The Most Difficult Part of Developing Video Games

We all understand games creation is difficult. The more interesting and addictive, the more difficult it will be to make. Not infrequently, the video games development process requires a special team. Each member of the team has different abilities. There are members who are good at coding, and some are good at making designs, and so on. No wonder the development process can take years. Those of you who are interested in getting into the world of games or video games need to know the most difficult thing about developing video games. Even every step of developing video games requires extra work. What parts are considered difficult to develop? You can check the following.

Finding Ideas Is Difficult

There are many creative ideas circulating in the Playstore. In fact, not all games attract the attention of gamers. This first step is suitable for creative people to solve. If you are not too creative, maybe we can try to imitate video games that are already famous. Give a touch of modification that makes a difference when developing video games. Recruit someone who is reliable in handling the idea developing section. The process of determining ideas before making video games or games often lasts 2 months. The fastest to determine the idea of developing video games is for 1 month. The length of time to find a developing idea depends on the client's request as well. Some video game ideas that are famous around the world:

· Call Of Duty Warzone

· Minecraft

· Animal Crossing: New Horizon, Grand Theft Auto 5

· League of Legends 

This process also involves several important, difficult points, such as knowing video game mechanics descriptions, developing the games building, games design, and so on. The team also needs to do brainstorming, which is difficult to determine the visual style of games. However, the visual style will affect the interest of gamers in playing video games. The visuals in question can be in the form of 3D models or animation. We also have to find out first about the technology stack.

By developing video games, companies are trying to invest in developments in the AR and VR realms. They believe gamers will switch to these devices in the next 5 years. The trend of using AR and VR will increase because people hope to feel the sensation of being in the world of games. Players with video games will be able to feel the video game environment and see 360 degrees in a virtual environment. This makes for a difficult, interesting challenge for developers. Developing this kind of thing will cost a lot of money.

Gather more information before developing video games

We need to find more information about games creation after determining the idea. This step is related to the marketing strategy as well. The information you collect in this developing step must be able to answer the audience's questions about games. Here it is also necessary to decide which game programming language to use. You can also decide to add a team or not at this stage. The stages of gathering information are difficult to decide but still have to be done in order to be able to proceed to the next stage of making video games. The whole information will be gathered into a specific document called Game Design Document (GDD). 

There are many marketing strategies that your team can apply in the modern era. You really need to know marketing strategy, especially if the games developed are not intended for a client. Some marketing games that you can apply when the developing video games process is complete:

1. Marketing on Youtube

For people who prefer to work with computers, marketing must be a serious scourge. It is difficult for people in the programming profession to become marketing. We can work with Youtubers, so YouTubers want to share content about our games. The more famous a Youtuber is, the more expensive the endorsement will be. This method can also have a negative or positive impact depending on the quality of the game that has been developed. It has a positive impact if the game has high quality so that the Youtuber's subscribers are also interested in playing games. It will have a bad impact on reputation if it turns out that it still has a lot of bugs. Anyway, it will also give a bad image to the developing video games company.

2. Blogging

If the team already has a blog, try to create an ad about finished games. Do an advertisement when a series of testing processes have proven that there are not many bugs every time you develop game mechanics. The blog traffic has a high audience; then, it is not difficult to make a video game popular. This part is developing your video game popularity permanently rather than making a banner.

3. Social media

Another powerful way to promote is to take advantage of social media platforms. The developer must know what social media is being hit because it will affect the speed at which the games are known by people. Examples of social media that are trending now are TikTok and Instagram. We can use people who have a lot of followers to promote the work of developing games. This is a way that is not difficult if you have a lot of funding to advertise.

Recruiting The Team

Make sure there is marketing in the team if you don't have at least one member who has a lot of followers. The more intense the marketing, the faster the public will know the existence of the games we are developing.

An important step in gathering this information that is no less important is finding out about the required budget. Does it require additional investment from investors or simply fulfill client requests. The law of economics also applies where there is a price for goods—the more funds provided by clients, the easier for the team to develop the video games. Developing is always a challenging and difficult task. 

At this stage, too, we need to know in 1 team divided based on their respective tasks. Some of these divisions of tasks are Delivery Managers, Development Managers, Video Game Developers, Video Game Designers, Level Designers, and so on. They have different job desks in development. Some of the roles and responsibilities:

1. Delivery Managers

People who have this role must have the ability to manage projects. They can make schedules, calculate budgets, and think about marketing video games sales. Every video games development project always involves Delivery Managers.

2. Development Managers

All games development projects must have Development Managers. They are responsible for supervising all members doing their job well so that the project runs smoothly. They are also tasked with making a brainstorming team together to solve the problems. A Development Manager must also be a communication bridge between the video games Project Manager and the rest of the team. This section is also very important for developing video games to run smoothly. Anyway, it is difficult to hire a good manager for developing the project. 

3. Game Designers

Developing video game projects also require a Game Designer. Game designers must be able to connect communication between writers and artists. This profession also requires basic to intermediate knowledge of programming. This part of the profession needs creativity in developing stories, video game rules, and designing all characters in the world of games.

4. Game Developers

Developing project teams need to recruit members who have a reliable programming background. People who are able to become game developers must have creativity, math, and coding skills. This section is the most complicated compared to other sections. So don't be surprised if the salary of this profession is always high. They are the core developing project team that is difficult to hire.

5. Game Artist

This profession requires the ability to master drawing, animation, 3D models, and others. They must also be familiar with working on 2D concepts by giving attractive colors to the characters and the environment. They should be able to imagine as if they were playing video games. This position in developing projects is always available.

Production Is The Longest Step In Developing Video Games

The process that will take a lot of focus and time is production. The developing game team will begin to make all components related to characters and the environment. The process of creating 3D characters is more challenging and time-consuming than 2D characters. The environment and characters must be made as attractive as possible so that gamers are interested in playing for a long time. After finishing designing the characters and environments, the team will start moving on to coding.

The team will start to find it difficult to design everything according to the original plan. All designs must be carefully thought out. Even after the developing process is complete, it will enter the testing stage. The team will find there are many bugs. The improvement process will continue until the bugs are minimized.

When developing a video game, the team must choose what programming language is suitable. Coding members should understand some of the best programming languages, such as Python, Java, PHP, JavaScript, C++, Ruby, Scala, Node, and C#. All of these programming languages are most often used by video games developers. We will briefly discuss programming languages here.

1. C++

The most basic programming language is C++. This game-developing program is a little easier than Java. This programming language is also more flexible when the team will work on the design part. Learning it requires patience because this programming language is difficult.

2. Java

The second program that has a higher level of difficulty is Java. This programming language is much more flexible than C++. The features that Java has have made developers comfortable using it for years. The entire coding team must master Java because it will be very helpful in developing.

3. Ruby

Ruby often uses game developing because it has a syntax that is easier to memorize. The whole syntax is much more natural and easy to write. Ruby also regularly upgrades and releases newer versions. The latest version of Ruby as of this writing is Ruby 3.0.2.

4. Python

No programming language is 100% easy. All need struggle to learn it. The difficult times that must be faced also do not end there. Python is not the only programming language that must be mastered by game developers. Although Python has many features, it is possible to use other programming languages as well. Python is compatible with making API tests, BDD tests, and more.

Popular games like PUBG use programming languages like C++ and C#. The C++ programming language allows teams to apply the unreal engine. The Unreal engine is useful for controlling a large number of graphics.

Testing the Developing of Video Games

All components that already exist in the games must go through testing. This step is to find out whether the mechanics and features in the game are running according to the concept. Releasing video games without going through a control process can make a difficult reputation famous. Nobody wants to play an unfinished developing game. Finding a lot of bugs can make players lazy to play. You who are also gamers will understand the meaning. For example, you are busy playing a game. Then in the middle of the game, the game encountered a bug. 

Games that have not undergone process testing at all are not eligible to launch. Even game development will not know which parts need to be improved. The phase before entering testing has not yet reached the Alpha launch. Even though there are also developing games called beta launches. Some frequently asked questions in the testing process:

• Have everyone got the rendering correctly when developing games?
• Does an error appear when trying to play the game?
• Can the character move through the wall? If yes, testing the developing game part is unfinished?
• Does the character get stuck somewhere while trying to play?
• Is the storyline or graphics boring? Or maybe, it is too difficult to play?

Release After Fixing Various Detected Bugs

Every developing project must have a deadline. Deadlines are never easy times for all teams. Everyone often overtime fixes errors. The developing process becomes increasingly busy thinking about the best way to fix errors. After going through a lot of testing on the game, the deadline came to announce the launch of the game. The marketing department will be in charge of providing some leaks about the game and its date. But it doesn't really give an exact date specification. Let's say game A will be released at the beginning of what year or month. However, it is not necessary to provide date and time specifications. Don't tell the exact date because it will make the team that handles the project feel even more having a difficult time. 

We can start to launch a marketing strategy at this stage. For example, start collaborating with celebrities and other famous people to market games. The marketing team needs to give direction to the famous figure to reveal the specific jargon. The jargon that many gamers are interested in. Jargon like this is difficult to think of for people who are less creative.

As long as the marketing team is working, the entire core developing team continues to improve the quality of the game. They change the texture of the character or can continue to try to fix minor errors that may occur and escape the development process. The pressure experienced by the developing team is getting higher at these times. They are nervous about whether players will report a lot of bugs or not. It is difficult for them to get me time even at home.

Studios also have to sell games through digital stores, apart from their own website. Being part that should not be forgotten is entering into the PlayStore. Try to develop games that players can play via smartphones.

Post Release

The developing team still hasn't finished their task even though a game has been released. They must continue to find errors and minor bugs. Every time there is a report from a player, they must return to developing duties. The most difficult times occurred in the first few months after the game's release. A game-developing studio will notice minor bugs from players. All games have experienced minor bugs, including popular games.