Many people are used to buying games and enjoying this entertainment without thinking about what a long way lies to get the final result. Obviously, the main phase is the production of the game, when specialists bring an interesting idea into real life. However, there is a phase that often remains in the shadows for most people. The very first thing that any video game development starts with is pre-production.
Pre-production in games is a valuable process during which the look and vision of a product are formed regardless of its type. For example, it can be a board game, a smartphone app, or even a PC game. Properly executed pre-production ensures that the project is well-planned and has a right to live.
This article will tell you what is pre-production in games and help you learn why this stage is so important in full-cycle game development services. Moreover, we will give you a real example of a video game that has passed pre-production.
What is pre-production in game development?
Video game development is a major field of business where key players in the market today are earning large sums of money. According to fresh statistics, the global gaming industry is estimated to be worth more than 200 billion dollars in 2024. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? That's why the leading game studios responsibly approach the development of any product, aiming to get as many players as possible.
Pre-production in video games is a stage that should definitely be on the list of must-have things to do among gaming developers. In simple words, this is the early phase of any project in which the initiators want to get a quality video game. During pre-production, the main idea of the product, as well as its strengths and weaknesses, is finalized. You may ask, can this process be ignored? Actually, pre-production in games helps to avoid costly mistakes in the future. It is cheaper for creators to spend money on preparatory work than to pay more for finding and fixing serious errors.
Let's compare the development of a video game to the construction of a huge residential building. Builders don't start working on such a project right away, but from the first days, they are engaged in preparatory work, drawing up a plan, conducting surveys, and so on. Game development works on a similar principle. To get a good product at the end, it is necessary first to work perfectly on the idea and the main points of the game.
Key phases of pre-production
Today, experts distinguish 7 key stages of pre-production in video games:
- Concept development.
- Prototyping.
- Storyboarding and narrative development.
- Technical planning and production pipeline.
- Budgeting and scheduling.
- Team building and assigning roles.
- Game Design Documents.
Certainly, each phase has its own features and nuances. Therefore, we propose to analyze in detail each of the above-described stages of pre-production.
Concept development
Based on the name of this stage, it is not difficult to guess what its meaning is. Of course, any project, regardless of its type, starts with generating an idea. You should not consider your ideas stupid because sometimes even the strangest idea can make you successful in the future. Therefore, you should think about what will be the main idea of the game.
The next point that is necessary for a successful game is to understand your target audience. Why is this important? If you know what category of people will most often download your game, it will be easier for you to think about the design, story, functionality, and many other elements.
For example, iLogos game studio has more than 60 products in its portfolio today. To understand why it is important to identify the target audience, we need to compare two different games. Papumba's Platform for Kids' target audience is children between the ages of 2 and 5. In comparison, Pictawords game is characterized by an adult target audience of 30 years old and above.
Prototyping
Video game prototyping is one method that helps to form a clear vision of a future project at the early stages of development. Unlike the final build, a prototype does not necessarily have to be perfect in execution, so its production is less costly.
Prototyping during pre-production in video games serves several functions, including testing the core mechanics of the game early on. It helps developers to make sure that the game will be interesting, balanced, and functional.
Today, there are many types of prototyping. For example, some game studios still accomplish this task with paper and pen. It resembles a board game because each individual function is written out on paper, and a chain is built. However, the most common option in 2024 is prototyping through software.
Storyboarding and narrative development
As practice shows, games with an interesting plot and well-thought-out characters most often become successful. That's why developers work for a long time to determine the main directions of the development of the plot and the fates of the characters. Similar to the creation of movies and TV series, storyboarding also applies to game development.
Once you have formed your idea and tested the mechanics of the game in the prototyping phase, you need to move on to visualizing the story. If you have a rough idea of the main characters and how the events in the game will unfold, it will increase your chances of creating a popular product.
Technical planning and production pipeline
All the stages we talked about earlier were related to the artistic part of pre-production in games. Now, it's time to move on to the technical details. You should consider in detail such issues as:
- What game engine will be used?
- What platforms will the product be launched on?
- What programs will be used to create animation and work with sound?
These are actually only a small part of the technical issues that need to be considered at this stage. You should have a clear vision and complete a plan that clearly spells out the answers to the above questions.
The right approach to technical planning will help you avoid significant costs in the future. For example, imagine you ignored this phase and moved on to product development. You chose the wrong program to work with animation, and you have to look for a new solution.
Budgeting and scheduling
Clear keeping to schedule and production costs is the foundation of success for any project. The accuracy of each and every expense is well scrutinized during the operational costing phase, where the entire expenditure ranges from software and hardware and equipment, employee compensation, outsourcing, etc. Using contingency allowance is advisable since there is always an added cost that was not foreseen earlier.
Like in the scheduling phase, there is a need to dissect the entire work into stages, milestones and short-term tasks. This makes it possible to structure the activities and tasks among team members. Kicking off timeline reviews frequently guarantees the timely accomplishment of the set deadlines. However, in the event of gross schedule delay, rescoping of features may be needed.
Team building and assigning roles
Creating a video game is a big project that requires the cooperation of different departments and specialists. Even if you want to create something small with simple functionality, you will still have to face the need to delegate tasks. Why so? To create a game, you need to involve web designers, programmers, testers, copywriters, animators, translators, and so on. It is all of them that can be referred to in the list of key roles in a game development team.
In general, it is recommended to develop a RACI matrix at this stage. It includes 4 main points: responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. This way you will be able to distribute tasks and responsibilities between all team members at each necessary stage. All major corporations, including Apple and Microsoft, use this approach to develop new digital products.
Game Design Documents
The last stage of pre-production in video games is the creation of game design documents (GDD). This is a document that gives some key features about a game at a time when the development of a game is not fully initiated. The design document includes specifics about these play mechanics, the flow of the user interface, layout or layer of level levels, technical features, sound preferences, and revenue model.
The GDD’s goal is to get all the development team on the same page with the game’s artistic direction as well as the general landscape of the game. It saves so much work in that it provides direction from the start. Despite the fact that you may come up with very sophisticated GDDs that cover almost every feature of the project, it is always possible to continue its development, make adjustments and improvements during the active stage of the project. The GDD takes an idea of a game and turns it into a series of goals so that the development team can create a coherent product.
Challenges in pre-production
- Scope creep. One of the biggest dangers that may be present is scope creep. As the vision unfolds, the size of the game vision may greatly exceed the initial planning and available means. Self-control of each of the ambitious plans is necessary, and all the features that are not absolutely necessary and do not make a product unique must be discarded.
- Failures in the prototyping phase. Prototyping is an integral process of digital product development. However, game studios often have failures and have to change their vision.
- Failing to meet budgets and deadlines. Exceeding budgets and deadlines are the most common difficulties that happen in the pre-production of video games.
It's best to know about these potential problems up front so you don't make critical mistakes in the actual process.
Examples of successful pre-production
Many of you like to play mobile games frequently. It's not surprising, as it's a great way to entertain yourself when you have some extra free time - like on the subway or on your lunch break. You may have already heard of Shadow Fight 2 by iLogos, and many readers have already played it personally. It's a video game for cell phones and tablets that was created by iLogos in collaboration with Nekki.
Shadow Fight 2 is a great example to show how a successful pre-production affects the game as a whole. Thanks to a well-thought-out idea and engine choice, the developers managed to create a cross-platform product that has over 250 million downloads worldwide. Despite the fact that this game was introduced to the public in 2013, it is still popular among RPG genre fans.
Pre-production as the key to success
We want to draw your attention once again to the fact that pre-production in games is a mandatory basis. If you are aiming at success, creating an interesting product, and making a profit in the future, you must take a responsible approach to the preparation and development of the game. That's why all the stages of pre-production ensure that the game will meet the expectations of the developers and the target audience. This will help you to reduce costs and achieve optimal project deadlines.
