Notes on the Game Development
Process
Mark Claypool
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Outline
• Course description
• Game Development Components
• Stages of Game Development
• Projects
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Class Description
ID 111x. THE GAME DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
This course discusses the process of game development. It examines the
roles of different participants in the development process and how the
technical development and the artistic development proceed in tandem. It
also discusses the importance of testing and play testing, and how
developers use the results of testing to improve their games. Students will
be expected to develop games, or portions of games, using appropriate
game development tools.
Recommended background: none.
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Entry level course
Artistic roles
Technical roles
Play testing
Tools
Game Development Components
(1 of 2)
• Production
– Controls everything that is outside of
actually making the game
– i.e. budget, personnel, admin.
– (Topic outside the focus of the course)
– (Could be fodder for Management angle
• ie- Entrepreneurship minor)
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Game Development Components
(2 of 2)
• Design
– How the game will look, what features it will
include and how this will happen
– Made up of the following three divisions:
• Art:
– Everything visual, 2D and 3D animation.
• Programming:
– The technical part of game development, the
underlying coding that drives the software.
• Sound:
– Technical and creative
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Outline
• Course description
• Game Development Components
• Stages of Game Development
• Projects
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Stages of Game Development (1 of 8)
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The Idea
Concept for a new game
Clearly described
– 3-10 pages
– Outlining the game world, characters,
challenges
– Lose-or-win scenarios, basic mechanics
• Becomes the pitch document
– Gets the game accepted or rejected by the
publisher
(Time: weeks to months or even years)
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Stages of Game Development (2 of 8)
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The Pitch
Idea presented to publisher (maybe
manager, depending on game author)
If idea captures interest, usually includes
suggested revisions
Idea is finally accepted
(Time: weeks)
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Stages of Game Development (3 of 8)
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Proof of Concept
Designer gets budget to build a prototype
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Game design expanded to larger document
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Budget proposed
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– Will be thrown away before game done
– Focusing on details of gameplay (play mechanics)
– Avoid focusing too much on user interface
– Including time and money
Game will be developed using the prototype and
the design document as guidance
Not guaranteed to go to development yet
– That determined by success of this stage
(Time to build prototype and design document: 2 to 3
months)
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Stages of Game Development (4 of 8)
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Start of Development
Development team assembled
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Process broken into milestones
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How many milestones are there?
– Uses design document that is 90% done
– Milestones for measuring progress
– Game is tested for gameplay and quality
– Number depends on the size of the project
• Typically fixed from the beginning
– Need to avoid urge to add features (creep) during
milestone cycles!
(Time between milestones: about 2 months)
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Stages of Game Development (5 of 8)
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Milestone 1
Most critical milestone
Game should have functional (not complete)
art, sound and code
Can assess feasibility and budget
– Make changes, as appropriate
• Then, rushes headlong into development!
(Time to complete this milestone: 2-3
months)
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Stages of Game Development (6 of 8)
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Alpha
Lot of variation as to what is an Alpha
Complete with Art, Sound and Code
Not fully tested
Some tuning, last minute additions and
changes can still be done
(Time to achieve Alpha from last milestone: 1
month)
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Stages of Game Development (7 of 8)
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Beta
Finished game, all features tested and
tuned
External testing to check compatibility
issues
Users play free of charge in exchange for
reporting bugs
(Hopefully) no changes to any art, sound or
code
– Only bug fixes
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(Time to Beta from Alpha: 2 weeks)
Stages of Game Development (8 of 8)
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Gold Master
Accepted as complete
Includes known bugs
(Time to Gold from Beta: one to two weeks.)
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Distribution
Game is mass produced
Put into boxes, shrink-wrapped and shipped to
retailers
(Time to shelves from Gold: 1 to 2 months)
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Game Development Stages (Summary)
• The Idea
• The Pitch
• Proof of Concept
• Start of Development
– Milestone 1
• Alpha
• Beta
• Gold
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Outline
• Course description
• Game Development Components
• Stages of Game Development
• Projects
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Project Topics
1) The Pitch
2) Technical
– Add/Modify simple scripting
3) Artistic
– Create/Modify content
4) Game Design
– Putting it all together
5) Testing
• Build to “Game Design”, use one tool
– Warcraft III map editor
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Warcraft III Overview
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Warcraft III World Editor
• Add art
• Add/modify own sounds
• Add events
– Triggers and trigger editor
• Create mods
– Easter bunny hunt
– World of Warcraft Soccer
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Warcraft III World Editor
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World Cup of Warcraft (1 of 2)
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World Cup of Warcraft (2 of 2)
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LOTR: The Ring Wars
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Funny Bunny’s Egg Hunt
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