Game Development
Peter Braun
Software Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
Abstract
Game development is a process that came about in the early 1970’s and due to the success of the
first few games it has developed into a concrete process that allows the creation of much larger
games than what was previously, along with advances in technology. Game development first
started off with small groups of people of around two to three people and today involves several
dozens of people including artists, programmers, producers, designers, technical directors, and
various types of actors. Even today a game can be developed by a small group, but these games
are usually small Flash games or games of a similar type. This paper will go over a brief history
and then the general process of game development, which does vary from company to company
like most objectives.
Introduction
The video game industry is currently a multi-billion dollar industry though it did start from
humble roots [1]. The actual development of a single game can take from a couple weeks to a
few years and can involve either a single person to a group of dozens of people spanning across
an entire country or across several. For example, with Nintendo developing a new Luigi game
they had developers in San Francisco and supervisors for the project in Japan [2]. The basic
steps for the development process is an idea or brainstorming, funding, pitching, negotiation,
design, the actual programming, visual design, production, sound, and testing [3]. This is
process is just an in general process outline with different companies using their own personal
methods. In practice game development nowadays tends to be based on the Agile or Waterfall
method for the process of development.
History
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The first actual video game developed is a bit of a controversy, with the one of the first more
recognized games being “Computer Space” created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who
would both later found Atari, Inc., in November 1971, and “Pong” released in 1972 by the same
people under the name of Atari Inc. and was the first commercially successful video game. After
these two games were release it started a rush where multiple other companies began to copy
them and eventually released their own type of games [4].
Another big name that came after these two was the game called “PacMan”, which funny enough
was came up with during a lunch in Tokyo when the development group ordered a pizza and
after the first piece was taken the lead saw the pizza and the design it was in and PacMan was
created [1].
After all this then an “arms race” of sorts began with and in the years to follow old game
companies fell and new ones raised up including Activision, Bethesda, Rockstar, Blizzard, and
several others and even with the arms race Nintendo is still around and has consistently produced
excellent game longer than most current gaming companies today. This can be theorized to be
due to their game development process, which they do keep secret though it does seem to work
quite well [2].
The game development process in the beginning was simpler than the current development
process that a number of companies use today due to the fact most companies only produced
games for a single kind of console, for example Mario was only designed to be on the Nintendo
system. Nowadays companies like companies like Bethesda and 2KGames develop their games
to be played across multiple systems and yet still release them at the same times with the same
functionality.
General Development process for Game Development
As stated earlier the game development process plays out to first start as an idea or brainstorming
of the development team, finding the required funding for the project, pitching the idea of the
game to investors or publishers like Microsoft, negotiation of the budget of the development
process which includes size of the team and the timeline, designing of the actual game including
story, cameras, controls, characters and various other important aspects of the game, the actual
programming of the game , visual design of all aspects of the game including characters and
environments, production, sound of all game aspects, and testing to find bugs and fixed them.
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This development process also takes numerous talented people including producers, writers,
game designers, sound designers, visual artists and more must work together to create the actual
game . Major game titles today take a vast amount of resources to develop and ship out to the
public and we only see the back end of the process and don’t think much about how it actually
came to be [5]. The below figure shows the generic organization of a game development team,
which needless to say will be different for most companies, but in general how it will play out.
Producer
Lead Programmer
Lead Artist
Engine
Programmer
Animator
Tool Programmer
3D Artist
Game Programmer
2D Artist
Lead Sound
Designer
Sound Designer
Lead Game
Designer
Level Designer
Game Designer
Figure 1 - Generic Development Team Organization
Figure 2 – Waterfall Method [6]
Lead Tester
Tester
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How this game development correlates to the Waterfall method, which is defined by the above
image, is that a good portion of time is spent in the front end of the process to make sure all
requirements and details are correct and potential bugs are found early on and dealt with rather
than finding them later [6]. This is how game development is done with creating an idea of the
game, figuring how it should be made, what you can do, how you can do things, and getting
funding and the support needed to actually create the game before the programmer have even
been allowed to begin programming the actual game. After the coding is complete and visual
design is completed the development moves onto the testing phase, which is usually split into
Alpha and Beta testing, with the majority of actual players being invited to the Beta side of
testing to see how it can handle stress for multiplayer games or just find bugs for single player
games. Then after all testing and bug fixes are completed the game is released and is usually
maintained for a measure of time, but usually not indefinitely.
The development of games, usually, are created in about year or, ideally, in two. Three's less
common and more than three is exceptional [2]. Going more than three years to develop a game
has happened before, for example Blizzard’s game called Starcraft didn’t have the sequel,
Starcraft II, finished until over 10 years after the release.
Now to go over the actual steps of the development process in some more detail.
Forming of the Idea
This part of the process can be as easy as seeing an everyday event and having a grand scheme
blossom from it like with the development team of PacMan who saw a pizza with a single piece
missing and envisioned a game concept from that. Others times the idea is based off of historical
events, for example the Call of Duty series up until around World at War which are all based on
World War 2, based upon a previous game with an open plot device they could use to create a
sequel from, for example the Halo series where each game of the main series lead into the next
sequel, or from a number of other small events. Even with the idea then they have to pitch the
idea to investors or a publisher before they can actually begin developing the game.
Pitching and Negotiation
Pitching occurs after a developer or team of developers has a general idea of the game they wish
to create and then the design department will create a brief outline idea [3]. If the pitch
document is not sufficient enough to win the publisher or investor over a vertical slice can be
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created, similar to a demo, that usually takes place later on in the game to show many features
the game could have [3].
If the pitch is successful then the negotiations will begin. What happens in this is the size of the
development team is determined, the budget for the overall project, the timeframe needed for the
development to take place in, the platform for the game, and the basic design [3]. By the time
that negotiations are finished there will be a solid idea as to what should be happening and when
it will occur.
The next step to be performed is the game design which controls how the game will be done.
Game Design
This phase is a big part of the process after coming up with initial idea of the game. What occurs
here is that every aspect of the game to be developed is ironed out. From the story of the game
to be it a continuation from a previous game or an entirely new story, to the controls, to how the
interface is laid out for the player, though this topic won’t be discussed much due to another
presentation taking care of it, and to the characters themselves. All aspects of the game are
written down is as much detail as possible to cover everything and is then approved by the
publisher [3].
The document that is created is known as the design document and is used as a reference for all
members of the development team to know how every aspect of the game should be done and
keep everyone on the same page. These aspects are not completely set in stone and some may be
modified in ways to have the game run more smoothly if the original idea didn’t work exactly
how it should have initially.
This is the phase that the designers have reign over, with each of the different types of designers
such as level designers and gameplay designers pour out their ideas with how the game should be
played and how it should look.
The next step to be performed is the actual coding of the game.
Programming
The first step of programming is to choose a game engine in which to design their game around
and give a code base for. Some companies create their own game engine, which takes longer,
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but gives them the freedom to choose exactly how to run their game, or opt to license an existing
game engine such as Unreal Engine 3 or XNA Game Studio.
XNA Game Studio was created by Microsoft to produce games for windows phones and
computer, and for Xbox 360. All that is needed to run this software is to have a recent copy
Visual Studio and then use the free download for XNA Game Studio available from Microsoft.
Unreal Engine 3 is a game engine created by Epic Games and can be used to create games for the
PC, PS3, Xbox360 and even iOS. This too can be downloaded for free from Unreal Engines
website will full use of the program if you wish to use it for noncommercial use or you can
license it from Epic and get access to the source code and the price for licensing is a couple
hundred dollars plus royalties.
After the game engine has been chosen or created the actual coding of the game begins and can
last a varying amount of time depending on the number of programmers and the size of the
project itself. In general what a programmer does during this phase is he reads up on a feature
within the design document, then asks the designers relevant questions about the feature if
needed, and finally makes a plan to implement the feature [3].
As made obvious the programmers reign over this phase being the main players in bringing the
game to fruition with the assistance of the designers.
Next to talk about is the visual design of the game that happens in conjunction with the
programming phase.
Visual Design
This part is done with a combined effort of three different types of personnel with the main
people being the artists and animators along with the help of the designers and the programmers
to implement the animations and how the animations take place.
What is created by the visual design team is the visual style of the game started off by the
concept artists, which can start off as sketches to full colored and detailed paintings. Concepts
can take as little as a couple of tries or need to go through dozens of different versions of just one
aspect. For example with the game Halo 4 one of the main enemies called Knights initially had
several different versions of how they could look before the actual design for them was chosen.
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After the 2D concepts are created then the artists create 3D models that can be animated and
textured. Environment artists and Visual effect artists also create models and textures for the
surrounding areas and weather and various other effects to bring the game levels to life [3].
Animators then bring the 3D models to life either using actors wearing motion capture suits to
mimic the movements the characters would perform, just like how the motion capture suits and
CGI works in movies or they can use programs such as 3D Studio Max or Mudbox to create the
movements themselves. The programmers then code these movements and the designers make
sure they are within the specifications of the design document.
After all the movement and visual designs have been finished the sound is then brought into the
game.
Sound
This phase is usually left near the end due to the fact that in game development changes are quite
common so reduce reworking too much. Sound designers create the music, ambient sounds, and
all the different kinds of sound effects that should occur and any voice overs that are required.
The music created can range from simple pieces created with a digital music creator to recording
from a full blown orchestra.
The last phase of this process is the testing of the game to find bugs and fix them.
Testing
The first phase of testing is usually called Alpha testing, which usually has several bugs, is
performed by game testers within the company themselves and occasionally will release the
Alpha version to a select group of actual players. These testers and players generally run
through all aspects of the game to see if they can be performed how they were envisioned and
report most bugs they encounter.
After bug fixes and more implementation from Alpha testing, Beta testing begins. In this phase
it is generally released to a majority of actual players so that the developers can get feedback
from them. For example Battlefield 3 released a Beta of their multiplayer to anyone who had
Xbox Live, it had most of the features present, but not all of them including only being able to
play on one map. With this Beta version they got the feedback on more minor bugs that were
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present with their game and were able to fix them before they released the full version of
Battlefield 3.
The developers are assigned bugs that they are in charge of to fix and this occurs until the game
is fixed well enough that it can be released. The go ahead of the release is usually a decision of
senior management or by the publisher, though with console games there is an extra step they
must go through which is a technical requirements checklist to make sure the game can be run on
the console [3]. The actual contents of the checklists are kept secret from anyone outside of that
company’s testing team.
Release of the Game
This is the phase that most of us, gamers that is, are familiar with, the release day of a game that
we wish to play and have been waiting for on baited breath. Some players went through the Beta
version of the game and have an idea what to expect and the players that would be playing the
game for the first time. To most people this is the best part of the development process and they
generally have no to little knowledge of what kind of work went into the game that they are
currently holding onto.
Development after Release
Of course some games change and improve upon themselves even after they have been officially
released. This is the finally phase of the process the maintenance of the game, since initial
testing can only find so many bugs. Developers can also improve the game and how it is played
during this time too. Some games, such as the Call of Duty games, are maintained and have
extra content added to them for a set amount of time and then they are left alone after a sequel
comes out.
Then there are games that are constantly improved and changed years after their initial release.
A game that comes to mind that fits this characteristic to a “T” is a game call League of Legends
developed by Riot Games. League of Legends was initially released back in Beta in 2009 and
even up until today there are constantly new releases of content, bug fixes, and various other
gameplay improvements.
Conclusion
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In conclusion the game development process is usually a year or so long process that involves
dozens of different type of people to come together to bring an idea to life to bring enjoyment to
the masses who are usually unaware of the vast amount of work that goes into what seems like
such a simple object. Since its humble beginnings the video game industry has become an
integral part of our society and is constantly changing along with how they are created.
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References
[1]
CNBC Special: A history of video game industry. (2006). Retrieved from
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15734058/#.UUdgxRzqmSp
[2]
Creating a Video Game With Nintendo Sounds Stressful, Amazing and Unreal. (2013)
http://kotaku.com/5990793/creating-a-video-game-with-nintendo-sounds-stressfulamazing-and-unreal
[3]
The Game development Process. (2010) Retrieved from
http://www.alteredgamer.com/game-development/36166-the-game-development-process/
[4]
Video Games Turn 40. Retrieved from
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3159462
[5]
The Process of Game Creation & the Game Design Document. Retrieved from
http://digitalworlds.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/the-process-of-game-creation-the-game-designdocument/
[6]
Chasing the Waterfall may lead to project downfall. Retrieved from
http://www.varsys.com/knowledgecenter_WaterfallDownfall.html
[7]
League Of Legends: A brief history of MOBA domination (2013). Retrieved from
http://blog.games.com/2013/01/15/league-of-legends-history/