Introduction
Whether it be on console, PC, handheld, or phone, nowadays, everybody plays video games and many have already dreamed of game design and development. Let’s see here on gamesitb how to make our game step by step.
Without sound pessimistic, you won’t get to create a single complete A triple game. In the studios in good shape, several roles that are important:
- Producer (project leader),
- Creative Director (creator of the universe of the game and its context),
- Writers (creating the scenario based on the universe of the game),
- Graphic designers (they mix technique and art in modeling characters, sets, objects, textures,…),
- Animators (animate the race, fall of a character with potentially using motion capture but also create clothing and each object physics…).
- Engineers (programmers, developers, system administrators,…),
- Level designer (built-in assets of different actors in charge of the development of the game, in a map or levels for example).
- Trades of the sound (Sound designer, composer, sound engineers,…),
- Testers (checks every part of the game, we’ll come back later).
The concept
The idea of the project is the basic structure for the continuation of its own game design and development. Therefore, it is important to plan the work for the remainder of the project.
Complete the scenario and embodies the basic idea. It must adapt to the type of the game (the scenario will be different for an MMO to open world in 3D, only a 2D platformer game). The scenario citing the general context of the game will force you to know the history of the game, set up the player in this universe and develop the major players in the game.
Then comes a large document, the specifications where you can find several things that will characterize the concept of the game. We’re going to find for example:
- The history of the game,
- The context,
- The scenario,
- The controls and possible interactions with the player,
- Controlled by the player or an AI-controlled characters
- Available vehicles/weapons,
- Music,
- Graphics,
This document evolves over time, but dictates the actions of the team in charge of the project without the risk of false paths.
Graphics and Gaming Research
Some video games need not research as including Tetris.
But for example, on a historical game which is based on a specific place, or even on a culture, experts are consulted and a maximum of information to be collected in order to recreate the effect in the game.
Another example, for a game wanting to weapons or realistic vehicles, some research will be conducted to characterize each objects in order to achieve consistency with the environment and the universe proposed by the video game.
“To understand how things work to make them better” (Vincent Delassus – Art Director, Ubisoft).
The research do not stop to take real information to integrate and characterize objects, animations or behaviors. They also seek to make sketches of the scenery and characters which will be part of the game in order to transcribe them in digital way and without trouble later.
And that’s not all. According to the concept of game (2d or 3D, FPS or RPG,…), it will choose the technique in which the development will be carried out taking into account the characteristics of the future game and knowledge of the team in charge of the development. This isn’t when the game was going to be marketed to wonder why it has not used this technique more efficient than ours.
Creation of the world
From this stage, we can begin to shape and build the universe of his game. And Yes, it simplifies the task by creating the world where will evolve the player before joining the characters or other objects of interactions.
Here, we use research. For example, if it is based on a specific place, we will implement different vegetations, a different soil, signage (signs road, pub, graffiti,…), and we especially use representative sketches the universe wanted to since its inception.
Level art
It models and integrates everything that is not a set (characters, weapons, vehicles, AI,…) potentially based on the sketches and the various research done upstream.
In short, we create the game system which is to integrate what is GameDesign (structure OCR, the 3 c, core gameplay,…)
Sounds
The sounds are part of a game. Imagine playing your favorite FPS without no noise and noise indicating a shot. If you do not see, imagine instead a horror without the background sound game and creepy music that is in the background.
As you can see, a lot of sounds make up a video game. We can categorize them into types of sounds that can be found in most video games:
- Dialogue between characters (player or AI),
- Ambient noise (bird song, wind, rain, object hitting the ground,…),
- Music (background music, music of victory, or even defeat),
- Vehicles (engines, tire squealing, Horn, rolling cart,…),
- Environmental interactions (noises of no, leaves being swept aside by the player,…),
- Echoes (dynamic depending on the environment: empty room, Cliff,…)
Test
The game is not over since all implementations can cause some bugs.
The video game testers try to find any bug trying to ‘break’ the game by performing all the actions and interactions possible in all possible contexts in order to validate and complete the game development and design..
After these internal tests, a beta phase is often observed in the world of video games so that players create a return in order to correct and refine parts dark and shaky game.
Marketing
When the game is ready, he must reveal it to the public relying on communication to make many people aware of the existence and the release of the video game.
There are various possible distribution channels. I speak here that digital distribution that is increasingly used by a collective choice of players. Dedicated platforms exist in order to know the game to users of it but distribute its own product through its own site is also a good way (I would support me on the example of Minecraft in its infancy).
The choice of an economic model is important. It will affect the interest of the player to play as we know all the reputation of the games p2ws (Pay To Win, in principle free game but that it is difficult to win without pay to get a significant advantage). To avoid this, I show you different types of models:
- Sales during the download.
- Microtransactions: allows the player to get more or less significant advantages (skills, graphics, skins, objects, various customizations,…). Be careful not to fall in the p2ws.
- DLC: develop the “Downloadable Content” pay, that would generate revenue to make the development.
- Subscription.
- Advertising: placement of products through in-game items (car, consumables,…), advertising panels integrated in the scenery or the menu of the game, but also visible pubs on the web site of the game.
This list is not exhaustive since it is not the purpose of the article, but there’s (crowdfunding, the sale of derivatives, paying from a certain level… game demo).
Conclusion
These 7 points are not carried out asynchronously in order not to lengthen the time of game development. Hence the importance of planning for the first question.
I didn’t go into the details because I wanted to stay general although the writing of the article is based on the creation of games in the studio with a provided team and a more or less comfortable budget.