Academic Research

Theories Of Game Development #1

Theories Of Game Development #2

Juego studio did a full guide on how to make a game that gos through the various stages of game design, something that of course links to my specialism of games programming but also to my still arguably specialised indie developer specialism. If you want to find this source then all you need to do is go to the bibliography of this site and look for the included link and details for the juegostudios.com site.

This website goes through important information such as how a poor framework can mean delays in a projects development, mismanagement and even lead to the overall failure of the game, something that outside of a game being a personal project would mean that it's a complete and utter failure. Furthermore, the website covers things like the stages of game development, the different stages and different details of which I will explain below to show how websites like this could be extremely useful to my production.

There are 7 main steps in Game Development -

• Planning

• Pre-Production

• Production

• Testing

• Pre-Launch

• Launch

• Post-Launch

Planning

The planning stage involves an initial segment of thorough brainstorming sessions with all members of the team to establish a clear and practical roadmap for the project. A well thought out roadmap and plan means that the development as a whole is more likely to go smoothly, with there being certain segments in the planning segment such as -

• Strategising The Game Development Plan

• Conducting Market Research

• Defining Style And Vision

• Budgeting And Scheduling

• Building The Right Development Team

Pre-Production

The pre-production phase involves building upon the ideas that have been come up with in the planning phase, this step is also built upon the idea that you create detailed documentation, creative groundwork and technical preperations to establish a foundation that the project developers can use during the main production phase. This work ensures that everthing is prepared for the production phase and that hopefully means that it will all go smoothly. This stage includes doing things like -

• Crafting The Game Design Documents

• Visualising Concepts And Prototyping

• Defining Technical Specifications

• Developing Storyline And Characters

• Refining Game Mechanics

• Creating A Comprehensive Production Plan

• Setting Up Development Tools And Workflow

Production

The production stage of game devleopment is where the previously created planning and pre production work is turned into a tangible product by the development team. 

During this phase you should be working on key parts of the game, this includes things like coding, modelling (asset creation) and implementation take place. As long as the production phase closely follows the pre production and planning work (more precisely the contents of the GDD) then the game will align perfectly with the decided upon idea of what the project should be. Key parts of this stage include -

• Coding Game Mechanics And Features

• Creating 3D models, animations and concepts

• Devloping Levels and Environments

• Integrating Audio and Visual Elements

• Continious Optimisation

Testing

Quality assurance is a key part of games production, with games having bigger and bigger budgets and a bigger catalogue, players are more likely to be picky and to point out the mistakes made by developers or where the game falls short of what it should be like. For the ensurance of a perfect user experience, there should be a team of very critical and very thorough games testers working on the game an almost excessive amount to ensure that there are no obvious buggs or issues with the game mechanics, UI or other features, ensuring the player is left with a product that is as clean and as seamless as is humanely possible. Key parts of this include -

• Debugging For Stability

• Performance Testing And Optimisation

• Compatability Testing Across Platforms

• Regulatory And Compliance Testing

• Throrough Documentation And Reporting

• Beta Testing For Real-World Feedback

Pre-Launch

As the game nears the launch there should be a massive amount of further testing alongside the start and peak of any marketing efforts as this will be just far enough from launch that people still remember any adverts or sponsorships by the time of the games release. By the end of this stage the game should be near perfect, there should be no obvious issies and the launch should be able to go off without a hitch. There are a few key parts of this - 

• Final Testing For Quality Assurance

• Strategic Marketing To Build Anticipation

• Establishing Support Systems For Players

• Fostering Community Engagement

Launch

The launch phase seems to be the most simple, make the game downloadable to the public and enjoy the culmination of all of the teams or your own hard work. Still, there are key parts to this phase that shouldn't be ignored.

• Distributing The Game Across Platforms

• Monitoring The Launch For Stability

• Rapid Issue Resolution

• Gathering And Analysing Feedback

Post-Launch

This is the final stage of the game development process. The quality of the game should be constantly mainted to ensure the best possible product for the players, you should also ensure that updates and such keep the players engaged and so keep the game as a whole revelant, a key part of ensuring the game fits consumer expectations. The key parts of this include -

• Monitoring Player Feedback For Continious Improvement

• Resolving Post-Launch Bugs

• Releasing Patches And Updates

• Creating Additional Content To Engage Players

How can I actually use this information?

Of course not all of this information is that likely to support my production, for example having to ensure that the game is tested by professionals or that I should make a game demo playable on any system known to man. What I can take from this is the steps, I can easily implement them all into a Trello board and hopefully such information would allow my production to go without nearly as many issues. I could also give my game (when partially completed) to game testers (my peers) so that they can tell me exactly how to improve my game or point out any obvious flaws. Below is a list of things I feel I can take from this academic source.

• Game Development Structure

• Having A Group Of People Test My Game

• Marketing (Online)

• Continious Optimisation

• Defining The Projects Style And Vision