I''ve always wondered, what facet of a game''s production takes the most time? Do the programmers finish up and tweak while the artists finish up their work, or is it the other way around? What about the sound team? Or, does everything happily fall into place around the same time? Let''s not forget all the other behind-the-scenes people. Obviously there is some variation from project to project, I''m just curious if there are any trends.

Well, if you''re thinking freeware teams, then lazy-ass graphicians usually stall up the entire project. And then the programmer refuses to work on it more until he gets any graphics. And then the ''leader'' threatens to kick everybody or leave or start WW3. Then the programmer gets drunk and starts writing angry mails on the internal mailinglist. The graphician then leaves or gets a bad conscience and draws ONE sprite (or he recolour one of his previous sprites). The next day, apologies are in order. Things work themselves out, and all agree to get something done. Then the cycle repeats itself.

My think about it: (for start the job)

1)First, make all job by myself, "friends" usually work for only a week, theb drop the project.
2)the initial job is short, but is very complete, graphics, imagen, and code. At least 1 month of work, there is not a real project
3)Next, call this project a BAIT-PROJECT.
4)Show this project for all people(PREY)
5)Next, some people(PREY), will ask for enter the group, in this case is necesary to filters the good guys and the lamerz. The good guys always made their job (they have some experience in this), the lamerz only returns promises.
6)When the pre-team is ready, you must made a democraty job, to choice the final project.
7)While the project is running, some people can drop the project and someone can join to the project. In this stage, the project must run without problems. The artist made the job (indicated in point 6), while the programmers made another job (also in point 6)



i am wrong with this?


The start-point of all project in almost all cases, indicate the successfull or failure of the project.

The team work in the next way:

leader <-> programmers
leader <-> artist
artist <-> programmers (it is the more complicated way, but cannot be avoid)

artists<-> artists (team work)
programmers <-> programmers (team work)
all <-> all (usually the 8am/9am daily reunion, in the more democratic way).



ps :my bait can be ready in 2002 ;-)


Edited by - eng3d on November 27, 2001 9:42:47 AM

It depends on a number of factors...the people involved, scale of the game, how ambitious it is....

By and large there are three basic stages to game development (software development in general)...Everyone has likely heard of Alpha, Beta, and Gold...generaly it goes something like this:

start to alpha:
This is actually the most fun part for many folks...this is where all the "brainstorming" takes place..where the design documents are written, concept art made, and general planning of the game (file formats, etc..)...at the end of the Alpha phase there is usually a working framework in place for the game assets to be added...not a prototype...but a very rough somewhat working game engine (with simple cubes used to represent objects, etc..)

alpha to beta:
This is where the art and level designers really start pumping out their work...and the major bugs are squashed by the programmers as they refine and optimize thier earlyer game code...at the end of the beta phase the game should be "feature complete" (or close to it).

Beta to gold:
this is the "polishing" stage...this is where most of the game testing is done allowing programmers to hunt down and squash bugs...where art can be cleaned up...game balance can be fixed, etc...

In many ways this mirrors the film industry with thier "pre-production","production", and "post-production" phases in developing movies...And like many films, games spend the most amount of time in the final stage...


some invaluable advice:

If this is going to be your first game...or even amoung the first THIRTY games you and your team have made...you would be foolish to pursue that "dream game" idea you have cooked up...nobody is capable of makeing thier dream game the first time out...no one...Not id software, not 3D Realms, nor any other famous (and not so famous) developers...start small...really small...put yourself and your team to a test like "make a Pong like game" in three weeks...If your team can''t do this then there is no way that MMORPG (or whatever) will get made.

Actuyally, your definitions of Alpha, Beta and Master/Gold are a bit off from what I have myself experienced in the industry.

The first stage is often called Pre-Dev, where the team will knock up a one-level ''demo'' of the game, to make sure that the publishers, producers and developers are happy about what they are producing.

Then, all the milestones are planned out, with all the assets needed for the development of the game documented and planned out.

Production will then begin, working to that all-important Alpha, which is:

The game, without any major bugs, and with most of the finished artwork and levels in place. Some placeholder graphics are usually acceptable. Minor bugs are usually acceptable. All levels are usually in place, although not necessarily final.

Beta is:

Only minor, class C bugs left (usually means non-fatal). All artwork final. All levels in place, all overlays done. A 99% complete game. The producer and developer is usually happy that the game is complete.

Gold:

The final article. When you''ve been through the rigorous demands of the publisher and made any tweaks or added any polish they require. Absolutely all known bugs must be fixed. (can be a NIGHTMAAARE!), then your game will go gold.

That''s it!

Starboy, you are right!.
In any case, end a Alpha Stage is not easy. I work in many groups, and all finished in a complete failure!. So, i have experiencie i what is wrong! ;-)

We only need to worry in Alpha Stage, when you reach beta, then all goes good (or almost, the money can be a problems in beta stage, or bad code can be a nightmare).

Of course, Gold (over "gamma"?), is when you are victorious, and want more money for the same game!.

Actually from the games I''ve beta tested, Beta is where tweaks are made to increase playability, add those final options, AND in some cases change artwork or add more. This is true of all the MMOGs I''ve tested, but it might be different for game that arent focused on MMO. Thats just what I''ve seen in my limited exp anyways.

I thought Beta was where you release the game to the public in order to make the Xmas sales window. Whether or not it works is something else. And anything after was ''Patch''.

Oh, and ''Gold'' was when you want to squeeze some more dollars out of the market so you re-release the game 6 mos later with a few tweaks and charge the customers an even higher price.

Or maybe I''m just cynical...

The use of the word ''Beta'' has been somewhat distorted since the advent of MMPOGs - it''s used to name the testing period when they need players from the general gaming public to stress-test (and more) the game.

Strictly speaking, a game that is in a Public Beta is not actually at Beta in development terms, more like alpha. The main reason is that with these types of games, the only way to see if it truly works is to get thousands of people testing it, not just internal QA departments.

The game will still only be released properly when it hits Gold/Master.

Starboy.