How much would programming a PHP text-based game cost? Roughly? I need to know so I know how much to save
How much would a place to sleep cost? Well... it depends on if you're talking the back seat of a car or a mansion. The answer to your question is: it all depends on what the game is going to do and how much detail is in it, right? Hence, you need to give us those details before someone can even guess at the answer. What I mean to say is... "Guess the number between 1 and 100", with an answer of either "You Win!" or "You Lose!" falls into the description of what you want. I can do that for you this afternoon for $10 if you like
Ive been building text based games since 1996 and have quite a few clients now that I continually do things for. With more detail i can better estimate what your expenses are going to cost. From graphics, to entirely full backend with full administration panel. some examples www.cartel-wars.com (less then a year old) www.trumobsters.com (less then a year old) 33,000 members www.absolute-clubbin.com (couple years old) www.pimpsnetwork.com (old one but never the less) These are some client sites. PM me with details what your looking for. I have solutions as little as 100 and as much as full custom scripts ranging above 20,000.00 huge range of possibility's there. So really need to be as specific as possible. T.J. www.tmg-corporation.com
I would have to say complex to very complex.. I don't want to give to many details because its an original idea. There will be options ( about 5 ) when you sign up. And each day there is a random event based on each option.. Like: You chose Option 3 for A: You die... Its random each day. And everyone in the whole game who chose option 3 for topic A dies... You would also have a main money earner and sub money earners. You pick which one and you receive certain bonuses based on what you pick Im trying to give details without giving much away.
You need to find a programmer you trust and share your idea entirely with him. Only then will that person know how long programming such a game will take and then be able to give you an estimate. Price estimates rely on the amount of hours it takes to program something. If you don't understand the functionality, how would you know how long it'll take to program the game?
I was just kind of looking for the average programming cost per hour on a game.. is it like $20 or $50?
The complexity of the game will tell whether you need an average programmer or an expert. Average programmers usually take $50 while experts could take as much as $100. However, experts are usually faster, so it won't take them as long. I would shoot for a fixed price for the entire project if I were you. If you don't, the cost could be substantial.
I suggest you hire someone from rentacoder.com. Coders can bid on your project and you can decide which one to hire.