9 Tips for Better Game Development

What was once considered to be simply children's play has evolved into an entire industry. Yes, you’ve guessed it right; we’re talking about video games!

Video games can be described as electronic games that can be played through computing devices such as mobile phones, gaming consoles, and personal computers. The gaming industry has seen rapid growth in recent times, due to which it has been estimated to generate over $260 billion in revenue by 2025.

Ambitious tech companies such as Apple, Meta, and Google are trying to get involved in this revenue stream and have thus made plans to enter the video game industry with the help of robust game development strategies, emerging technologies empowered by the best game developers in the industry!

But what's caused these tech giants to delve so deep into the world of gaming to such an extent? Well, we're here to answer that!

Why Enter the Gaming Industry

With all these big names jumping into the gaming battleground, you can't help but think why this industry has become so attractive. But, to answer this, we must understand this industry's potential.

The number of gamers across the globe is estimated to reach 3.32 billion by 2024, which means a greater number of potential customers. But it doesn't end here, as the gaming industry is set to reach a value of $200 billion by 2023.

New entrants can get a fair share of this action and can even benefit from how gaming companies can turn investments into revenue in a shorter time period in comparison to other companies. Not to mention the attractive factors of low debt and high profit margins that gaming companies enjoy.

But to reach these benefits, companies have to develop a game first, and that's easier said than done! But we'll let you in on a few useful tips. It's dangerous to go alone on the journey to success! So, take these tips with you.

9 Game Development Tips

Set Goals

Before diving into the details of gameplay, story, and mechanics, the best first step you could take is to consider your gaming idea and devise goals that will focus on questions such as why you've chosen to create such a game, what will the final product look and function like and similar questions that helps map out the pillars on which we wish to build. With these particular goals in mind, the finished game will meet not only your standards but also gamers' standards.

Research Trends and Competitors

There's nothing more attractive to gamers than recent trends in gaming, social media, and technology. By researching these trends and finding out how your competition is using them, you can integrate them into your game with a unique twist that'll not only provide you with a competitive advantage but will intrigue gamers as well.

Design With Users in Mind

The user experience within a game can end up making or breaking the level of enjoyment it provides. This includes in-game menus, navigation, tutorials, controls, and the game's overall aesthetic. Problems with any of these factors can result in the frustration and dissatisfaction of gamers. Therefore, as a game developer, you must ensure that the user experience remains consistent, intuitive, and fun for the target audience at all points.

Focus on Game Elements

Gamers like to get involved in the most intricate parts of games, including in-game elements. Small features such as lighting, sound, and color schemes can't escape the keen eyes of these gamers. Because of this, you have to ensure that these game elements are interactive and dynamic rather than static. You have to focus on perfecting elements such as characters, animations, themes, sound design, and the story so gamers can stay immersed for the long haul.

Identify The Best Game Mechanics

To create the best gameplay, you have to use game mechanics that comply with the genre of gaming you are targeting and the functionalities and features you wish to have within your game. In-game mechanics can include in-game achievements such as rewards, leaderboards, progression trees, and unlockable items, to name a few. These mechanics must be presented as challenges that integrate seamlessly into the story and gameplay while motivating gamers and building their gaming skills.

On the other hand, certain in-game mechanics revolve around factors that keep gamers entertained and immersed in the game itself. These mechanics can include in-game exploration, which builds a level of intrigue, fairness which allows gamers to keep playing even when they might be losing; in-game tutorials and hints which allow a greater level of accessibility; game physics that bring a sense of realism and lovable characters that allow gamers to create an emotional attachment to the game itself. These in-game mechanics keep the gamer’s eyes glued to the screen and remove the factor of repetition from the game.

Assemble a Talented Team

A game is only as good as its game development team, creative direction and experience; with a star-studded lineup of developers and designers, you can easily create dynamic and engaging games. To create an effective game development team, you'll need a product manager that'll conduct research and develop a roadmap for the game, along with designers capable of creating lively and realistic game concepts and developers to convert those concepts into functional games.

But that’s just half of it! We’ve seen video game companies fail to deliver on their promises several times, even with skilled game development teams. With successful titles such as The Last of US and Dying Light, it becomes clear that a heightened level of creative direction is required within these teams, which should be paired with dedication towards the game itself.

Thus, it’s essential for these teams to focus on areas such as the storyline, sound design, art direction, and level design, which allow games to become much more immersive and thus require a passionate team that’s willing to go beyond the status quo.

Refine The Concept

Game development isn't a one-time process, as it demands ongoing changes and fixes due to the number of problems and bugs experienced within the development journey. To refine a game, you must use porotypes so that issues can be solved and managed in the early stages. The story and characters also have to be refined due to how a game's story and gameplay may pan out in a manner that may require certain aesthetic and design changes.

Test It

Testing a game before its release is the most important step that defines whether a game has been developed completely. Game testers and the QA team have to play through these games multiple times and check tirelessly for errors and bugs, even in the most intricate places. Doing so will allow these errors to be fixed with greater attention to detail, allowing for performance, functionality, and usability improvements.

This process first uses Alpha testing, where the game dev teams start testing the game's alpha build to identify technical errors and bugs to fix; this allows the technical side of the game to be refined. This leads to the second step of beta testing, where the game is distributed as pre-release game software to a select group of gamers so that they can test it in terms of gameplay and mechanics. Beta testing allows the consumers to identify in-game factors that may be disrupting the gameplay and causing problems from their perspective. These disruptions are amended, and changes are made following the gamer's feedback making the final product much more polished.

Market It

As game development reaches its end, you might think it's all done and dusted, but there's still one last tip that can make the difference, and that's to market your game on any and all relevant platforms. Marketing efforts can include creating a dedicated website, gameplay demos, collaborating with gaming influencers, and advertising the game through social media to reach a wider audience.

Why Hire a Game Developer?

Game developers are an important part of the game development team and can provide several benefits, which include.

• Bringing about a thorough understanding of functional requirements, information flow, system requirements, design choices, and user requirements
• Ensuring that games consist of appropriate configurations and settings and how game elements will respond and react to different actions
• Making sure that the proposed game designs are fully implemented and effectively translated from the concepts and plans into the final product

Conclusion

The gaming landscape presents many opportunities that can be gained through these nine secret tips. So now that you've understood what needs to be done, why wait?

Start your game development process now with skilled and vetted remote game developers provided to you by Aspired.