Deadlines and how to manage your time:When creating games, you will have deadlines in which you would need to meet.
You will need a good structure of how you are going to complete the game and
when by. Setting yourself a list of deadlines would be ideal as that means you
know that you will have to complete this certain task to move on to the next.
If you didn’t have a set structure then your layout for creating the game will
be messy and you may not release your game out in time. If you have an idea of
when you want you to game to be finished then write it down and stick to that
deadline. The more you push the deadline ahead, the likelihood of actually finishing
the game would reduce.
Now that you have a set date for when you want your game to published, you would need to break your game down into chunks. This meaning knowing what you need to do first and when by. Make a list of what needs to be done, for example, sounds, graphics and coding. Once you have written down what needs to be down, break that list down even more. So with the sounds, the list could be; sounds for level 1, sounds for level 2, sounds for when you die, sounds for when you have picked something up etc. Although, you don’t need to break everything down so that the list seems long and unbearable, just break it down until you think it’s reasonable enough and then move on to the next list that you are going to create. This idea is very helpful for each game that you create. It will help you keep your work very organised. After making the lists, move the lists into an order of which needs to doing first. Also group the lists together if they fall under a similar subject. Then assign the people whom you work with, with what they specify in. Giving them things to do in an organised manner helps keep everything under control. A way of managing your money would be to set your money aside for the things you need monthly first and then after that set your money aside for the yearly things around 4 months before you need to pay.
Availability of equipment and personnel:
Now that you have a set date for when you want your game to published, you would need to break your game down into chunks. This meaning knowing what you need to do first and when by. Make a list of what needs to be done, for example, sounds, graphics and coding. Once you have written down what needs to be down, break that list down even more. So with the sounds, the list could be; sounds for level 1, sounds for level 2, sounds for when you die, sounds for when you have picked something up etc. Although, you don’t need to break everything down so that the list seems long and unbearable, just break it down until you think it’s reasonable enough and then move on to the next list that you are going to create. This idea is very helpful for each game that you create. It will help you keep your work very organised. After making the lists, move the lists into an order of which needs to doing first. Also group the lists together if they fall under a similar subject. Then assign the people whom you work with, with what they specify in. Giving them things to do in an organised manner helps keep everything under control. A way of managing your money would be to set your money aside for the things you need monthly first and then after that set your money aside for the yearly things around 4 months before you need to pay.
Availability of equipment and personnel:
The availability of the equipment that you use is talking
about how long you have got the licenses for that you have bought. For example,
Maya costs £97 per month, Unity Professional Edition costs $75 per month and
iOS Apple Developer Program for $99 per membership year. You would have to keep
on top of when these licenses run out and have to set money aside to pay for
them again.The availability of the personnel is very dependent on whether you work on your own, in a small group/business or a large business. If you work on your own you would need to set time for yourself to work on the game and also revolve whether you work at your job or look after family members around working on your game. If you work with a small group of people you will have to consider what times that they can dedicate themselves to working on the game. When working in a large business you would have to consider when your workers are available and know which days they work on. Furthermore, you may come across that one of your workers are ill and you need to take in mind which other person could take over and if they can do overtime.
Timescales for clearances:
When it comes to finally finishing the game you will need to
set a time for when your game can be tested. In this test it will determine
what age rating the game is given.
For example, PEGI gets the developer of the game to complete an online declaration form in which is sent to the administrator of the age rating system. The completed form then gets reviewed by the administrator and is used when the content of the game is being reviewed. They choose particular sections of the game to review based off what information the developer has given the administrator. This system is accordingly a more efficient way of rating the game than by playing the full game.
For the delays in publishing you would need to set yourself another deadline after you have your original one set just in case you do not meet your first deadline. For the game to be legal it does need to be checked for plagiarism. To see that it is not the exact same as another game just different graphics. Also you need your game to be tested so that you can receive some feedback and change your game slightly if needed to. Organising this time after the release is essential as you will want this time slot to fit before the final release of the game.
For example, PEGI gets the developer of the game to complete an online declaration form in which is sent to the administrator of the age rating system. The completed form then gets reviewed by the administrator and is used when the content of the game is being reviewed. They choose particular sections of the game to review based off what information the developer has given the administrator. This system is accordingly a more efficient way of rating the game than by playing the full game.
For the delays in publishing you would need to set yourself another deadline after you have your original one set just in case you do not meet your first deadline. For the game to be legal it does need to be checked for plagiarism. To see that it is not the exact same as another game just different graphics. Also you need your game to be tested so that you can receive some feedback and change your game slightly if needed to. Organising this time after the release is essential as you will want this time slot to fit before the final release of the game.
