User blog comment:G0LD3NF1RE/Dawnguard encounters issues with Playstation/@comment-4248410-20120907234104/@comment-669073-20120908054844

Coding isn't step 1 in creating a game, it's closer to step 5000. They have to decide the setting, timeline, story & antaganist(s). Then they have to decide on the features of the location (where are the mountians, lakes, steams, citys, towns ect). Some basic info is known from Arena. The basic game is decided on before line 1 is written. That can take days, months or even years. There are thousands of games, movies and other media that are stuck in this stage for a long time (Duke Nukem Forever is a recent (extreme) example).