2. VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT
Video Game Development is the process of creating a video
game, the development is undertaken by a game developer
which can range from one person to a large business.
A traditional commercial PC and console are normally funded by
a publisher and take several years to develop, Indie games can
take less time and can be produced cheaply by individuals and
small developers. The indie game industry has increased in
recent years, including growth of new online distribution
systems and the mobile game market.
P1(F) - GAMES DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE - EMMA FRASER
3. INDEPENDENT GAME
DEVELOPMENTWith the development and access of technology increasing, it has become easier, and cheaper,
for someone to produce and distribute a video game, this has been shown in the rise of
popularity amongst Indie games, for example, one indie game went viral in 2015 named ‘Five
Nights at Freddy’s’ which was an Indie horror game, it became extremely popular and was played
frequently by many people on YouTube which helped its popularity grow. The grow in Indie
games has meant that there is now a wider range of games out there than there was before, with
different people creating unique and crazy video games for others to try.
Independent games can be created in two different ways, either the game is independently
created and financed by the developer or the game is designed independently by the developer
with others financing the development but no control from those funding it.
As well as basic development costs, the console game developers have to pay fess in order to
license the required Software Development Kits (SDKs) from the console manufacturer. Due to
this, the manufacturers will then take a percentage of the games net profit, should it turn out
successful, as well as the additional yearly developers fee, however this will only happen if they
pass the strict approval process.
P1(F) - GAMES DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE - EMMA FRASER
4. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KITS
(SDK’S)
There are different SDK’s a games developer can acquire, depending on which company they’re making
the games for, for example, when creating games for Xbox consoles, developers can use an XDK, Xbox
Development Kit, which is a an SDK created by Microsoft used to write software for the Xbox gaming
system. Around the release of the PS4, Microsoft had released the Xbox One which was a games
developer kit in its own right, this therefore lowered the cost of SDK’s, to the price of an Xbox One, and
encouraged indie game developers, however Sony still kept their SDK’s priced at $2,500 which is $2,000
more than an Xbox One, although Indie Xbox One developers do have to pay a fee to Microsoft which is
around a few hundred U.S dollars.
Another example is from Nintendo, to obtain an official SDK License from the company they give
purchasers a range of between $2,000 to $10,000, this depends on the size of your team, in order for
you to purchase the official SDK, Nintendo expect you to be an Authorized Developer with financial
stability, to be able to purchase the equipment needed to for your project.
Often independent developers will fund their own development and can often set up fund raising pages
where people can donate money towards the production of the project. However, some independent
developers will often seek publisher support, this can sometimes gain them some money and
advertisement for the upcoming game but may hinder their creativity by receiving outside comments
and recommendations of what they ‘should’ add in to the game.
P1(F) - GAMES DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE - EMMA FRASER
5. DEVELOPING FOR THE IPHONE
The iPhone SDK is a software development kit developed by Apple, it is targeted at
those third-party developers so that they can develop applications for the iPhone
OS, this was released in 2008. Whilst the SDK itself is free to download, enrolment
must be done in order to release any game, this is done through the iPhone
Developer Program, which requires payment and the approval from Apple. The
Apple Developer Program, in 2016, is an annual fee of $99, whilst the Apple
Developer Enterprise Program is an annual fee of $299. The developers that do
publish their game applications to the ‘App Store’ will only receive 70% of the sales
revenue but will not have to pay any distribution costs.
An example of an application is ‘Pokemon Go’ which was developed by Niantic for
IOS, Android and Apple Watch. It was initially released in July 2016 and quickly
became a global phenomenon, it was one of the most used and profitable mobile
apps this year and was downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide.
P1(F) - GAMES DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE - EMMA FRASER
6. DEVELOPING FOR XBOX AND PS4
Some games developers have been lent a developing kit by Sony for a limited period of time for free,
however there are no development kits available to purchase from Sony. Despite this Self-publishing
has been available on PlayStation for years and the process of developers bringing their games to
market has continued to evolve, some may say that PlayStation has led the change in encouraging
new publishing rules to allow for more creative license. Self-publishing with PlayStation is kept
simple and includes lots of options to chose from, including funding through the ‘Pub Fund’ (which
is back-end funding that is paid to the developers upon completion of the game).
PlayStation 3 developer kits used to cost between $1,000 and $10,000, however there are now
different levels of developer kits. Prices can vary depending on debug functionality. The accessibility
of Independent Development has become more accessible, especially on PlayStation, where they
offer a lot of flexibility. This includes more promotion of Indie titles.
Since the launch of the Xbox One, Microsoft SDK’s have been made a lot cheaper in an attempt to
attract more developers to create for the new Xbox, Microsoft has made an Xbox Live SDK for
Windows 10 available so developers can start creating Windows 10 games with Xbox Live features.
Developers will also be able to create apps using the Windows 10 app platform that interconnects
with PCs, tablets, phones, and the Xbox One.
P1(F) - GAMES DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE - EMMA FRASER
