What Are the Stages of Game Development?

Game production is a lengthy process called a pipeline, because to ensure efficiency and success at the end, production must be completed in a certain order. The scale of the game production pipeline can look very different depending on the size of the development team and production, as well as the platform on which the game will be released. However, the common stages of game development are divided into three main sections with subcategories: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production, which we will break down in detail to further define the pipeline.<\/p>

Pre-Production<\/h2>

Pre-Production, as the most important stage of game development, lays a quality foundation for production that allows the game to evolve smoothly. Pre-Production is about making decisions on key factors in the development process. Typically, Pre-Production begins with deciding such questions as what the game will be about, what audience it is intended for, what market it targets, what potential games may be competitors, where and when it will be published, how it will be sold, how long development will take, and importantly, what resources and budget will be required for game production.<\/p>

Of all the stages of game development, Pre-Production is the most variable, taking from a few weeks to several months and even a year or so depending on the project's scale. Ideally, Pre-Production usually takes about 20% of the time allocated for all stages of game development.<\/p>

During Pre-Production, the development team is also the smallest it will be across all stages of game development, and typically includes only a producer, a few programmers, and concept artists. Together, they will begin building the game's foundation, then bring in a larger team for subsequent stages. The producer in these stages of video game development is one of the most important roles, as they handle all the specific business elements, including budget and marketing strategies (yes, even at such an early stage of production).<\/p>

During Pre-Production, concept artists begin creating the game's mood by developing sketches and visual assets—they are responsible for starting the world-building process, laying the foundation for future production teams later during production. Through this process, the team develops a game design document, known as the GDD.<\/p>

The GDD serves as a reference guide, a manual to follow throughout the long process of mobile game development. The GDD includes the core values and elements of the game, including genre, theme and characters, core mechanics, overall gameplay style, world design and level building elements, all art and sketches, as well as marketing and monetization strategies.<\/p>

It is worth noting that the GDD is an evolving document and fully dynamic, especially at this stage of development; it is subject to change as the concept naturally grows and evolves. The GDD also varies greatly depending on the studio size, as smaller studios may focus more on production elements than financial ones.<\/p>

After the basic outlines and elements are laid out on paper and the overall theme is agreed upon by the Pre-Production team, prototyping begins. Prototyping is an important part of the 7 stages of mobile game development and provides an opportunity to test the core mechanics, because while concepts on paper may be interesting, without working (and fun!) core mechanics, those concepts are unnecessary.<\/p>

Prototyping usually happens fairly quickly because it's important to ensure the core elements work before pushing the idea further. Typically, placeholder assets are used at this stage since they are specifically for testing the core mechanics of the future game.<\/p>

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Production<\/h2>

The longest stage of the pipeline and the most intensive with the largest team, production can take from 1 to 4 years, and in some cases, depending on scale, even longer! At this stage, all aspects are refined, from story and characters to environments and assets. Don't be fooled into thinking you immediately jump to refinement; testing and prototyping that were done in Pre-Production continue as the project progresses, and this method ensures the gameplay remains functional and engaging.<\/p>

The production process can be broken down into several stages, and generally looks like this:<\/p>

• Prototype:<\/strong> Initial testing of core mechanics, very bare bones.<\/li>
• First Playable:<\/strong> Includes visual elements and core mechanics.<\/li>
• Vertical Slice:<\/strong> Essentially a finished sample that can be used for marketing or pitching purposes.<\/li>
• Pre-Alpha:<\/strong> Game content is mostly complete, but this is where final selection of core elements occurs.<\/li>
• Alpha:<\/strong> At this stage, the term "Feature Complete" applies, meaning all core game elements are ready, and the product has become playable. At this stage, assets and some FX may be missing, but it is ready for internal user testing.<\/li>
• Beta:<\/strong> Content, assets, and core features are fully complete; this pipeline stage is based solely on optimization.<\/li>
• Gold Master:<\/strong> The game is finally ready for publication and release to the public.<\/li> <\/ul>

  The 7 stages of game development (planning, pre-production, production, testing, pre-launch, launch, and post-production) are important regardless of studio size and allow the production team to stay focused and structured throughout the development process.<\/p>

  In the production process, there are key roles that are paramount for successfully navigating the pipeline. The project manager is a role that requires tracking deadlines and milestones, as well as anticipating potential risks and possible increases in development time as a result of those risks. They are the team's communicators and often act as a liaison between developers and leadership.<\/p>

  • Programmers are the lifeblood of the production process; they transform the concepts provided to them into code and create the actual mechanics of how the game functions. Their role in production is immense, and describing their skills would be very complex. However, programmers are software engineers with strong coding experience who possess extraordinary patience and professional creativity, making them fully capable contributors.<\/li>
  • Game designers define the creative character of the game and occupy an intermediate position between writers and artists. They often have some programming skills, but during the production stage they must ensure that the game continues to convey its story while providing unique goals, tasks, and rules. While programmers create mechanics and features, game designers define the parameters within which these features live and work. For example, they are responsible for determining difficulty levels, creating environments and obstacles that the player must overcome.<\/li> <\/ul>

    The role of level designers in production is simply defined: they are responsible for ensuring the pace and flow of the game are smooth, so that the player does not become confused or lost while navigating the game world. Large studios allocate entire departments for this role due to the large scale of modern Triple-A games, but in smaller studios there may be only one or two level designers.<\/p>

    While structure and environment are important, game artists must think through all concepts of the game world and bring previous conceptual elements to life in three-dimensional space. Game artists include 3D modelers who create objects, game animators responsible for character movements, creatures, and movement in general, and FX artists who create immersive elements like flowing water or smoke simulation, typically brought in for weather effects. Generally, FX artists are in high demand because they use Houdini, an incredibly complex and dynamic software package.<\/p>

    Finally, among game artists are crucial sound designers who breathe life into the game by developing realistic sound effects, voiceovers, and stunning soundtracks that are responsible for immersion and user engagement.<\/p>

    Production cannot be completed without a quality assurance department (often called QA), whose role is to repeatedly test features and levels, push the boundaries of the game, and find bugs that the development team must fix.<\/p>

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    Post-Production<\/h2>

    It is a common misconception that after game development is completed and the game is shipped, production ends. In reality, after the game is shipped, the work related to it can become no less extensive. Some production departments reallocate their time to maintenance, bug fixing, and developing patches to improve the overall game experience. While QA finds 90% of bugs that developers must fix, the huge player base will always find bugs missed in that process.<\/p>

    Alongside ongoing support for the game, typically especially in large studios, part of the production team begins working on DLC. This usually happens after a postmortem (essentially a production debrief) where they discuss what was successful in the game and what didn't go according to plan. These important meetings allow for optimization of future products.<\/p>

    Every element in the game creation process, from pre-production to post-production, is stored and preserved so that it can be referenced at any time when needed in the future. Companies that produce sequels regularly reference previous code and assets as references, as this can speed up game production and serve as a solid foundation during pre-production (this often happens with games like Call of Duty and annual sports games).<\/p>