1 Introduction
In this paper, we present a literature review which addresses that particular potential gap, and surveys the development and production processes that underpin the games industry. Game development is often described in general terms with vague definitions, such as being subjective, flexible, and agile (Kortmann and Harteveld 2009; O’Hagan et al. 2014; Petrillo and Pimenta 2010). While these descriptors are not necessarily incorrect—in fact, as they are so often used they are likely to be fairly accurate—they are not particularly beneficial in helping the reader understanding what is actually happening during game development projects. As games are a complicated intermingling of various crafts and disciplines (e.g. audiovisual arts, design and user experience, genre conventions and tradition, software and hardware engineering, management, business and marketing, etc.) each game, and each studio developing it, is bound to have some unique quirks. Even though a universal answer is unlikely to exist, this review is an attempt to identify and highlight some of the patterns and commonalities that unify development practices.… potential gaps in game research. […] While other authors may occasionally discuss the game industries, no other authors have this as their main research topic. Furthermore, none of the non-game authors cited are experts on business or industry. (Martin 2018)
2 Method
3 Review Results
Main theme | Theme | Papers |
---|---|---|
Creating an experience | Creativity and ideation | Alves et al. (2007), Cohendet and Simon (2007), Hagen (2012), Hodgson and Briand (2013), Hotho and Champion (2011), Kultima (2010), Lê et al. (2013), Llerena et al. (2009), Musial et al. (2015), Simon (2006), Stacey et al. (2007), Stacey and Nandhakumar (2008, 2009), Tschang and Szczypula (2006), Wang and Nordmark (2015) |
Testing and player experience | ||
Requirements and subjectivity | Alves et al. (2007), Bryant et al. (2010), Cohendet and Simon (2007), Daneva (2014), Kasurinen et al. (2014), Land and Wilson (2006), Murphy-Hill et al. (2014), O’Hagan and O’Connor (2015), Schmalz et al. (2014), Tran and Biddle (2008), Walfisz et al. (2006), Wang and Nordmark (2015), Zackariasson et al. (2006) | |
The technology and creativity schism | ||
Creating a product | Methods in theory and in execution | Hodgson and Briand (2013), Kasurinen et al. (2014), Kasurinen and Smolander (2014), Koutonen and Leppänen (2013), Kultima (2010), Lê et al. (2013), Murphy-Hill et al. (2014), Nelson and Palumbo (2014), O’Hagan and O’Connor (2015), Schmalz et al. (2014), Stacey and Nandhakumar (2008), Walfisz et al. (2006), Wang and Nordmark (2015), Zackariasson et al. (2006) |
Documentation and shared objects for collaboration | ||
The tools used in game development | ||
Requirements, structure and formalization |
4 Research Overview
4.1 Creating an Experience
4.1.1 Creativity and Ideation
Not only are interpersonal relationships important for this type of creative ideation, but several studies (Lê et al. 2013; Stacey and Nandhakumar 2008, 2009; Tschang and Szczypula 2006; Wang and Nordmark 2015) also report how the interplay between ideas and the technology used to realize them affect the process. New technological possibilities, as well as limitations in the technology and even bugs, can give rise to new game concepts. The creative game development process is non-linear, whereby ideas evolve during the development and test process: “Game ideas are prone to be altered in one way or another during the design process. This was emphasized by virtually all of the interviewees” (Kultima 2010, p. 36).The sources of creativity as well as efficiency at [Company] rely on a subtle alchemy among communities of scriptwriters, game-designers, graphic artists, sound designers, software programmers and even testers. The team is important for the creative process. (Cohendet and Simon 2007, p. 591)
4.1.2 Testing and Player Experience
The role of testing and player experience strongly influences the way game development is organised. Many studies report that companies adopt some kind of staged process. A common structure is to have the following four stages: ideation, pre-production, production, and post-production. A stage-gate methodology is discussed in some cases (Cohendet and Simon 2007; Hodgson and Briand 2013; Zackariasson et al. 2006), but it appears that the nature of game production makes it hard for developers to adhere to it even at its most general formulation. Play testing is conducted in all stages of the development process, and the result of these tests can have an impact on the product, irrespective of phase. As stated by an interviewee: “If a tester comes to say that this does not work, there is not fun in it, you really cannot leave that in the game, you have to fix it” (Kasurinen et al. 2013, p. 14).Further, the first prototypes produced by the R&D team are replaced by others (including the one working with the SDK), which will subsequently be replaced by game prototypes. In a sense, there are only prototypes in videogame development. (Lê et al. 2013, p. 55)
4.1.3 Requirements, Subjectivity and Flexibility
When requirements are mentioned, they are often seen as a necessity due to their prevalence in traditional software development (Kasurinen et al. 2014; Land and Wilson 2006; Murphy-Hill et al. 2014); however, their merits and actual practical application in game development is debatable. In one of the reviewed papers, for example, developers were asked to evaluate how applicable ISO standardized software development processes were to their own working processes, to which they responded: “The first thing I see here is that requirement analysis is completely done before construction. So design is finished before anything is implemented… that’s just not the way it happens” (Kasurinen et al. 2014, p. 13). For most game developers, requirements are rarely seen as an identified goal that must be fulfilled, but rather something that is to be discovered during the development process (Daneva 2014; Tran and Biddle 2008).… in an e-commerce application, a user has a task to complete that typically takes only a few minutes. … the requirement for games is that the user should be able to stay engaged on multiple timescales, and the mechanism to achieve that will vary from game to game. (Murphy-Hill et al. 2014, p. 4)
4.1.4 The Technology and Creativity Schism
A constant thread is the strong emphasis on the importance of a communal, democratic, and flexible production pipeline (e.g. role overlap, informal communication, team-based decisions, and shared knowledge architecture). Creativity was also equally emphasized as the driving force, and ultimate outcome, of game production (Kasurinen and Smolander 2014). There were, however, a few notable exceptions to this openness and flexibility: developers working with the software and technology aspects of game production had a comparatively protective approach to their work and contributions. Programmers in game studios could, for example, regard management with various levels of distrust if they were perceived to lack the necessary technological know-how to make realistic decisions (Murphy-Hill et al. 2014; Wang and Nordmark 2015).We also found that conflicts may occur between designers and developers. This happens because game designers, who are especially creative individuals, generally try to include features that are very hard to implement. They argue that such features may improve the gameplay and the overall look and feel of the game. However, there is no formal process to assess that; just common-sense is used. Normally, the final game is the result of trade-offs among creative design, technical constraints and platforms constraints. (Alves et al. 2007, p. 279)
In essence, programming and technological knowledge seem to be under-appreciated and misunderstood in terms of their contribution to creativity (Kasurinen and Smolander 2014; Musial et al. 2015; Simon 2006; Wang and Nordmark 2015). In a study by Kasurinen and Smolander (2014), this was coupled with a sentiment that programming was the linchpin making the creation of games fundamentally possible: “…In their perspective the software development work was the actual requirement to create a game; without programming skills there would be no game product, but even without a competent artist you could create at least something.”When a game-designer asks a programmer to design an animated “rope” as a decorative object in a virtual setting, he thinks its a very simple task and does not understand the rebuttal from the programmer, rather promoting a stick. (Simon 2006, p. 120)
4.2 Creating a Product
4.2.1 Methods in Theory and Execution
The Agile methods are thus applied unorthodoxly, compared to the “regular” software industry, which regards Agile, and associated processes such as Scrum and eXtreme Programming, as being flexible but relying on an underlying structure and framework of planning, iterations, and backlogs (Hodgson and Briand 2013). This is, again, exemplified by studies which have analysed the applicability of ISO development standards in game development, and which conclude that the standard is difficult to implement in game companies (Kasurinen et al. 2013, 2014). Interviewed developers in other studies state, in clear terms, that Agile is unsuitable for their working processes: “We have a problem because the artists aren’t Agile. They detest it! … That’s a problem. There’s a dual system happening here.” (Hodgson and Briand 2013, p. 320).We’ve got so many specialists on the team, so the kind of planning that you usually do in Agile doesn’t work quite so well… You know [specialists] are more concerned about the creative process than an engineering process. (Murphy-Hill et al. 2014, p. 7)
4.2.2 Documentation and Shared Objects for Collaborations
It is also important to note that the producer is sometimes highlighted as having an important role in facilitating these processes; however, almost none of the reviewed papers focused on describing the role of the producer in game development, with only Schmalz et al. (2014) being a notable exception.It’s very much a dialogue, we try not to have too formal split between tech and creative team when thinking about this, but prioritize what the user experience should be and when we can ship at target quality. (Wang and Nordmark 2015, p. 279)Learning about experiences from others exposes each member to the different aspects of the game development process. As a result, the team is more empathetic to different disciplinary perspectives and approaches. (Tran and Biddle 2008, p. 51)