In this chapter, we are going to look at several development tools. Although this book is based on the premise of game creation without programming, you may eventually wish to look into the development side of things. Additionally, it will allow you to appreciate the types of games you can create and,...

Although we have gone over this process in some detail, we are really only scratching the surface. There are entire volumes of books written on much of the information we have briefly looked at. That being said, with the material from this chapter, you shouldn’t have a problem creating a functional...

The final area that you should be sure to include is the required resources and scheduling information. The schedule should include an estimate as to the completion of a final project, along with specific steps that are reached along the way, such as an alpha or beta product. The required resources should...

The most important things that should be listed in this area include the teams’ experience in developing a game similar to the one you are working on. For instance, if the lead programmer has developed 3D engines in the past, you should mention that the 3D engine would be similar to the one he created...

The game market is a good place to begin. You can determine a market simply by looking at titles that are similar to the one you are developing. By looking at sales figures, you can determine what size of market a particular style or genre has and your potential for sales. An excellent source of game...

The game proposal is a much more formal document than the design document. It will be used to approach a publisher for possible funding for a project. If you are planning to develop the project with your own money, a game proposal is probably unnecessary. A game proposal takes the design document to...

Once it’s finished, and everyone on the team has had a chance to read it and make changes, you should print a copy for everyone and keep the original in a safe place where it will not be altered unless the necessary parties agree. If you leave the document on a server where everyone can access it,...

The final area of the document is for miscellaneous information that may be specific to a certain type of genre or doesn’t fit neatly into another category. You can name this category anything that works well for you. For example, suppose you decided to do a basketball street game, and you wanted to...

The next step focuses on the gameplay itself. If you worked hard on the game overview, you may have already covered this. If you have, this section is much easier. If not, you should begin by determining if it will be a game that implements single player, multiplayer, or both. For example, if you are...

This section is important to the audio personnel on the team and the programmers who will try to use their sounds in the game. You can discuss the possibilities of tools that you plan to employ and the types of sound effects that you have in mind for some of the game and possibly detail the music you...