Collaborative authoring method for video game development

A collaborative authoring method for video game development, comprising:

• operating at least two game development tools running within a video game development computer system to modify game data associated with a video game running on a video game platform;
• after the operating of the game development tools, transmitting an authoring message from each of the game development tools with content based on the modified game data;
• and
• operating the video game platform to modify the running video game based on the modified game data.

A system for developing video games, comprising:

• a set of at least two video game platforms each running a video game based on a set of game data, wherein each of the video game platforms is adapted for receiving messages in a form defined by a communications library;
• a server running a central hub application providing a communication interface to the video game platforms;
• first and second game development tools communicatively linked to the central hub application and operating at least partially concurrently to modify the game data for the running video game;
• and
• wherein the central hub application receives authoring messages from the first and second game development tools including modified portions of the game data and forwards the authoring messages to the video game platforms, the forwarded authoring message being in the form defined by the communications library associated with each of the video game platforms and the video game platforms each updating the running video game based on the modified game data.