Edit: for example, if you are using contractors, do you need actual estimates from them to base their salary on? Should your own salary ideally be presented as an "estimated x hours * y hourly salary", or in some other way? etc etc.
Yeah, you have to get quotes from your contractors before writing the budget. Ideally, you should be as precise as possible. It shouldn't be a random estimate, but an actual amount of money for which you are sure you can develop the said game.
Separate it into sections, write how much is needed for what exactly, and make sure all the prices are gross. You should also have some amount designated for unpredictable expenses, additional iterations, extra polish and such -- something like 10% of the total budget. You don't have to write specifically what everyone's hourly rate it. The investor isn't interested in how much your programmer takes per hour, or does he work 8 or 7 hours a day. They just need to know how much money they have to put out for programming in total. You can give some additional information on how it was counted, if you want, but it's not necessary. Like, if the game is to be completed in 6 months, you can say that you are going to pay $24k to a programmer, and explain that it's his monthly wage of $4k multiplied by the development time.
If it helps, here's the budget section from a cancelled project we were pitching recently. Normally it would be a little more detailed, but we knew the investor, so we could afford being a bit more leeway.
Budget:
() - numbers in brackets are for the minimal version of the game
* - asterisk marks costs exclusive only to the full-fledged version
DEVELOPMENT TIME:
Minimal Version: 15 months from pre-production to Gold.
Full-Fledged Version: 18 months from pre-production to Gold.
COSTS:
Minimal Version Total: 330k PLN + $12 800
Full-Fledged Version: 379k PLN + $14 300
Development: 268 000 (222 000) PLN
This part of the budget consists of our wages/profit. It's computed based on the predicted development time, so shortening or lengthening it will affect the total cost. Delays or being ahead of the schedule doesn't affect these prices and is our risk. The buffer is used as a last resort budget for the unexpected occurrences. In the unlikely case we don't spend it, it's our profit. These are all gross prices.
• Artists's wage: 6000 x 18(15) = 108 000 (90 000)
• Main Developer's wage: 6000 x 18(15) = 108 000 (90 000)
• Junior Designer: 3600 x 6 = 22 000
• Buffer: 30 000 (20 000)
Outsource: 131 000 (103 500) PLN + $14 300 ($12 800)
This part of the budget is used to pay for the outsourced assets. It can be altered if you have cheaper alternatives to our outsourcers that can provide similar quality work (except the composer who is an integral part of our team). Again, these are all gross prices.
• 3D Location Renders: 85 000 (70 000)
• Music: $5000 ($3500)
• Videos: 6(1) x 2500 + 5000 = 20 000 (7 500)
• Promo Video: 1000
• SFX: 5 000
• Voice Overs: $4000
• Proofreading: $300
• Additional Programming: $5000
Hope it helps
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Developer
