Having a solid budget for a start-up indie game studio is critical. A clear budget ensures that you spend wisely and do not exceed the funds available. By planning out your expenses, both in the short and long term, you can ensure your income will cover both one-time purchases and ongoing costs.
This budget does not differentiate between one-time expenses and yearly renewal costs unless noted.
Prices are subject to change. Taxes, fees, and currency exchange rates vary by location.
- Business License : $120
- Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) formation : $200
- Personal Salary : $50,000 – $200,000+ ($125,000+ is the goal, after all other expenses)
- Health Insurance (family of 3) : $15,000 – $19,000
- Dental Insurance (family of 3) : $1,200 – $2,000
- Vision Insurance (family of 3) : $400 – $600
- Internet : $1,000 – $2,000
- Online Backup (CrashPlan Pro) : $100
- Development PC : $3,500 – $6,000
- Meta Quest : $600
- Xbox & accessories : $600
- 3rd Party Assets
- Art : $2,500 – $10,000
- SFX : $250 – $500
- Music : $250 – $500
- Plug-ins / Code modules : $2,500
- Software
- 3ds Max : $1,875 (or use Blender : Free (but not as feature rich yet))
- Maya : $1,875 (instead of 3ds Max, or use Blender)
- Articy:draft X : $80 (free version is great for starting (narrative design for interactive projects))
- Unity : $0
- Unreal Engine : $0
- Daz3d : $0
- Reallusion Character Creator Bundle : $1,400 (CC4, Headshot 2, SkinGen 4, Hair & Beards)
- Cascadeur : $450 (animation)
- Errant Photon : $300 (procedural content generation for Unreal Engine (landscape, biomes, paths)
- World Machine : $130 (indie) – $325 (pro) (procedural landscape generation)
- World Creator : $160 (casual) – $320 (pro) (procedural landscape generation)
- Adobe Substance 3D Collection : $600
- Adobe Photoshop : $300 (or use Gimp)
- Gimp : $0 (instead of Photoshop)
- Source Code Control
- Microsoft Azure DevOps Repo : $0 (free with unlimited file counts or sizes)
- GitKraken Pro : $108 (or use GitHub Desktop or Sourcetree : $0)
- Generative AI
- OpenAI ChatGPT Plus : $240
- OpenAI API : $250 (cost based on usage, will ramp up over time, current budget is generous)
- Convai : $180 (Indie Dev level, will ramp up with more usage (AI powered characters with in-game interactions & voice over)
- DeepL : $110 (AI driven localization (text translation between multiple languages))
- Xbox Marketplace (ID@Xbox) Publishing : $0 – $100 (one-time fee)
- Apple App Store Publishing : $100
- Google Play Store Publishing : $25 (still a one-time fee?)
* Not identified at this time
* Not identified at this time
* No additional staff. Extra labor will be contracted. This avoids employment-related expenses.
- Contract staff : $0 – $50,000
- Localization : $0 (using AI / machine localization) – $5,000
- Unreal Sensei Masterclass (Unreal Engine) : $500
- Gamedev.tv Lifetime Membership : $400 (almost always on sale; $8,700 regular price. https://www.gamedev.tv/bundles/lifetime-membership)
- LinkedIn Learning : $250
- Internation Game Developers Association (IGDA) Membership : $60
- Indie Game Developer Network Membership : $100
- Game Developers Conference (GDC) : $500 – $2,500 (+ $2,000 for travel expenses)
- Unreal Fest (Unreal Engine Conference) : $550 (+ $2,000 for travel expenses)
- Unite (Unity Conference) : $??? (+ $3,000 for travel expenses (usually held in Europe, increasing travel cost for U.S.)