Denis “weekly” blog #9

Stages of development for a video game borrow a lot from the film industry and the traditional software industry.  It also depends on the size of the studio and if they release an early access version of the game.
From the film industry, in particularly animation large studios will have all the necessary steps such as that a major video game would need. With Screen testing and re shooting similar to quality assurance testing and fixing bugs found in that. Although one typically alters the narrative where bug fixing is altering the mechanics of a game. This is processes is usually done with a waterfall development cycle. Even large software companies are shifting away from this cycle of development. Due to it is hard to change and adapt and requires more capital upfront. As if it does not work then there is no way to find the problem until it is much too late. That is one reason large games will have catastrophic bugs left in a shipped game, such Mass Effect Andromeda. However, games with narratives often use this cycle because it needs to fit to a story.
However, usually indie games that are reliant on emergent gameplay to be entertaining use a form of agile development. Especially if the game was released in early access, assuming they are decent developers. This is because the game needs to be functional at the end of each sprint to be delivered to customers. This allows for game breaking bugs to be found and squashed early so they do not grow into larger issues. Gameplay can also change due to consistent feedback from the players and developers alike. However, using agile development in the cut throat world of the video game market can be dangerous. This is because the market is massive and consumers might look to different games. As by its nature of agile development it is unfinished upon release.  The game’s direction may change drastically enough for the developers to no longer have passion for the project. What is a common occurrence with agile development is a developer will release an early build and once they have the money, stop development. Thus, a lot of consumers are weary of agile development for games.

Source: Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

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