Mr. Boxy
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A game beings with meetings of a core team who decide what kind of game they want to make, what they want the player to experience, and how they want it to look. Once a framework is set up, each part of the game is split up into categories, with team members and schedules assigned to them.
Art
The art begins with concept art sketches, and then moves on to 3d modelers, texture artists, and motion capture specialists. The tools are similar to those used in CGI animation for movies, although hardware limitations and interactivity limit the animation quality compared to their movie and TV counterparts.
Game design
These are the people who build the levels and AI for the game. This used to be mostly guesswork, but university programs have sprung up dealing specifically with game theory. Game design includes a wide range of tasks from tuning the feel of the controls to deciding how far save points should be to make the game challenging but not frustrating.
Programming
Computer games are programmed using regular computers, while console game programming is done on development systems. These are special computers built around console hardware, letting programmers work directly with the hardware the player will be using.
First person shooters are often based on game engines. This is is a programming backbone that comes with a physics engine, a 3d rendering engine, and a level creation toolset . Programmers can then modify it to suit the needs of the project, letting the other team members insert their parts of the game.
Testers
Testers play the game to find errors in programming. An "alpha build" is a complete but untested game. A beta is a functioning game that still needs some bugs removed. Some companies use "open" betas to test their product, particularly if it's a multiplayer game: regular people are allowed to play this early form of the game, giving it the same unpredictability of the released copy. This helps designers find and eliminate exploits before the game is released.
Marketers
Like other products, packaging and advertising need to be carefully managed so players know about the game.
This is a very good video explaining the process of the making of Halo 3:
 Posted 5427 day ago
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