Good idea to get a freelancer to finish my project?

Hey guys.

Just a bit of exposition: I'm working on a freemium card game app which will have online multiplayer matches, account registration and profiles, and a few pay-to-use aspects (card-back art and so forth). I plan on releasing it on the App Store and Google Play. I have created and assembled all of the graphics and sounds I need to create the app, and I have created a mock-up of the app from start to finish. I have no background in programming apart from a college course or two.

Now, I found C2 and I've been working on learning how to use it, and I'm getting the hang of it. I'm slowly turning my idea into an actual game that you can interact with.

However, I mentioned before that I will have: account registration/profiles, online matches, and paid-for content. I believe it will be very hard for me to get a grip on how to do that kind of thing, so I believe the wise option is to outsource those parts of the project.

So, basically my plan is to complete as much of the game as possible that I can do on my own, and then outsource the harder parts to a freelancer. This way, I shave off some of the work (and money), and the app will have the layout and look that I want. I can just drop it on someone's desk and say: "make the online thing, the registration, and the paid content work".

I do have a few questions though, to see if my plan is feasible:

1. Would my pool of labor be limited to people who are already familiar with C2? Could any old programming freelancer pick up my project and do what I need, or would I have to look for help specifically within this community?

2. How much would such a thing cost? How long should it take for the freelancer to complete his task?

3. Is there any big hole in my plan that I'm not seeing here? Like I said, I don't have a background in this type of thing, I'm kinda feeling my way through the dark here.

This ended up being pretty long. Sorry about that.

Thanks for any help!

I do have a few questions though, to see if my plan is feasible:

1. Would my pool of labor be limited to people who are already familiar with C2? Could any old programming freelancer pick up my project and do what I need, or would I have to look for help specifically within this community?

2. How much would such a thing cost? How long should it take for the freelancer to complete his task?

3. Is there any big hole in my plan that I'm not seeing here? Like I said, I don't have a background in this type of thing, I'm kinda feeling my way through the dark here.

This ended up being pretty long. Sorry about that.

Thanks for any help!

1. I would assume that you are best off with getting someone that knows C2 or at least have a fairly good understanding of it and then someone that knows how to work with web content in general, to avoid running into security problems with account information, buying content etc if you plan on having a website as well.

2. Well that's a difficult question to answer as the full scale of the game are not know, but only a rough overview. But wouldn't assume that its cheap.

3. I think its fine that you wonder about this. But if I were you I wouldn't spend to much time on this at the moment until your game is closer to being finished. Because as you work on it, you might get enough experience that you can actually make it yourself.

As a freelancer my honest opinion is that no, it's not likely to pay off. If you have a lot of money to spend and experience in the field combined with a fantastic and unique concept, then yes, the investment can pay off. Chances are much higher though that you will make nothing in return.

If you don't know exactly what you are doing (and by your own admission you don't), then I would only recommend hiring a freelancer if the project is one of passion and you are ready to see your investment lost for the sake of simply completing the game.

Online features are always more complicated then it seems, so it wouldn't be cheap. Cautiously I would expect costs in the high four digits, if not more. Unless you get a novice developer, which will reduce your chances of success even more.

Most likely you'll be better off doing it by yourself (reducing the scope if necessary) and consider it a learning experience. If you want to get into the business of financing games, then of course you can also take the investment as a learning experience. Just be prepared for it to be an expensive one.

An alternative would be to find another less experienced but talented developer to complete the project on revenue share basis. Of course the challenge with this is to convince a talented dev that your project is worth it. On the other hand, if you can't do that, it's also very unlikely to be a commercial success to begin with.

If however you want this to be a portfolio piece, so you only need a dev to implement the most basic online features to make it a working game demo, then there's nothing wrong with hiring a freelancer for the task (and it will be much more affordable). I would forget about the freemium part in that case though.

1: a freelance programmer could learn c2 very quickly but i personally wouldn't bother as construct 2 only takes about two weeks to learn, or less if you have some experience and there are tutorials for basically anything.

2: they cost about £15 an hour in England (about $22) but that may be different where you live.

3: i think you missing just how easy it is to learn construct 2 especially if your making something relatively simple and all the multiplayer features have lots of tutorials so they shouldn't be too difficult to learn although the multiplayer feature plugin costs £15 (I think).