Industry insight
An indie budget should protect the core loop first, then art direction, content, testing, store preparation, marketing assets, and post-launch support.
An indie budget should protect the core loop first, then art direction, content, testing, store preparation, marketing assets, and post-launch support.
Use a focused prototype to test the part of the game that is hardest to explain or most likely to fail.
Levels, characters, animation, narrative, and audio can grow faster than engineering costs.
Build a contingency for rework, platform changes, localisation, QA, and launch issues.
Related reading
Related guides connect the decision to project ranges and implementation details.
FAQ
Keep the article in context when building a real brief.
No. They are planning references and need to be tested against a written scope and current vendor quote.
Start with the user, business goal, essential product loop, platforms, quality target, and the main risk.
The amount depends on uncertainty, but every project should reserve budget for rework, testing, launch issues, and post-launch changes.
Check assumptions, exclusions, team roles, dependencies, ownership, milestones, acceptance, and support.