The Game Development Process

1. The Game Development Process

2. Typical Development Cycle Idea Proposal Design Evaluation Coding Testing Release

3. The Game Development Process The Game Idea The Game Proposal The Game Design

4. The Game Design • The Game Design Bible • Story • Gameplay • Interface • The Art Bible • The Software Bible

5. Evaluation Game Design Evaluation Development

6. Development Coding and Debugging Testing Release

7. Typical Development Cycle Idea Proposal Design Evaluation Coding Testing Release

8. Waterfall Development Cycle Idea Proposal Design Evaluation Coding Testing Release

9. Spiral Development Cycle Design Coding and Art Start Evaluation Testing Release

10. Evolutionary Prototyping Proposal Design and initial prototype Refine Prototype Until Acceptable Release

11. Design to Schedule Idea Proposal Design Evaluation High Priority Code Med High Priority Code Release Med Priority Code Run out of time and money Med Low Priority Code Low Priority Code

12. Game Development Documents • Concept Document • Game Spec • Design Document • Story Bible • Script • Art Bible • Storyboards • Technical Design Document • Schedules and Business/Marketing Documents • Test Plan

13. Concept Document or Pitch Document or Proposal • To sell the game • To create a framework for design • Generally 10 pages or less. • Concept art • Can be written by committee, but needs leadership • Acts as a springboard

14. Overview Players Look and Feel Interface Start Up Objectives Entities Features Rules Gameplay Level Design Technical Requirements Marketing Game Spec – Concept Doc?

15. Design Document • Highly Detailed • Can be quite large (100+ pages) • Should contain all elements not addressed in other documents • Is a living document!!!!!!!!

16. A Design Document Construct • Table of Contents • Introduction/Overview • Game Mechanics • Artificial Intelligence • Game Elements • Story Overview • Game Progression • System Menus

17. Story Bible • Story outline is in design document, the story bible fleshes out the story. • Plot and Story Flow • Detailed Story Flow • Detailed Characterizations • Backstory • Generally Prose instead of bullets

18. Script • The Dialog that occurs in the game. • Tree structure that controls dialog

19. Art Bible • Concept sketches • Resources for artist • Look and feel • Art styles • Technical guidelines • Generally created by lead artist, not designer.

20. Storyboards • May be part of art bible or standalone. • Puts game flow in a visual context • Useful to entire team, not just artist

21. Technical Design Document • Sister specification to Art Bible and Game Design Document • Discusses how functionality will be implemented. • Generally constructed by the lead programmer. • May include overall code structure, major classes, rendering architecture, AI design, etc. • May contain pseudocode

22. Schedules and Business/Marketing Documents • Documents necessary for management of project. • Generally responsibility of Producer.

23. Nature of Documentation • Must be living documents. • Allows communication and direction across the team • Can be a trap if misused.