Pre-production is the term for planning before you produce something. Whether it’s for game development, television, film, advertising or even just a song; pre-production helps.
There are many different factors you need to consider before you start producing something, such as: the costs, time available, amount of people involved, facilities & materials needed, contributors, locations required and the codes of practice.
Finance
Finance is important because over the course of any production you will need to decide what to spend money on. You will need to think about what equipment to buy and any facilities you may want to hire. You’ll also need to decide how many people to hire, depending on the size of the game. The game called “Grand Theft Auto V” cost a total of more than £170 million to make and sold more than $1 billion.
Time Constraints
Time constraints are also important as you will need to decide when to do specific tasks so that you can meet deadlines and goals. Knowing how long tasks are going to take can mean the difference between completing the project and failing it. If you hire workers, you will need to allocate suitable time for them to complete work, that isn't too long or too short. You might also hire equipment specific to the production and if this is only accessible for a certain amount of time then you would need to focus on everything to do with the equipment so that you don’t need to hire it again. “Alien: Colonial Marines” took more than 10 years to make due to the developers working on two games simultaneously, the writers constantly changing the script, and many other factors.
Personnel
Personnel is also an important factor of pre-production as hiring too many people or too little can cause massive problems to either your money or your deadlines. This is why you will need to work out how many people you need and what area you need them for. In games development, there are several different areas that need to be completed, and hiring the right people is vital for completing them. In gaming, you will need graphics artist for the design elements, sound artists for the audio and programmers to make the game itself. You might also want to hire freelance artists or musicians to get the job done if you can’t find the right people. The game “Call of Duty: Ghosts” took between 120-140 company workers to make and received help from other companies like “Neversoft” and “Raven”. There are also kick-starters for games that aren't as huge, these allow people who are interested in the game to donate money to the production in return for exclusive items and to see it created.
Facilities
At some point in pre-production you may want to hire a facility for motion sensing or a studio with a green screen. If you need something like this then you’ll need to know if you have enough money to pay for it and time available to use it.
Materials
Throughout production you might want/need graphics or sound from people outside the production, which can be used with the creators permission. Asking for materials from freelance artists or musicians can save a lot of development time and allow you to focus on bigger areas of production and meet deadlines sooner.
Contributors
At the start of pre-production for a game, you may need money that you don’t have. To get this money and allow its creation you can make a kick-starter. Kick-starters allow people from all over the world to donate money towards a game they like the look of. Many developers choose to offer donors exclusive downloadable-content or real-life gifts, depending on the amount they donate. Sometimes developers choose to have famous people in their games. For example, Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page starred as main characters in the game “Beyond: Two Souls”.
LocationsIf you want to make a game based in a real-life location you will need to do reconnaissance on the location so that you know what it looks like and where building and objects are. The game called “Sleeping Dogs” is set in a near-exact copy of Hong Kong. Knowing exactly what an area looks like is great for a game that wants to be very realistic.
Codes of Practice
There are many different factors you need to consider before you start producing something, such as: the costs, time available, amount of people involved, facilities & materials needed, contributors, locations required and the codes of practice.
Finance
Finance is important because over the course of any production you will need to decide what to spend money on. You will need to think about what equipment to buy and any facilities you may want to hire. You’ll also need to decide how many people to hire, depending on the size of the game. The game called “Grand Theft Auto V” cost a total of more than £170 million to make and sold more than $1 billion.
Time Constraints
Time constraints are also important as you will need to decide when to do specific tasks so that you can meet deadlines and goals. Knowing how long tasks are going to take can mean the difference between completing the project and failing it. If you hire workers, you will need to allocate suitable time for them to complete work, that isn't too long or too short. You might also hire equipment specific to the production and if this is only accessible for a certain amount of time then you would need to focus on everything to do with the equipment so that you don’t need to hire it again. “Alien: Colonial Marines” took more than 10 years to make due to the developers working on two games simultaneously, the writers constantly changing the script, and many other factors.
Personnel
Personnel is also an important factor of pre-production as hiring too many people or too little can cause massive problems to either your money or your deadlines. This is why you will need to work out how many people you need and what area you need them for. In games development, there are several different areas that need to be completed, and hiring the right people is vital for completing them. In gaming, you will need graphics artist for the design elements, sound artists for the audio and programmers to make the game itself. You might also want to hire freelance artists or musicians to get the job done if you can’t find the right people. The game “Call of Duty: Ghosts” took between 120-140 company workers to make and received help from other companies like “Neversoft” and “Raven”. There are also kick-starters for games that aren't as huge, these allow people who are interested in the game to donate money to the production in return for exclusive items and to see it created.
Facilities
At some point in pre-production you may want to hire a facility for motion sensing or a studio with a green screen. If you need something like this then you’ll need to know if you have enough money to pay for it and time available to use it.
Materials
Throughout production you might want/need graphics or sound from people outside the production, which can be used with the creators permission. Asking for materials from freelance artists or musicians can save a lot of development time and allow you to focus on bigger areas of production and meet deadlines sooner.
Contributors
At the start of pre-production for a game, you may need money that you don’t have. To get this money and allow its creation you can make a kick-starter. Kick-starters allow people from all over the world to donate money towards a game they like the look of. Many developers choose to offer donors exclusive downloadable-content or real-life gifts, depending on the amount they donate. Sometimes developers choose to have famous people in their games. For example, Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page starred as main characters in the game “Beyond: Two Souls”.
LocationsIf you want to make a game based in a real-life location you will need to do reconnaissance on the location so that you know what it looks like and where building and objects are. The game called “Sleeping Dogs” is set in a near-exact copy of Hong Kong. Knowing exactly what an area looks like is great for a game that wants to be very realistic.
Codes of Practice
Before you start producing a game or movie, you need to know the target audience you’re aiming at. If you create a game that is too scary or too violent for the rating you want, then ESRB or PEGI will either change it or the game will be cancelled. ESRB are in charge of handling the games in America, and PEGI handle the games in Europe. When ESRB rate games they do it in three areas: the appropriate age, content in the game (bad language, violence etc.) and the interactive element involved. Whereas PEGI rate games using information from a form. On this form the developer of the game highlights all the areas that he thinks will affect the rating this is quicker and easier to do than have the administrator of PEGI play-through the game to analyse it.
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