is put together. Pre-production is the actual building of the game. Artists, programmers, technicians, producers, and directors are all involved in this stage. This is the stage that has brought rise to the new designation of “technical artists.” Artists and programmers work closely together to make sure the vision comes fully to life. Deviations from the original conceptualization are common here as the technical and artistic goals are found ineffective, or impossible. This is where the actual games take shape This is where the “alpha” copy is made. During this stage the developers work closely with marketing specialists so they can start building an advertising campaign. Post-production is the initial testing of the game wherein game testers are paid to play through the alpha and spot obvious problem areas and game glitches. The details are ironed out here and 3rd party critiques are taken into account. They find what needs fixing, report the bugs, and then the designers and producers fix them. When the initial testing and correcting is done, we get the beta copy. This is the copy that often is produced in small quantities for specially selected, non-industry individuals can play through and further investigate glitches and bugs, as well as giving the producers an idea of the overall effectiveness of the game. After all this is done we finally get the final, shippable copy that makes its way to stores for the enjoyment of the masses. References External links Simple Animation Pipeline Animation techniques