Game Development

[Redsky]

Hi,

Talking recently to a younger opponent, the question of "What does a Game Developer does" came to the conversation, and I simply am not sûre what's the right answer!
For example, in most A.H. games I own, in the Credits, there is the Designer, and then the Game Development, for which, in most cases, Don Greenwood is the name listed.
Can anyone help? Perhaps Moderator John or Steve...

Thanks a lot,
Dolf

[msjells]

It's a very hard position to define because the amount of work can vary greatly from game to game. Basically, a designer comes up with the original idea for the game, creates the major game systems and (if a historical game) does the research that connects the game with history. The developer is charged with taking these things and making a finished, commercial product out of them. In some cases, this merely means helping to rewrite a few of the less clear rules and supervise the playtesters to make sure that balance is reasonable. Most of the time, the developer will encounter quite a few more obstacles before the game is ready for publication. Rules often need major rewrites, because they have frequently been explained by the designer to the original playtesters. Now they need to stand on their own with no such hand holding. Play balance frequently becomes a major issue after the game is seen by a wider audience. Research may be discovered to be shoddy or incomplete. Significant parts of the system may not function as intended - again, largely due to a wider audience trying things that the designer did not foresee. Every change often means that things don't work together the way they did before, meaning more changes must be made.
In other words, sometimes the developer does a great deal more work than the designer. It's a very open-ended assignment, so it's tough to describe everything that may happen.
John

[Redsky]

Thank you very much John, your explanation has been very helpful.
Dolf

[Y2UAsk]

John's reply is pretty much on the mark.

Not to disparage game designers in any way, but the people who design wargames are often not really "game designers" at all. Their expertise is typically concentrated in historical and military knowledge and research. The game developer usually has a stronger grasp of what makes something a "game" -- i.e., balance, options, resource allocation, time pressure, those sorts of things. So the developer's job is often taking a lot of research that only looks like a game and turning it into an actual game based on research.

Unless it's a computer game. In that case, "developer" is the contemporary word for what we used to call "programmers."

Steve

[Redsky]

Steve,

Thank you very much for the additional details.
You don't seem to give a great credit to Designers!... Funny, I always thought they were the genial minds beyond the games we all love and the real creative! Apparently I was wrong, as you seem to give more credit to the Developers!
Obviously we never stop learning ;)

Dolf

[Y2UAsk]

No, it's not my intention to diminish what game designers do. Designers and developers have different skills, and both are essential for the final product to be a good, historical wargame.

Some of the top talents out there combine both sets of skills. People like that are the exceptions, though.

It reminds me of an anecdote from the Korean War. A general, I forget who, wanted to send gunboats up the Nam (?) river to shell Pyongyang. The boats were available, the need to do something was pressing, and the river was right there. The general was all gung ho to give the order when his staff aides explained to him that it couldn't be done. Given the draft and speed of the boats and the length of the trip, they couldn't reach Pyongyang, carry out an attack, and return to the sea before the tide turned and left them stranded somewhere on the river.

Wargame design is a little like that. The designers are needed to come up with the bold plans and the big picture, but you also need a developer to make sure everything works the way it's supposed to and nothing gets bottomed out on a sandbar.

Steve

[Redsky]

No, it's not my intention to diminish what game designers do. Designers and developers have different skills, and both are essential for the final product to be a good, historical wargame.

Yes, I can of course understand this Steve smile.gif
I was just kind of kidding ;)

But I must confess that as I didn't know for sûre what Developers do, I always thought the Designers were indeed the greatest genious in this hobby.
I thought Developers only were in charge of deciding which games are good or not to publish, that they were responsible for the playtest phase,
and that's it.
Now I realise they are indeed as much important as the Designers.

Thanks a lot for the info.

Dolf