the software development cycle:

There are 6 different stages in the software cycle:

• Analyse
• Quote and Approve
• Mock up
• Create
• Stage and Test
• Release

The software development cycle is the cycle that goes on throughout the game into the final release, first the company will get a game to make and they will come up with an idea for a game this is called the analyse stage. 

The next part is the quote and approve where the idea for the game will be approved by the company asking for the game and this stage will also decide on how much money the company has to make the game on.

For the third stage a mock up will be done except this will mainly be done by the artists designing ideas for the story or characters and what the game could look like.

The fourth stage is creating the game where the game will actually be made into "alpha" ready for people to test and feedback on what the game is like and how it plays, this part will be done by the scripters, programmers, game designer, sound designer, artist and the project manager (obviously I may not of named all the job roles for this stage as I don't know them all).

The fifth stage is called "stage and test" this is mainly done by the game testers so they are able to test the game and find bugs so the game designers, scripters and programmers are able to fix these bugs ready for final release, and when this is done the game goes into beta where the game is for the public to play who aren't in the company, and then feedback is given so the company can finish the game ready for release.

And the last stage is the "release" stage this is when the game is open for people to buy and play and this stage can go in a circle as there could still be some bugs with the game that the company will have to fix in patches to make sure the game works properly and there aren't any bugs or errors with the game.

The software development life cycle