RE: A general not so general question

[Cesar Rodriguez <cesar.rodriquez@cook-hurlbert.com>]

I think that the Game Architecture and Design book have something about the
development timeline for a game

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576104257/o/qid=962987238/sr=2-2/002
-3786436-7392032
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576104257/o/qid=962987238/sr=2-2/00
2-3786436-7392032> 

-----Original Message-----
From: gameprogrammer-owner@gameprogrammer.com
[mailto:gameprogrammer-owner@gameprogrammer.com]On Behalf Of Daniel Kolath
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2000 1:52 AM
To: gameprogrammer@gameprogrammer.com
Subject: A general not so general question


Given that a gaming project usually takes 2 years, does anyone have an idea
as to the breakdown of time spent in particular phases of an ideal 2 year
gaming project?  x # of months in initial design, Y # of months in
development (Y1 in tools design, Y2 is stage implementation, Yn etc.), Z #
of months testing, etc.  From what I have read to this point, this seems to
be a real mesh where phases of game development are pretty hazed over.
Specifically, I wanted to get an idea of how much plot/design I should have
in place before coding (at least the .h files with implementation to come at
a later time) and secondly if concept art is an ongoing process throughout
the near final/pre-testing phases of game development or if that all gets
done during the initial phases of a game.  Pretty vague, and I suspect that
there is no real answer to this question, just preference.   I was hoping to
put together a timeline for myself, so I could get an idea of when I should
start seeking external help for various aspects of a game I am planning.  In
my ideal world, I would like to have a great deal of design done, get to
writing .h files so I could get extra programming help in the implementation
of the .h files while hopefully keeping the entire design of the game pretty
Object Oriented so that I won't have to stress over enormous amounts of code
that need an even more enormous amout of code to fuction properly.  
 
Dan

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