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Game Development Lifecycle: Review

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 Game Development Lifecycle: Review
Aashutosh Shrestha
Software Developer
Teslatech Nepal Pvt. Ltd.
Dhobighat, Lalitpur
[email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract— Games being one of the foremost and important

aspect of entertainment for the people, normal SDLC processes II. DEFINITIONS
cannot properly identify and resolve the issues regarding the
development process. To address this an entirely different A. Video Games
process called Game Development Life Cycle are proposed in Video games can be explained as computer
different papers and studies. All of them address the same issue
generate programs that helps user interact with objects
with regards to development and propose that art and idea
pitching being integral to game development, GDLC must and environments inside the program in an interactive
address it throughout and propose steps accordingly along way for the sake of entertainment. Video games can not
with other similar steps in SDLC. only provide entertainment but also educational and
scientific purposes these days. Video games can differ
Keywords—video games, open source, software lifecycle, from nature from text only to sounds, vibrations, on top
development lifecycle, SDLC, GDLC, quality, fun, entertainment of videos as well. They are either exclusive to certain
platform or consoles or are entirely open source and
I. INTRODUCTION openly available on multiple hardware. Usually, video
Video games being the foremost form of entertainment games have certain roles and rules but they are not
not only in the 21st century but, is being developed and tested limited to it as certain types of games are devoid of any
throughout for the future generation and use cases as well. criteria or limitations to what players can achieve and
With the advancements in different tools and technologies to do.
either develop or play video games, its development cycle
has been tried and tested throughout different AAA as well B. Software Development Life Cycle
as indie development companies. Game development has
high investment cost, as with a high number of employees SDLC or Software development life cycle can be
required high cost for training it also directly affects risk of defined as clearly defined processes or sets of processes that
turnarounds as well in regards to different studios. can be used to achieve or create high quality software.
SDLC method primarily focuses on the following phases:
When we talk about videogame, we don’t only talk about 1. Requirement analysis
its technical aspect, but the entire game as a collective art,
2. Planning
since it is a type of art. So, the manpower as well as
3. Software Design or Architecture Design
creativity required differs greatly from other software
development cycles and methods. So, it requires not only 4. Software Development
specific guidelines that are creative in its own aspect but also 5. Testing
challenge. Different OEMs and open-source developers have 6. Deployment (Maintain)
contributed multiple Engines and SDKs for the game
development, which also have boosted indie developers. Since SDLC provides systemic way of managing any
software life processes, it is beneficial for any organization
Facing with some of those challenges, one way to to reach required goals and identify and discuss on the
overcome or avoid being stuck is to propose and try requirements upfront making it clear during the
established and tested game development cycles as well as development process.
quality measurement processes that eventually affect the
quality of the game provided. When we study different
papers on game development and processes mainly three Some of the SDLC models provide a standardized and
major questionnaires arise: organized concept of the SDLC to help organizations follow
the processes smoothly. Some popular SDLC models are:
1. What can be the steps and processes?
2. What are the quality measurement process? 1. Waterfall
2. Iterative
3. What is the best life cycle for game development that 3. Spiral
can deliver quality games? 4. Agile
The main aim of this paper is to review and provide a critical
analysis on what’s going on regarding the GDLC in the C. Usability Quality Metric for Game Prototype
industry and propose a better idea.
Quality of software game development is
paramount in the competitive game industry. Unlike
 other software development, the full requirements for the A. Tuft University Development Team case study
game development cannot be identified upfront, The university team found out that most of the
therefore quality metric identification and definition is development processes consisted of 80% focus on
very important especially during the initial phase of design and 20% focus on coding. They also found out
game development which will prevent and even identify that the major reason some of the game fails are,
bugs as well as provide improvements to software in a unachievable ship date, prominent number of bugs,
cost-effective manner, more than quality assuring after overworked team members, gap and difference in ideas
the game is completed. In the review different quality between developers and other team members,
metric criteria were studied and identified, one of which unreasonable goals, poor project management, lack of
is Adisak Srisuriyasavad’s metric which uses and refers skills and dedication. Some of the crisis they identified
to ISO 9126-3 Software Engineering, Product quality in game industry were
that helps quality assurance during product prototyping 1. It needs maturity, but has been raking more
and focuses mainly on enjoyment and function since cash than Hollywood combined.
high quality of game is needed to outperform the 2. High number of people leaving the gaming
competitors. It also defines quality measurement can industry, high employee turnout.
directly be corelated with quality of the game. 3. Then, games were solely designed by
Another paper from Fullerton’s Game prototype engineers, developers and small team of
usability quality criteria identifies four stages identifying people, but now there are multiple artists,
each quality criteria. managers, testers.
1. Foundations, being the basis or structure for the 4. Studios and individuals take safe bets, riding
prototype being created either in artwork or in the success of other titles and games, taking
incomplete game. less risk, less innovation, less value, used
2. Structure, being the updated or advanced version game markets increasing.
for the foundation with complete algorithm and 5. Production cost getting higher.
logic for game and mechanics. 6. Crunch time being high.
3. Formal details, defining the game improvement on
structure based on making the game fully functional 1) Earliest Methodologies
with all the rules and mechanics implemented.
4. Refinement, refining the game and providing an One of the methods is described as arcade rush where
almost finished product. developers used to instantly make arcade games and collect
considerable amount in short time. This lead to considerable
Similarly, above mentioned stages can also be related to investment in arcade games leading to hit or miss model
being Functional, as the game being playable from start to with considerable mockups being created continuously and
finish with the and is tested via different playable scenarios. canceled based on the number of revenue generated.
Internally Complete can also help identify if the games
internal logic, mechanism, bots, rules are complete as with 2) Classical Waterfall model
the functional part., and all the branches and their
correlations are tested. The game’s difficulty is also The classical waterfall model consisted of basic phases,
considered referring it to be Balanced as it is not either too like requirement phase, specification, design,
difficult or easy, based on the levels or matchmaking for the development, implementation, integration and operation
players. The main aspect being Fun, as the game is and retirement. But the drawbacks were huge since it
engaging and the user can just get into it for hours at a time. was too popular, and you cannot go backwards and only
It being a subjective matter, different questionnaires are move forward and cannot skip a phase. It was document
created and opinions are evaluated. And, Accessibility centric and exhausting. QA was low hanging fruit and
being also the important aspect, allowing users easy access the cascading effect on next phases was huge.
to interact with the games, and play the game, in regards to
navigation and in the form of texts or prompts.
B. GDLC according to Sid Mier
Anyone can easily identify Sid Mier from his record
III. RELATED WORKS breaking and bestselling RTS games like civilization,
Multiple GDLCS have been proposed and tycoon, pirates, simgolf, etc. According to him players
reviewed by different organizations and individuals, should have all the fun, not the developers. Games
whether it be on their organizational documents or on should always start with great opening sequences. And
scientific journals. GDLC consists of all the processes gameplay being a stream of intelligent tasks a player can
relating to the game development. Different case studies and perform in sequences. Put the player in the position of
what went wrong with the development processes are also feeling a sense of accomplishment and as the hero.
identified. Following GDLCs and case studies are His process basically included:
considered as a way of analysis the established and 1. Prototyping
practiced GDLCs in the current context. 2. Playing the game for a while and getting the gist of
it.
3. Get other players to look at the game.
4. Observe the player very detailly.
 5. Rewarding the player constantly. production is done, taking the most amount of time. Every
6. Throw in the new players. aspect of the game is tested afterwards, then the game is pre
7. Make the game more difficult as frustrating launched on alpha or beta. One the pre release is completed,
gradually. the game is entirely launched to the public and post launch
work on bugs, improvements is performed.
C. Supercell’s GDLC
Supercell like other main studios on mobile platform F. Rido Ramadan and Yani Widyani’s GDLC
focuses on brainstorming and idea generations as the GDLC proposed by Rido Ramadan and Yani Widyani
first basis of development for any games. They also take cconsist of 6 steps.
it as an iterative process with ideas being rather
reinvented on daily, with feedbacks from the developers
as well as the players themselves. Similarly,
development phase is followed automatically by peer
reviews for the given work also providing autonomy to
the teams to make key decisions.

Fig: Proposed GDLC by Rido Ramadan and Yani Widyani

The steps basically consist of initiation phase with

brainstorming ideas, collecting feedbacks, then gradually
Fig: Supercell GDLC moves towards pre production where game storyboards are
created, prototypes are created internal structure are
D. Summit Game’s GDLC confirmed, then it is moved towards production, during both
Summit games proposes that since the game of the stages, testing is performed and then again if any
development involves different members from issue arise go back to the same stage. After testing, the game
management, art to engineering, it needs to be inclusive is released for beta as to check on any other bugs and
in it’s processes. And also proposes that software being a feedbacks on large scale, then the game is released to the
need but game rather being a way to have fun, be public.
creative and provide entertainment, it should be rather
streamlined in it’s principle. They identify six steps in
IV. ANALYSIS
any Universal GDLC.

After studying multiple works and papers regarding

the GDLCs, one thing is sure that there is no hard and fast
rule or any iron standard, gold standard regarding the game
development, since it follows the same pathways and stages
like any other software developments in large extent, but the
important thing is that the initiation, brainstorming and pre-
production phases along with testing is focused on more ,
before the actual release and development process started or
halted.
Supercell focuses on brainstorming and gathering
user ideas and feedbacks more, and keeps it paramount to
Fig: Summit Game’s GDLC their development cycle. Whereas Summit Game starts with
the idea and story creation of any games prior to the concept
and design creation. Comparing Gamemaker.ios and
E. Gamermaker.ios’s GDLC Ramadan’s GDLC process, it is basically same, but
They argue that although oversimplification of GDLC can Ramadan’s is more iterative rather than linear, which is
exist with only three stages, pre production, production and paramount in any agile team.
post production, making a game with just those three can be From above mentioned GDLC’s we can identify
pretty challenging, so they have proposed 7 stages in game main components and activities in any game development
development life cycle. stages being, Intitation phase, where ideas are brainstormed,
stories and concept of what a game will be, should be or can
be is identified and worked on. Design and prototypes are
created to support the actual concept and game
development, putting forward a playable prototype. During
production, assets are created, all the components are
connected together, and worked on and integrated on.
Fig: Gamemaker.ios’s GDLC
Testing, being an important aspect, which can be either
It starts with planning, creating proof of concept to pre
performed by internal team members or external testers.
production where we can create storyboards and prototypes
According to Haddad and Kanode game development
for our actual game. Then the actual work on game
consists of synergy between multidisciplinary aspects like
creativity and while software focuses and empathizes more resources are spent. Work on prototypes are enhanced, and
on the functionality, games should and does focuses on user made gradual improvements regarding the mechanism, code
engagement. base or any other aspect. This is also the most fun part for
Ramadan has identified common key activities and their any developers or entities involved in the process. During
relationship in their paper as follows. this phase, prototypes can be entirely revamped, changed or
worked on based on any feedbacks or other analyzed
factors, but which should be strongly avoided to save the
cost, and thus focus on the pre production being paramount.
D. Testing
Every single aspect from usability and playability to user
engagement and functionality is considered and tested. This
also being the most fun stage, but also exhaustive since it’s a
massive job to find out bugs, exploits, glitches, softlocks,
etc. We’re not only testing the usability but also the fun
factor and the user engagement in any game. Making sure
the mechanics are user friendly, and fun, also being
Fig: GDLC key activities table rewarding at the same time. The output is identified and
provided to the team and a prime decision is made whether
With the timeline and prototype stage relation being to go to the next step i.e. Beta or go back to the production
and make refinements and changes accordingly.

E. Pre launch
This is where the game is proposed for the launch and all the
marketing, discussion and making the public aware of the
game is initialized. During this phase a beta release is
expected and should be working. Internal and external
Fig: Timeline and prototype stages. testers are involved and made sure the game is ready to
release to the public. The testers are expected to identify the
V. GAME DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE bugs not only in the mechanism or but in the functionality of
the game, and the feedback outputs are stored and reviewed.
The three questions that were first asked can be simply From here afterwards, analyzing and studying the feedback
answered by studying the related works on the GDLCs on and reviews, the development cycle moves forward or turns
paper and according to the studios. The major steps in any back to the production process again, with the required
GDLC can be: refinement and changes.
A. Initiation F. Release
The first and the most important step being the initiation. It is the time now. Final coats of polish is given to the game
In this phase ideas are brainstormed, and multiple feedbacks during this stage, from implementing simple quality of life
from the users, probable users and even the internal team improvements to identifying any non-critical bugs and
members are collected regarding the stories and ideas that issues and also providing final artistic touch to the games.
are created. A basic concept and design for the game is Launch also includes creating proper documentation on
described and provided. games, knowledge database and planning for post launch as
well.
B. Pre production
The actual game development is now started in this stage G. Post Launch
with creating multiple storyboards, prototypes and the ideas This is the most important part in order to maintain the
are discussed and selected based on the feedback and the sustainability of any video game, though which is missing
actual requriements. Genres are defined, challenges are on some GDLCs. Once the GDLC process is completed to
discussed, characters or storylines are presented, and thre release, there are still some works need to be done after
documentation of all is important as well. the release, such as bug fixing, providing dlcs, balancing
Prototype are foundation of the game and the structure being games, and providing the gradual updates to the game
created for the actual release candidate of the game, and contents.
iterated through the production cycles with improvements
and fixes. Whatever decisions are made further on the
processes are rooted on this pre-production and prototypes. VI. AGILE IN GAME DEVELOPMENT
According to Milior Games and Starloop studios agile
C. Production methodology can boost the build and delivery process of all
This is the most time consuming and longest process in the the above mentioned GDLC stages. Iterative process is
GDLC steps, and where most amount of money and followed with divide and rule plan strategy followed for
each iteration. Agile methodology in most game studios is
mostly based on Scrum but some small indi developers
follow Kanban as well. GDLC better suits the Kanban
process is the linear approach is to be followed, but the
iterative processes can also be involved in it as wel. Roles
are generally assigned as Product Owner, Scrum master and VIII. REFERENCES
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