P5 - B - Competent Production Schedule

Planning and design

Before official planning, there will be a pre-plan, which will be handed out to all of the people developing the game. There will also be concept art and various other features described and suggested in this pre-plan so employees can be shown the direction the game will be in. The storyline will also be concluded in this stage so that developers do not make it up as they go along. The head developers will create a Gantt chart, which is effectively a time plan the employees will have to stick to when developing the game so that it is ready in time for release. It is easy to follow and can be easily understood by employees. The Gantt chart will have to be realistic and followed accordingly by developers to meet deadlines etc.

Development

There are various development stages to the game (which are shown on the Gantt chart) and these development stages will pass out over 60 weeks. Examples include: Initial research, storyline and plot development, character script, gameplay ideas and features. Eventually after it has been developed bug fixing will be carried out majorly over the first month of release but after the first month they will only be fixed if discovered by the community playing the game.

Gantt Chart: click to view in full screen

Budget

The budget will be set at £100,00 and will be funded via Crowdfunding websites such as GoFundMe. The budget will fund all of the things listed on ym Gantt Chart, including paying the developers their wages.

Characters

In my game I have created a main character named Marcus Johnson who plays the main protagonist role in the game and is controllable by the player. I have also created other characters who are antagonists and protagonists who are all a part of the storyline. These other characters will assist the main character in missions/ try and stop him in missions. The main villain in the game are the zombies which are always trying to stop the player in their tracks. Apart from the zombies who will always be enemies right the way through there will be other groups in the storyline who try and stop the main character from finding the cure. There will also be other none animated characters in games such as dealers and store owners where the player can interact with their menus to buy and sell items and these NPC’s cannot be killed or moved as they are placeholders serving another purpose for the game.