What is Co-Development in games, and when does this model make sense?
Game development can require different areas of expertise throughout production. At certain stages, an internal team may need to expand its capacity, accelerate delivery, or bring in professionals with specific expertise without necessarily increasing its permanent headcount.
Co-Development is one way to address these needs.
What is Co-Development?
In a Co-Development model, a partner studio works directly alongside the team responsible for the game. This collaboration can involve a dedicated team, professionals embedded within the core development team, or groups responsible for specific systems, features, or stages of production.
The work takes place within the established pipeline, following the tools, processes, technical standards, and goals defined for the project.
In practice, the partner contributes to production as an extension of the team, maintaining close alignment with everyone involved.
When does Co-Development make sense?
This model can be used at different stages of game development.
For example, a project may need to temporarily expand team capacity, accelerate a specific stage of production, or bring in professionals with expertise in a particular technology, engine, or platform.
It can also be useful when new requirements emerge during development and the internal team does not have the bandwidth to take them on without affecting other deliverables.
The collaboration model depends on each production. In some cases, the partner joins for a specific stage. In others, they remain involved with the project for a longer period.
An example: Descent: Legends of the Dark
For Descent: Legends of the Dark, by Fantasy Flight Games, Webcore Games contributed to the development of the companion app for the board game. The team joined a production already in progress and collaborated directly on the development of the features required for the project.
This type of work requires quickly adapting to an existing production environment, understanding its technical structure, and integrating with the teams already involved in development.
The project is an example of how Co-Development can help expand a team’s development capacity without changing the core structure and workflow of the production.
Co-Development at Webcore Games
Webcore Games provides Co-Development services for PC, console, mobile, and other platforms, with experience in Unity and Unreal Engine and a strong focus on engineering and programming.
Our teams can contribute at different stages of production, supporting studios and publishers according to the specific needs of each project.
The goal is to expand development capacity while staying aligned with the processes — including pipelines, project management tools, and communication tools — technical standards, and creative vision established by the team responsible for the game.
