The Process of Game Development(Part3)

The Process of Game Development(Part3)

Beginning Construction: During Production

Now that you know exactly what’s going to happen during your production and when each task is going to take place, it’s time to get to work! Production is a process that you should find fulfilling and rewarding. Nevertheless, you will probably encounter a variety of problems during your project.

Maintaining the Schedule

After production has officially begun, the schedule is of maximum importance. Make sure your project manager follows the progress of all team  members or departments and keeps  everyone on schedule (or as close to it as possible).  Often this job can be quite challenging for your project manager, so be sure to offer advice or try to help as much as you can.The project manager needs to keep team morale in mind,too. Remember the difference between  constructive and destructive criticism: Constructive criticism points out problems  yet encourages team members to keep trying to improve. Destructive criticism only shames,  alienates, insults, and, in the end, drives your team members away from the project.

Dealing with Delays

Remember that delays happen. They can occur for a  variety of reasons, from personal crises to software issues. The key is not to let delays bring you or your team down. Try to get back on schedule, or if that isn’t possible, form a new schedule that takes your delay into account.

inform the public, regardless of the disappointmentthis announcement might generate. In the game  development world, delays are common, but this doesn’t mean they should be taken lightly. A project with zero delays is probably never going to happen, but a project with too many delays  can lose the interest of an eager public.

Bringing It Together

After you have enough project assets completed, it’s time to integrate them into a functional

game. This task is usually the work of the level designer and the coder, as they have the clearest

idea of how the Unreal Engine works. This step includes developing the functionality of game

assets and making sure all assets work correctly when combined. They also need to ascertain how

the game, mod, or project plays when it’s finished.

Testing and Acquiring Feedback

After you have integrated enough of the game that it’s playable, it’s a good time to begin testing. In nearly all professional projects, testing begins long before the project is completed. The process is fairly simple: Have someone play the game, knowing which parts have been completed and which haven’t, and make sure those completed elements are working correctly. You can get the whole team involved in this process, or if they are too busy, call in some extra help. Usually, little effort is needed to convince a fellow gamer to play-test a new game.

Internal Testing: Alpha

Alpha testing is usually done in house, among the team members. Depending on the size of your staff, however, you might need to recruit outside testers. Your testers should be aware of how the project development process is progressing and precisely which elements have and have not been fully implemented. In most cases, you don’t want to release an alpha edition of your software to the public because you’re sure to get plagued with a barrage of emails from people who have no idea how your game is being created.Make sure security is tight for your alpha testing phase, and ensure that your team members aren’t revealing it to the web community.

External Testing: Beta

Beta testing essentially works the same as alpha testing, but it’s performed on an almost complete project. In most cases, you won’t want to release your beta version to the public either. Your beta version will eventually become the finalized game or project, so you don’t want it to be freely downloaded before the official release. Be careful who you choose as a beta tester. Security is always a concern. Also, it’s not enough for beta testers to just be gamers. They also need to be interested in helping you with your project by looking for problems that gamers could find, such as “holes” in the maps, nonfunctioning elements, and incompatibility with certain hardware or software. Also, make sure your beta testers are prompt with their feedback and aren’t just taking advantage of you to play your new game.

Remodeling and Closing: Ending Production

You’ve built your game and are in the middle of the final tests, getting ready to release your project.At this phase, you should be wrapping up your beta testing, getting your web designer to start

promoting the launch date, and finalizing all parts of the project. But what do you do with all this beta test data and, more important, when do you quit beta testing?

What to Do with Beta Test Info

The purpose of beta testing is to get feedback from a larger base of users to find and fix any nonfunctional aspects of your game or project. Collect as much data as you can from your testers and cross-reference it with other testers to see what the biggest problems are. Use this data to fix your game’s most important problems. Processing all this data is a major task, and you will likely want to get your entire team involved. In the end, much of the repair work will probably fall on the level designer and the programmer, so try to keep them from getting tied up with other tasks. Feedback from your beta testers is vital to finishing your project. You need to know what kind of video cards your game supports, what kind of drivers are needed, and so on. This feedback can also help you discover and repair the small (but still important) problems that arise in most game development. Beta testers can often tell you where loopholes are in your project.

When to Stop Beta Testing

Remember that a game can be like a work of art. Often, it’s difficult to tell exactly when it’s finished.

When deciding whether your project is finished, you need to take a few factors into account. First, take a look at the kind of feedback coming in from your beta testers. The number of severe issues should be winding down. More important, remember your schedule! Don’t go too far off schedule during the tweaking process.

Finalizing and Releasing

Congratulations! You’ve made it through the course of production, and now it’s time to make your project available to customers. This time could prove to be busy, depending on the size of your project. At this point, your game could “go gold,” which means it’s being manufactured on CD, or your mod or project could be made available for download to the online community.Your project is officially finished, but the work isn’t over for the entire crew. You still need to support your game by creating and releasing game patches for any technical problems that come up. Plus, you want to continue promoting your game to the community!

Wireframe image of a level.