HOW TO MAKE A VIDEO GAME

Have you ever wondered how video games go from an idea to a product on a digital or physical shelf? Let's explore each step in the process

- WORDS STUART MAINE

DECIDE WHAT GAME TO MAKE

Existing in the digital realm of computers means video games can include anything, so step one is deciding what this game will be. Will it create a brand-new universe or be based on an intellectual property (IP) like Angry Birds Transformers, which combined both the Angry Birds and Transformers IPs? Which genre – like 'puzzle game' or 'platformer' – will it fit into, and which hardware, such as the Nintendo Switch, will it run on? In the final part of this step, the game's release date is decided, letting the team know how long they've got to create it.

CHOOSE THE TECHNOLOGY

Most games run in 'engines', which is what we call the technology that handles displaying a game's graphics, playing its sounds and music, accepting the player's inputs, connecting to the internet, saving your progress and a load of other things. The team will plug all the 'content' they make into their engine to create the game. The biggest engines are Unreal and Unity, though there are plenty of others, and some companies make their own technology.

THE GAMES INDUSTRY

Video games are made by development studios such as Naughty Dog or TT Games, but their games are funded, released and marketed by publishers like Devolver Digital, while really big companies like Activision or Ubisoft both develop and publish their own games. There are also independent studios who tend to make smaller games without a publisher being involved. Some of these studios are lone developers like Lucas Pope, while teams like Subset Games or Amanita Design are made up of small groups of friends. Being small means indie studios can release experimental games on sites like itch.io.