The document outlines the typical stages involved in planning and developing a video game: 1) Planning covers defining the game type, features, characters, and target audience. 2) Pre-production develops the narrative, visuals, and art style. 3) Production builds character models, code, sounds, and other in-game content. 4) Testing identifies bugs and exploits. 5) Pre-launch involves marketing. 6) Launch releases the game for purchase/download. 7) Post-production fixes minor bugs and issues patches and additional content.

1. 1. Planning a video game
• What type of video game
are we producing?
• Will it be 2D or 3D?
• What are some of the key
features it must have?
• Who are its characters?
• When and where does it
take place?
• Who is our target
audience?
• What is our estimated
cost to develop this
game?
• How big will our team
need to be?
• Are we hiring external
voice actors and
writers?
• What is our estimated
timeframe for launch?

2. 2. Pre-production
The next stage of game
development, called pre-
production, brainstorms
how to give life to the many
ideas laid out in the planning
phase.
For example, Writers
meeting with the project
leads to flesh out the
narrative of the story
Artists meeting with
designers to ensure visuals,
color palettes, and art styles
are consistent and aligned
with what was laid out in
the planning phase.

3. 3.Production
Most of time, effort and ressources spent on developing games
are during the production stage. During this process:
• Character models are
designed
• Developers write
thousands-of-lines-of-
source code to bring
each piece of in-game
content to life
• Sound engineers or
sound designers create
the audio design for
the game
• etc

4. 4.Testing
Every feature and mechanic in the game needs to be tested for quality
control
ere are some things a playtester may point out during this stage:
• Are there buggy areas or
levels?
• Can I walk through this
wall or a locked
environment?
• Are there features I can
use to exploit the game?
• Does my character get
permanently stuck in
this spot?

5. 5. Pre-launch
The process of making a video game may sometimes not include this stage .
But if we are talking about a large PC or a console project, then pre-launch
activities are absolutely necessary. Here we are talking about marketing,
that is, notifying people in advance that a new game project is being
launched.

6. 6. Launch
Until this moment, the team can still implement some minor
edits and additions. This usually concerns the visual range:
improving the quality of textures, improving animation, and
honing models. Even seemingly small details are important to
make the game even more colorful, fun and immersive.
Launching a game is providing it to game stores. Then players
will be able to buy it or download it for free, depending on
which platform it is released for and on what terms.

7. 7. Post-Production
Correction of minor bugs. Such bugs are not indicative of the
incompetence of the testers. They can be specific to particular
hardware or operating systems and are often not critical. After
players indicate them in the comments to the game or on the
forums, the developer fixes them and updates the game.
Creation of patches and updates. Such elements can be
released, for example, to optimize the game even better, add
new downloadable content to it, increase the number of levels
and chapters, add a multiplayer mode, etc.