I am glad to welcome again those who care about our exciting projects!
As continuation of our last topic, today we will tell about the resource management in game development.
First of all, you need to understand what initial resources do you have at the start. Do not try to make it all in your head – take some time and write it down on a piece of paper. It is necessary to take into account everything: all the people, money, intellectual or other property that can be used in the development. In case of human resources, it is worthwhile to describe in more detail the skills and professional qualities.
Next, you will need a document describing the concept/idea, game mechanics and story/plot (if such is planned). This will allow you to roughly understand what resource will be required for development. Your task is to compare this list with what you already have, and take up the equation where you will customize your idea to your capabilities.
If everything came together fine, feel free to start the development. In case there are certain problems, then it’s time to make tough decisions.
One of the biggest developers mistakes is the expansion of the game elements which are not important. For example, if in a game where the story serves as a key element, visualization and graphics part gets much more attention, it may result in problems further: the budget does not fit or other problems occur as the result, and the promising project dies.
To begin with, let’s look at the elements of the game in a simplified form.
We usually have:
Game lore including, idea, plot, etc.
The visual part
Engine
Sound
Each of these large game elements interacts with us, and this is important: since we cannot feel the game with all our senses, it is simply impossible to exclude at least one of the remaining ones. All the four elements are incredibly vital and interrelated. The problem of small studios is that they cannot afford each of the four points to be completed at the highest level. As a result, certain sacrifice is needed. This is where the main problem arises – what to sacrifice?
The easiest way to understand this is to single out the strongest side of your game, then the weakest one and strengthen them both. Be sure to pay attention to the features of your selected genre. If you have a game based on the simple mechanics, then perhaps it does not need a plot at all. Or you have a game based solely on the story telling, perhaps in this case you do not need visualization.
The most important thing we wanted to tell you: you need to learn how to plan and analyze, these are the best helpers in the early stages of development.
That’s everything for today, good luck in your development, and it’s time for us to get back to work!
