Editing Video game development (section)

{{About|video game development|video game design|Video game design|tabletop game design and development|Game design}}{{Redirect-distinguish|Game development|Board game development}}
{{short description|Process of developing a video game}}
{{Video game industry}}'''Video game development''' (sometimes shortened to '''gamedev''') is the process of creating a [[video game]]. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more specialized skills; art includes 3D modeling of objects, character modeling, animation, visual effects, and so on. Development is supported by project management, production, and quality assurance. Teams can be many hundreds of people, a small group, or even a single person.

Development of commercial video games is normally funded by a [[video game publisher|publisher]] and can take two to five years to reach completion. Game creation by small, self-funded teams is called [[indie game|independent development]]. The technology in a game may be written from scratch or use proprietary software specific to one company. As development has become more complex, it has become common for companies and independent developers alike to use off-the-shelf "engines" such as [[Unity (game engine)|Unity]], [[Unreal Engine]] or [[Godot (game engine)|Godot]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Comparing Popular Game Engines |url=https://www.pubnub.com/blog/comparing-popular-game-engines/ |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=PubNub |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-09-20|title=The Two Engines Driving the $120B Gaming Industry Forward|url=https://www.cbinsights.com/research/game-engines-growth-expert-intelligence/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=CB Insights Research|language=en-US}}</ref>

Commercial game development began in the 1970s with the advent of [[arcade video game]]s, [[First generation of video game consoles|first-generation video game consoles]] like the [[Atari 2600]], and [[home computer]]s like the [[Apple II]]. Into the 1980s, a lone [[game programmer|programmer]] could develop a full and complete game such as ''[[Pitfall!]]''. By the second and third generation of video game consoles in the late 1980s, the growing popularity of 3D graphics on personal computers, and higher expectations for visuals and quality, it became difficult for a single person to produce a mainstream video game. The average cost of producing a high-end (often called [[AAA (video game industry)|AAA]]) game slowly rose from {{usd}}1–4&nbsp;million in 2000, to over $200 million and up by 2023. At the same time, independent game development has flourished. The best-selling video game of all time, ''[[Minecraft]]'', was initially written by one person, then supported by a small team, before the company was acquired by [[Microsoft]] and greatly expanded.

Mainstream commercial video games are generally developed in phases. A concept is developed which then moves to [[pre-production]] where [[prototype]]s are written and the plan for the entire game is created. This is followed by full-scale development or ''production'', then sometimes a post-production period where the game is polished. It has become common for many developers, especially smaller developers, to publicly release games in an "early access" form, where iterative development takes place in tandem with feedback from actual players.