Can somebody comment on what they think takes the most work/time in game development? I know this can vary quite bit depending on a number of factors like the game type, the games intended platform, the graphical quality etc… However in general, what step in the process of development seems to take the longest?
What takes the longest? When you do nothing. That takes very long, and costs you the most! 
Generally speaking, finding a good (best?) solution for a particular problem usually takes rather long, because of the lengthy process. See trial-and-error just to name one. But thinking, planning and learning new things takes long as well, based on your mind set. What would you like to know actually? Your question is vague, thus hard to answer it properly. Try to be more specific!
Here. You have got the money and the willing to start a new game studio, since you are hired some folks to be team members, eg 2-3 programmer and 5 additional graphical artists scattered along a few territories (eg: level/map, assets, character) to create a game similar to XY (always specify the name of the example project properly). If that is the case, you would like to ask about how long would it take to make it happen based on these known factors. But then you realize, it would be more productive to actually read about the XY game developers blog to see how long it took for them to release the final/beta/EEErly product to the publics. You can take measurements using the blog’s date-timestamps and the actual progress reports they show to the public. Then, you can draw your plans/timeline along these informations.
There of course, no guarantee that a task will be going to progress as previously expected/planned (they usually don’t, but hey Plan C always work!), but at least you can have a vision of the entire project. Here at this point you can also make a few assumptions based on your readings (the experiences of the other team) and your actual team members profile that which task could take longer than the other. You can sometimes reorganize your team when needed, to optimize/lower the time it takes to complete an individual task in the so mentioned Workflow. Project and Team management have key importance, and takes time to apply them properly. On the weekends, you should gather informations about similar projects to have a better and clear vision for the next week’s progress.
When you are at the final, and actually releasing your final game you can tell the world how long it took for your team to make your game happen, so others can learn and follow your steps, just like you did before by following the XY.
Making games takes a long time, and many factors have influence on the timeline and the success rate. But, if you do nothing, that takes forever thus the longest.
My answer would be: learning.
Developing a game requires a broad knowledge base, especially if you are developing alone. Developing a game on your own, means you need to be a Programmer, Graphic / Sound / Game Designer, Organizer and Motivator. You need to know about Blueprints, materials, textures, particles, artificial intelligence, game theory, time management and so on. As you can see, you need to learn a lot of stuff while you are developing and this takes a lot of time. If you have a team you can split the tasks and therefore the knowledge. But then you need to learn about communication, team / task management, documentation and so on.
Well it really depends on what you are doing. If you are doing everything by yourself, then it depends on your Skill. If You are a **** Artist, then creating Models will take you some time. If you are a good Artist, but not so good at programming/blueprinting, then Models will be easy but code will take a lot of time. Most of the time you can get away with stuff like that, because you can buy the Assets you need or have someone else do it for you.
But if we take the general approach: You have got 1 guy for every Field. 1 Programmer, 1 Artist, 1 Sound Designer, 1 Game Designer, 1 Level Designer, etc.
If that would be the case I am pretty sure the Artist would take the longest. (For everything other that LowPoly Art) Behind the Artist is the Programmer time wise in most of the cases. Artist would have to create 3D Models, Textures, UI-Elements, etc. Programmers work depends on the Type of Game. A Simple Plattformer wouldn’t require much work from a Programmer. If you are creating an RPG with 1 Programmer, he would need a lot more time for every Feature since they could get quite complex.
Bug fixing also takes a lot of time. Sometimes you build a feature in 1 hour, but it takes 3 hours to find and fix all bugs associated with it.
But thats all when everyone knows what they are doing. Like SchnitzelDude said, if you don’t know what you are doing it takes even longer for everybody involved since you have to learn what to do before you actually do it.
I guess I should of been more specific. Sorry. I ask because I would like to build a plugin for UE4, to help expedite and/or automate a process for game development. If anybody can comment on what they would like built and why they think it would be a big help, I will do it.
Oh, that’s actually a pretty neat idea, building a plugin to solve some problems. In that regard, I’d say:
- UE4 is node based all over, and though it is a very nice thing, organizing and wiring everything nicely takes quite a while and some tools to help you manage and organize BP faster would be cool;
- Optimizing also can take quite some time especially if you don’t manage it from the beginning and you have to test and guess what are the hiccups in performance;
- A tool for randomizing levels; think Diablo levels that use the same assets but are procedurally generated each time you die and go through the area again. Many game could definetly use that.
These are just some ideas, I hope it helps. I also am not sure about what solutions are currently in the marketplace for these, but it might be worth a look.
Cheers!
Hmm there’s not really one size fits all solution. The choke points in workflow vary massively depending on the project…and there are plenty of solutions already out there for streamlining specific aspects of the process.
I’d say the final polish/bug-fix phase is the longest. I’d welcome any plugin that improves the process of debugging blueprints.
IMO, I’d say getting “game feel” right. The game can be mechanically good, but if the game feel isn’t right, it can ruin a game.
I’ve heard some developers spend months to years trying to get that right and game feel is a aesthetic thing subject to personal opinion.