The Theory of Nothing

How are video games created?

How are video games created?

Please read the previous post 'How is CGI created?' to understand how the visual content is created for video games. This post deals with the actual game creation, which involves computer programming.
The first computer video games were rather primitive when compared to what we have today, but they allow for a much simpler illustration on how video games are made. First, the game designer must make the scenes and the objects that will be manipulated by the gamer. One of the first games was 'Pong.' This game displayed a 2D box with two paddles, which looked like simple lines. The ball was displayed as a tiny block. The idea was to use a joystick to move the paddles so that the ball could be bounced back to the second player or a computer directed player. Basically, it was like Tennis.
The programming for this would go something like this: Detect the movement of the joystick and move the paddle accordingly. When the paddle collides with the ball, make it bounce off in the direction it was struck and then see if the ball collides with a wall or boundary. If it does, make it bounce back. Just keep doing this. Every time the ball is successfully returned, increment the score.
The program to do this would use instructions like 'If a condition is met do this. If it isn't met then do that. The 'this' and 'that' are separate actions. The ball's position is kept in a variable (a named word that can store a number) and this can be continuously checked using the 'if-then' statement above, and if the variable's value indicates that the ball is at the wall, the program jumps to a subroutine that handles this event, in this case it would make the ball bounce back. This is a simple explanation of how one would construct a simple computer video game.
Obviously, modern computer games are much more sophisticated and require more involved programming. Many modern computer video games rely on known off-the-shelf-game engines. These engines are programming that has been developed for certain types of games on specific consoles. There are lots of these game engines available for a fee.
There is more to creating a game than programming. The graphics, sound, AI (Artificial Intelligence), gameplay, scripting, UI (User interface) and game tools must be created. Most commercial game developers have a team assigned to each of these tasks. Then, there are the testers, who play the beta versions and report errors or flaws. Needless to say, game development involves many people to implement these separate tasks, and together it costs lot of bucks.
Most game development doesn't stop once the game is released. Once bugs are discovered, the flaws must be worked out and an update released. Another problem in PC games is that the hardware changes. This is maintenance, and it is absolutely necessary for the success of a game.
Of course, another important aspect of game development is advertising and marketing. This is where the big boys (like EA and Sony) play.
Is it possible for an independent (Indie) developer to create a successful computer game? The answer is yes, especially for iOS (Apple iPhone) and Android games. Good examples of Indie game development include Minecraft, World of Goo and Braid. Minecraft developers were recently offered 2.5 billion by Microsoft.
I once thought about creating a video game, mainly because I knew how to program computers, but I decided that it's just too complicated to come up with a full blown game. Maybe if I were younger . . .
Thanks for reading.