When it comes to delivering a high-quality gaming experience, game co-development is becoming far more commonplace. Given the scope and scale expected by many, game co-development has gone from being useful and sometimes utilized, to almost a requirement.
If you’ve played any major release or AAA title in the past five to ten years, you’ve played a game that was created with development assistance. Outsourcing extra development power, either resources or talent, is commonplace given how large the gaming world has become. Though there are debates as to the enjoyment of larger and larger video games, there is always the pursuit of denser and more polished experiences.
That is something that can only be achieved by a huge number of people, which is acquired through co-development!
What Does Video Game Co-Development Mean?
Game co-development means hiring on extra staff to help with the completion and successful delivery of your title. Whether you hire extra developers, artists, animators, or modelers, it all falls under the title of co-development.
It means collaboration and cooperation, either as part of the team or outsourced entirely, to ensure your game is delivered in a high-quality and complete state. Working with Magic Media entails a comprehensive production pipeline which includes detailed QA and fine tuning before delivery which leaves less work for your team in the final run of development.
Picking and Choosing the Right Partner
It’s important to find the right video game co-development partner who can execute what you want.
When choosing your partner and collaborator, look to their portfolio and previous clients. This will give you a good idea of what kind of work they can produce, the quality at which it is produced, and what level of client they’ve worked for. Each can indicate, not just a level of reliability or quality, but also if what they create matches with your style and aesthetic. Quality is just as important as the co-development team matching your energy and style.
A few meetings or calls will also give you an insight into the kind of people that populate and run the team, equally important given how integral communication is to the collaboration!
Choosing Your Game Co-Development Plan
There are two avenues for acquiring and using this service. Both of which the Magic Media team offer.
Outsourcing: This is the typical and more common way of utilizing co-development expertize. Once you have picked a partner, a brief is prepared on what work they are to create. It will also cover their deadlines and check-in times for project updates. Once this is delivered, aside from these check-ins or updates, they are left to their own devices. It is a typically hands-off approach that can be tuned for more communication if preferred.
In-House: The alternative is taking the temporary collaborators into your team and making them a part of your day-to-day. Instead of operating as an external co-developer, they will simply add their expertize and experience directly into your team and its efforts. This of course has benefits of far easier communication and integration but they have to be the right fit and it can be sad to part ways once the collaboration is complete.
At Magic Media we are veterans of the gaming, tech and entertainment industries, offering comprehensive services including game development, game VFX, animation and full art services! Our main goal is to provide a one-stop solution for any project. If you’d like to utilize our expertize and experience in creating game art and more, drop us a line and let’s create magic!
