[casual_games] How many hours does a programmer need...

[Allan Simonsen]

You should ask the programmer, then multiply that
answer by somewhere between 2x and 4x. Programmers are
boundless optimists (often camuflaged by a thin layer
of world-wary cynisism), and have a habit of
generously  underestimating task duration. This goes
double if it's a part-time job, since The Real World
keeps intruding.

Having said that, 3 women cannot have 1 baby in 3
months; unless you can really split up the work,
throwing more manpower at it doesn't solve the
problem.

This is especially important when looking at remote
work, since the Command and Control for coordinating
more programmers is going to become a major issue. If
you're lucky, they'll motivate each other to work far
beyond the 7-10 hours they commited. If you're not,
the whole thing will deteriorate into a grumbling mess
about design-patterns, who's to blame for what bugs,
and stalled code.

Allan Simonsen

--- Lucas Meijer <lucas at mach8.nl> wrote:

> You should ask the programmer, not a bunch of people
> who have no idea 
> how much
> time it would take the same guy to change a
> lightbulb.
> 
> Bye, Lucas
> > How many hours does a programmer need per week to
> finish a game with a
> > dev time of 6-8 months?
> >   
> >   I've been talking to some programmers about a
> game I want to make and
> > been asking them the hours they could spare if
> they did it on the side. 
> > I've been getting answers ranging from 4-5 up to
> 7-10 hours a week.
> >   
> >   I was just curious how past developers who
> worked with people who did
> > it on the side fared.  Can I compensate by having
> more than one
> > programmer?  Because as far as I can tell from
> working with them the more
> > programmers on a piece of code, the more muddled
> up it gets.
> >   
> >   Just to give you guys an idea, the game would be
> about as complex as
> > diner dash, or a little more than that. 
> >
> >
>
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