Open2Study Stages of Game Development

What are the three stages in game development?
Back then, games were made with a simpler, straight-forward process. Today, games are made in a more organized, careful, and long-term process. Those 3 stages are pre-production, production, and release.

What is pre-production?
Pre-production is the first stage of game development. That is when the team making the game first make a simpler version of the game with the more important aspects of the game; like movement, design, and at least a few possible interactions.

During that stage, there is a much smaller team. That will allow the developers to make any necessary changes, without having to pay the team a lot because there are not that many. This stage can take as long as it has to. This is because this is when the developers can make any massive changes they need to while the team is still small and not costly. Also, this is when they can make and large gameplay changes without upsetting the players.

What is production?
That is when the developers will begin to add more content into the game, remove bad content, and nerf (Weaken) or buff (Strengthen) stuff to make the game fair, such as the health, strength, or cost of a character. During this stage, the development team can hire more staff. This will allow the team to be able to add more content and edit the older ones.

They could also hire beta-testers to try out the new content and send feedback to the devs (Developers). Those beta-testers could also be paid, making gaming an actual source of income (Welcome to the future).

What is release?
After the game is fully made after the production stage, the developers can release the game and make it available to the public. After the game is released, they can continue to add more to the game to keep the players interested. They can also expand and have that new team begin making their next game.

Bonus facts!!!
If you don't want to wait for release, some games are already available to the public even before full release. For example, Airmech was already available in the Steam store since ~2016 and was out of Early Access only in 2018.

Paladins has been in beta since 2016 and has only gotten close to full release this year with it being in Open Beta 70 (According to the developers). Developers need to think carefully before making drastic system changes. For example, when Paladins' Open Beta 64 introduced the "Cards Unbound" system, which was a pay-to-win disaster, Hi-rez had to revert the card system back to normal in OB67 due to really bad reviews.