Finances and Requirements of Games Development

Finances of Games Development

Hardware:

Computers:

Windows Computers are most often used, but you can also use Linux and Macs. For any problems that may occur, a PC or Dev Kit is needed to check on them.

Peripherals:

If you are to make a game for iOS, then will need to have all the iOS products, only to check to see if they all work correctly. Controllers are also going to be needed so you can test it on a           Dev Kit.

Dev Kits:

Before you publish a game, you must test your game on a Dev kit, just to make sure that the game works correctly and no glitches or crashes occur. To be able to get a Dev kit for the Xbox, you have to go through a long process for it to be free. A Dev kit for the PSN usually costs somewhere around £2,500.

Software:

Unreal Development Kit (UDK):

PC Hardware Requirements (Minimum):

Windows XP SP3 (32-bit only), Windows Vista, or Windows 7, 2.0+ GHz processor, 2 GB system RAM, SM3-compatible video card, 3 GB free hard drive space

PC Hardware Requirements (Recommended):

Windows 7 64-bit, 2.0+ GHz multi-core processor, 8 GB System RAM, NVIDIA 8000 series or higher graphics card, Plenty of HDD space

DX11 Development (Minimum):

Windows Vista or Windows 7, 2.0+ GHz processor, 2 GB system RAM, DX11 Graphics Card: (Nvidia: 400 series or above, ATI: 5000 series or above), 3 GB Free hard drive space

UDK is free

Unity:

Requirements for Development:

OS: Windows XP SP2+, 7 SP1+, 8, 10; Mac OS X 10.8+. Windows Vista is not supported; and server versions of Windows & OS X are not tested.

GPU: Graphics card with DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities. Anything made since 2004 should work.

iOS: Mac computer running minimum OS X 10.9.4 version and Xcode 6.x.

Android: Android SDK and Java Development Kit (JDK).

Windows 8/8.1 Store Apps / Windows Phone 8/8.1: 64 bit Windows 8.1 Pro and Visual Studio 2013 Update 2+.

WebGL: Mac OS X 10.8+ or Windows 7 SP1+ (64-bit editor only)

Requirements for Running Unity Games:

Desktop: (OS: Windows XP+, Mac OS X 10.7+, Ubuntu 12.04+, SteamOS+, Graphics card: DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities; generally everything made since 2004 should work., CPU: SSE2 instruction set support., Web player supports IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and others.)

iOS: requires iOS 6.0 or later.

Android: OS 2.3.1 or later; ARMv7 (Cortex) CPU or Atom CPU; OpenGL ES 2.0 or later.

WebGL: Desktop version of Firefox, Chrome or Safari

Windows Phone: 8 (available but deprecated for 5.2), 8.1 or later

Windows Store Apps: 8 (available but deprecated for 5.2), 8.1 or later

Unity is free to use

Game Maker:

System Requirements for Game Maker:

Game Maker: Studio (Program):

Windows XP or above, 512MB RAM, 128MB graphics, Screen resolution of 1024x600, Internet connection for some features

Games on Windows:

Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8, 512MB RAM, 128MB graphics

Games on Windows 8:

Windows 8, 512MB RAM, 128 MB graphics

Games on Mac OS X:

Mac OS X computer required for export, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, 1GB RAM

Games on Ubuntu:

GameMaker: Studio Ubuntu export module or Master Collection, Computer running Ubuntu required for export, Ubuntu 14 or above, OpenGL-capable graphics card with valid driver, 512MB RAM

Games on iOS:

GameMaker: Studio iOS export module or Master Collection, Mac OS X computer required for export, iOS 5.0 or above, 3^rd-gen iPod Touch or iPhone 3GS and above

Games on Android:

GameMaker: Studio Android export module or Master Collection, Android phone or tablet, Android 2.3 and above

Games on Windows Phone 8:

GameMaker: Studio Windows Phone 8 export module or Master Collection, Windows Phone 8 SDK required for export, Windows Phone 8 device

Games on HTML5:

GameMaker: Studio HTML5 export module or Master Collection, HTML5-compatible browser with canvas support

Most of the devices cost around $149.99. Some devices go up to 299.99

Maya:

Requirements:

Microsoft® Windows® 7 (SP1) and Windows® 8.1 Professional operating system

Apple® Mac OS® X 10.9.5 and 10.10.x operating system

Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 6.5 WS operating system

CentOS 6.5 Linux operating system

Browser: Autodesk recommends the latest version of the following web browsers for access to online supplemental content:

Apple® Safari® web browser

Google Chrome™ web browser

Microsoft® Internet Explorer® web browser

Mozilla Firefox® web browser

Hardware:

CPU: 64-bit Intel® or AMD® multi-core processor

Ram: 4 GB of RAM (8GB recommended)

Disk Space: 4GB of free disk space for the install

Pointing Device: Three-button mouse

Maya costs £97 per month

Publishing:

Steam Greenlight:

To publish a game using Steam Greenlight, you would have to pay £70. Also, you must agree to the terms and conditions of the game you want to publish with them, like, you can’t publish anything that may offend certain people etc.

ID@Xbox:

Indie games will probably be around $5000 to publish with Xbox. But, writing a game and sending it forward to Microsoft might help you by putting on the store for a certain amount of money.

PSN:

To be able to publish as game, you need to be working for a company, or else they will not accept your request. If you do, and they like the idea, then they might consider putting it on one of their devices. They will be the ones to set a fee, and they may or may not help you with the costs. They will also help advertise your game.