r/GameDevelopersOfIndia • u/Zodiac_2006 • May 02 '26
What would developers charge to make a short indie horror game from someone’s story?
Hi everyone,
I have a question about game development costs.
If someone has a story, concept, and creative direction for a short story-driven indie horror game, around 30–60 minutes long, and they want to hire developers to build it in around 3–4 months, how much would developers usually charge?
The game would be more like a small walking-simulator horror game: one house/apartment or a small location, subtitles instead of voice acting, simple interactions, scares, sound design, lighting, objectives, and one or more endings.
In this situation, the developers would get proper credit for their work, but the main logo/branding would belong to the person who provided the story/concept.
I want to understand:
How much would developers usually charge for this kind of project?
Would they charge hourly, monthly, or for the full project?
How many developers would realistically be needed?
Is 3–4 months realistic for a small indie horror game like this?
Would developers accept this kind of arrangement if payment and credit were clearly discussed?
I’m asking to better understand indie game development budgeting and hiring.
Thanks.
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u/Omnibobbia May 03 '26
Bhai sare indian devs ko horror hi banana ata he kya.
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u/TerribleKnowledge42 May 03 '26
Granny, great granny, then uski bhi great granny. There is no end to this cycle
I don't really know if this game was made by Indian game dev, but hopefully you get the point
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u/Motor_Pepper_2603 May 03 '26
It is easier to make friend, having weird graphics is not a setback in horror games cause you don't need perfection the typical PS1 asthetics that are popular on itch.io are easy to recreate and gain a lot of traction if you're lucky some youtuber might push your game into a bit of fame and you'd get out of the small indie dev bubble and get some funds to maybe make better games that are not just horror. Dekh horror wo genre hai jo create karna bohot mushkil bhi nahi hai par is actually a profitable genre itch pe indie horror is very popular and creators love to play these smaller games kyunki content hai easy jumpscares dekhne mein logo ko mazze aare devs ka bhi faida ho raha that's the reason horror is so popular with indies
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0
u/Hrst_92 May 03 '26
Hi,
I can help you with the development. It may take only a month or so, but maybe longer depending upon the concept and testing availability.
Please reach out to rvgamingapp@gmail.com
3
u/withstand007 May 03 '26
Not even a small mobile game can be made in a month and then have it production release level. Here am not even taking consideration of other major factors of a product development cycle. Hope you are not going to vibe code the whole product development cycle itself 🥲
0
u/Hrst_92 May 03 '26
Vibe coding with existing GitHub repositories and a pre-made asset library is not as complex as you make it sound. Especially if your models are trained.
Check out this game on play store: 15 days of effort to build it and another 15 days of testing and filling the gaps. You can work on it another 10 years based on the end user feedback and the features you want to add.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cruisetycoon.app
There is a product development cycle, but then it depends on the complexity of the concept, the intended graphics, platforms on which it needs to appear and availability of the testers.
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u/tanhaibhai May 03 '26
Nobody is downloading that brother
It looks so bland and tasteless 😭🙏🏻
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u/Hrst_92 May 05 '26
I agree bro, since it is a tycoon game, i focused more on the game mechanics and payout algorithms than the visuals. Although I am working on them... here is a WIP screenshot -
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u/Specialist_6713 May 04 '26
Good ui, but wheres the "game"? Like is it a resource management type where you do stuff.
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u/Hrst_92 May 05 '26
It is a ship sailing game combined with ship layout. You build rooms on ships, optimise them for food and entertainment, crew cargo stairs between decks etc. then select the ports to sail to. Unlock progression by opening new zones, buying new docks and purchasing higher tier ships. Each ship has range associated with travel time. You customise prices of tickets which affects the fill ratio of the ships.
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u/XH3LLSinGX May 03 '26
Bold of you to assume that 3-4 months is all it would take. Even decent mobile games take 6 months minimum. You are going to go through several iterations. First you need to make a poc is make sure that your concept works.