Case study: Game character creation process

Abstract

Although there are many types of game development methodologies, there are few academic studies about actual processes used by game creation studios. To fill this gap, this paper presents a study around a character development during the production of the game Heavy Metal Machines, a multiplayer competitive game about battle of machines, developed by Hoplon Infotainment company, localized in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. This case study used a qualitative research method, by watching and evaluating for ten weeks one of the character’s development. This research was executed with the studio’s team of developers. The author followed the team during the character development and finalization, watching the development meetings, and followed the creation and delivery of each artifact related to the character. All this process will be presented in this paper, showing in full depth the steps listed above, helping game designers and students improve their workflow, using industry proven methods.