being dehumanized and used as a tool by everyone. they are so dehumanized we don't even get to see their face, we only see the mecha, their capacity to unleash violence, the only thing that people value them for.

#its a clever way to preserve your budget AND a great way to enhance the themes of this particular game #i dont need to ever see handler walter when just his symbol of a clenched fist holding dozens of leashes tells me everything i need to know #armored core #armored core 6

[askagamedev]

You often talk about budget in your answers, so I was curious about something. Is it possible for the company to run out of budget before devs could complete the game as they initially planned, so that they have to wrap up all the pending storylines as best as they can even if incomplete? Talking specifically about massive story driven games with a lot of important characters having long storylines such as The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the Mass Effect series, etc.

It has certainly happened in the past, though not necessarily specifically the narrative part of the game. Many games are pushed to launch without development being as far as they want it to be due to reasons like hitting their budgetary limit and needing to recoup some of the investment. Our estimates are only estimates after all, sometimes we run into unforeseen problems and things take longer than expected. We can't stop paying the developers when we hit snags like that, so certain features end up more costly than others, which eats into the budget that was earmarked for other stuff instead. Most games in this situation have a lot of other launch issues too for the same reason - when you're pushed out the door to make the deadline due to running out of budget, things that should have been fixed are often not.

When World of Warcraft launched in 2004, there were several entire world zones that were incomplete and (mostly) locked off from players. Some players were able to sneak in through various exploits and take screenshots of those areas. Most notable were that the zones were primarily unpopulated by anything - no mobs, no quests, empty towns and buildings, just environment geometry that had been built out. This accompanied other incomplete bits of the game like quests that still had XML code in them. It would take years before players would finally see the incomplete-at-launch zones in some form or other.

Cyberpunk 2077 famously launched after multiple delays with numerous bugs and weird issues. Notably, the dev team also completely cut the multiplayer mode of the game that they had been building in order to consolidate resources to ship the single player game. The game came in super hot and had a huge number of launch issues that were eventually (mostly) ironed out, but the multiplayer mode was never resurrected.

The most famous example of this is probably Knights of the Old Republic 2. The publisher famously moved the deadline up and Obsidian scrapped the in-development ending since they didn't have the time to finish it. Instead, the story was wrapped up super quickly to ship the game. Notably, the partially-finished original ending was left on the disc and modders eventually discovered (and later restored) it.

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#production schedule #game budgets #the business of video games #launch problems #how things work

[b0tster]

do ur models conform to psx standarts on a technical level or do they juts look liek it

its impossible to truly know without actually deploying verified software to an actual ps1, (which iirc is actually possible in the modding / hacking scene but i dont have a source for u on that) but my self imposed limitations i give myself based on research do land in the ballpark of what was done on the system. the hunter model is lower in tri count and texture density than irvine in final fantasy 8 (and a tiny bit higher than an mgs character which had more modeled environmental assets)

for my personal psx characters like bunlith however, she is higher in quality due to her articulated eyes and, while she could very likely be able to run on a ps1, it would probably have performance issues if u also loaded in a fully modeled environment too. but like I said it's impossible to tell for sure

#lilith answers #theres boss characters in ps1 games that are WAY higher in poly count than anything ive done tho #and the levels they are in are budgeted around that #but yeag #who knows

[stuckinapril]

i think i officially set my sights on a therapist and i'll be contacting her very soon?? therapy was legitimately not on my 2024 bingo card (or in the cards for me at all) but here we are????

#this blog always had a focus on social science and detangling feelings and experiences. like it's basically been serving as my diary #bc this blog has always been my main outlet for it. i hate talking feelings to anyone irl. it's a bad habit but i hate it #so it was a game changer and helped me grow up sooo much. esp supplemented w other people's experiences. #being raised by a stoic engineer mother who's very much warm but also not very good at feelings at times has caused me to suppress SO much #compounded w being the eldest daughter. like that is a damning sentence in and of itself #tumblr just gave me an outlet for stuff like this. and every social media is essentially a highlight reel of ppl's best moments. #tumblr is the opposite. i've always loved that too whether it was in the form of humor or more earnest posts #could i work through my own issues by myself? yes probably #and my blog will always have that facet even if i get a therapist #but a therapist's input. just a professional's input. will expedite a lot of improvement for me i think #this has been a critical time period for me anyway bc i'm budgeting my whole schedule for once vs being handheld by uni deadlines #and it's just gonna keep getting more and more intense from here bc i'm truly pushing my comfort zone more than ever before #it just feels like the right call even tho i'm lowkey nervous ab it bc i HATE talking feelings in person. #this therapist will not fall for my trying to deflect by asking her about her life. which. usually works on my friends <3 #we will see. a therapy arc is coming very soon basically #p

[presiding]

genuinely admire those who were optimistic for dishonored 3 but in this videogame industry climate and [insert a 4hr video essay about arkane's recent history here], honestly, not getting dh3 is good news

#dishonored #arkane studios #i know its silly to meme when the take is nuanced #and i admit that blade is one hell of an aesthetic. but i'm sitting out of this #somewhat being a hater yes. but that is because i am a lover #i dont think its pointless hater-ing though to be critical of something i wish i could love more #my takeaway from arkane is that its better to be not a fan of a company. a company does not make games #a company's staff does. and those staff need to be treated well and given budget and breathing room to make good things #and i have my doubts about that at the moment. very well documented and supported doubts #if arkane is given AAA budget to make a game. it probs wont be another dh. except maybe a remake bc those are 'safe' bets. #ie. dh1 remastered would sell #judging by doto and even dh2 (which i loved even tho its flawed). i dont think arkane really 'get' why dh1 was magical #so im not sure that a third in the series could necessarily recapture it #especially as theyve confirmed they're closing the drawer on the current overarching plotline #this is the hater corner celebration! i am pouring you a drink! [pres why does this look like blood?] we like themes n motifs here! #pres rants in tags #anyway mutuals lets make a fan edition of dh3 for shits n gigs

[jitterbugbear]

there is a lack of adventure games that don't depend on combat, i don't want to kill the creatures... let them live...

#peace and love on planet earth or smth smth escapism i hate combat #the most i can do is zelda botw type of thing but i still don't like fighting the creatures it makes me anxious #even stardew has combat????? i dont want that #acnh got stale so the only games ive been playing after that have been monkey island and mario kart #and i want cool graphics too imagine a big budget zelda type adventure game where you didn't have to KILL KILL KILL all the time #chat tag #games #baby games but for adults and also big budget and nice graphics #yes i have heard of undertale. ive been here for way too long

[melonthesprigatito]

History of Detective Pikachu

2013: "Too bad this game is never going to be finished"

2016: "Too bad this game is never going to get an English translation"

2018: "Oh my god, they actually released it outside of Japan? Oh, it ended on a cliffhanger. Too bad it's never going to get a sequel."

2019: "Ex-fucking-scuse me??????"

2023:

"WHAT"

#pokémon #detective pikachu #detective pikachu returns #I still can't fucking believe the nearly cancelled weird Motion Captured animation Pokémon detective game I watched videos about in 2013 #GOT TURNED INTO A BIG BUDGET HOLLYWOOD MOVIE STARRING RYAN REYNOLDS????? #The live action Pokémon movie people dreamed about for years came out then nobody in the Pokémon fandom ever talked about it again #Seriously the history of this spinoff is FASCINATING. I feel like it should be a bigger deal than it actually is #Btw anyone remember Jwittz? He was one of the earlier PokéTubers #Idk if he still post videos but he was an icon in my early Pokémon fan days. Plus he introduced me to Hoppip :)