Editing Video game (section)

==Development==
{{Main|Video game development}}
{{See also|Video game industry practices}}
[[File:Virtual-camera-system.png|thumb|Developers use various tools to create video games. Here an editor is fine-tuning the [[virtual camera system]].]]

Video game development and authorship, much like any other form of entertainment, is frequently a cross-disciplinary field. [[Video game developer]]s, as employees within this industry are commonly referred to, primarily include [[game programmer|programmers]] and [[graphic design]]ers. Over the years, this has expanded to include almost every type of skill that one might see prevalent in the creation of any movie or television program, including [[sound design]]ers, musicians, and other technicians; as well as skills that are specific to video games, such as the [[game designer]]. All of these are managed by [[game producer|producers]].

In the early days of the industry, it was more common for a single person to manage all of the roles needed to create a video game. As platforms have become more complex and powerful in the type of material they can present, larger teams have been needed to generate all of the art, programming, cinematography, and more. This is not to say that the age of the "one-man shop" is gone, as this is still sometimes found in the casual gaming and handheld markets,<ref name="numberofdevs">{{cite web |last=Parkin |first=Simon |date=3 August 2009 |title=The Edge of Reason? |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-edge-of-reason |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119022451/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-edge-of-reason |archive-date=19 November 2009 |access-date=16 November 2009 |publisher=[[Eurogamer]] |df=dmy-all}}</ref> where smaller games are prevalent due to technical limitations such as limited [[random-access memory|RAM]] or lack of dedicated 3D graphics rendering capabilities on the target platform (e.g., some [[personal digital assistant|PDAs]]).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Reimer|first=Jeremy|date=2005-11-08|title=Cross-platform game development and the next generation of consoles|url=https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/11/crossplatform/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|archive-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603073211/https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/11/crossplatform/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Video games are [[Computer programming|programmed]] like any other piece of computer software. Prior to the mid-1970s, arcade and home consoles were programmed by assembling discrete electro-mechanical components on circuit boards, which limited games to relatively simple logic. By 1975, low-cost [[microprocessor]]s were available at volume to be used for video game hardware, which allowed game developers to program more detailed games, widening the scope of what was possible.{{sfn|Kent|2001|p=65}}<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only | title = For Amusement Only: The Life and Death of the American Arcade | first = Laura | last = June | date = 16 January 2013 | access-date = 8 March 2021 | work = [[The Verge]] | archive-date = 6 October 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141006081005/http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only | url-status = live }}</ref> Ongoing improvements in computer hardware technology have expanded what has become possible to create in video games, coupled with convergence of common hardware between console, computer, and arcade platforms to simplify the development process.<ref>{{cite magazine | url = https://www.pcmag.com/news/son-of-pc-the-history-of-x86-game-consoles | title = Son of PC: The History of x86 Game Consoles | first = Benj | last = Edwards | date = 26 August 2016 | access-date = 31 July 2020 | magazine = [[PC Magazine]] | archive-date = 5 December 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201205092602/https://www.pcmag.com/news/son-of-pc-the-history-of-x86-game-consoles | url-status = live }}</ref> Today, game developers have a number of commercial and [[open source]] tools available for use to make games, often which are across multiple platforms to support portability, or may still opt to create their own for more specialized features and direct control of the game. Today, many games are built around a [[game engine]] that handles the bulk of the game's logic, gameplay, and rendering. These engines can be augmented with specialized engines for specific features, such as a [[physics engine]] that simulates the physics of objects in real-time. A variety of [[middleware]] exists to help developers access other features, such as playback of videos within games, [[Netcode|network-oriented code]] for games that communicate via online services, [[Matchmaking (video games)|matchmaking]] for online games, and similar features. These features can be used from a developer's programming language of choice, or they may opt to also use [[game development kit]]s that minimize the amount of direct programming they have to do but can also limit the amount of customization they can add into a game. Like all software, video games usually undergo [[Software testing|quality testing]] before release to assure there are no [[Software bug|bugs]] or [[glitch]]es in the product, though frequently developers will release [[Patch (computing)|patches and updates]].

With the growth of the size of development teams in the industry, the problem of cost has increased. Development studios need the best talent, while publishers reduce costs to maintain profitability on their investment. Typically, a video game console development team ranges from 5 to 50 people, and some exceed 100. In May 2009, ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' was reported to have a development staff of 450.<ref>[http://www.nowgamer.com/news/513/assassins-creed-ii-triples-size-of-dev-team "Assassin's Creed II dev team triples in size"], Christopher Reynolds, 18 May 2009, NOW Gamer. {{webarchive |url=https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160515200949/http://www.nowgamer.com/assassins-creed-ii-dev-team-triples-in-size/ |date=15 May 2016 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> The growth of team size combined with greater pressure to get completed projects into the market to begin recouping production costs has led to a greater occurrence of missed deadlines, rushed games, and the release of unfinished products.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://kotaku.com/the-messy-true-story-behind-the-making-of-destiny-1737556731|title=The Messy, True Story Behind The Making of Destiny|last=Schreier|first=Jason|newspaper=Kotaku|language=en-US|access-date=15 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115203558/http://kotaku.com/the-messy-true-story-behind-the-making-of-destiny-1737556731|archive-date=15 November 2016}}</ref>

While amateur and hobbyist game programming had existed since the late 1970s with the introduction of home computers, a newer trend since the mid-2000s is [[indie game development]]. Indie games are made by small teams outside any direct publisher control, their games being smaller in scope than those from the larger "[[AAA (video game industry)|AAA]]" game studios, and are often experiments in gameplay and art style. Indie game development is aided by the larger availability of digital distribution, including the newer mobile gaming market, and readily-available and low-cost development tools for these platforms.<ref name="indie dreams">{{cite journal | title = Indie Dreams: Video Games, Creative Economy, and the Hyperindustrial Epoch | first = Patrick | last = Crogan | journal = [[Games and Culture]] | volume = 13 | issue = 7 | date = 2018 | pages = 671–689 | doi = 10.1177/1555412018756708 | s2cid = 148890661 | url = http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/34123/3/Crogan%20for%20Ludic%20Economies%20special%20issue%20v2.pdf | access-date = 27 April 2021 | archive-date = 30 January 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220130011803/https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/857444 | url-status = live }}</ref>

===Game theory and studies===
{{more citations needed section|date=June 2023}}
{{Main|Game studies}}
Although departments of computer science have been studying the technical aspects of video games for years, theories that examine games as an artistic medium are a relatively recent development in the humanities. The two most visible schools in this emerging field are [[ludology]] and [[narratology]]. Narrativists approach video games in the context of what [[Janet Murray]] calls "Cyberdrama". That is to say, their major concern is with video games as a storytelling medium, one that arises out of [[interactive fiction]]. Murray puts video games in the context of the [[Holodeck]], a fictional piece of technology from ''[[Star Trek]]'', arguing for the video game as a medium in which the player is allowed to become another person, and to act out in another world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Murray |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Murray |date=1998 |title=Hamlet on the Holodeck |url=https://archive.org/details/hamletonholodeck00murr |url-access=registration |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |page={{Page needed|date=January 2024}} |isbn=978-0-262-63187-7}}</ref> This image of video games received early widespread popular support, and forms the basis of films such as ''[[Tron]]'', ''[[eXistenZ]]'' and ''[[The Last Starfighter]]''.

Ludologists break sharply and radically from this idea. They argue that a video game is first and foremost a game, which must be understood in terms of its rules, interface, and the concept of play that it deploys. [[Espen J. Aarseth]] argues that, although games certainly have plots, characters, and aspects of traditional narratives, these aspects are incidental to gameplay. For example, Aarseth is critical of the widespread attention that narrativists have given to the heroine of the game ''[[Tomb Raider]]'', saying that "the dimensions of [[Lara Croft]]'s body, already analyzed to death by [[film theory|film theorists]], are irrelevant to me as a player, because a different-looking body would not make me play differently... When I play, I don't even see her body, but see through it and past it."<ref>{{cite web| last = Aarseth| first = Espen J.| author-link = Espen J. Aarseth| date = 21 May 2004| url = http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/vigilant| title = Genre Trouble| publisher = Electronic Book Review| access-date = 14 June 2006| url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060619063237/http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/vigilant| archive-date = 19 June 2006| df = dmy-all}}</ref> Simply put, ludologists reject traditional theories of art because they claim that the artistic and socially relevant qualities of a video game are primarily determined by the underlying set of rules, demands, and expectations imposed on the player.

While many games rely on [[Emergence|emergent principles]], video games commonly present simulated story worlds where emergent behavior occurs within the context of the game. The term "emergent narrative" has been used to describe how, in a simulated environment, storyline can be created simply by "what happens to the player."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://xbox.ign.com/articles/502/502409p1.html |title=IGN: GDC 2004: Warren Spector Talks Games Narrative |publisher=Xbox.ign.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411094042/http://xbox.ign.com/articles/502/502409p1.html |archive-date=11 April 2009 }}</ref> However, emergent behavior is not limited to sophisticated games. In general, any place where event-driven instructions occur for [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] in a game, emergent behavior will exist. For instance, take a racing game in which cars are programmed to avoid crashing, and they encounter an obstacle in the track: the cars might then maneuver to avoid the obstacle causing the cars behind them to slow or maneuver to accommodate the cars in front of them and the obstacle. The programmer never wrote code to specifically create a traffic jam, yet one now exists in the game.

===Intellectual property for video games===
{{Main|Intellectual property protection of video games|Video game clone}}
Most commonly, video games are protected by [[copyright]], though both [[patent]]s and [[trademark]]s have been used as well.

Though local copyright regulations vary to the degree of protection, video games qualify as copyrighted visual-audio works, and enjoy cross-country protection under the [[Berne Convention]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/|title=Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|website=www.wipo.int|language=en|access-date=2017-05-04|archive-date=1 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101035910/https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/|url-status=live}}</ref> This typically only applies to the underlying code, as well as to the artistic aspects of the game such as its writing, art assets, and music. Gameplay itself is generally not considered copyrightable; in the United States among other countries, video games are considered to fall into the [[idea–expression distinction]] in that it is how the game is presented and expressed to the player that can be copyrighted, but not the underlying principles of the game.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Leveling Pains: Clone Gaming and the Changing Dynamics of an Industry | first = Nicholas M. | last = Lampros | journal = [[Berkeley Technology Law Journal]] | volume = 28 | date =2013 | page = 743 }}</ref>

Because gameplay is normally ineligible for copyright, gameplay ideas in popular games are often replicated and built upon in other games. At times, this repurposing of gameplay can be seen as beneficial and a fundamental part of how the industry has grown by building on the ideas of others.<ref name="nytimes clone"/><ref name="ars clone"/> For example ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'' (1993) and ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]'' (2001) introduced gameplay that created popular new game genres, the [[first-person shooter]] and the [[Grand Theft Auto clone|''Grand Theft Auto'' clone]], respectively, in the few years after their release.<ref name="clones">Turner, Benjamin & Bowen, Kevin, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120712042757/http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/december03/doom/clones/index.shtml Bringin' in the DOOM Clones], ''GameSpy,'' 11 December 2003, Accessed 19 February 2009</ref><ref name="bbc gta clone">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3762350.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |title=Hunt for Grand Theft Auto pirates |date=2004-10-21 |access-date=2008-08-26 |archive-date=29 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429070441/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3762350.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> However, at times and more frequently at the onset of the industry, developers would intentionally create video game clones of successful games and game hardware with few changes, which led to the flooded arcade and dedicated home console market around 1978.<ref name="nytimes clone">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/technology/for-creators-of-video-games-a-faint-line-on-cloning.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all | title = For Creators of Games, a Faint Line on Cloning | first = Brian X. | last = Chen | date = 11 March 2012 | access-date = 6 September 2019 | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | archive-date = 1 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211101063430/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/technology/for-creators-of-video-games-a-faint-line-on-cloning.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/05/why-all-the-clones/ | title = Why all the Clones | publisher = [[TechCrunch]] | first = Tadhg | last = Kelly | date = 2014-01-05 | access-date = 2015-10-20 | archive-date = 5 March 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210305174532/https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/05/why-all-the-clones/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="ars clone">{{Cite web | url = https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2009/12/cloning-or-theft-ars-explores-game-design-with-jenova-chen/ | title = Cloning or theft? Ars explores game design with Jenova Chen | first = Andrew | last = Webster | date = 2009-12-06 | access-date = 2015-10-20 | publisher = [[Ars Technica]] | archive-date = 7 May 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210507202648/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2009/12/cloning-or-theft-ars-explores-game-design-with-jenova-chen/ | url-status = live }}</ref> Cloning is also a major issue with countries that do not have strong intellectual property protection laws, such as [[Intellectual property in China|within China]]. The lax oversight by China's government and the difficulty for foreign companies to take Chinese entities to court had enabled China to support a large [[grey market]] of cloned hardware and software systems.<ref>{{cite report | url = https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/China%27s%20Digital%20Game%20Sector.pdf | title = China's Digital Game Sector | first1 = Matt | last1 = Snyder | date = 17 May 2018 | access-date = 25 September 2019 | publisher = [[United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission]] | archive-date = 21 March 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210321230756/https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/China%27s%20Digital%20Game%20Sector.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> The industry remains challenged to distinguish between creating new games based on refinements of past successful games to create a new type of gameplay, and intentionally creating a clone of a game that may simply swap out art assets.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/dec/21/clone-wars-games-industry-plagiarism | title = Clone Wars: is plagiarism killing creativity in the games industry? | work = [[The Guardian]] | date = 2011-12-23 | access-date = 2012-08-07 | first = Simon | last = Parkin | archive-date = 1 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211101224913/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/dec/21/clone-wars-games-industry-plagiarism | url-status = live }}</ref>