As a game enthusiast and a beginner programmer, I always wonder what it would be like to develop a game?

What really grabs my attention is, how the game is developed and what role a software engineer plays in the process?

In the early 1970s to mid-1980s, when video games were becoming popular, a programmer was responsible for both programming and design of the game. That was because early computers were limited and having a graphic designer was not necessary. Later when computers became more powerful, game development was expanded to more specific areas, and developers were able to add more depth into a game.

Combat, one of the famous 1970s game

In general there are three main stages into game development, and programming still has its own place at the very core of this process. Here I emphasize more on areas where software engineers and developers are playing an important role.

Pre-production

Like any other production, game development also begins with pre-production. The development team decides what the game is about, who is the audience, how long will it take, what resources and staff are required and what is the estimated budget?

Pre-production usually takes up to %20 of the total production time. During that time a small team of programmers work on the main concept, while producer and concept artist work on the business and design aspects of the project.

Production

Next stage is production. This is where programmers (aka game developers) play an important role. The basic idea is that programmers develop games by turning designed concepts into code and create a fully playable game. Game developers are generally software engineers with a strong programming and computer science background. They are responsible for different aspects of the production such as;

• Building a custom design base engine for the game
• Implementing game logic
• Creating user interface
• Scripting functions and interactions
• Developing and modifying 3D graphic renders
• Implementing algorithms
• Simulating AIin opponents
• Creating physics (like gravity differences in space)
• Adding sound effects and music
• Identifying and fixing bugs
• Writing code specific for controllers (joystick, mouse and keyboard)
• Making network connectivity feature available for a game

As you might notice, the very first responsibility of developers is to build a game engine. Despite, there are many game engines available out there, what really distinguishes between games is their custom designed engines. Unreal Engine, Unity, GameMaker, Godot, **AppGameKit **are some of the most common game engines.

#game-development #programming #coding-game #game-engine