FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION

First Art and Rigging Pass

The project now enters the first art and rigging pass, during which the art team builds the real artwork and rigging. You may be working on other levels at the same time, but you should also stay in close touch with the art team because they will undoubtedly have questions. It may also be your responsibility to incorporate the content they create into the software, to make sure that it all works.

Art to Level Design Handoff and Review

When the art team finishes the final artwork, the artists hand all their work back to you, and you should conduct another review. This will highlight any problems or errors with the artwork that need correcting.

Content Integration

At this point, you will assemble all the assets into the completed (but not yet tested) level—artwork, new code required by the level, audio, and any remaining tweaks to the lighting. You'll also adjust any remaining issues with the rigging, by repositioning characters, effects, and triggers as necessary.

Bug Fixing

Test the level at this point, looking for bugs in the code and mistakes in the con­tent. This will be another iterative process, working back and forth between the art, audio, and code teams and yourself. After finishing your own testing, you hand the level off to the quality assurance (QA) department for formal testing.

User Testing and Tuning

In the last stage, QA will create a test plan for the level and begin formal testing, known as alpha testing. Their testing will ordinarily be more thorough and strict than the testing you've done; it will also find things that you missed because of your overfamiliarity with the material. As in your own testing, they'll work in an iterative process with the various teams involved, including reporting the bugs in the rigging and gameplay mechanics that you need to fix. When QA considers the level to be thoroughly tested, they may make it available for beta testing (testing by end-users).