Ever thought about what goes into your favorite game? Whether it’s the intricacies of character interactions with their world or how different environments are lit, there’s always a person behind the scenes, designing everything you see.
Each developer has their own process when tackling the huge challenges that come with creating a game, but here’s a general synopsis of video game creation from the perspective of three different game developers.
Starting Out
Everyone starts somewhere. Resources and documentation of fellow developers are vital when starting out on the game development journey.
Dylan Cantu, a Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center Video Game Design (VGD) graduate, found himself looking to online courses as his starting point for code. Cantu is majoring in computer science at EvCC.
“I had never written a line of code in my life … So I found myself learning a lot from online tutorials and using teachers as my reference,” Cantu said. “The internet is such a haven for information. You could probably find a whole college degree course online.”
Derek Herrera-Sturm, a Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center VGD instructor and indie company owner, offered to share some of his advice when it comes to where to start.
“I always think that when someone’s learning game development, they should start off with Scratch just to learn the logical side of things like ‘if’ statements and then block (code),” Herrera-Sturm said. “Then I think people should learn Javascript because you have to still use syntax, but it’s not as picky as some of the languages are.”.
Most scripting languages, or code, accomplish the same goal despite different syntax/structure: carry out whatever instructions you asked the program to do. Scratch uses a simple visual language called “block code”. This breaks the code into easily understandable chunks like “when this sprite/image is clicked, make a honk noise.”
Beyond programming, there are other jobs a developer might find themselves drawn to. Finch Germaine, an EvCC student and Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center Animation graduate, found himself drawn towards the art and animation side with a notable affinity for creating and animating 3D models.
Rarely do you ever see games developed with a single developer. Volunteers, teammates/coworkers, commissioned creators, and even dedicated backers of the project make up many facets of game design.
“If you’re really good at coding but really bad at communicating, I’m sorry but that’s not gonna get you through this industry. Making sure that your teammates are accountable for themselves and if you have that strong bond between teammates, you’ll go really far,” Cantu said.
Many industries, not just game development, go by a team structure system called “Agile” as a way to break up phases and workload for teams. SCRUM, one of Agile’s systems, is when a project is broken down into weeks called “sprints”. Sprints are goals that are needed to be reached by a certain amount of time in order to make forward progress, similar to a deadline.
“Each sprint has a purpose. You need to give each sprint a goal, otherwise you’re gonna be kind of aimless,” Herrera-Sturm said.
“Maybe the first sprint, the whole goal for the entire team is to have a game design document (GDD) where all of our character designs and our level designs are all put into one single PDF. If you hit your goals every time, you’re guaranteed to have a successful project.”
Phases of Game Development
Each phase embodies the meat that goes into the game — whether you can see it in the final versions or not.
Pre-production is the phase where developers start conceptualizing the game. This can range from your budget and finances, along with time commitment to the assets the game needs. As previously mentioned by Herrera-Sturm, developers in this phase generally start creating their “Game Design Document” or “GDD”.
A GDD essentially serves as a blueprint for the game. Aspects; such as mechanics (controls, objectives, special features and abilities), story/plot, characters and environments; are all within the pages of this document and serve as a reference for game designers to look back on.
Production is the main phase — implementing the programming, modeling of characters and environments, sound effects and voice acting, level design and all that jazz outlined in the GDD.
Testing is when developers and playtesters start looking for any bugs, glitches, exploits and softlocks in the game. Each may hinder a player’s ability to progress through the game as intended.
Launch is when a game is in a workable state and possibly released to the public. This is generally where “polish” or making the game feel as good to play as possible comes in.
Lastly, post-production accounts for anything made after the game has been launched. This includes updates and patches to downloadable content or “DLC”.
Ups and Downs
Game development, like many other jobs and projects, has its ups and downs. Choosing productive teammates and setting realistic goals were heavily stressed to ensure the success of a project.
“I was too ambitious and wanted more of what we could have achieved and what we did achieve. We had to present a broken game and it was … one of those moments where you reflect on it and you make sure you never do that again,” Cantu said reflecting on his first year Sno-Isle final project.
Experiences such as these were ones taken to heart when moving onto their next projects. In the following year, Cantu and Germaine happened to work on the same game, both discussing similar sentiments when working with good teammates.
“My favorite project that I’ve worked on is Project Virtualize. The way the team was structured was so I could go off doing things that I was really really good at, which was level design. It was the best designer, the best programmer and the best artists in the class, all working on one project and it ended up glorious and we won awards,” Cantu said.
“I love my teammates in my second quarter, cause like that was the dream team anyways. Everybody pulled their own weight and I think it was really cool to have somebody with that much passion and experience on the team as well,” Germaine said.
Advice for Developers
These experiences can serve as learning points for many developers as they develop their careers. Letting go of ideas is a common sentiment between the developers on what helps push a project forward and to avoid setting high expectations or overworking themselves.
“You have to be able to ‘kill your baby’ if it’ll be better for the overall project. It could be the greatest idea you’ve ever thought of, but in actuality it’s probably not that great or it doesn’t fit, so you have to shelve it or kill it on the spot,” Cantu said.
“My logic is always: if you have a good idea that you don’t have time for anymore or like you’re past pre-production … save it for DLC or the next game,” Herrera-Sturm said. “I always tell myself that it would just make my next game that much better if I put that into the next one instead.”
Lack of motivation and self-critical sentiments can often come with the challenges of being a developer, especially when one sets aside many ideas or concepts or if they find themselves in a tough spot.
“My advice is get a working version of the game done early. It’s really easy to be demotivated if you’re working on a project for months and have nothing to show for it. It can be really satisfying to play and show other people and say ‘I made this’. One part of SCRUM we do is called ‘definition of done’ where at the very beginning during pre-production, you set what it looks like when a piece is done. You stop working on it, you don’t hang onto it for weeks. Three weeks is not gonna be three times better than one week,” Herrera-Sturm said.
“Try not to do anything that’s so out of your league that you’re gonna fail miserably, set realistic expectations for yourself. Nothing good happens from giving yourself too high expectations. Don’t compare yourself to other people, compare yourself to where you were. Comparing you to other people isn’t gonna help, but personal growth is important,”
For developers, creating games isn’t just a fun project. It’s a dedicated group of team members coming together to develop an impactful product for the people. As a project comes to fruition, one’s time, soul, and love of creation becomes apparent through the work put into the game. “It is a passion led industry,” Cantu said.
“It’s really something that anybody can do, but not a lot of people can do well. If you just jump into making a game thinking ‘oh, this will be easy’, you’re wrong. It’s very rough and will chew you up and spit you out if you let it. You have to go in with an open mind and just don’t let your natural curiosity fade.”
If interested, here are the games mentioned within this article:
Project Virtualize: https://sisc-vgdani.itch.io/2023-24-q4-pm-11
Fusion Fighters: https://www.dracona.net/home
Synthetic Treachery (Resynthesized): https://polarisstars.itch.io/synthetic-treachery-resynthesized
