Game Development Stages: How Video Games Are Created?

Most game designers and developers will live to tell how game development is one of the challenging things to do. Perfection and experience are some of the essential things needed for the appropriate development of games. Everything in the whole process is never as was planned. Many challenges arise during the game development process, like impending deadlines and pressure from the video game publishers, among others. However, the ones who are determined and brave always succeed in making everything right from scratch. Also, the urge to produce something that feels incredible is what keeps them going. Here are stages of the game development process that sheds light on every game developer and designer.

Planning a Video Game

Before writing, designing, and developing a video game, a magical idea must be put on a plan. This is one of the essential parts of the game development process, and it has to be perfect since it’s the background of the whole process. In this stage, you will have to focus more on the characters, target audience, key features, type, and the platform for marketing. Whichever idea you come up with will serve as the game’s backbone, and this is why you need to be careful when planning. Moreover, the proof of concept is essential to the effectiveness and success of your project. The concept of proof puts all the ideas in the right perspective of what you need as your results. 

Pre-production

Pre-production is the second stage of game development. At this level, the designers, writers, artists, developers, project leads, engineers, and other essential team members collaborate to figure out what is needed. Also, they bring life to all the ideas and suggestions laid out in the planning stage. Moreover, these departments figure out where and how each ideal produced in the planning phase will fit into an effective project. It’s from here that the studios will prototype the characters, control schemes, interfaces, and environments. Also, how the video game will feel, interact and look are crucial elements focused in this phase. This stage is all about setting all the things you need in the game development process. 

Production 

The most effort, resources, and time spent on video game development dwell within the production phase. According to most developers and designers, this is also one of the challenging phases of developing video games. During this stage:

• Characters are rendered, designed, and iterated to represent exactly what is laid down in the game story. 
• The audio designer ensures the sounds are authentic every time the character steps on gravel, cement, or sand. 
• Level designers create dynamic, suitable, and immersive environments that suit different play styles. 
• The voice actors go through different scripts and do all the takes to have the right timing, tone, and emotion.
• Developers bring content in the game to life by writing numerous lines of source code.
• The program leads establish spirit and milestone schedules to ensure the teams from each department are held responsible. 

This is one of the game development processes that take a long time to complete. The aim of the team is to make something great for the game players. Moreover, there are a few changes that must be changed along the process. 

Testing 

Every mechanic and feature in the project needs testing for effective and quality control. Most of the games that skip this stage are often not ready for a grand release. Therefore, your game should always be tested for clarity. Everything that concerns the quality of a game is tested from here to ensure that the players get the right game. in this phase, you will likely come across different playtesters. Some are meant for testing stress, while others are subjected to the testing fun factor. This allows them to figure out if the game is harder to play or too easy or satisfying. Note, games without a fun factor can never sell out successfully. Consider releasing your game after successful iterating and testing.

Pre-launch 

Pre-launch is one of the most stressful stages in the game development process. Most developers always wonder how the public will embrace their projects. Many things often go through their minds just thinking of how people react to their first gaming program. However, before the alpha release of the game, you will need to organize the marketing. This will help people learn about your new gaming program. For proper attention, the publishers often involve samples and cinematic gameplay. Unlike public studios, independent ones often have luxury marking budgets for driving attention. Fortunately, advertising and crowdfunding are always fruitful. Independent studios often use any little opportunity to attract attention, like sending their copies earlier on live streams.

Launch 

The elapsing time is almost here. This is the moment most people are waiting for, especially the game players. They always want to see what the developers were cooking for them all that while. On the launching date, there is always a squashing huge backlog of bugs. Moreover, the developers tend to polish their projects perfectly before the launching date arrives. This helps their products gain a faster market. Also, there are numerous changes made to ensure that their projects go straight to the targeted audience. The project is then launched when everything is on point and distributed.

Post-launch 

Post-launch is an exciting and enjoyable moment for every gaming studio. They always enjoy this moment after the long years of commitment and hard work. However, in most cases, games are often launched with several minor bugs. Therefore, in this stage, time is created to identify and squash these bugs. Also, the studio’s customer care requests the players to submit any complaints linked to bugs. All these dwell under the post-launch support team. Moreover, they provide the players with software updates to keep them connected to their programs.

Final Thoughts

One of the most common things in the gaming industry today is the release of new content. The release of fresh content amongst different gaming industries has greatly encouraged the game’s increase of appeal and replay value. The game development process is something that has greatly impacted the gaming industry. Today, most developers and designers have successfully brought quality games to light while focusing on these stages.