Simplify Game Development

I has been some time since I reflected closer on ways to simplify game development. This article is the kickstart to set of articles on my views on it. Since my graduation I’ve seen different software productions, mainly from a quality- and process oriented perspective. I’ve also experimented with different game development processes in smaller teams. This experience has given me some new takes on some of the initial ideas that I studied at the university.

The main idea with these articles on game production is to review the core topics of my master thesis on game production. I hope that with these ideas in mind game developers will be able to simplify game production.

First of all, I see these seven topics as the most important in game productions:

• Concept: The initial idea is born and nurtured into a mature concept.
• Toy: The immediate interaction that the player will have with the game.
• Narrative: this can be at the core of the game mechanics or layered as an appealing feature.
• Gameplay: Goals, constraints, and obstacles that make the game interesting.
• Implementation: This is when the logic and art is integrated.
• Polish: This step that consist of a number of iterations to meet the visions of quality in the Game.
• Rehearse: Practise all of the above over and over again to reach the desired production quality.

Each of the above topics are still the way I like to simplify game production and perhaps even any software production. The topics should not be seen as phases in a production but rather as elements that are iterated upon throughout the entire development of the game. At some point each of the topics will reach a mature state and more effort can be put into the other areas.

As I release the articles on the topics, I will add links to them in this article. Thus is this article better seen as an index or teaser to the following seven articles in this series.