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Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc.

However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques.

The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology.

Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction.

What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games?

If the question seems too general could you explain the architecture of God of War 3? Or how you would go about producing a clone? That I think should be objectively answerable.

I asked the same question here at programmers SE but it was closed. Hence I ask this question again hoping that it's not off topic here.

Edit: I should further clarify what I'm asking. I'm asking the tools/languages/methodology used to develop the present generation of games.

1st generation was drawing lines and rectangles through code.

Then we moved onto loading 3d models into the application so we wouldn't have to deal with vertexes manually.

Then there came shaders which could be directly handled by the GPU and allowed much better texture effects.

Are there any developments beyond this? How do they create such realistic physics? I'm sure it isn't done by some piece of C++ code crunching a few numbers.

Is there a domain specific language for physics and graphics? Are the worlds in the games created using some form of meta-description? Example -

<world>
 <stone weight=9.0 />
 <surface friction=18.0 />
</world>

Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc.

However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques.

The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology.

Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction.

What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games?

Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc.

However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques.

The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology.

Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction.

What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games?

If the question seems too general could you explain the architecture of God of War 3? Or how you would go about producing a clone? That I think should be objectively answerable.

I asked the same question here at programmers SE but it was closed. Hence I ask this question again hoping that it's not off topic here.

Edit: I should further clarify what I'm asking. I'm asking the tools/languages/methodology used to develop the present generation of games.

1st generation was drawing lines and rectangles through code.

Then we moved onto loading 3d models into the application so we wouldn't have to deal with vertexes manually.

Then there came shaders which could be directly handled by the GPU and allowed much better texture effects.

Are there any developments beyond this? How do they create such realistic physics? I'm sure it isn't done by some piece of C++ code crunching a few numbers.

Is there a domain specific language for physics and graphics? Are the worlds in the games created using some form of meta-description? Example -

<world>
 <stone weigh=9.0 />
 <surface friction=18.0 />
</world>

Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc.

However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques.

The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology.

Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction.

What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games?

If the question seems too general could you explain the architecture of God of War 3? Or how you would go about producing a clone? That I think should be objectively answerable.

I asked the same question here at programmers SE but it was closed. Hence I ask this question again hoping that it's not off topic here.

Edit: I should further clarify what I'm asking. I'm asking the tools/languages/methodology used to develop the present generation of games.

1st generation was drawing lines and rectangles through code.

Then we moved onto loading 3d models into the application so we wouldn't have to deal with vertexes manually.

Then there came shaders which could be directly handled by the GPU and allowed much better texture effects.

Are there any developments beyond this? How do they create such realistic physics? I'm sure it isn't done by some piece of C++ code crunching a few numbers.

Is there a domain specific language for physics and graphics? Are the worlds in the games created using some form of meta-description? Example -

<world>
 <stone weight=9.0 />
 <surface friction=18.0 />
</world>

Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc.

However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques.

The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology.

Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction.

What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games?

If the question seems too general could you explain the architecture of God of War 3? Or how you would go about producing a clone? That I think should be objectively answerable.

I asked the same question here at programmers SE but it was closed. Hence I ask this question again hoping that it's not off topic here.

Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc.

However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques.

The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology.

Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction.

What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games?

If the question seems too general could you explain the architecture of God of War 3? Or how you would go about producing a clone? That I think should be objectively answerable.

I asked the same question here at programmers SE but it was closed. Hence I ask this question again hoping that it's not off topic here.

Edit: I should further clarify what I'm asking. I'm asking the tools/languages/methodology used to develop the present generation of games.

1st generation was drawing lines and rectangles through code.

Then we moved onto loading 3d models into the application so we wouldn't have to deal with vertexes manually.

Then there came shaders which could be directly handled by the GPU and allowed much better texture effects.

Are there any developments beyond this? How do they create such realistic physics? I'm sure it isn't done by some piece of C++ code crunching a few numbers.

Is there a domain specific language for physics and graphics? Are the worlds in the games created using some form of meta-description? Example -

<world>
 <stone weigh=9.0 />
 <surface friction=18.0 />
</world>