The Day a Game Begins Development

On the day that I begin a new game project, the first step of it all is preparing the engine by importing all of the parts necessary to form the backbone of the entire game.

Before a game can enter the development phase, it generally goes through the process of pitching, prototyping, and pre-production. The prototyping phase is usually done to assess the core elements that would make the game fun in its own right. Sometimes, it can take multiple tries to get the prototype in the direction you want it to be. Once you get to the pre-production phase, it all comes down to finalizing the game’s script whether it’s a story-driven game, bringing in actors to voice characters, determining what development kits are needed, and figuring out your budget.

During the pre-production phase of a game, the script and stages are broken down into individual scenes with storyboards for both the gameplay and story, with the locations, characters, and items identified. A development schedule is usually put into place, with arrangements made for the necessary elements for the developers at the appropriate times. The pre-production phase ends once the game itself begins development.

The development phase of a game generally takes one or more years. The original Chuhou Joutai took a year and a half for the game in its entirety to be completed. The two Mythos of Phantasmagoria games I worked on, the original and the sequel which has entered post-production, took a year for the former, but the latter took only ten months. The other games have taken a few months at most to complete. The second and third Chuhou Joutai games took seven and four months to develop respectively. The Touhou Project NES Demakes took two and a half years to complete as the Chuhou Joutai trilogy was also in development at the same time. Each demake took only a few months to develop, with the exception of the last one which had the shortest, sweetest development of any game I’ve ever made at two weeks.

On day one, I’ve always had a commitment to getting a game done within the shortest amount of time. Sometimes, a game takes a short amount of time to make, but a large-scale game can take a long time, sometimes three or more years.

Daily writing prompt

Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.

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