How long does it take to develop a mobile game? Unfortunately, the estimate of time needed for mobile game development is never clear-cut. Calculating the time heavily depends on the development team’s size, expertise, the game’s volume, genre, complexity, and numerous other factors.
After reading this article, you’ll get at least a rough idea of how much time is required to create a mobile game according to its type, genre, and complexity. Please note that our estimates are based on game development teams’ average skills worldwide.
Mobile Game Development Process
Before we dive into the unveiling of the typical amount of time to create a mobile game, we need to understand the process of game development itself. In general, mobile game development companies divide it into six stages:
1. Concept and Ideation
The team brainstorms ideas for the game, considering gameplay mechanics, genre, art style, and target audience. They conduct market research to identify trends, analyze competitors, and calculate potential opportunities. Next, they select the best concept and create a game design document sketching out the game’s core features, gameplay flow, and overall vision.
2. Pre-Production
The team creates a comprehensive game design, including level layouts, character designs, and UI mock-ups. They outline technical requirements, such as platform compatibility and required software tools. Then, the team determines how long it will take to make the mobile game, allocates resources, and sets development milestones.
3. Development and Art Production
The actual game development process begins when programmers and artists work collaboratively to bring the game to life. Programmers code the game mechanics, implement user interfaces, and handle in-game systems. Artists create 2D or 3D assets, design environments and characters, and develop visual effects to match the game’s aesthetic.
4. Testing and Quality Assurance
Testing is essential to identify and fix bugs, glitches, and performance issues. QA testers provide comprehensive feedback and report any problems encountered. The team performs A/B testing to gather valuable insights from a wider audience and further refine the game.
5. Deployment and Launch
The polished game is now ready for deployment to app stores or online platforms. The game development team ensures that all requirements are met for a smooth launch. The marketing team ramps up its efforts to build awareness and grasp player attention.
6. Post-Launch Maintenance
After the release, the development team can provide gaming operational management services, meaning the implementation of regular updates, bug fixes, and improvements. Specialists monitor player feedback, analyze game metrics, and introduce new features to keep the game engaging and up-to-date.
Average Time to Develop a Mobile Game
The development time differs for particular game types and genres. It can take a few months to a couple of years for a game development team to build a mobile game.
Let’s start with clarifying how long it takes to create a mobile game depending on its type – 2D and 3D.
How much time is required to create a 2D mobile game? Creating a simple 2D game like a balloon popping can take a few weeks. The development time for bigger 2D games varies between six months to a year and more.
How long does it take to build a 3D mobile game? Since 3D games are generally more complex than 2D ones, a small 3D title can take up to half a year to complete, whereas large-scale 3D games require bigger timeframes – 1 to 3+ years.
Let’s make estimates more specific by diving into the game genres. This way, according to the average time to develop a mobile game, we can point out three categories:
Quick Development
This category includes puzzles, casual/hyper-casual games, 2D platformers, slot games, and the ones alike. They are distinguished by brief play sessions and gameplay that don’t alter much over time. Such titles take just several months to complete.
Helix Jump, a hyper-casual game with a bouncing ball descending through a tower-like structure with multiple platforms, was built in eight weeks.
Medium Development
This category encompasses 3D action games, strategies, sports simulators, racing, and adventure titles. These games require more complicated decision-making processes, and their looks are much more varied. So, how long does it take for such mobile games to be developed? On average, developers spend 18 months building titles of this complexity.
F1 Clash, a racing game that lets players participate in real-time races and build their own F1 racing teams, took over a year to develop.
The development company of MMA Manager, a game about building an MMA gym and training fighters, has calculated 7 to 8 months spent on development. The fact that, despite such a short development time, we classified this title as a medium-development one shows this company’s ability to build games fast without compromising quality. The typical amount of time to create such a mobile game would be approximately one year.
Long Development
AA and AAA projects like FPS, RPG, MMORPG, and Battle Royale mobile games take the longest to build. Large visual requirements, an abundance of features, broad worlds, and player grouping enabling frequently influence their difficulty. Such projects have lengthy timeframes – 2+ years.
Developers of Brawl Stars, a multiplayer shooter game with exclusive game modes and real-time matches, devoted 4 years to the development process.
Guild of Guardians, a new blockchain-based, play-to-earn strategy that allows players to train powerful heroes known as “Guardians,” form guilds, and compete with rivals for real rewards, took 1.5 to 2 years to create.
Conclusion
As you can see, estimating how long it will take to create a mobile game is not a piece of cake. However, with careful planning and a dedicated team, the journey of mobile game development can be both rewarding and exhilarating. If you’re considering developing a mobile game, we highly recommend turning to Stepico, a mobile game development company with more than nine years of experience crafting games. Their expert team has a proven track record of delivering top-notch solutions under tight deadlines.
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