![]() ![]() Project leads are the piggy in the middle, balancing the demands of each team, making final decisions, removing hurdles, and keeping everyone on the same page.Developers may want a mechanic that could cause performance issues. The writing team might want a big cinematic finale that the game engine can’t render. Engineers will need to tell the team what their limitations are.Some of these decisions will need to involve artists, writers, and engineers, depending on how those decisions affect the script or gameplay Developers need to lock down the mechanics and physics of the game, and how it’ll process models and objects.If your game is dark and sinister, like 2D horror platformer Tamashii, you don’t want your artists working with bright, summery colours Artists need to make sure the art style and colour palette match the game’s theme and genre. ![]() You’ll need to weigh up each aspect of your game as both a standalone entity, and as a cog in a greater machine: You’ll scope out the work, create storyboards and prototypes, and decide which ideas are winners and which are destined for the cutting room floor. The rubber really hits the road in the second stage of game development, known as the pre-production phase. Storyboard trailer for Horizon Zero Dawn, developed by Guerrilla Games If you’re an indie developer, you might need to find alternate ways of financing your game, such as crowdfunding campaigns and Early Access releases. Which platforms will you publish it to ?.If you do need to hire a team, how many people do you need? How big will the team be, and what roles will you need to fill?.Do you have all the skills you need to make the game, or will you need to hire a team?.How much will it cost to make this game ?.Your proof of concept needs to answer the following questions: This is the final part of the planning stage that determines what resources you’ll need to bring your game to life, and to try and catch a publisher’s eye. With the big questions answered, you need to create a proof of concept. The change forced the game into an extra two years of development, and caused its fair share of friction amongst the team.Ĭonker’s Bad Fur Day, developed by Rare Proof of concept Let’s go back to Bad Fur Day for a minute: originally titled Conker’s Quest, the game began life as a child-friendly 3D platformer à la Super Mario 64, only for developers Rare to ditch the PG cleanliness during production in favour of a mature, satirical tone. Making changes to the fundamentals further down the line could lead to significant development problems. Ultimately, this is one of the most important parts of the game dev process. Check out our guide to generating great video game concepts if you need a little inspiration. Ideas will chop and change routinely in the planning stage, and the concept you come up with today may be unrecognisable tomorrow. What gameplay mechanics do you want to include?.īefore you launch into developing your game, there are some fundamental questions that need answering: You’re out walking the dog one day, soaking in the sunshine, and suddenly, inspiration strikes: ‘What if I made a platformer about a foul-mouthed squirrel?’, you think to yourself.Ĭongratulations, you’ve just entered the planning stage for Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Some would argue that there are only three stages of game development (pre-production, production, and post-production), but that’s a bit of an oversimplification.Ĭould you make a wedding cake with just the instructions ‘Plan it, bake it, eat it’? You’d get the general idea, but in the words of the Great British Bake Off’s Mary Berry, you’d probably end up with a soggy bottom. ![]() ‘Fear the old ink’? What are the stages of game development? No two development cycles will ever be exactly the same, but even in the sometimes chaotic, always unpredictable world of game development, this seven step structure guides developers through even the fiercest storms. What would you say Pac-Man and Bloodborne have in common? Not much, admittedly, unless Inky and Blinky secretly subscribe to some ancient Lovecraftian cult.Įven games as polar-opposite as these two are bound by a common thread: they both went through the same seven stages of game development. ![]()
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