Prior to a game going into development the game concept must be put forward and presented to a video game publisher. Demonstration programs, or demos as they’re more commonly known, are often submitted to the publisher to give them a taste of what the final product might look like. Only once a publisher has been found can development begin.
Without a publisher onboard it is very difficult to develop a video game, from concept, through to production, due to the high costs associated and the competitive nature of the video game business.
Sometimes the video game developer is also the video game publisher, or they are subsidiary companies. In such cases, a game’s development only needs to be given the green light by high-level management.
The first stage of video game development involves the development team composing what is known as a ‘game design document’. The game design document outlines what the game is about, the fundamentals of how it will play, and possibly draft pictures of game characters and other game objects/elements.
Game design documents can be likened to a business plan. The document provides the development team with project objectives and deliverables. It’s also a record for current development progress. Therefore the game design document is very dynamic in nature, meaning that it is constantly changing, throughout the development cycle.
Once the initial game design document has been drafted it is then submitted to the publisher for approval. During this time it’s not uncommon for small team of a game programmers and designers to start work on the game itself. This enables them to showcase very early game demos to the publishers in order to maintain investor confidence. Such demos are usually quite unpolished and sometimes are just CGI sequences, rather than playable, interactive game code.
Once the initial game design document has been approved, full-scale game development can start!
Without a publisher onboard it is very difficult to develop a video game, from concept, through to production, due to the high costs associated and the competitive nature of the video game business.
Sometimes the video game developer is also the video game publisher, or they are subsidiary companies. In such cases, a game’s development only needs to be given the green light by high-level management.
The first stage of video game development involves the development team composing what is known as a ‘game design document’. The game design document outlines what the game is about, the fundamentals of how it will play, and possibly draft pictures of game characters and other game objects/elements.
Game design documents can be likened to a business plan. The document provides the development team with project objectives and deliverables. It’s also a record for current development progress. Therefore the game design document is very dynamic in nature, meaning that it is constantly changing, throughout the development cycle.
Once the initial game design document has been drafted it is then submitted to the publisher for approval. During this time it’s not uncommon for small team of a game programmers and designers to start work on the game itself. This enables them to showcase very early game demos to the publishers in order to maintain investor confidence. Such demos are usually quite unpolished and sometimes are just CGI sequences, rather than playable, interactive game code.
Once the initial game design document has been approved, full-scale game development can start!