The process of game development is not quick. The time required to deliver a finished product depends on the project scale, budget, and your dev team size. It takes at least 1-2 years to create an average game, while AAA titles usually need at least three years or even more. These numbers are not carved in stone. For example, the remake of Resident Evil 3 took three years to make by a competent game studio.
On the other hand, complex independent projects like Disco Elysium take
over four years. Why so long? Because they went through all stages of game development with limited human resources. What are these stages, you ask?
1. Creating a conceptThe very first step in the game development pipeline is where a dev team invents the game’s concept and starts thinking about the game design basics. This stage is crucial as it involves defining the game’s vision, mechanics, and scope.
The most important task at this stage is to write a Game Design Document (GDD) that includes:
- Game Overview: A broad description of the game’s genre, target audience, platform, and key selling points.
- Core Gameplay Mechanics: A detailed explanation of how the game will be played, including control schemes, level design, and player objectives.
- Story and Characters: Outlines the narrative arc, character development, and world-building elements.
- Art and Sound Direction: Specifies the visual style, color schemes, character designs, and audio elements.
- Technical Requirements: The hardware and software tools needed for development, including engines, frameworks, and platform-specific considerations.
The GDD serves as the foundation for the entire game development life cycle.
2. Making a working prototypeEvery game requires a prototype before starting actual development. Something that looks good on paper might be less exciting in reality. A prototype is needed to evaluate core gameplay features, test various ideas, tinker with game mechanics, choose a game engine, and analyze other key technical aspects.
A prototype provides a low-cost, simplified version of the game that enables developers to experiment with key mechanics such as player movement, interaction, and basic gameplay loops. During this stage of the game dev cycle, focus exclusively on features that need actual testing. Keep in mind that your prototype should be simple, as it will be discarded after serving its purpose. Avoid the mistake of copying temporary infrastructure into the main project, as it can complicate development later on.
3. Compiling a vertical sliceAfter you are done with prototyping, the next step in the full cycle development process you need to take is creating a minimal viable product or a piece of the game with all its features. It must be a small piece that demonstrates the variety of core gameplay. Unlike the prototype, which focuses purely on testing key ideas, the MVP or vertical slice should demonstrate a more polished and cohesive experience, albeit on a limited scale.
In vertical slices, the game development focus shifts towards those game elements that have the most impact on the game and how it is played. It does not mean that all other basic features must be left out, though. Include them too, but don’t spend too much time on their polishing. Crude representation is okay here. At the end of this stage, you must have a playable area/level that demonstrates the variety of content and features.
4. Game developmentNow it’s time to fill your game with content. This phase of the game development cycle involves a wide range of creative tasks, from modeling and drawing to coding and testing. All features planned and approved for the final product must be implemented before moving into the beta-testing phase. For large projects, this stage can take a year or more to complete.
During this stage, all team members are involved. Writers work on dialogues, artists create visual assets, and programmers code features. Project managers oversee the process to ensure everything stays on track. Having a full-stack development team can help manage the complexity of this phase effectively.
5. Closed beta testingAt this stage of development, you now have a product ready to showcase to a broader audience beyond your core development team. This is where the beta testing phase begins, a crucial period in which your game is tested by a group of external players, often referred to as beta testers. These testers are typically loyal to your product or brand, which means they are more inclined to provide constructive feedback. However, it’s important to recognize that their reactions might not fully reflect how the broader target audience will engage with the game.
During the beta, you need to detect as many bugs and flaws in game design as possible. The game must have all key features at this point, enough content for extended gameplay sessions, and integrated tools for gathering/analyzing data.
6. Open beta testingLet the testing continue! But with more people involved in the process. This is how you test whether your game is truly optimized. Every new player becomes a quality assurance asset. Depending on their feedback, you may either continue towards the release with minor fixes and changes or start adding more features if the crowd is not satisfied.