The Stages of Producing a Game – Interview with Alawar

In a competitive gaming industry, several developers are able to achieve international success. Media Context speaks to Yuliya Trofimova, the Head of Marketing and Associate producer at Alawar, who shares key insights about producing its games.

The Life Cycle of a Project

The life cycle of a project can be divided into stages:
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1. Idea. Anyone at the company can take part in this stage. The main goal is to come up with a pool of very concise ideas that could form the basis of a new game.
   
   
2. Concept. We develop selected ideas in more detail and prepare a description of the required mechanics for the prototype stage.
   
   
3. Prototype. We create the simplest playable versions of the previously outlined mechanics (not always with graphics). We check for ourselves whether the game we've come up with is fun to play.
   
   
4. Pre-production. The preparation stage before game development starts. This is when we test ideas and make a list of the game's main mechanics and content. We also develop and test all our production processes and a complete set of tools for developing the game. We prepare a design document for the current stage and make sure it's as precise as possible.
   
   
5. Vertical slice. A short version of the game (5–10 minutes long) showcasing the basic gameplay and graphics. We use the vertical slice to promote the project in the early stages and to assess its current state.
   
   
6. Development. This is the main stage of game production. It follows the scope and deadlines set out in the pre-production stage. Priorities can be revised and changed during the development process.
   
   
7. Deployment. This includes all activities related to preparing the game for release: QA, localization and marketing support.
   
   
8. Release. We set the exact release date at least three months in advance to ensure that our marketing efforts are as effective as possible.

Overcoming the Challenges of Game Development​

​Ideas that everyone liked during the brainstorm or prototype stage may turn out to be less interesting than expected.
 
For example, Beholder was originally conceived of as an economic resource management game. During its development, we realized that it was quite boring to play. So we abandoned the original idea and reimagined the game as a narrative adventure with a focus on story and atmosphere. This had a hugely positive effect on the game's success.

Developing Great Stories

​We have talented and professional game designers and screenwriters working on our projects. It helps a lot to watch films and read literature related to the project's setting.
 
When developing Beholder, we read a lot of dystopian literature (1984, We, Brave New World, The Foundation Pit and others). This helped us to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of a totalitarian state, understand how it operates and consider how people living under such a system might think.
 
We didn't want the world of Beholder to be black and white. We wanted to present players with choices that have consequences, and which ultimately affect the outcome of the game. But we didn’t push players towards certain decisions or say that choosing one path or another would result in a bad ending. Beholder doesn't offer the player clear-cut good or bad decisions – just the consequences of your actions.
 
We use this approach in almost all our projects. Immerse yourself in the setting, start thinking like the main character, make decisions and accept the consequences. Just like in real life.

Pitching to Alawar

We have quite a strong publishing department. We oversee testing, localization and marketing as well as offering legal, financial and production consulting.
 
In order to familiarize ourselves with projects as effectively as possible, we ask developers to send us a pitch in the form of a presentation. It should outline the project's name, platform and business model, a story overview, features, screenshots, GIFs and a gameplay video (if available). We also ask about what stage the project is at and whether any financial support is required from the publisher. If financial support is needed, it's helpful to see a financial breakdown for all stages.
 
Of course, a slide with information about the studio doesn’t hurt: things like location, the number of employees, portfolio etc. You can send your projects to dev@alawar.com or fill out a small form at https://company.alawar.com/en/developers/

Future Goals

​We plan to further develop the publishing department and our internal development. We have two major midcore projects planned for 2021: publishing Song of Farca and developing an internal project whose name we can't reveal just yet. All we can say is that fans of The Mandalorian and other space adventures will be happy!
 
We plan to significantly increase the number of projects and post more and more new vacancies. We're currently looking for talented developers, marketers and designers. Check out our vacancies on our social media, e.g. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alawarteam
 
Global events made 2020 a difficult and strange year. But it did teach us how to work effectively and efficiently from home, which is why we consider candidates from all over the world.