A Must-Read Guide to Game Development

"The game designer shouldn't be making a world in which the player is just a small part. The player's the boss: it's your duty to entertain him or her."

John Carmack (American game developer)

The gaming industry has witnessed a drastic transformation in the 21st century. This transformation can be attributed to the exponential rise in internet users and the innovation of breakthrough technologies.

Today, the gaming industry has become a huge and profitable market, so more businesses are looking forward to investing in game development. Enterprises are rushing toward reputed game developers to develop video gaming app that suits the current trend and stands out in the competition.

In this post, we will provide the readers with the details they need to know about game development. So, let's move forward and start by taking a sneak peek at the history of the gaming industry. 

A Brief Overview of Game Development

Game development, just like any software development, is a taxing and time-consuming task that needs a lot of market research and budget allocation. The gaming industry started evolving at the beginning of 1975, but the real revolution hit when breakthrough technology implementations were introduced. 

Some of these technology integrations we will be discussing later in this post. 

Playing games has become very much handy these days. You don't need to go to arcades or have a computer to play games. You can have immersive gaming experiences anywhere at any time using your smartphone. 

According to reports, in the United States, one of the biggest markets for the video gaming industry, the total video gaming market size was estimated at 97.67 billion USD in 2022. The numbers are evidence of the growing video gaming industry. 

Game development is one of the genres of software development that focuses on developing, designing, and deploying games after thorough market research. Game development is a complex process that includes a set of steps that every developer must follow to create a robust and unique gaming app. 

Let's discuss some of these steps in more detail.

Steps of Game Development

Game development is a comprehensive process, and every small part and process must be done with the uttermost precision. The complete process of game development can further be divided into smaller steps.

#1 Market Research

Market research is one of the essential steps in any new venture be it starting a new business, a new project, or developing a new product or an application. Similarly, in every game development, market research is fundamental to ensure that your game matches the current market trend and thus has a chance of surviving. 

Market research lets game developers know what features to put in their games and what technology they should use. These answers are the basic prerequisites every game developer should know before moving to the advanced planning and production phase. 

#2 Advanced Planning Phase or Pre-production

The advanced planning phase can be designated as the phase that directly succeeds market research. This phase, in a way, can be described as a final nod to the final UI/UX layout of the game, the set of features it is supposed to have, and the final budget evaluation and allocation. 

In this phase, business leaders, game developers, and game designers perform the final analysis and go through the market research report and initial planning. In this phase, they shade out the features that are unnecessary and costly to design. Other such layouts and functional changes are carried out, and the final game design that game developers should work on is finalized. 

#3 Production

Production is the most crucial phase of game development. It is the most laborious and taxing phase that constitutes the most time of the entire development process. 

The production phase can be further divided into many small tasks, such as:

• Writing the codebase for the entire gaming software. This includes writing codes for every feature and functionality. This task is entirely technical and is carried out by the Game Developers.
• The aesthetics of the game, such as the visual content of the game, are all designed by a Game Designer. Visual content includes 3D modeling, animation, creation of NPCs, and all such minor details that a user can see as a part of the UI while playing the game. Game designers are also responsible for the entire scriptwriting of the game.
• A game is incomplete without great sound and a theme song. This part is done by Sound Designers, who take full responsibility for designing various background sounds for relevant scenarios. Depending on the budget, a singer can be hired to create the theme song with vocals. Similarly, people can be employed to record character voices. 

Most businesses outsource game development tasks to reputed game development companies. Such businesses must check out Goodtal’s catalog of trusted and affordable Unity 3D game development companies. Unity 3D is one of the most efficient and powerful game development frameworks, loved and used by developers worldwide.

#4 Testing

Testing is essential in game development, just as it is for every software development. This phase includes testing the entire game developed in the production phase. Testing is crucial to ensure that the game is free of bugs and any loopholes that can become a future security threat to the players.

Usually, there are seven types of testing in game development, as listed in the below infographic :

All of the mentioned tests test different game parameters and help developers and designers learn the quality issues and loopholes, if any. Only when a game passes these tests can it be moved to the next launch step.

Suggested Reading: Software Testing - Need, Tools, and Challenges 

#5 Pre-launch

Pre-launch is the phase where pre-planning related to marketing, advertising, and promotion-related content is prepared that needs to be published with the game launch. This is the phase where the business starts spreading the news about their game soon to be launched. 

Pre-launch is the phase where the executives plan various pre-launch parties to release the teasers and trailers of their games to the selected public and professionals. This phase is all about building public anticipation and creating a welcoming atmosphere for the game before its launch.

#6 Launch 

This is the final day. In this phase, the business launches its game to the public. On the last day, a launch event is usually arranged to which all the corporation's shareholders, media, and critics are invited. Often companies make the launch events with few seats available for the public, which they can access by pre-registering for free or buying tickets by paying a nominal amount. 

In the launch event, all the features and functionalities of the game are highlighted. Along with the highlights, various game plans to be precise packages, are briefed to the audience. Everything the audience, especially the media, and critics, need to know about the game is briefed in the launch event. 

Preceding the launch event comes the tensest part of launching the game. This is the moment when the development team focuses on pushing or, say, deploying the game to the public. This is when all the servers are monitored, and when the environment is fit, the game is deployed to the people.

#7 After-Launch  

After-launch is a paramount phase where it is ensured that the game runs flawlessly on every platform. This is the phase where public issues relating to the game's performance are addressed. In this phase, all the maintenance-related activities are carried out to ensure that audiences can play the game seamlessly without any lag. 

After-launch is a long period, or we can say as long as the game is downloaded, played by gamers, and available on platforms. All the necessary game updates with new functionalities and bug fixes are deployed in the post-launch phase. The shelf-life of our game, or, say, how long it rules the heart of people, is determined by the type of services you provide them in the post-launch period.

Breakthrough Technologies & Game Development

Breakthrough technologies of the 21st century have been revolutionizing almost every industry today. Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality, along with many others, are some of the leading technologies that are transforming the world for better and more convenience.

Let’s discuss how the top breakthrough technologies contribute to game development. 

Suggested Reading: How AI in Game Development Will Transform the Gaming Experience?

Do's and Don'ts in Game development

Wrapping Up

With the rise in digitalization and the internet reaching every nook and cranny, the world gaming industry has completely transformed and is flourishing. Modes of gaming continue to change with the fast-paced world, from arcades and PCs to smartphones and VR headsets and consoles. 

Today businesses, by implementing breakthrough technologies like AI, AR & VR, blockchain, etc., are trying to provide the best immersive gaming experience to gamers. In this post, we discussed game development and how it's being transformed using standard technologies. This post lists everything a game developer and designer should know before investing in game development.