Hi!
I am starting a game project (with Unreal Engine) and I need some guidance to do it properly. I am not sure if this is the right subforum, please move the post if neccessary.
Goal and Challenges
A college and I want to develop and release a MOBA game developed in Unreal Engine (UE). I have solid C++ skills, but moderate skills in game development (game design, 3D asset creation, etc). I am amateur with UE. My friend is mostly a narrative-creator, but he has solid skills with Unity and is starting with UE. We really think the MOBA game we are designing can be really funny and get some kind of success, but, since the time is limited (working full-time as an engineer) we do not consider we can develop the game within a reasonable time, and we are only two (and he is starting with UE).
This is why we would like to obtain some financing through kickstarter or similar platforms, to be able to create a small team working full-time (while my college and I work as hard as possible in our free time). I would be pleased if you can guide me to find how many people, time and money can be needed to develop a game like this. In order to estimate properly, I will describe the game briefly.
The Game
How I said, it is a MOBA. A known example is League of Legend. The player starts the game, selects and configures the character, and queue ir order to looking for a team. Then, the game starts. Players are in a 3v3 Player vs Player death match arena in a small static map (like a small coliseum). The map can change, but it is always a simple small static map, it does not have any NPCs, towers or other dinamic elements. The player has to kill the other 3 enemies fighting with his teammates.
You have the solo-queue option, where the game finds teammates for you, or you can create your team with friends. Therefore, the social part is needed: friend lists, chats, etc. I have worked twice in projects with SQL databases, but I do not know how difficult it can be to do it with Unreal Engine.
The main difference with the market MOBA games are the characters. There are not 4-6 skill buttons simple characters, but more complex characters, with around 30 spells and passives. On the other hand, the number of different characters is low (8 in the first game version). Furthermore, the player view can be handled like in a MMO (third person view).
The idea for the monetization is to making it freemium. The game is free, but you can buy skins. This money could let us to develop more characters or game modes.
Even being a bounded game, I consider it is needed at least a small group of people to be able to develop it properly. My college and I can work a good number of hours per week, but we need more people to make the big part of the programming and the asset creation. It is a multiplayer game, and we would like to have enough quality in the assets.
Questions
- Do you know some examples of kickstarters projects similar to this? (Developed with Unreal Engine?)
- How many people (and roles) do you consider it is needed to work on this project to be able to release it in, for example, 1 year (a first version)?
- How many of them must work with Unreal Engine? How much time?
- Do you consider kickstarter is a good platform for games like this?
- How much money do you consider it is needed for widgets and templates to help the development in unreal?
If I want to create a kickstarter I need to know how money it is needed to develop the game (pay people, software, servers, etc). This is why I come to this forum. I can make some simple games with UE but I would like to heard people with experience.
Thanks for your help.