How a Game Gets Built: teacher key

How Video Games Are Made, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. A team of artists, designers, programmers and testers builds each game with an engine and a prototype. Games go back from today's phones to Tennis for Two and Pong.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What is a prototype?
   • A simple early version used to see if an idea works (answer)
   • A finished game sold in stores
   • A list of bugs
2. What does a localization specialist do?
   • Draws the characters
   • Adapts a game so it works for players from different backgrounds (answer)
   • Keeps the game's style consistent
3. After developers mark a bug as fixed, what does the QA tester do?
   • Closes the report without checking
   • Starts a new game
   • Repeats the same steps to make sure the problem is gone (answer)
4. What can small changes to movement speed, timing or controls do?
   • Change how a game feels (answer)
   • Make a game cost less
   • Remove all bugs
5. Which came before arcade Pong?
   • Home Pong
   • Tennis for Two and Spacewar! (answer)
   • The Atari 2600

Words

• prototype: early version
• engine: building platform
• assets: objects and sounds
• localization: adapting games