Game development is a process, and different people have different names and/or phrases for each of these steps, but most people can agree that, for commercial game development, there are three main phases:
- Pre-Production
- Production
- Post-Production
Each of these states has their own steps within them as well. Due to page constraints, I'm unable to write about the entire process, but we will be focusing on the Production aspect of development, since that's where the most relevant content will be for our readers.
During game development, you'll see a lot of companies use an agile development process, which is based on iterative prototyping, using feedback and refinement of the game's iterations while gradually increasing the game's feature set. A lot of companies enjoy this method as there is always a version of the game playable every couple of weeks, and you can make adjustments as the project is being worked on. If you have heard of Scrum, it is a popular method of agile software development, and one that I use with my students as well as what I used in the game industry.