Casino Game Engine

Greetings Everyone,
I am with a startup company that is looking to lisence or buyout a game
engine on which to base casino like games. While we are in the planning
stages still yet, I am needing an estimate of costs for such.
Does anyone know of any resources that could give me the information I need?

Thanks,
Lee

"Wingman" <wing@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:3f798c14$0$34844$45beb828@newscene.com...
> Greetings Everyone,
> I am with a startup company that is looking to lisence or buyout a game
> engine on which to base casino like games. While we are in the planning
> stages still yet, I am needing an estimate of costs for such.
> Does anyone know of any resources that could give me the information I
need?
>
> Thanks,
> Lee

Hmm... Because the term "Casino Games" covers such a WIDE range of
possibilities (everything from slot machines to blackjack), I doubt you will
be able to find a "Casino Game Engine".

Their are game programming libraries that can be used to implement the games
you require. If you're hardware is running Windows or Linux, I reccoment SDL
+ OpenGL. If you have any (even rudimentary 3d HW) OpenGL can be used to
drastically accelerate you're 2D (sprite scaling, sprite alpha blending and
sprite rotation come at nearly NO cost to the CPU). SDL is free, but you've
got some work to do.

I think the terminology "Engine" is a bit of a misnomer. Most game engines
are HEAVILY optimized for a particular game. Many game companies re-write
massive amounts of their engine's between each project.

Tony

Thanks for the response Tony,

While we have a programmer that is interested in working with us and
investing some 'sweat equity', his available time to devote to this project
at this time is quite limited. We are hoping to get the project off the
ground at a more accelerated pace.

Unfortunately, I do have more time to devote to it, but alas, I'm not a very
experienced or proficient programmer, nor, at this time do I really want to
dedicate that much time in learning.

Where would I go to contract something like this? What would be the
approximate costs? How long would development time be?

I realize there are a lot of variables that need to be known in order to
estimate costs and time, so quotes or estimates will not be considered solid
at this point. Just really needing some figures to calculate how much, if
any, capital this project will take.

We are looking for a standard slot machine engine initially, with the
ability to 'skin' the game ourselves. The same would go for a BlackJack
"table", Roulette, Video Poker, Baccarat...etc.


Thanks again


"Wingman" <wing@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:3f798c14$0$34844$45beb828@newscene.com...
> Greetings Everyone,
> I am with a startup company that is looking to lisence or buyout a game
> engine on which to base casino like games. While we are in the planning
> stages still yet, I am needing an estimate of costs for such.
> Does anyone know of any resources that could give me the information I
need?
>
> Thanks,
> Lee
>
>

You need a C/C++ programmer with game programming experience.

You listed 5 games. The first thing a decent programmer would do is try to
get a high level view of what you want. Just to get an idea of how tough the
whole job is actually going to be.

They would then begin building a body of code that would be shared across
all 5 games (the engine you originally referred to). Because these games are
so different, the engine here would consist of elements like these:
- Graphics API
- Generic timeslicing model
- User Interface code
- Memory Management
- Any necessary utility classes
I estimate that a competent programmer could have the above "structural"
work done in the first 2.5-3.0 months.
When this stuff is all reasonably far along, you could then proceed to build
a real game. I believe that you could have simple but playable versions of
each of the 5 games you listed delivered sequentially over the next 9
months. But only if the game requirements were kept simple.

Of course, you could choose to concentrate on a particular game and do a
great, full featured job instead. You could also simply hire more
programmers.

Programmer salaries vary, and it of course, depends on the experience and
skill level you require. I wouldn't skimp on this though, if you only intend
to hire one person, that person better be a real pro.

Tony

"Wingman" <wing@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:3f7d856a$0$48250$45beb828@newscene.com...
> Thanks for the response Tony,
>
> While we have a programmer that is interested in working with us and
> investing some 'sweat equity', his available time to devote to this
project
> at this time is quite limited. We are hoping to get the project off the
> ground at a more accelerated pace.
>
> Unfortunately, I do have more time to devote to it, but alas, I'm not a
very
> experienced or proficient programmer, nor, at this time do I really want
to
> dedicate that much time in learning.
>
> Where would I go to contract something like this? What would be the
> approximate costs? How long would development time be?
>
> I realize there are a lot of variables that need to be known in order to
> estimate costs and time, so quotes or estimates will not be considered
solid
> at this point. Just really needing some figures to calculate how much, if
> any, capital this project will take.
>
> We are looking for a standard slot machine engine initially, with the
> ability to 'skin' the game ourselves. The same would go for a BlackJack
> "table", Roulette, Video Poker, Baccarat...etc.
>
>
> Thanks again
>
>
> "Wingman" <wing@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:3f798c14$0$34844$45beb828@newscene.com...
> > Greetings Everyone,
> > I am with a startup company that is looking to lisence or buyout a game
> > engine on which to base casino like games. While we are in the planning
> > stages still yet, I am needing an estimate of costs for such.
> > Does anyone know of any resources that could give me the information I
> need?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Lee
> >
> >
>
>