History Main / HollywoodGameDesign

Generally you can expect the team making the game to be composed of {{Geek}}s (with the odd CorruptCorporateExecutive who may or may not get along with them) surround by screens full of code or rotating 3D mesh models. Positive portrayals might gush about how everyone needs to be "artistic" and technologically skilled at the same time, which while possible, is only seen with the occasional {{indie game}}: just like in any other industry, if the team is big enough, you'll find that the artistic and technical tasks will be delegated to different members, some of whom will have little skill outside their specialty. Negative portrayals might show them as lazy {{Manchild}}ren at best (they're just ''games'' -- how hard can they be to make and who'd take [[AnimationAgeGhetto them seriously in the first place]], right?) and something akin to TheAggressiveDrugDealer (pushing {{Murder Simulator}}s on kids) at worst. Either way, they will often be far too small of a team to be making the type of games the writers are describing, having employee numbers in the single digits, while still having a studio space [[FriendsRentControl far larger]] than any indie game company could hope to afford or even need.

Making VideoGames is a tricky business. While they're most often compared to movies and television, video games have both their own culture and a much stronger technological element. In addition, TV and movie writers have very little in the way of first-hand experience with their sister industry (even game writing, which arguably overlaps the most with "normal" scriptwriting, requires the writer to make the gameplay and narrative complement each other and can end up quite specialised). The result is this trope; other media tend to misunderstand the process of making a game (for more on this process see UsefulNotes/VideoGameDesign).

[[folder:Film]]

[[AC:Real Life]]

[[AC:Advertising]]

[[AC:Film]]

* The eponymous game of ''Film/StayAlive2006'' was apparently made by one guy drawing creepy pictures in a notebook. Over the course of the movie we see almost his entire house ''and he doesn't even have a computer.''
* ''[[Film/WarGames [=WarGames:=] The Dead Code]]'' uses a similar premise, with the added WTF that the MMO in question is (pre-cancellation) Stargate Online.

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

* ''Series/MythicQuest'' features a massively popular MMORPG developed by a handful of programmers - the director is emotional and obsessed with masculinity, the lead engineer fights to add features against his wishes, a head writer seems to be in charge of the story and trying to create a cohesive plot without any of the characters' interference, and one character's job seems to be simply finding new ways of getting players to spend money through microtransations.

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* This happened with Art Data Interactive, the company who bought the rights for the UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer version of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. [[https://nodontdie.com/rebecca-heineman According to Rebecca Heineman,]] the programmer for the port, ADI's CEO Randy Scott had promised to distributors that the port would feature new monsters, new weapons, and new levels -- which would be created simply by scanning sketches into the computer:

* ''Series/MythicQuest'' features a massively popular MMORPG developed by a handful of programmers - the director is emotional and obsessed with masculinity, the lead engineer fights to add features against his wishes, a head writer seems to be in charge of the story and trying to create a cohesevive plot without any of the character's interference, and one character's job seems to be simply finding new ways of getting players to spend money through microtransations.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', two nerds at the community college make a full-length ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' clone, with Hank as the protagonist, just to mock him. After giving Hank the only copy (which naturally works perfectly), they apparently just get bored of it and never release the game at all.

* ''Film/FreeGuy'' does a better job than most trying to avert this trope -- one of its main protagonists, Keys, works at a AAA company appropriately housed in a large and sophisticated office building staffed by dozens, and its crew is realistically depicted as diverse and not just relying on stock geek tropes. However, Keys is also privy to multiple tasks at his job where he would most likely be responsible for one, and anyone with access to the game's code or server room can impossibly alter the in-game Free City architecture in real-time.

* ''Series/MythicQuestRavensBanquet'' features a massively popular MMORPG developed by a handful of programmers - the director is emotional and obsessed with masculinity, the lead engineer fights to add features against his wishes, a head writer seems to be in charge of the story and trying to create a cohesevive plot without any of the character's interference, and one character's job seems to be simply finding new ways of getting players to spend money through microtransations.

Making VideoGames is a tricky business. While they're most often compared to other forms of media, they have both their own culture and a much stronger technological element. In addition, TV and movie writers have very little in the way of first-hand experience with their sister industry (even game writing, which arguably overlaps the most with "normal" scriptwriting, requires the writer to make the gameplay and narrative complement each other and can end up quite specialised). The result is this trope; other media tend to misunderstand the process of making a game (for more on this process see UsefulNotes/VideoGameDesign).

Generally you can expect the team making the game to be composed of {{Geek}}s (with the odd CorruptCorporateExecutive who may or may not get along with them) surround by screens full of code or rotating 3D mesh models. Positive portrayals might gush about how they have to be "artistic" and skilled at the same time (nevermind that artistic and technical tasks tend to be done by different people). Negative portrayals might show them as lazy {{Manchild}}ren at best (because who could take [[AnimationAgeGhetto games seriously]], right?) and something akin to TheAggressiveDrugDealer (pushing {{Murder Simulator}}s on kids) at worst. They will be far too small to be making a AAA title (usually in the single digits) but their studio will still likely be [[FriendsRentControl far larger]] than an indie game company could hope to afford.

* The eponymous game of ''Film/StayAlive'' was apparently made by one guy drawing creepy pictures in a notebook. Over the course of the movie we see almost his entire house ''and he doesn't even have a computer.''

Generally you can expect the team making the game to be composed of {{Geeks}}s (with the odd CorruptCorporateExecutive who may or may not get along with them) surround by screens full of code or rotating 3D mesh models. Positive portrayals might gush about how they have to be "artistic" and skilled at the same time (nevermind that artistic and technical tasks tend to be done by different people). Negative portrayals might show them as lazy {{Manchild}}ren at best (because who could take [[AnimationAgeGhetto games seriously]], right?) and something akin to TheAggressiveDrugDealer (pushing {{Murder Simulator}}s on kids) at worst. They will be far too small to be making a AAA title (usually in the single digits) but their studio will still likely be [[FriendsRentControl far larger]] than an indie game company could hope to afford.