Playing UNO is a tradition in many households and family gatherings. It is one of the simple card games that has managed to entertain people of all ages from children to older adults.
The rules of this game are pretty simple and it can be played by 2 to 7 members. The very popular card game came to be available as a video game and it was played by millions of people around the globe.
Rules of the UNO video game are mostly similar to the physical card game. Along the way, many versions of UNO games were released by game developers with slight variations in the themes, rules, and gameplay mechanics.
The UNO game was first invented by Merle Robbins in the year 1971 and it was created based on another card game ‘Crazy Eight’. He created the game to play with his family and friends.
Later on, the realization hit him that he had created something unique, and decided to sell the game. The game became highly successful among the people.
Following that, Merle Robbins sold the game for $50,000 dollars and 10 percent royalty per game sales to Robert Tezak and his friends. A few years down the line, Mattel bought UNO games and since then the game has become very popular around the world and is enjoyed by millions of people.
The video game version of our favorite card game was released on Xbox 360 in 2006. That was later made available on multiple gaming platforms like Google Play Store, Apple Store, Steam, Nintendo, and other such platforms.
Typically it takes nearly 2 – 3 months to develop a UNO game with basic features. With more complicated features, the game development time can exceed from 6 months to 1 year.
To build a casual UNO card game you will need a small development team of around 4 to 7 game developers including game designers, game artists, testers, and programmers.
Largely when we compare the game development cost of card games, the cost to develop a UNO game is much less.
A simple UNO game with basic features such as simple game mechanics, and single-player mode will cost somewhere around $20,000 to $30,000. When you incorporate additional features like high-quality graphics and animations will increase the cost from $50,000 to $80,000 or more.
Besides that, if you are adding multiplayer functionality (both online and offline), you might need to spend $15,000 to $30,000 to configure the hardware infrastructure and networking capabilities.
Furthermore, there are many other factors that influence the game development cost of UNO games which we will see below.
UNO game development costs can vary greatly depending on the additional features you add to the game. Simple game mechanics, standard rules, and single-player mode are the basic features of a UNO game. Aside from that there are many additional features that help to make the game more interesting and increase user engagement.
The additional features of the UNO game include
Adding these additional features to the game will impact the cost of UNO game development as you will need advanced tools and hardware infrastructure to enable them.
The development cost varies depending on the location of the game development studio. If the game development studio you are hiring is located in a tier-1 city, then it costs more when compared to tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This is because the cost of living is high in tier-1 cities which raises the staffing cost.
Besides that, if you are making a game in India, it would cost a lot less than making a game in the USA or UK. Not only the staffing cost, the tools, testing, and other services pricing will differ a lot based on the company location. With the rise in inflation, the cost of game development services and other resources tends to increase depending on the location of the game development studio.
The team size and experience of the game developer play an important role in determining the UNO game development cost. In case you are hiring an experienced game developer, then you are required to pay more.
To develop a casual UNO game you would need a team of 5 to 6. A small game development team consists of a game designer, game artist, programmer, and game tester. Consider the game developers are working 8 hours a day for three months (say) to develop the game. The total average salary of a team consisting of 4 to 5 game developers per month is approximately $15,000 to $20,000. When we calculate it for three months, then the game development cost alone will be $45,000 to $60,000.
In some instances, when there is a limited time and a big target to achieve, to speed up the game development process additional human resources are hired — which will increase the staffing cost.
When it comes to game testing, most companies follow the 10% rule, where 10% of the total game budget is spent on QA testing.
Game testing begins when the first few lines of code are written, where it is tested to check if the game is playable. There are many types of tests such as functional test, regression test, performance test, playtest, usability test, ad hoc test, load test, and compatibility test.
Game testing methods and processes differ based on the gaming platforms. When you take mobile devices they have smaller screen sizes, touchscreen interfaces, and different storage capacities, whereas PCs have larger screen sizes, high-resolution, OS and software configurations. So the game testing of mobile game apps will be easier when compared to PC apps.
Game marketing makes your game visible to the audience. Think about it. There are thousands of similar games in the app stores. Why would people choose your game when there are so many?
Devising a brilliant marketing strategy can help you with that. They help to reach the right audience for your game.
The optimal amount for game marketing could be 15 — 25% of the total game budget. For example, if you are spending $20,000 to make a UNO game, then you need to spend $5000 or more to advertise the game.
Advertising is just one way of marketing. Apart from that, there are many other marketing tactics such as in-game marketing, marketing campaigns, influencer marketing, etc.,
Licensing and compliance with the laws and regulations are one of the most important hidden cost factors for game developers. Commonly everyone knows copyright licensing and IP rights in a video game. Apart from that, there are others such as platform licensing, music licensing, and game engine licensing.
Game insurance is a relatively new concept in the gaming industry. It protects you from any mistakes you make, your company, copyrights, and even your employees from any legal action. There are many types of insurance such as general liability insurance, cyber security insurance, employee insurance, errors and omissions, public and product liability, and many more.
You can directly acquire the insurance or hire an insurance broker and pay them to handle the insurance matters.
Gaming platforms also play an important part in determining the game development cost of UNO games. If you are creating a game for mobile applications, you need to integrate some of the mobile-specific features such as touch screen interface, UX design, and less complicated game mechanics. On the other hand, for PC game applications you need to integrate some features like large screen size, modding, specific hardware, and OS configurations.
Despite these features, you need to integrate cross-platform compatibility which in other words means ensuring a seamless user experience for players across various platforms.
This cost will vary depending on the platform you make the game application for.
Aside from that, there are platform registration charges and service charges that you need to pay for game distribution platforms like Apple Store and Google Play Store to distribute your games on their platforms.
In summary, UNO game development costs can range somewhere around $20k to $80k depending on various cost factors including the location, team size, marketing, testing, licensing, and insurance. When you take into account all the additional features you add to the game, the cost can go higher than $100k.
Reach out to Juego Studios. We are a leading game development company with many years of experience in developing games for various platforms including Android, iOS, PC, and consoles. Our team consists of a talented bunch of game developers, artists, animators, and testers who have worked on 500+ successful projects in multiple game genres including strategy games, puzzle games, board games, fighting games, and shooting games.
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