how to create a computer game

© 2010 Related Designs

MATTHIAS NOCK, Dipl. Ing. (FH)Senior Game Designer, Related Designs

© 2010 Related Designs

• Development Process• Stages• Goals

• Departments• Tasks• Responsibilities• Qualifications

Overview

© 2010 Related Designs© 2010 Related Designs

© 2010 Related Designs

© 2010 Related Designs

Development Process

Preproduction

12 months

Conception of the gamewith all its features

Planning of resourcestime, budget and team

Development of tools forproduction

Prototyping to validatenew technologies andfeatures

Development Process - Preproduction

© 2010 Related Designs

Development Process

© 2010 Related Designs

Preproduction Production

12 months 12 months

Implementation of allfeatures of the game

Creation of all assets ofthe game

Iteration of features toincrease quality

Building Alpha and Betaversion

Development Process - Production

© 2010 Related Designs

Development Process

© 2010 Related Designs

Preproduction Production Postproduction

12 months 12 months 6 months

Intensive testing oftechnical and gameplayquality

Final balancing of allfeatures of the game

Polishing quality of graphics,sound and gameplay

Delivering Master Version

Development Process - Postproduction

© 2010 Related Designs

© 2010 Related Designs

Departments

© 2010 Related Designs

Project

Management

Game Design

Programming

Arts

Administration

Testing

Internal often External

Game Writer

Localization

Sound

Testing

Publisher

Planning of production

Watching production

Contact with publisher

Responsible for completionof the game in time andbudget

Qualification:Business Administration

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Departments – Project Management

Designing rules andmechanics

Documenting andcommunicating design

Creating assets

Responsible for quality ofcontent and gameplay

Qualification: Interdisciplinary

Departments – Game Design

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Technical design of thegame

Implementation of code

Implementation ofproduction tools

Responsible for technicalquality of the game

Qualification: Computer Science / Maths

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Departments – Programming

Creation of graphical assets

Animation of models andevents

Creation of visual effects

Responsible for visualquality of the game

Qualification: Visual arts/Computer science

Departments – Art

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Creation of the game world

Integration of assets intogame world

Creation of missions andcampaign

Jointly responsible forquality of gameplay

Qualification: Visual arts/Interdisciplinary

Departments – Level Design

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Composing and recordingmusic of the game

Voice recording

Creation of sound effects

Responsible for the auditoryquality of the game

Qualification: Sound engineer / Composer

Departments – Audio

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Co-Development of storyand dramaturgy with GameDesign

Development of charactersand dialogues

Authoring of published textsand documents

Qualification: Writer / Literature

Departments – Game Writing

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Testing implementedfeatures of the game

Testing on function andquality

Organisation of translationand integration of languagebased assets

Jointly responsible forfunctionality and quality

Qualification: Newcomers / Multilingual

Departments – Testing & Localization

© 2010 Related Designs

Game development is ahighly complex process

Throughout professionalstructures in production

Experts with academicbackground

Booming branch ofindustry

Summary

© 2010 Related Designs

© 2010 Related Designs