Harold Serrano

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Hiring a game developer

So you have a great game idea and are looking for a game developer to bring your idea to reality. Unlike app development, game development requires several individuals with different expertise.

At a minimum you need the following experts in your team:

  • Game artist
  • Game designer
  • Game developer

Game artist

A game artist is responsible for creating the characters and animations for your game. If your game is a 2D game, he/she will create sprite sheets that contains animation sequence such as walking, running, jumping, etc. If your game is a 3D game, then he/she will create 3D characters for your game. Price wise, it is cheaper to hire a 2D game artist.

Game designer

A game designer is responsible for the gameplay. He/she is responsible for making sure your game is interesting, well balanced and addicting. A game with nice graphics will fall flat if the game does not have good balance.

Game developer

A game developer is responsible for turning your game idea into something playable in mobile devices. He/she will use the artwork and gameplay and make your game a reality.

Most of the time, individuals (like yourself) simply hire a game developer and try to do the artwork and game design themselves. This is not ideal but sometimes you may not have the budget to hire all three.

Hiring a game developer can also be costly. If you don't have the budget, then create a small version of your game. For example, if your game has 3 levels, start off by producing simply 1 level and few game characters. If you find that people like your idea, then produce the other game levels.

Developing a game is very hard. Even a simple 1 level game will take time to develop. Always factor in the development time plus the testing time.

Finally, the most important part of a game is the GAME PLAY. You can hire the best artist and the best programmer, but if your game play sucks, then your game will go nowhere.