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"Skeleton Girl" developer explained 1.3 million roles of R & D costs!

2025-01-27 12:06:32|Myriagame |source：minecraft skins

Maybe most players have no knowledge of the research and development cost of a game. Who can think of the role R & D cost of a fighting game actually requires more than 1.3 million yuan! This is the 2D fighting game "Skullgirls" developer Reverge LabsThe company said in person, so players are playing and cherished!

"Skeleton Girl" developer explained research and development costs:

The research and development of the "Skeleton Girl" project has not been smooth. The first publisher signed a lawsuit was caused by the funding issue, which caused the initial development team to dissolve due to the lack of funds., That is, today's Lab Zero Games, in order to launch continuous content updates for the game, the company launched help from fans on the crowdfunding website, but the crowdfunding activities are not smooth because some things far exceed the players' imagination.Although the price of the game is only $ 14.99, Lab Zero's fundraising target set by the new character Squigly is 150,000 US dollars (980,000 yuan), which makes many people understand.Essence

However, the event was still very successful at that time. On the first day, it received $ 218,000. Shortly after the crowdfunding event, Lab Zero Games Studio CEO Peter Bartholow explained in detail the game development problem.Among them, the gap between the cost of gaming research and development and the truth of the game has finally come out of stones. He said that the real R & D expenses of each playable role are between US $ 20 and 250,000 (RMB 1300.6 million).

A role is 150,000 US dollars to cause controversy: the actual price is more than $ 200,000 or more

For an animated 2D fighting game, the first game "Skeleton Girl" of Reverge Labs (ie Lab Zero) has great difficulties in itself.Most developers are unwilling to make such games. In addition, the previous oolong with the publisher Autumn Games. The research and development process of this 8 -person team can be said to be twists and turns.But BARTHOLOW said that in the end, it was completely because of the support of fans. "We have the best fans in the world."

So after experiencing unsuccessful cooperation with the first publisher, Lab Zero decided to continue the previous research and development plan and launch a new character Squigly.The actions are unique.However, funds have become the biggest problem in the company. Although Autumn Games is very willing to support the continued research and development of "Skeleton Girl", due to the problem of the fund chain, the budget of this project is again stretched (previously due to lack of funds, the R & D team disintegrates)EssenceWhat is even more headache is that conceptual art has revealed to fans, so the team has to stop research and development to consider the issue of fundraising.At the 2013 EVO Fighting Game Championship, fans raised $ 78,000 in funds, but this is still a lot of money.

When the Indiegogo crowdfunding activity was launched, some overseas media reported that the game raised $ 150,000 in R & D costs for each new role. At that time, a commentator said, "Oh my God, it is too exaggerated to make a role of $ 150,000.I have seen a lot of complete project research and development costs so expensive. "Another reader said," Just a character is so expensive ... Why do a game character do more expensive than my house? "

But BARTHOLOW said, "We heard that one role of" Street Fighter 4 "exceeds $ 1 million. As a comparison, the core (playable) character of" Skeleton Girl "is between 20-250,000 US dollars.We do not exaggerate that this is quite cheap, especially considering that the number of animations we increase to characters can be calculated, and people who have done such games can testify. "$ 150,000 is because eight members actively cut their salary, hoping to give new characters a chance to make it.He said, "We can do this because everyone voluntarily reduces salaries. We have already dropped once when we were laid off. The outsourcing we were looking for was very cost -effective, so we could achieve $ 150,000. If there is no additional expenses, a role can even be reduced to $ 90,000 (the team does not get wages), but this does not include QA test fees, handling fees, and the cost of making physical items and rewards.Where is it?

However, at least 150,000 US dollars of fundraising activities are special reasons, because Lab Zero needs so much funds.Generally speaking, the target funds required by crowdfunding activities are generally more than half of the total amount. This is the psychological effect of crowdfunding. If there are many people support, it is easy to exceed the funding target, and even get and even get the harmony.Actual research and development costs close to funds.In order to explain the specific research and development costs to fans, the "Skeleton Girl" team detailed research and development costs, hoping to persuade players and tell them the truth about the development cost of the game:

$ 48,000 salary expenses: 10 weeks of salary for 8 developers (it is relatively low in Europe and the United States)

$ 30,000: Animation and Clean-UP outsourcing cost

$ 4000: voice recording cost

$ 2000: HIT-BOX outsourcing cost

$ 5,000: audio implantation outsourcing cost

$ 20,000: QA Test

$ 10,000: first party certification

$ 10,500: Indiegogo and Payment processing fees

$ 20,500: Manufacturing and sending physical items awards

BARTHOLOW said, "We always want to keep the cost of R & D and transparent. We have always been the case for research and development. In fact, people know very little about game development. You think some people may know the truth, but in fact they know very little."

Only those who have been engaged in game research and development know how much the real cost is needed. Former CAPCOM consultant Seth Killian said, "I think many things in the game production process are actually much more expensive than most people think.The cost list is very brave. I can say that the development and implantation of an excellent fighting role is actually much higher than the other resources in the game. These characters are the combatants in the game.The character means a large number of complex resources. One of the most difficult problems is how to add new characters to other resources of the game, which is very time. "

People familiar with the matter are out of mind: Actually it is already a low calculation

According to people familiar with the matter, the 2D character animation is actually more expensive than 3D, and the main thing is because the required workload is very large.For example, the animation of each character requires 500 frames (here is just an example, the actual frame number of the "Skeleton Girl" role animation is unclear), then you must consider when you do the role animation budget for the 2D fighting game (playable).The time and materials of 1000 frames, and in the process, because you need to adapt to other resources of the entire game, you also need to re-make a lot of resources. If outsourcing, the hourly salary of these animated frame producers is $ 20-30In accordance with the resolution and complexity requirements of the game, everyone can do 4 frames of animation every day (for Sprite with a higher utilization rate), so the cost of research and development of SPRITES is between US $ 40,000 and 60,000, and it is necessaryConsidering that this takes time. During the completion of the outsourcing, you still have to pay salary, paying, online fees, insurance, etc., so the cost of art R & D alone is also off outside $ 90,000.

After doing everything, you have to do a balanced test in the game. This is not an easy job for fighting games, because the more difficult to do the balance of the game every time a combatant is added. In fact, competitive games are allYes, although "Skeleton Girl" has only 13 characters until now, it still takes a long time.Each studio has infrastructure costs, but if it is spread on everyone's head, it is assuming that no one is $ 10,000 per month (including a series of miscellaneous fees such as rent, insurance, etc.). This cost is different for many developers, butConsidering the cost of survival in the United States, this number is actually very willing.However, considering that the "Skeleton Girl" team is very short of money, we assume that the cost demand for each person to the studio is $ 7,500, even if there are only 5 people, then the studio will cost $ 37,500 a month. IfThe budget is 150,000 US dollars, so Lab Zero Games has only 2 months to make a new character's game balance. This is not exaggerated.

Moreover, the above numbers do not include the production of resources such as audio and UI, so $ 150,000 is actually the most conservative estimate.According to the quality and number of characters in the game, the research and development cost of "Skeleton Girl" is definitely more than $ 2 million. Considering that paying wages and operating companies for so long, this is not too much.Take 150,000 US dollars to do Squiggly, in fact, all people participating in research and development are holding wages lower than industry standards, because this is the same as that, each person's salary is only $ 600 a week. Considering that the team is in Los Angeles, soIn fact, it is very low.BARTHOLOW himself also said, "Our employees are basically (early) are facing financial difficulties," the company chose Indiegogo because the funds received by crowdfunding can be issued faster than Kickstarter to the developers.He said, "We put the character design goals on the crowdfunding page, hoping to get the support of fans."Because the game itself is very interesting, and the character designed by the studio is very distinctive, in the end "Skeleton Girl" raised $ 830,000 in Indiegogo. In order to give back to the support of the fans, Lab Zero decided to be within three months before the release of DLC.Provide new roles to all game buyers for free.

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