Video game development
The best-selling video game of all time, Minecraft, was initially written by one person, then supported by a small team, before the company was acquired by Microsoft and greatly expanded.
[17] A developer receiving profit from a successful title may store up capital to expand and re-factor their company, as well as tolerate more failed deadlines.
Small companies may structure contracts, ask for advances on royalties, use shareware distribution, employ part-time workers and use other methods to meet payroll demands.
[38] Console manufacturers, such as Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony, have a standard set of technical requirements that a game must conform to in order to be approved.
An infamous example is 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever, announced to be in production in April 1997 and released fourteen years later in June 2011.
[citation needed] The game Prey was briefly profiled in a 1997 issue of PC Gamer, but was not released until 2006, and only then in highly altered form.
[23] In 1958, a game called Tennis for Two, which displayed its output on an oscilloscope, was made by Willy Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
[56] Tomohiro Nishikado's original version was based on discrete logic,[57] which Dave Nutting adapted using the Intel 8080, making it the first video game to use a microprocessor.
[52][60] Its creator Nishikado not only designed and programmed the game, but also did the artwork, engineered the arcade hardware, and put together a microcomputer from scratch.
[66]Chris Crawford and Don Daglow in 1987 similarly advised prospective designers to write games as a hobby first, and to not quit their existing jobs early.
[71] The Gazette stated, "The process of writing a game involves coming up with an original, entertaining concept, having the skill to bring it to fruition through good, efficient programming, and also being a fairly respectable artist".
[84] Producer's responsibilities include PR, contract negotiation, liaising between the staff and stakeholders, schedule and budget maintenance, quality assurance, beta test management, and localization.
Large publishers may also attempt to boost efficiency across all internal and external development teams by providing services such as sound design and code packages for commonly needed functionality.
[citation needed] Developers can range in size from small groups making casual games to housing hundreds of employees and producing several large titles.
They are sometimes involved in creating haptic feedback, as was the case with the Returnal game sound team at PlayStation Studios Creative Arts in London.
[121] Another successful method is Personal Software Process (PSP) requiring additional staff training to increase awareness of project planning.
[138] Before a full-scale production can begin, the development team produces the first version of a game design document incorporating all or most of the material from the initial pitch.
Testers are tasked to repeatedly play through updated versions of games in these later stages to look for any issues or bugs not otherwise found from automated testing.
The early access model invites players to pay into a game before its planned release and helps to provide feedback and bug reports.
[157] Milestones are usually based on multiple short descriptions for functionality; examples may be "Player roaming around in-game environment" or "Physics working, collisions, vehicle" etc.
However, the number of possible configurations of hardware and software inevitably leads to the discovery of game-breaking circumstances that the programmers and testers did not account for.
These specialized servers offer similar benefits as beta testing, where players get to preview new features while the developer gathers data about bugs and game balance.
Efficient employment of these roles requires either a large development house with multiple simultaneous title productions or outsourcing from third-party vendors.
These businesses prefer to keep this hidden from the public to protect their brand equity, not wanting consumers or investors to know that they rely on external help.
Ghost development can involve (small) portions of a project, but there have been instances of entire games being outsourced without the studio being credited.
[187] Its president, Kenichi Yanagihara, stated that the approach stems from Japanese culture, in which many people prefer not to seek the limelight.
The demo is usually intended for journalists, buyers, trade shows, general public, or internal employees (who, for example, may need to familiarize with the game to promote it).
[78] PAX, created by authors of Penny Arcade blog and web-comic, is a mature and playful event with a player-centred philosophy.
[207] Costs of development for AAA games continued to rise over the next two decades; a report by the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority regarding the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft in 2023.
[218][219] These alliances ensure that students have access to the latest technologies and are provided the opportunity to find jobs within the gaming industry once qualified.
