I've released a few games so far using a small team. Mostly me as a programmer with a designer, and contracting out sound and art, and sometimes translations when necessary. My next big project I am approaching is one that is closer to what me and my friend have been wanting to do for a while: an rpg. The one problem stalling us on this project is not the enthusiasm, but the project development and how long it might take us to do. We're not going for anything complicated, but are aware content is going to eat up a lot of our time, whether that's art, story, maps, combat, combat balancing, questing, etc. We are not doing anything like skyrim level, but closer to the more archaic top down 2d games like chrono trigger.
The problem is, we can use a reality check on what it would take to produce such a project. Not to the quality of such a game, but to at least get close to it. To know what to keep in mind and how far we should go. A game like this could easily eat up a year or two of development if we want to meet minimum market expectations, while our previous projects only took either a year, or recently, only four months to develop. Aka, we can use a producer's or just someone who is deep in the industry's opinion on the subject. Though I would really love to hear an industry vet, we're talking people who made games during PS2 era or earlier, who can give me some insight since they came from the days when teams were smaller and projects were wilder.
Ofc, all opinions are welcomed.
