Everything you need to know about Video Game Production

By special request I’m going to dig deep and put together a series of posts on Video Game Production, covering the whole cycle from end-to-end to hopefully share some of the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years and get your feedback too on what you think. This will include elements from numerous training courses and also hard-earned best practice learned from doing the job and working with amazing people.

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I’ll aim to cover the following topics in the series:

Game Production - 1000ft view

• The Plan
• The Team
• The Business

Understanding the Team

• Implementation: Design, Code, Art, Audio and more
• Support: Operations, HR, finance, legal and more
• Stakeholders: Publishers, Platform Holders

Game Concept

• Key elements to include in your thinking
• Genre, Platform, Market

Documentation

• Game: GDD, TDD, Plan, Risk & Issues
• Business: Contracts, Finance, ROIs, Breakevens
• Marketing, DLC plans, sequels, derivatives, partner items

Production

• Planning - agile, formal, phased, iterative
• Tracking
• Reporting
• Risks

Finalizing the Game

• User Testing
• QA
• End phase: Alpha, Beta, Master, Submission, Street
• What next?