𝟯𝗗 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀: 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝗜𝘀 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗲?

Over the years, my team and I have seen just how much time can be lost before development even starts.

From configuring project settings to establishing repositories and toolchains, it often feels like a project is delayed before it’s even begun. This doesn’t even account for the basic networking setup or the lengthy process of integrating middleware into the project. Too often, managing and integrating the tech stack becomes a full-time job on its own.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀?

Ready to hire new staff and dive into development? When it comes to onboarding new developers, it’s not just about teaching them the game software being developed, but also how to navigate and work with a collection of disconnected tools. Working across multiple companies and industries—not just inside TGS Tech—we’ve found that onboarding is rarely as simple as it should be. Even after clearing the initial setup hurdles, getting new team members up to speed often means hours spent explaining scattered tools, undocumented processes, and complex environment configurations. Every new hire becomes a test of how well the setup process was documented—and how many hidden dependencies still linger.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀?

Now the fun part begins. Once everything is set up and the team is onboarded, the real work begins. Over the last 30-plus years, we have experienced firsthand how even a "simple" game can quickly become complicated. Projects that start off smoothly often get bogged down as development progresses. Version control conflicts, asset management headaches, and constant context switching between disconnected tools can slow down even the most experienced teams. Add to that the challenge of keeping everyone in sync across disciplines, including design, art, programming, and engineering, and it is easy to see how productivity starts to break down. It is also common for some team members to sit idle, waiting for the next nightly build or updated toolset before they can get back to work.
  What are the top three challenges you face most during development?

Then comes the part that should be the most rewarding, getting ready for release. Unfortunately, this phase often turns into a scramble, as well as quite repetitive. Over the years, we have seen how easily final builds reveal hidden problems. Long compile times, unexpected critical bugs, and a packaging process that feels more like an obstacle course than a final step are all too common. Teams find themselves rushing to patch last-minute issues, wrestling with deployment pipelines, and hoping nothing breaks before the deadline. The build process, even with a configured build system or server, becomes repetitive with each iteration from updates to bug fixes. Instead of celebrating a successful release, it often feels like surviving a final gauntlet.
 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀?

These challenges are exactly why we at TGS Tech are developing Apex Engine. Our goal is to continue to remove these common roadblocks on a modern forward-facing platform and give teams the tools they need to stay focused on what really matters, building great games. Our talented engineers invented and developed our legacy technology for these very reasons. While our legacy technology solved many of these problems with live real-time development, we also recognize that neither time nor technology stands still. 

We are focused on perfecting the "gamified" development process through our live real-time collaborative platform. As Apex Engine evolves, we actively rely on the community to share their input on the forward-facing changes they want to see.

If you have faced similar challenges, we would love to hear about them. I look forward to reading your experiences in the comments and starting a conversation.

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