You have a game idea. You need a development studio to build it. You send out a brief, and the quotes come back wildly different - one studio says three months and fifty thousand pounds, another says twelve months and three hundred thousand. Neither feels right, and you have no way to evaluate which is closer to reality. This is not a sign that studios are guessing or inflating prices. It is almost always a sign that the brief left too much open to interpretation . The quality of the quotes you receive is directly proportional to the quality of the information you provide. A vague brief forces studios to make assumptions, and different studios will make different assumptions - leading to wildly divergent estimates. This guide explains exactly what a game development studio needs from your brief to produce an accurate quote. Whether you are a publisher, a corporate L&D team commissioning a training game, an educational institution, or a startup founder, these principles apply.…