well, as you know currently they are careers dedicated to gaming,in which they teach you to designing a document, and actually making the document come true which is like magic.. but I have always wondered, what technique the programmers used in the old nes, atari, and such generations to make games.. how the hell they managed to make good quality games and organize a team without knowing what should be first?
The eras of games you talk about comparing the organization of development, is like comparing bananas and apples. In the nes and atari days, the games were really small and often made by a single person. If there were any teams, they would not be bigger than 10 people. Everyone knew each other and knew exactly what everyone did. Also everyone on the team could do anything any other member could do as well. The graphics and sound were really simple back then and the biggest problem was the programming and creativity. A design document probably wasn't even needed and if there was one, it probably was 1 page of content and everyone had a different version.
These days there are hundreds of people working on a game and the different aspects of the game like graphics, sound and programming, have become so complex there are specialized people needed to do the tasks. Not anyone can do what everyone else on the team does. And the games are big and complex, that in order to keep everyone on the same page you need a clear and well written, up to date design document.
>_> anyways.. so how do you organize yourself while making a game, what would you like to improve of your way to organize in gamemaking?
I always make a GDD first. Plan things out, write the gameplay, divide it up into sections like graphics, sound, story and interface. Design a bit of the technical side. This is often where I loose interest, because I've written many pages and have been thinking a long time about the game, when new ideas pop in my head and demand full attention. But after the GDD I would start programming the engine and then implementing the game.
