The two games design companies I've decided to compare are StudioPixel (a near one-man operation run by
Dōkutsu Monogatari, aka. 'Pixel') and Bethesda (worldwide developers and publishers of game franchises such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3).
Dōkutsu 'Pixel' started work on Cave Story in 1999 over the course of 5 years till it's independent release over the Internet in 2004. Cave Story quickly gained popularity and developed an increasingly large cult following. In 2010, Independent game company Nicalis approached Dōkutsu to propose a version of Cave Story to be released on WiiWare with improved graphics and more detailed gameplay.
In an interview with TIGSource, Dōkutsu was asked about the production of the game. He mentioned that he began work on Cave Story when he was at college, and continued in his spare time as he began work as a software developer. Dōkutsu's production pipeline started with him designing the title screen music, followed shortly by programming rudimentary character movements. In that same interview Dōkutsu admitted that his lack of a well structured pipeline meant he faced problems at later stages. These included a lack of data management tools and difficulties with map editing.
Bethesda Softworks works completely different to StudioPixel. Whereas in Cave Story, Dōkutsu wrote the large majority of the game himself (only drafting in some sound designers and additional coders for tiny bits of the game), at Bethesda they have a core team of over 60 people working on the project in synergy with small teams from other companies.
When Bethesda were making Oblivion, they needed to decide on the story, art style and game mechanics. What they wanted is for each new release in The Elder Scrolls series to be something new and fresh, and to work on next-generation technology that hadn't even been invented. After the basic elements of the game were decided, their first objective was to make a pre-production demo. This would contain a small ~60 second scene that would try to show off what the full production would be like. This involved all members of the team co-ordinating effectively including modellers, coders and texture artists. The reason for this was because E3 was rapidly approaching at the time, and unlike StudioPixel, Bethesda are specifically targeting a mass audience and need to get their game recognised (and recognised as good). As Pete Hines (
the VIP Marketing and Public Relations Manager for TES: Oblivion) said, "There are two big focuses for E3, one is the demo... the second thing would be the trailer. It has to be awesome. It can't miss. It's THE most important thing we do, because it gets seen by everybody."
Overall, there are some major differences between the two companies. Bethesda always have a working budget that they have to keep in mind throughout the entire design process. This budget is significantly more than StudioPixel's (which is essentially zero), meaning Bethesda are able to employ experienced designers and incorporate the latest technology into their game. The main objective of the CEO of Bethesda is essentially to make money, so the budget is reflected by this. StudioPixel, on the other hand, originally didn't care less whether they made any money or not, which is why they released Cave Story for free initially. The fact that at the core Bethesda are releasing games to make money means they need to be bought by a mass audience (as Pete Hines mentioned above), and this restricts the content that the artists are allowed to put into the game. To use an example, imagine Formula One became almost instantly unpopular overnight, and that Hot Air Ballooning became one of the most popular things in current public interest. The directors at Bethesda would want to add some elements of Hot Air Ballooning into their games to increase sales, due to the mass popularity of the subject, and would also want to leave out any references to Formula One, unless they were perhaps satiric ones. StudioPixel wouldn't have any such restriction, and could make a game revolving around Formula One to separate themselves from the mainstream game designers, and target that small group of people who still liked Formula One. Obviously an extreme example, but it shows the censorship put on Bethesda and the complete freedom of StudioPixel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Story
http://blogs.vandal.net/12458/vm/13302725112007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_Softworks
http://www.bethsoft.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWvbVhfWnK0
