Development process. That wich stops new indies.
by Braedon Hinchcliffe · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 04/03/2007 (2:57 am) · 2 replies
Alright. The development process.
Does anyone have any good guides on this? Im talking about the process of getting from start to finish. As an example you can see that TGEA had milestones. How did they decide what goes into each update?
What do you decide first. Do you just get up and think "hmm today im going to work on the controls". Or do you have a list like
1. Get new models from artists
2. work on controls
3. Get someone to make new rock texture.
... Well hoping there is something to read on this kind of stuff. We got alot of talent but no real "guideline". Right now its just people working on whatever they feel like and were not really getting anywhere too fast.
Does anyone have any good guides on this? Im talking about the process of getting from start to finish. As an example you can see that TGEA had milestones. How did they decide what goes into each update?
What do you decide first. Do you just get up and think "hmm today im going to work on the controls". Or do you have a list like
1. Get new models from artists
2. work on controls
3. Get someone to make new rock texture.
... Well hoping there is something to read on this kind of stuff. We got alot of talent but no real "guideline". Right now its just people working on whatever they feel like and were not really getting anywhere too fast.
#2
Once you know what the end result is, you can start to identify the things that you don't have to get there and put them on a list. Keep lots of lists around and check things off as they get done. Keep a list of things that have already been done even if it's just for inspiration. Reprint your list of things yet to do periodically so it doesn't get cluttered with things that are already done. As it gets shorter, that will inspire you too.
Once you have a list of things you don't yet have, you can sort the list in various ways, among which would be things that are easy, and things that are hard.
Getting some of the hard things done will give you momentum, and if you do the hardest thing first, there is a mental boost to knowing that things are constantly going to get easier.
Look for things that are also in the critical path for other things. If there is something easy that has to be done in order for work on lots of other things to proceed, then knock that item off sooner rather than later so other people can start working on the other things.
You can't go wrong shooting for getting a complete working game going, even if it's only got one level, one character, one type of weapon, one non player character, etc. Get one of everything you're going to need working, and then the rest is a matter of volume and other people can start to work on number two, three etc.
Try to keep things stable for the artists. Don't throw a new game at them everytime the scripts or engine changes unless they need to adapt the art to some new feature.
Nominate someone with common sense as your project manager, and vest the decisions into one person. Don't let five different people each make their own decisions about what order to do things in. Five people pulling in the same direction is better even if the direction is slightly off than five people pulling in different directions.
Use a version control system for everything and don't let anyone check anything in without some peer review. This is liberating and not confining... it lets everyone experiment a little without worrying about corrupting the main product.
Don't schedule more than half of anyones time. The unexpected will soak up some, and you also need to give them some time to explore and find unanticipated treasure.
04/03/2007 (5:14 pm)
Knowing where the finish line is is also a good place to start. Until you know what the end result is going to be, it's impossible to ever get there.Once you know what the end result is, you can start to identify the things that you don't have to get there and put them on a list. Keep lots of lists around and check things off as they get done. Keep a list of things that have already been done even if it's just for inspiration. Reprint your list of things yet to do periodically so it doesn't get cluttered with things that are already done. As it gets shorter, that will inspire you too.
Once you have a list of things you don't yet have, you can sort the list in various ways, among which would be things that are easy, and things that are hard.
Getting some of the hard things done will give you momentum, and if you do the hardest thing first, there is a mental boost to knowing that things are constantly going to get easier.
Look for things that are also in the critical path for other things. If there is something easy that has to be done in order for work on lots of other things to proceed, then knock that item off sooner rather than later so other people can start working on the other things.
You can't go wrong shooting for getting a complete working game going, even if it's only got one level, one character, one type of weapon, one non player character, etc. Get one of everything you're going to need working, and then the rest is a matter of volume and other people can start to work on number two, three etc.
Try to keep things stable for the artists. Don't throw a new game at them everytime the scripts or engine changes unless they need to adapt the art to some new feature.
Nominate someone with common sense as your project manager, and vest the decisions into one person. Don't let five different people each make their own decisions about what order to do things in. Five people pulling in the same direction is better even if the direction is slightly off than five people pulling in different directions.
Use a version control system for everything and don't let anyone check anything in without some peer review. This is liberating and not confining... it lets everyone experiment a little without worrying about corrupting the main product.
Don't schedule more than half of anyones time. The unexpected will soak up some, and you also need to give them some time to explore and find unanticipated treasure.
Torque Owner Brian Ramage
Black Jacket Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_development
There are many more resources on Agile development and Scrumm on the web and in bookstores.