I own a small company that is trying to dive into the app world.
Say you want to make a iphone game that is backed by a website, it has:
- users with online profiles, leader boards, social search (find friends), message boards, and FB integration in the future
- over 20million users
- free app
- generate revenue from ads
What kind of work-force would you hire?
How many programmers and with which skills would you look for?
It really depends. First, do you have 20 million users on which to push this game or are you hoping for that much?
There's a lot to take into account, how complex is the game, in what timeframe do you want it done, how much resources do you have at your disposal? The question is do you really need full time developers or can you contract the work to freelancers and concentrate your employees on server maintenance, marketing, support etc once the game is complete.
Based on all of that, you could do with one or two very good developers, or a handfull of average ones. But an important thing to keep in mind are graphics. To have a really successful game you need good graphics, and for that you need talented graphics artists.
Skills also depend a lot on what the game is and what you want? Is it 3D? If so you'll need someone that's good with OpenGL. So on and so forth.
Saying that you want to develop a "game" isn't specific enough.
Is it a game of tic-tac-toe or world of warcraft? One of those takes a team of 1 and the other takes a team of at the very least 20 to probably over 100 (artists, programmers, level designers, testeres, etc, etc).
Oh sorry, I should have mentioned that this game is basic.
Think scrabble. Or any strategy board game: minimal graphics, but has stats behind it.
What I am really worried about is the server integration and developing a "social network" of our players.
I do expect 20 million downloaders since it will be free, but only a portion of that will sign up for an online account. The portion amount I can't predict but lets just say 10%.
Oh sorry, I should have mentioned that this game is basic.
Think scrabble. Or any strategy board game: minimal graphics, but has stats behind it.
What I am really worried about is the server integration and developing a "social network" of our players.
I do expect 20 million downloaders since it will be free, but only a portion of that will sign up for an online account. The portion amount I can't predict but lets just say 10%.
You shouldn't "expect" any amount of downloads. In the App Store, you can get millions, or you can be lucky to hit a thousand. Also, you'd be lucky if .5% of those users signup.
You can do it with 5-10 as long as they're intelligent.
You could do with two really, one developer and one designer. But again, depends on how much resources (time/money) you have. If you want it real quick, you'll need more.
20 million? That's like over 15% of all iOS devices out there! If you expect to be getting that big, you could as well go and invest as crazy, buy yourself a company which has already all the knowledge and resources you'll need.
a good word game that does what you describe may be done with a very good developer and a good designer, maybe in around 3 to 6 months working fulltime, if the persons are from US, UK, or similar first world countries, the dev cost may be around 10k USD monthly.. now getting such users will need an outstanding game as well as a significant marketing investment, which I have no idea what will cost that, but no cheap for sure.
a good word game that does what you describe may be done with a very good developer and a good designer, maybe in around 3 to 6 months working fulltime, if the persons are from US, UK, or similar first world countries, the dev cost may be around 10k USD monthly.. now getting such users will need an outstanding game as well as a significant marketing investment, which I have no idea what will cost that, but no cheap for sure.
Just keep in mind that Game Development Time != game marketing time. Once it's out there you'll still need the programmer & graphic designer to fix user issues and improve the game. Think more like one year before you may call it a success/failure.
Also if it's your first game, your chances of success are close to nil, so get ready for a long road. You're competing with people with 20 years of game design experience, don't expect that your brilliantness will outshine their experience.
Advice: How many employees would we need?
However, if the App is simple you should be able to do it with few people.
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