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Game Development and Game Design

academy.zariba.com

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Lecture Content

1. The Process of Game Development2. Roles Within a Game Development

Studio3. Game Design

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The Process of Game Development

1. Pre-production2. Production3. Post-production4. Marketing5. Maintenance

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The Process of Game Development

Pre-production

The pre-production phase is focused on idea and concept development. The goal is to produce clear and easy to understand documentation (GDD). Before an approved documentation is completed, the team of programmers and designers usually create mockup graphics, concept art, development prototypes or algorithms, physics, scenarios, storyline, sample levels etc.

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The Process of Game Development

Production

Production is the main stage of development – all assets and source code are created and put together into a final product. The assets include but are not limited to: game design, graphic design, level design, audio production, programming, testing… etc.

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The Process of Game Development

Post-productionThe final stage of game development is post-production. It can be roughly described by key sub-stages which represent the steps needed to finalize the game• Alpha version – all code, art and functionality have

been finalized. The game is then heavily tested internally.

• Beta version – bugs found in the alpha have been fixed and again send to testing department or the public(open beta). This is when all bugs, no matter how minor or major, should be fixed before release

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The Process of Game Development

Marketing

Marketing and monetization will be covered in detail in a separate lecture.

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The Process of Game Development

Maintenance

Once the game is completed and released the Maintenance stage normally begins. In the past as soon as the game is released it retains all bugs that were not found during the alpha and beta stages.Due to the growing popularity and complexity of online multiplayer games, as soon as new bugs are found by gamers, they are documented and fixed for future versions, expansion packs etc.Some studios include new functionality, levels, gameplay in the new versions (Heroes 3, Diablo, Dota, LOL, WOW etc.)

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Roles Within Game Development

• Producer/Project Manager/Project Lead/Director – manages the development team, reports progress, hires staff, PR, negotiation, QA and beta test management etc.

• Publisher – a company that publishes games they have either developed internally or received from a developer externally

Management

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Roles Within Game Development

• Game Designer/Designer – the person who designs the gameplay

• Artist/Graphic Designer – the person who creates the artwork, sprites, backgrounds

• Programmer/Software Engineer – the person who primarily develops the video game/related software. There are different types of programmers – Physics, AI, Graphics (frontend), Sound, Gameplay, UI, Input Processing, Network Communications, Game Tools etc.

• Level Designer – the person who creates levels, challenges, missions etc.

• Sound Engineer – responsible for sound effects, music…• Tester/QA engineer – analyzes the games, reports bugs,

makes sure that the game works, is playable and fun

Development Team

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Roles Within Game Development

• In most cases not all roles within the team are carried out by different people – it really depends on the complexity and type of games

• There can be independent developers or independent studios, which generally consist of 1-6 people which produce the game

• Most, but not all, independent developers normally contact publishers to publish their game

Development Team

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Game Design

Game Design is the creative process of coming up with a game idea and presenting it in a clear, concise and understandable way. There is no “formula” for generating a game idea (like with developers). There are some general guidelines which can help you with this process.

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Game Design

• Above all, you need to be a gamer and love games in general. You should focus on what you like and don’t like in the games you play (e.g. make a list)

• You can generate an idea from games that you have played. The resulting game may be completely different from the original.

• Creating a completely original game, which is not similar to any other, is a very difficult task. Brainstorming can help you with this process.

• Research new games, titles, engines, articles, companies etc.

Basic guidelines

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Homework

1. Practice Brainstorming by coming up with an idea for a platform or a game which consists of many mini-games. Try to come up with at least 30 mini-games and select only 10 of them which you think are the best. Create a 1 page document describing your platform and each game.

2. You can send your ideas to antonov.martin@gmail.com and we can discuss them before/after a lecture.

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Zariba Academy

Questions