Cost
Hardware
Computers
In order to make a game you will need a computer, as video
games are created on computers, even the ones made for consoles. You will also
need a pretty good computer- but this depends on the game you are going to make;
for example if you are making an mobile app type game, you will not really need
a high end computer, but if you plan to make a high end game then you will
certainly need a good computer with a very power graphics card.
Peripherals
The peripherals means the input software used to control
video games, when developing a game you need to work around the hardware
provided like Xbox and PlayStation controllers, if you want to sell a game on
PC, you will need to create a control scheme with the keyboard. A well-developed
gaming company like Nintendo can create their own controllers.
Dev Kits
Development kits are the hardware used to test and debug
games for retail consoles; development kits cost a lot of money and can be
loaned to game developers from a gaming company. For example if some game
developers wanted to release a game on Xbox 360, they would have to get their
hands on a development kit, this costs a lot of money-but can be loaned too.
Xbox One now has a system which allows people to do this on retail consoles.
Software
UDK
The Unreal Development Kit is a very popular development kit
used by many game developers. You will need a pretty high spec pc to develop on
this engine. The System requirements are a “desktop
PC with Windows 7 64-bit or a Mac with Mac OS X 10.9.2 or later, 8 GB RAM and a
quad-core Intel or AMD processor, and a DX11 compatible video card. UE4 will
run on desktops and laptops below these recommendations, but performance may be
limited.” The Unreal engine is free to create in, however it using the C++
coding language, which is not friendly for beginners.
https://www.unrealengine.com/faqs
Unity
Unity is a popular cross platform game engine, there is a
free version of the engine, and a £20 a month development team version. A lot
of Unity Engine games can be played for free on gaming websites like Y8.com. There
are no royalties or per title fees, even on the free version of Unity. There
are problems with Unity, these include performance problems, and no one using
the engine gets to see the source code, so if there is a bug in the Unity
engine, Unity themselves have to fix it.
Game Maker
Game maker is a gaming engine, it’s not as high end as UDK
and Unity. It cannot do 3D games; it’s all based around 2D games. A lot of the
app store games can be made with game maker, these games are sold at low
prices, but if popular enough they can make loads of money.
Maya
Maya is a 3D computer graphics software program; it is used
to create the 3D sprites which appear in games. This is a very important piece
of software, as it specialises in the creation of 3D sprites, other game engines
do have these features but they are not as well made than Maya’s features.
Publishing
Steam Greenlight
Steam Greenlight is a community approval system, which lets
people submit their games to see if they can sell them on steam, people vote
for a game and then that game is sent to valve to see if it is appropriate for
sale- if successful, it is “Green lit”.
ID@Xbox
ID@Xbox is a program on Xbox one which allows independent
game developers create and self-release titles. The development kits used to
develop these games, come at no cost, developers in the program get access to
Unity and optional access to Unreal.
PSN
PSN is an abbreviation for PlayStation Network; it’s an
online gaming service which comes with PlayStation consoles. It used to be free
to use, but this meant that there was not as much money going into protecting its
servers- so there were many hacking attacks; because of this, the PSN on
PlayStation 4 is not free. PlayStation only people to sign up to a game
developing program where you are allowed to self-publish on PSN; however you
have to be in American Continent.
IOS
IOS is the operating system used by Apple mobile devices-
such as the iPhone. There are many games for IOS; these games are usually
pretty basic games which don’t use much memory- games like angry birds use IOS.
There are problems with selling games on IOS, if Apple doesn’t like the game
you have spent all your time on, they won’t sell it- so you get no income.
Android
Android is an operating system used Android mobile devices,
it doesn’t have the capabilities of IOS, so the games are usually of worse
quality. Android games are sold through Google Play, and the Amazon store, this
means that game developers have to submit their games to both stores- this is
fragmented as both Google Play and Amazon are on Android devices.
Funding
Games don’t grow on trees, they cost a lot of money to
develop and sell. When creating a game even the smallest of indie developers
needs to think about their finance, and the financial risks that relate to
creating a game.
Self-Funding
Self- funding is when game developers develop games with
their own money, this method of funding usually applies to small indie
developers who make games in their spare time; the money that is being put into
a game, would be coming from their day job; there is not much financial risk to
this, but it will take much longer to create the game. You can make a gaming
company with your own money, but this comes with a lot of risks. In order to
put a team together to make a game, you will need to pay wages, bills, and for
materials- this all costs a lot of money and if you run out of money, you could
end up in serious financial trouble; but if you do create a great game and a
video game publisher will sign you up and the money you will earn will be
brilliant.
Indie Funding
Most indie
developers are self-funded, as there are few sources of funding for them. Indie
Fund is an organisation set up some indie developers, what they do is they help
fund independent video game development. They do this to encourage the next
generation of games developers, however they don’t just except anyone, game
developers have to show Indie Fund their game- just a couple of screenshots,
videos, and team members you work with.
Crowd Funding
Crowd funding is when an individual game developer, or group
of game developers, come up with an idea for a game, but don’t really have the
money for it to be made in a good time period. They post their ideas on websites
like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, any person can pitch in to fund their idea, and
the users tend benefit by getting incentives such as early access to a game.
Most users contribute a small amount of money to a project, but millions of
people visit these websites so projects can be easily funded if they are
popular. When they have been funded the money should be used on the project-
you could get in trouble if you spend it on other things, but it is possible to
cancel a project, in the event of a cancelation the money should be given back
to the contributors.
Grants
Many games use the Unreal Game Engine, the Unreal Game Engine
is free, and a lot of people create their own games with it. Unreal are giving
grants to small game developers, these grants range from £5000 to £50000. This
is a similar funding process to indie fund, you have to start creating your
game, and then to apply for an unreal grant, you have to show evidence of a
game in progress, and if Epic Games- the owners of Unreal Engine- like your
game they might give it a grant.
Publisher
Publisher funding is for practised game developing teams, publishers
don’t want to take risks funding a game where the developers are inexperienced.
If a team of game developers have a good track record, and a good demo of a
game, then publishers will consider signing them. The Benefits of Publisher
funding is they take away the financial risk from the developers. The negative
side of publisher funding is that the publisher company will own your game, and
they will take a large cut of the money from the game. And the team of game
developers needs to meet milestones or the publishers might withhold payment or
cut funding, the developers risk their company going bust if they don’t work hard enough.
Time
Games take a long time to create, depending on the size and
type of the game time periods differ. Small app games usually take 3-6 months
to create, whereas games developed by teams could take 2-4 years to create.
Deadlines
Deadlines should be set by any type of game developer, you
may think that it is not important for indie developers to set deadlines- but
it is. Deadlines help all game developers, because they make the whole process
of making games more organised; this also keeps developers motivated to
complete their tasks. Games have a lot of different features, so they should to
be split up into different tasks, and should have individual deadlines, for
example the sound sections of the game, should be a separate task to the
graphics; this allows teams of game developers to stick to their own task.
After the game is created, there are still many more tasks
which developers need to do, for example fixing bugs, and play testing are very
important tasks to do before the game is released. Developers need to set a
deadline for this to be done, if they don’t and they have no time to properly
play test the game, the game will more than likely get criticised for not being
finished, and this means bad reviews, and bad sales.
Availability of equipment
You cannot create a video without any technology and equipment,
equipment needed to create a video game includes: a decent computer, access to
a gaming engine, a good graphics card- depending on the graphics of the game
you intend to make-, a storage device- preferably a hard drive-, sound
recording equipment, sound recording and music software, art software, these
are some things which be needed to make any type of game. When making high spec
games with storylines, and amazing graphics, and voice acting, a lot more
equipment will be needed; quality control will also be needed when making high
budget games, for example disks can be ruined by dust particles, so in order to
transfer a computer game made on an computer to disk, you will need to be in a
controlled dust free environment- it takes time to find or create this
environment. Equipment like game development kits can be loaned to games
developers for a fee, but this loan is not forever.
Availability of personnel
Making a game on your own will take a long time, cost
a lot of your own money, and will affect the quality of the game. In order to
make a good game in a good amount of time, you will need a team of people
working on the project. A game developer will have to find people to work with-
if they don’t already know anyone- these people will need to be paid and will
need some set working hours. You can’t just hire games designers, you need to
hire artists, writers, musicians, and voice actors.
Timescales for clearances
When developing a game you need to think about how long the
legal aspects will take, every game needs an age rating- it’s the law- the
publisher of the game needs to fill in a form to get a PEGI rating, if the rating
does not suit the games target market, the developers might have to make some
changes. Delays in publishing is also a problem, and is a likely thing when
working for a publisher. Other Legal things to think about include libel and
copyright. Libel is basically when you are not allowed to cause any damage to
individuals or businesses through the game you are making. Copyright is
basically not copying other peoples work and putting it into your game.
My Time Management
If I were to start my own indie game development project-
whether on my own, or with a few friends- I will need to manage my time. First
I will create a plan which will show me what tasks I need to do, and what order
to do them in. I will then do some market research, this is important because I
need to know what the current expectations are with games- I could also use the
research to see what games are popular- but this might take the passion out of
the project, successful indie game
developers don’t design their game around what will make them the most money. I
will come up with some thumbnail sketches, which will show the basic ideas of
level design and characters, as well as game concept. When I start to create
the game I will need to break down the tasks into different sections, for
example I will spend a period of time working on level design, and another
period of time on character design. I will also create a schedule, as an Indie
game developer I would not really have a set deadline, but this doesn’t mean I
cannot create my own deadline- this is good because it will motivate me to
finish the game, and stop me slacking; I could also create some milestones to
track how the project is going.
Personnel
There are
many different job roles involved with creating a game. These include:
Game
Designer- The role of this job is to create the core features of the game, and
then communicate them to the other people creating the game, so that they can design
their roles with what the game is in mind.
Animator-
The animator is the person who creates movement and behavior in the game. They
create the way a player moves, and they also have to know how to lip sync with
the voice acting.
Audio
Engineer- The audio engineer’s role include, creating sound effects, recording
voice actor, adding music, and creating a sound track.
Producers- The
producers work with the game development team, to create a timely delivery of
the game- and make sure it’s the highest quality possible.
Creative
Director- The creative direction is responsible for guiding the whole look and
feel of the game, they make decisions that affect how the game plays, looks,
and sounds. They ensure quality of the whole production of the game.
Artists- The
artists are responsible for creating the visual elements of the game, they are
the ones who create concept art, and help create storyboards along with the
writers, and help propose visual elements. There will be a lead artist who manages
the artists and animators, there will be a games artist and a technical artist.
Writers- The
writers are the ones who write the games dialogue script, this script will be
read by the voice actors- or if there are no voice actors- will be programmed
into the game.
Programmers-
The programmer’s job is to design and write the code which runs and controls
the game.
Marketing- The
marketing team of a games role is to, first do market research and advise the developer’s
expectations of the market
Voice
Actors- The voice actors have to learn the script, they must also be good at
having a range of voices available for many different types of characters, they
should be able to create a voice which suites a written characters personality.
Level
Editor- The level editor’s role is to create the architecture, landscape,
objects, and background for each level of the game.
Size of
team
The size of
the games development team is important to how quickly a game is made, and how
good the finished problem is, it all depends on how big on a game is being
made. Grand Theft Auto took about 6 years to make with about 1,000 involved in
the making of it; 365 are them are part of Rockstar North(the people actually
making the game), but GTA is a huge game, so it is expected. Small indie games
take years to make because they only have a small amount of people working on
the project.
Skills
and experiences
Being able
to contribute to any part of making a game requires some skill, these skills
might take years of practice, and all roles in making a game require some
experience of video games. The more the experience the better- even if the
games are not so great, it’s good to start on making flash games at a young
age- for example one of the creators of (Edmund McMillen) Super Meat Boy has
been making flash games since the early 2000's, in 2010 Super Meat Boy was
released after years in development- it sold about a million copies and got
really good reviews; the experience leads to something in the end- Edmund
McMillen released all of his old flash games in a package called The Basement
Collection.
A games
designer should have experience with most or all of the major gaming engines. A
programmer should know the code needed to build a game- for example C++. Managers and producers should have experience
running a game development project- if not; they should at least have
experience of similar value in other sectors, and of course a passion for
gaming. Animators and artists should have experience with the programs used to
create their art and animation, for example Maya, Photoshop, and any other art
software. And also an audio engineer must have experience with sound equipment,
music development software, and some experience with Foley.
Resourcing
Resourcing a game development project is important because
all the personnel need their software and equipment, it shouldn’t be expected
of them to bring in resources from home, or pay for game engines, or software themselves;
there are packages which game developers can purchase for a whole team- these
usually cost more money, but come with extras features, for example the Unity
engine is free, but there is a professional edition available from $75 a month
(£49), as well as tailored enterprise solutions- this is for game developing
organisations- but I guess it could be used by small teams of developers-but
there’s only the matter of cost.
Availability
Making a
game on your own will take a long time, cost a lot of your own money, and will
affect the quality of the game. In order to make a good game in a good amount
of time, you will need a team of people working on the project. A game
developer will have to find people to work with- if they don’t already know
anyone- these people will need to be paid and will need some set working hours.
You can’t just hire games designers; you need to hire artists, writers,
musicians, and voice actors. And everyone has to have fair pay and working
hours, not everyone will want to work long unsocial able hours- like many indie
game developers do; also it’s a good idea to invest in a work space.
Costs
It costs a
lot of money to hire all these people, the cost varies on their role, and voice
actors are likely to be on temporary contracts- so when they do their voice
acting and then they go home- voice acting is quite a tough industry, but gaming.
Other roles such as game designers and programmers will be on payroll for the
whole game making process. There is plenty of free software out there for job
roles like games designers and animators, but to get the best out of the
software you will have spend some money on the developer packages of this
software.
A games development team might want an office
of operations, this will cost quite a bit of money to rent, and will take time
to set up operations in the work space- you will have to move computers and furniture
into the office; or you could just work from home, many indie developers do
this and keep in touch over social media like Skype, or speak on gaming
microphone software like Team speak, bear in mind that these simple methods are
only suited to small groups of developers- 1-4 people.
Team or
Crew CV’s
Creating
games can really improve a CV, each game you make should be put on your CV- it’s
like moving from jobs- but unlike jobs people can find your work quite easily. This
is good if you have made some good games, but is also bad if you have worked on
a game which was a failure- but you cannot blame one person for a failure of a
game. When writing a CV and looking for jobs in the gaming industry you should
include every game published by you, even if they are rubbish flash games from
years ago- the point of this is to show a passion for making games.
Development kits are the hardware used to test and debug
games for retail consoles; development kits cost a lot of money and can be
loaned to game developers from a gaming company.
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