Transcript The Game Development Process

The Game Development Process
Typical Development Cycle
Idea
Proposal
Design
Evaluation
Coding
Testing
Release
The Game Development Process
The Game Idea
The Game
Proposal
The Game Design
The Game Design
 The Game Design Bible
Story
Gameplay
Interface
 The Art Bible
 The Software Bible
Evaluation
Game Design
Evaluation
Development
Development
Coding and
Debugging
Testing
Release
Typical Development Cycle
Idea
Proposal
Design
Evaluation
Coding
Testing
Release
Waterfall Development Cycle
Idea
Proposal
Design
Evaluation
Coding
Testing
Release
Spiral Development Cycle
Design
Coding
and Art
Start
Evaluation
Release
Testing
Evolutionary Prototyping
Proposal
Design and
initial prototype
Refine Prototype
Until Acceptable
Release
Design to Schedule
Idea
Proposal
Design
Evaluation
High Priority Code
Med High Priority Code
Run out of time and
money
Med Priority Code
Med Low Priority Code
Low Priority Code
Release
Game Development Documents
Concept Document
 Game Spec
 Design Document
 Story Bible
 Script
 Art Bible
 Storyboards
 Technical Design Document
 Schedules and Business/Marketing Documents
 Test Plan

Concept Document or Pitch
Document or Proposal
To sell the game
To create a framework for design
Generally 10 pages or less.
Concept art
Can be written by committee, but needs leadership
Acts as a springboard
Game Spec – Concept Doc?
Overview
 Players
 Look and Feel
 Interface
 Start Up
 Objectives

Entities
 Features
 Rules
 Gameplay
 Level Design
 Technical Requirements
 Marketing

Design Document
 Highly Detailed
 Can be quite large (100+ pages)
 Should contain all elements not addressed in
other documents
 Is a living document!!!!!!!!
A Design Document Construct
Table of Contents
 Introduction/Overview
 Game Mechanics
 Artificial Intelligence
 Game Elements
 Story Overview
 Game Progression
 System Menus

Story Bible
 Story outline is in design document, the story
bible fleshes out the story.
 Plot and Story Flow
 Detailed Story Flow
 Detailed Characterizations
 Backstory
 Generally Prose instead of bullets
Script
 The Dialog that occurs in the game.
 Tree structure that controls dialog
Art Bible
 Concept sketches
 Resources for artist
 Look and feel
 Art styles
 Technical guidelines
 Generally created by lead artist, not designer.
Storyboards
 May be part of art bible or standalone.
 Puts game flow in a visual context
 Useful to entire team, not just artist
Technical Design Document
 Sister specification to Art Bible and Game
Design Document
 Discusses how functionality will be implemented.
 Generally constructed by the lead programmer.
 May include overall code structure, major
classes, rendering architecture, AI design, etc.
 May contain pseudocode
Schedules and
Business/Marketing Documents
 Documents necessary for management of
project.
 Generally responsibility of Producer.
Nature of Documentation
 Must be living documents.
 Allows communication and direction across the
team
 Can be a trap if misused.