D1

D1

It is always important to give yourself a sufficient amount of time to get a project complete, that is why I have decided to give myself 82 weeks to fully complete my game; Astronomical Sportsperson. To balance this 82 weeks out across the full development of the game, I have decided to create a Gantt chart. This Gantt chart shows exactly how much time I will need to be spending on each area of the game’s development which prevents me from going into developing the game without a planned schedule and missing the deadline for when the game needs to be released. For example, My Gantt chart shows that 10 weeks should be spent first doing research, 12 weeks should be spent on engine development and 5 weeks should be spent on testing. This is just to name a few areas however, it does still show how my Gantt chart is able to schedule every single task to ensure that the game will be released on time as well as showing specifically why my game is going to take 82 weeks to make. Other tasks my Gantt chart covers include; storyboards, concept art, character modelling, level design, game mechanics, artwork, music, sound, beta release, feedback analysis, bug patching and the release day.

Fortunately, the popularity of my game isn’t something that I need to worry about too much. This is because there has been a huge growth in the indie games’ market in recent years which has led to indie game marketplaces such as Steam being at the forefront of the game industry with many gamers opting to buy indie games from the steam market place instead of going out and buying themselves.

The release date for my game is going to be August. I believe this is the perfect month to release an indie game such as mine, this is because many huge franchises such as Call of Duty, Battlefield and FIFA choose to bring their games out between September and December so that their games can be in store for the coming Christmas which will massively boost their sales. This means that smaller games that come out around the same time period are often over looked by consumers due to the hype surrounding the up-coming triple AAA titles that year, which is why it is best for smaller indie games such as mine to release slightly earlier to reach maximum sale figures.

Before the game is released in August, I will have to make sure that all the legal and ethical issues that the game is going to face are taken care of to avoid any law suits cropping up once the game is released. The game will also have been tested multiple times which will massively reduce the number of bugs embedded within the game come lunch day. I will also be employing an effective marketing team who can market the game to consumers sufficiently before its release to generate hype for the game, this is important as few people are willing to buy a game unless people are talking about it.