The art of full-cycle game development

Each high-quality digital product requires tons of time for planning, prototyping, developing, and testing – all done by competent people. Game development follows this pattern as well. However, it partially depends on what kind of a project you are making and how. A simple F2P game with primitive or premade assets can be completed surprisingly fast and thrown to the market in no time. However, with more complex titles, full-cycle game production takes much more effort, so not every dev studio fits the task. Let us explain why.

Full-cycle development is a comprehensive and intricate process that demands a high level of expertise across various disciplines. From the initial concept to post-release support, every phase requires specialized skills and deep industry knowledge. Here’s why it’s a job best left to professionals:

1. The Complexity of Development: Developing a game from scratch involves several stages, including concept development, programming, art and sound production, testing, and so on. Each of these phases requires highly skilled experts who are familiar with the trickiness within their respective fields. Newcomers often do not have the experience or means to cope with such complexity effectively.
2. Industry Standards and Expectations: The game market is a highly competitive one, where players demand high-quality visuals and seamless action. A good game today is also expected to feature some innovative functions. It takes a group of experts who have been working in the industry for years to produce games like this all that is involved in them meets with current standards.
3. Resource Management: The game development process requires careful coordination of resources, including time, budget, and personnel. Veteran pros know how to allocate resources efficiently to ensure no delays or budget overruns. Where necessary they also have the contacts and experience to bring in missing expertise, making sure that no significant part of a project gets overlooked.
4. Technical Capability: Today's games are often expected to work on multiple platforms and with a variety of different devices, from consoles to mobile telephones. This requires some specialized technical understanding and experience.
5. Post-Release Support: The work doesn’t end once the game is released. Ongoing support, such as updates, bug fixes, and community management, is crucial for maintaining a game’s success. Experienced professionals understand the importance of post-release support and have the infrastructure in place to provide it.

Also, don’t forget that many gaming platforms, devices, and AAA titles spoil players. Their expectations must be taken into account when developing a game. Knowing the audience and following the latest industry trends are the key to success. Not every studio has the luxury to develop and polish every aspect of the video game because they lack people or expertise. Full-cycle game development is like a chain with multiple links, and if one is flawed, the quality of the chain degrades. So you must consider only those masters who can take care of all links simultaneously.

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 concept

The 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:

1. Game Overview: A broad description of the game’s genre, target audience, platform, and key selling points.
2. Core Gameplay Mechanics: A detailed explanation of how the game will be played, including control schemes, level design, and player objectives.
3. Story and Characters: Outlines the narrative arc, character development, and world-building elements.
4. Art and Sound Direction: Specifies the visual style, color schemes, character designs, and audio elements.
5. 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 prototype

Every 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 slice

After 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 development

Now 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 testing

At 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 testing

Let 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.

7. Release

Congratulations! The full-cycle game production process has reached its final stage. Time to concentrate the efforts on marketing while your core dev team is busy with fixing detected bugs and polishing the product. Game designers may focus on minor gameplay tweaks.

The short answer: loving games and having skills backed up by years of dev experience. A studio that has a bunch of successfully released projects that were developed from scratch is worth your attention. They surely have all game development processes streamlined – from ideating to post-release support. Moreover, they most likely know how to make games fun to play and enjoyable, which is vital for any business project.

Outsourcing the entire full cycle of game development is a strategic choice for many companies, especially those looking to bring their vision to life without the overhead of managing an in-house team. Outsourcing game development allows you to tap into specialized expertise, reduce costs, and speed up production.

Good studios with full-cycle game development services have full-stack capabilities to keep everything under one roof. This way, they will never go looking for external specialists in the heat of development. A diverse team of creators ensures that all aspects will be covered and performance levels will not drop.

When you outsource game developers, you gain access to a team of seasoned professionals who can handle every aspect of the project—from concept creation to post-launch support. These teams are well-versed in the latest industry trends and technologies, ensuring your game meets high standards of quality and performance.

Outsourcing video game development also offers flexibility, allowing you to scale your project as needed. Whether you require full-cycle development or support with specific stages, outsourcing game development services can be tailored to fit your needs.

If you are looking for a studio that will take care of everything from A to Z, then Argentics is here to provide game development services! Our dev team has creators for any task. We work in this industry because we love games, love innovating, and setting trends instead of following them. We offer top-notch game development, well-designed and well-researched. The team is ready to start on your mark, so don’t hesitate to contact us anytime!