The decision to build an Augmented Reality game similar to Pokémon Go is only the beginning. To be particular, the main decision-making step begins when you assign financial and human resources for the project, decide on technical and marketing budgets, create a technology stack, brainstorm platforms and devices, and estimate the overall AR game production cost. This article discusses the elements that influence your costs and how to maximize, if not reduce, the cost of your AR game project.
A Quick Cost Breakdown of AR Game Development
● A small AR game with basic augmented functions and aesthetic aspects costs $50,000 to $60,000.
●A simple AR game in the arcade, racing, and sports genres costs between $60,000 and $80,000.
● A multi-featured augmented reality game with a great game concept and high-end UI and UX costs $85,000 to $120,000.
●A sophisticated augmented reality game with GPS and position detection costs between $120,000 and $200,000.
●An augmented reality game like Pokémon Go can cost more than $200,000 depending on capabilities such as location identification, GPS, and real-world simulations.
Factors Influencing the Cost of AR Game Development
1. Scope
The scope of an app encompasses practically everything an app will have and deliver. This comprises an app's functional performance as well as its technological architecture. Logically, the more the scope of your mobile app, the greater its cost.
According to experienced AR game developers, an app with a simple scope will undoubtedly target young adults, have excellent graphics, have minimal business value, and have two to four functions. AR developers design integrations and visual features in such games using augmented reality software development kits. These games are less expensive in terms of app development budget because they require less time and effort to produce.
Building on the app scope concept, feature-rich augmented reality games provide high-end business value and target an adult audience. These games are typically classified as action, science fiction, story, or roleplaying. Consider Jurassic World, Army of Robots, Pokémon Go, The Walking Dead and Zombies, Run, which all include one or more highly technical components in their architecture: location-based marker-less AR apps, GPS, and gorgeous game design and surroundings. These complex augmented reality games have a significant development cost due to their extremely broad app scope.
From a logical aspect, the AR game development cost centers and components you will read about ahead are either portions, subparts, or directly or indirectly related to the scope of your AR game app.
2. Game Design - User Interface and User Experience
Another critical stage in the game production process is game design. Graphic-intensive games, particularly action games, war and story games, science fiction and robotics games, and natural-themed AR games, necessitate a higher design budget. As a result, more complex games with great 3D visuals should cost more.
For example, game designs often account for 25 - 30% of the total AR game development cost.
A typical game development business approaches game concepts in one of two ways:
The first and most typical option is to hire a specialist game designer to work on the creative aspects of your AR game project.
Second, they may have a specialized creative department with designers that handle all app projects, including your game.
In any event, as a client entrepreneur or startup, you can request the following deliverables from your game design and development team:
● Startup prototyping is useful if you require a good visual working model to pitch to investors for investment.
● Game design document: this relates the game's graphical side to its technological architecture, particularly the back-end.
● Game app wireframes are the first rough sketches of the app interface that outline the user path.
● Game UI and UX diagrams: these are the game's user interface and user experience displays. The front-end is typically the foundation of these designs.
● Logos, buttons, and icons are examples of game branding elements.
● Game character and environment designs are components of the overall game concept. These characters and locations are then gamified, becoming movements, transitions, and animations.
● Unless otherwise indicated in your contract or included in your pre-discovery free consultation stage, most companies charge separate hourly charges for the compilation of such deliverables.
3. Game Characteristics
A game, like any other mobile app, is dependent on its features to provide a fluid user experience. The more features there are, the greater the price.
The following are the top ten AR game features:
●A built-in camera, location recognition, and GPS support are all included.
●There are several sign-up options, including guest signup, Facebook signup, and Instagram sign up.
● Notifications through push.
● Support for single and multi-player modes.
● In-game and notification settings can be customized.
● Sharing and integrating social media.
● Offline and dark modes.
● Screen Time metrics and suggestions.
● Subtitles and multilingual support are available.
● There are numerous online payment alternatives.
●You can include as many or as few game features as you want. Understand that features have a direct impact on the user experience, and that this is what may make or break your app.
4. Tools and Technologies for AR Integration
AR game creators use complex tools and a technology stack to create their games. Traditional app development technologies such as programming languages and frameworks, databases, and cloud services are included. Furthermore, AR game development necessitates the use of AR-supporting software development toolkits such as MAXST, Wikitude, and Vuforia. The majority of these software development toolkits and frameworks are premium, with varying pricing options.
5. API Integrations
Some apps share information and features with third-party apps. Marketplace apps, for example, make advantage of the digital payment services PayPal and Square. Other apps, such as Google Maps and Google Places, make advantage of location APIs. The majority of these APIs are either free to use for a limited time or offer premium packages.
Simple augmented reality games typically do not require integration with other third-party apps. They rarely process or exchange third-party data.
Advanced augmented reality games, such as Pokémon Go, Zombies, Run, Walking Dead, and Five Nights at Freddy's, use various payment models and can be combined with other healthcare apps.
Why, despite the cost, do businesses choose AR game development?
Despite the high expenses of AR game production, an increasing number of gaming startups are investing in these games. And there are various good grounds for such a corporate decision:
● Lucrativeness
Augmented reality is no longer a work in progress, but now a highly profitable tech domain with limitless prospects for both startups and existing organizations. Apps, particularly games with AR support, have a high user acceptance rate, which means that entrepreneurs can pick from a range of monetization schemes and make a predetermined number of profits in their first three years. Popular augmented reality games, such as Pokémon Go, and augmented reality apps, such as Snapchat and AR Zone, have already had millions of downloads.
● Advantage in the marketplace
The corporate world, particularly the global business ecosystem, has already seen some of its revolutionary effects in several areas. In other words, investing in a future-proof product such as an AR game or mobile app is the key to monetizing through early adoption.
● Scalability
Five Nights at Freddy's and other successful games continue to produce new game episodes. This demonstrates that AR games, like other excellent video game concepts, are both sustainable (when properly marketed) and scalable.
How to Reduce AR Game Development Costs
To begin with, AR game production is expensive. However, with a few changes, a solid business plan, and efficient project management, you may optimize the prices to fit your budget. Here are six methods to keep under your budget:
1. Business Strategy
Before approaching a game development company, create a complete business strategy. Close estimates of your app development budget, current cashflows, funding sources, preferred monetization models, rough sketch of features, the look and feel of your end-product, project completion and launching timelines, nature and demographics of target audience, projected revenues, and expected number of downloads should all be included in your business plan. Include the platform and devices for which you intend to launch the game, as well as the tools and technological stack you intend to use.
2. Create a prototype
Creating a prototype will incur more costs, but it will save time, energy, and money in the long run. This is due to the fact that most designers and developers will utilize a clickable prototype to understand the user journey and will base your AR game around it. As a result, having a prototype as a roadmap for development activity will assist in managing effort in the specified number of hours. These hours have a direct impact on AR game development costs, and managing them means you are directly minimizing the costs.
3. Development Across Platforms
Frameworks like React Native and Flutter are commonly used by cross-platform app development companies. Using Flutter or React native app development can greatly cut development time and effort. Indeed, as previously stated, choosing Flutter app development allows you to receive two apps for the price of one. You can test in real time and update fixes in seconds with hot reloading.
4. MVP
MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, is a simple version of any digital product, solution, or SaaS that only has fundamental elements to serve the app's main function. It is smaller in scope and magnitude, and thus less expensive. Creating an MVP before releasing a feature-heavy final AR game will provide numerous benefits. Low development costs, more funding opportunities, and testing and upgrading facilities are two of them. You can enter the market with an MVP or seek investors, then assess customer response and acceptability and add more complex features based on market need.
5. Employment Locations
In addition to knowledge and expertise, development rates reflect a region's local tax arrangements. As a result, a developer from the United States, say Austin or Miami, will provide more competitive bids than a developer from Europe, specifically the United Kingdom.
6. Thorough Testing And Real User Feedback
Battle-testing your app for performance, user experience, and technological architecture will save you money that you may require after launch. Similarly, soliciting input from real users in your target group will assist you in better understanding demand patterns for your AR game. In fact, if you receive a common negative review that your development team may have overlooked, you can address it ahead of time.
The Last Wise Words
AR development provides future-proof monetization for new tech entrepreneurs and game firms. Given this, assessing the cost of AR game creation before taking the plunge is a wise business decision. And if you've already grasped the cost breakdown and budget optimization methods, you're more than ready to tackle the next step, which is to begin working on your AR game with an A-team that will transform your idea into a successful digital reality.
