How Is a Video Game Made?

Some may think that a video game is made in a basement, with a nerd working on it. But actually a video game creation can be as complex as making a Hollywood blockbuster. It takes time for planning and preparation, script writing, casting, character development, cutting-edge technology and massive computing power go into making games.
In the Beginning: Preproduction:
Usually games begin with stories, or they may be a movies. when the concept of the game is decided, writers and artists work together on a storyboard. A storyboard consists of rough sketches and technical instructions sequentially organized to depict each scene of the game. It is a visual representation of the story and a reference for the writers, artists and designers as if its a film. But the difference is that a film has a single storyline, while a video game can have thousands of outcomes.
Creating the Characters:
Designers start to create the characters. Sketches of major characters are drawn and redrawn until they are perfect. It's important for the artists to refine the characters as much as possible at this stage because it will be costly to make changes later.
Then the sketches are transformed into controllable 3D characters:

• First scanned into the computer.
• Second a digital exoskeleton is created to define the character's shape and to give the computer the control points necessary to animate the figure.
• Third layers of "skin" are added, followed by layers of color and texture.

How to put characters in motion:

At this stage characters are basically a digital marionette. The game programmers bring this figure to life by instructing the computer to move the character. Several techniques can be used to do this, depending on the type of game and motion desired. Movements can be mapped onto the character's skeleton to produce ultra-realistic motion.

Doris