A game development tool is a specialized software application that assists or facilitates the making of a computer or video game. Some tasks handled by tools include the conversion of assets (such as 3D models, textures, etc.) into formats required by the game, level editing and script compilation.
Almost all game development tools are developed by the developer custom for one game. Though tools may be re-used for later games, they almost always start out as a resource for a single game. While many COTS packages are used in the production of games—such as 3D packages like Maya and 3D Studio Max, graphic editors like Photoshop and IDEs like Microsoft Visual Studio—they are not considered solely game development tools since they have uses beyond game development.
The game tools may or may not be released along with the final game, depending on what the tool is used for. For contemporary games, it is common to include at least level editors with games that require them.
Famous quotes containing the words game, development and/or tool:
“Art is a concrete and personal and rather childish thing after all—no matter what people do to graft it into science and make it sociological and psychological; it is no good at all unless it is let alone to be itself—a game of make-believe, or re-production, very exciting and delightful to people who have an ear for it or an eye for it.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“Theories of child development and guidelines for parents are not cast in stone. They are constantly changing and adapting to new information and new pressures. There is no “right” way, just as there are no magic incantations that will always painlessly resolve a child’s problems.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“The first tool I step on
Turned into a weapon.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)