Factors That Determine the Cost of Mobile Game Development
Factor #1 Game Script
Some games are designed to be time killers, while others may have a story. Time-killers are considerably cheaper to produce, while narrative-based games have a number of levels, locations, and character descriptions to gain complexity. Developing a mobile game involves a variation of the cost of developing a mobile game, resting whether a game is simple to complex.
Why do you need a scenario and pay extra for it? To retain and engage users in the game. The game script has a complex structure of levels, locations, and character descriptions, in-game language, cutscenes, audio tracks, and other elements. Your mobile game's logic becomes more complex as more levels are created. As mobile game development grows in scale, mobile game development costs increase proportionally.
Factor #2 Game Type
Mobile games come in a variety of genres. The genres influence the attractiveness and profits of mobile games, as well as their complexity and, consequently, game app development cost.
If we talk about the complexity of the game, we can distinguish the following genres:
Casual Games
Simple video games are usually uncomplicated shoot-em-ups or easy-peasy games that don't need much effort to play. These games usually use simple graphics. They are frequently used as time-killers.
Social Games
Social games are hosted on social networks and are similar to browser games. They are only available to users of the social network in which they are deployed (e.g., Facebook).
Intermediate-Level Games
Unlike simple games, Intermediate-level games feature characters, levels, and enhanced visuals compared to simple games. Examples of such games are Angry Birds and Subway Surfers.
Business Game Applications
Mobile games for business can serve two purposes:
- Supplementing team-building outreach
- Accomplishing the goal of a marketing campaign
In today's competitive environment, companies are taking advantage of mobile games as an in-house tool to build team bonding by boosting communication, encouraging creativity, and promoting a more fun and engaging work environment.
As part of marketing, corporate and SMB games can be a medium to bring unique branding to a company, become a lead generator and increase sales.
Distinctive factors of enterprise-level games:
- Multiplayer nature
- Story
- More complex graphics
- Animation
- Game levels
- Soundtracks
- Cross-platform compatibility
High-level Games
The name “high-level games” speaks for itself. They have complex graphics, a multi-level plot, more elaborate characters, soundtracks, etc.
Developing such games can demand a lot longer term and more resources. The crew toiling on producing the game is also wider. Consequently, the budget of mobile game creation goes up significantly. But if you manage to create a booming development and entice a wide audience, you have all the chances to gain a big payoff.
Factor #3 Game Design
Game design, UX/UI design, and animations are all important aspects of mobile games. Design is a very multi-level process, and it requires careful planning because it includes game levels, target audiences, gameplay, and game environments.
Games may be created in either 2D or 3D formats. If you wish to create a 3D game, the mobile game development cost will be greater than for 2D games.
Animations can either be in 3D or 2D. Likewise, 2D animations are less pricey than 3D ones. There is also a basic rule: the more animations there are, the higher the cost to make a mobile game.
Factor #4 Game Testing
Errors and bugs can be devastating to games as it facilitates user outflow. Who likes lagging and sluggish games? That's why testing is a go-to. Testing benefits to find bugs, crashes, and flaws at the point of creation. That way, developers can fix them before deployment.
The volume of testing is specified by the game's sophistication. The more testing is demanded, the higher the mobile game development cost.
Factor #5 Operating System
The range in the cost to make a mobile game for iOS or for Android is insignificant. So in this section, it is worth noting that a cross-platform game, i.e. a game running on both operating systems will be considerably more costly if analogized to native games.
Factor #6 Marketing
It is unlikely that a game will hit the market with unprecedented success on its own. Back up your flawless development with a good marketing program, and then the world will see your game.
Any marketing campaign should be enclosed in the mobile game development budget. But the payoff will be many times greater if you earn visibility and high ranking in the Stores.
