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What is Game Design and Development
 

Game design and development emphasizes game programming within a core computing education to prepare students for careers in the game, simulation, modeling, training, and visualization industries. The emphasis on computing fundamentals gives students more career options and also prepares them for graduate school. Students gain a breadth of knowledge in game design, interactive media, user interaction, animation, modeling, math, science, and design in the context of computational game development. Students can further specialize in engines, graphics, audio, narrative, and more with elective choices that span the entire university.According  to university of greenwich  games design and development degree combines all the aspects of theory, practice and technology essential to your career. You'll learn games programming and get the chance to discover the creative aspects of the games industry through practical projects. You'll experience the theory, technology, practice and application of computing and the development of computer games, together with skills in digital design and development.

What are the stages of game development?

Pre-Production;As the most important stages of game development, Pre-Production is about laying quality foundations for production that allow the game to be developed smoothly. Pre-production is about deciding on key factors in the pipeline process. Generally, Pre-Production begins by addressing things like What the game is about, the audience its aimed at, the market its aimed at, what potential titles would be competitors, where it will be published and when, how it will be sold, how long it will take to develop and importantly what resources and budget will be required to produce the title.

Production;Production progress can be broken up into several stages and generally looks like this:

• Prototype: Initial test of core mechanics, very bare bones
• First Playable: Incorporates the visual elements with the core mechanics
• Vertical Slice: Essentially a completed sample that can be used for marketing or pitching purposes
• Pre-alpha: The content for the title is mostly complete, however this is where permanent choices are made over core elements
• Alpha: This stage is where the term “Feature Complete” comes from, and this refers to the fact that all the main elements of the game are in place and the product is now playable. It may be missing assets and some FX at this point, but this stage is ready for internal user testing
• Beta: Content, Assets and core functions are completely in place, this stage of the pipeline is purely optimization based
• Gold Master: The Game is finally ready to be published and shipped for the public to enjoy.
  
  The 7 stages of game development (Planning, Pre-production, Production, Testing, Pre-Launch, Launch and Post-production) are essential regardless of studio size and they allow the production team to stay focused and structured throughout the development process.

Post-Production;It’s a common misconception that once game development is complete and the game is shipped, that production is over. Once the game is shipped, the work involved actually can become just as extensive. Certain production-based departments reallocate their time to maintenance, bug fixing, and developing patches to improve the overall game experience. Whilst QA finds 90% of bugs for the developers to address and fix, the massive player base of titles will always find bugs missed in that process.

The Reliable Pipeline;Essentially that is the abridged structure of the game development pipeline and whilst it may vary due to production scope and team size, the general flow will be similar across game titles. It is worth noting that during production it’s not unusual for additional roles to come on board such as Combat/Quest Designers and Writers/Interpreters, but this is specific from title to title. The game production, or a game design service pipeline is a smooth and calculated progression that has been created from a considerable amount of trial and error, however, it allows development teams to reliably and regularly develop titles for us to enjoy annually.

How To Get Into Game Development: 10 Proven Ways to Break Into the Game Industry

1. Post your work on discussion boards. 
2. Start a gaming blog. 
3. Build your own indie games. 
4. Get an entry-level job as a Game Tester. 
5. Get an internship at a video game studio. 
6. Get a video-game related college degree. 
7. Get a traditional college degree.
   Get a job at a gaming studio in a non-gamedev position
   Participate in game jams
   Make in-game apps
   Be persistent, and don’t give up

References
Admin (2020) Confused between game design and game development?, Seam. Available at: https://www.seamedu.com/blog/confused-between-game-design-and-game-development/ (Accessed: November 3, 2022).

Bay, J.W. (2017) Game Industry Career Guide Menu Start Here Video Game Careers 101 Video Game job hunt about me blog find a career research job salaries build your resume apply for jobs nail your interview books game careers book new! game tester book game design books game programming books kids coding books podcast, Game Industry Career Guide. Available at: https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/how-to-break-into-video-game-industry/ (Accessed: November 7, 2022).

 

Game Design and Development Bachelor of Science degree (no date) RIT. Available at: https://www.rit.edu/study/game-design-and-development-bs (Accessed: November 6, 2022). 

Martynenko, E., (2022) What are the stages of game development?, Pingle Studio. Available at: https://pinglestudio.com/blog/full-cycle-development/game-development-stages (Accessed: November 7, 2022).