Requirements engineering and the creative process in the video game industry

Abstract

The software engineering process in video game development is not clearly understood, hindering the development of reliable practices and processes for this field. An investigation of factors leading to success or failure in video game development suggests that many failures can be traced to problems with the transition from preproduction to production. Three examples, drawn from real video games, illustrate specific problems: 1) how to transform documentation from its preproduction form to a form that can be used as a basis for production, 2) how to identify implied information in preproduction documents, and 3) how to apply domain knowledge without hindering the creative process. We identify 3 levels of implication and show that there is a strong correlation between experience and the ability to identify issues at each level. The accumulated evidence clearly identifies the need to extend traditional requirements engineering techniques to support the creative process in video game development.

Critical Success Factors to Improve the Game Development Process from a Developer’s Perspective

“…The GDD is mainly a pre-production artifact which is defined by the preproduction phase team to capture a creative vision of the game. Game developers generally feel that imposing too much structure at the start of a game may be highly detrimental [40] , resulting in reduced creativity, constraining expression, and risking the intangibles that create an enjoyable feeling or experience. At the same time, the importance of structure has been highlighted by many researchers, as discussed in the literature review section (Section 2).…”

Software Architectures and the Creative Processes in Game Development

“…The result of this literature review showed that the main emphasis in this research domain is on requirement engineering, as well as coding tools and techniques. Articles related to requirement engineering focuses on the problem of going from a game concept that should be fun and engaging to functional requirements, and software architectures and software designs that can produce game software realizing the game concept [7]. The initial requirements for a game can be labeled emotional requirements that contain the game designer's intent and the means which the game designer expects the production team to induce that emotional state in the player [4].…”

“…Another example is that game development does not include functional requirements from the end-users. Typical end-user requirements to a game is that the game must be fun and engaging [7]. The latter poses a challenge of going from preproduction phase that produces a game design document (and maybe a prototype), to the production phase where all the software, game design, art, audio and music will be produced [7].…”

“…Typical end-user requirements to a game is that the game must be fun and engaging [7]. The latter poses a challenge of going from preproduction phase that produces a game design document (and maybe a prototype), to the production phase where all the software, game design, art, audio and music will be produced [7]. From a software engineering point of view, a challenge in game development is to create functional requirements from a game design document that describes the game concept.…”

Requirements Engineering Meets Physiotherapy: An Experience with Motion-Based Games

“…In general, the direct interaction with the users, if present, is confined in the final phase of testing and validation. In [12], the video games production process is analyzed, by taking into account the emotional factors that can influence it. Similarly, Hunicke et al ( [13]) study the production process of games, trying to bridge the gap between design and development, game criticism, and technical game research.…”