Quote Originally Posted by Intrepid Sidekick
Hi there everyone

I think I have to clear a misconception some people have about game development, the assignment of tasks and the order of their development.

For example:
We dont first etc. For a start the first item would be impossible without completing the second, third and fourth item in your list.

The reality of commercial development for a game is that there are several sub-teams of people that all start working towards a common goal at the same time. This involves a lot of communication, co-operation and co-ordination. We all have to communicate our thoughts, ideas and processes to each other and make sure they stay in sync.

Thus we have a talented team of people working on each area of the game, that is identifiable as a coherent chunk, and then keep stitching the bits together until it all works and we have a completed game.

Therefore we have audio, graphics, campaign map, battlefield and art teams etc all working to complete the game. Telling the audio guys or the graphics guys not to work on their bit of the game until the game balance is right is actualy pointless and a waste of time. The team, as a whole, contribute towards the balance of the game by making it, playing it and giving feedback and making adjustments where agreed.

So you see, we can't take the confused, linear process some suggest because a) it would take about 10 years to produce a high quality game if we did and b) it would also probably be horribly dated by the time it released.

Thank you for making that clear for us!