What makes a AAA game AAA ?

#1 When money is tight, the only way to tackle the AAA polish pass is with pure time + a solid development plan from day one. Larger studios have entire teams dedicated to a single area/aspect/feature for weeks or months at a time. Many times these have some evolutionary freshness that will most certainly be novel at release. It's very difficult for an indie to compete at the "next gen" 3D level without spending a lot of time. Of course by the time you do release, the chances that your own innovations are fresh, is greatly reduced.

The absolute easiest way to get that AAA polish feel, is making sure the art and audio is as good as it can be. If your art, animations, and audio are smooth and pleasing, players will overlook missing or lacking features. Which of course one can patch at a later date under the guise of "Improvements to ____ System."

tl:dr, It's all in the presentation, yo!

#2 You can't compete with the AAA studios as a small indie team you just don't have the time or manpower to be able to pull it off.

The only way I see it is you have to come up with something new, off the wall like Little Big Planet did.

#3 A AAA membership is very handy - if one of your dev team is stuck and needs a tow, a charged battery, or an unlocked door, you'll be very grateful you paid for a membership!

#4 I've seen this thread on every board, every engine, every site. The consensus has always boiled down either A or B:

A) You can't define AAA, because it's a marketing term (not tech related)
B) AAA == $$$

#5

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Surely, it can't be just money

Yep, it is. Get with the greed!

#6 @ Brian - that is very helpful to note. The more I think about it, the more I see a pattern in that regard, although I don't think it's the whole puzzle. Then again, smoothing over the art and game assets doesn't have to be impossibly $$ and can only help, along with a solid way to install/remove, and a good website.

@ Sherman - ROTFL ! Very true, this.

@ Andy - I have an idea (don't we all ?) that might fit this category, and I am hoping for a strategy on execution, although Michael's comment I find intriguing.

@ Michael - are you saying, then, that AAA is a strict marketing term for people to brag about the size of their, er, budgets ? Surely, I see a certain layer of polish present even in sucky major releases (Jazz Jackrabbit for GBA comes to mind, the initial release of Outrunners for the Sega Genesis is another). Or are you saying polish != AAA ?

#7 Oh, I am most heartedly saying polish != AAA. This is the opinion of a gamer and developer. I can polish the hell out of an application, but that does not make it AAA in my mind. Why? Because when my friend asks me to write an application that helps him sort his massive movie library, it didn't take millions of $ to achieve and it is not applicable to everyone. It was 100% geared towards his needs, had not a single bug and has stood the test of time to this day.

AAA should also not equate to fun. Have a look at all the independent games getting major spotlights. At my first GDC, Audiosurf walked away with an award or two. It was not deemed AAA, but damn is that a fun game I play even today. What I'm getting at is that AAA is an ambiguous term that is debated in many different discussions. It's a definition as often debated as "Indie". Start another thread sometime and ask for the definition of "Indie". You are going to get just as many opinions as what AAA means. Must like words such as "Awesome" and "Ironic", the terms have diluted and become meaningless.

#8 In my opinion, AAA is very easy to apply, but difficult to define in any useful way. It is defined by use. Halo and CoD are AAA, but so are LBP and Braid. I think there is a baseline of polish (i.e., graphical fidelity and solidity of gameplay) that is common to all games I would classify as AAA, but also some element of worthiness. For example, I wouldn't call Rogue Warrior AAA, even though its graphics are fine and its gameplay seems identical to CoD. It just lacks... inspiration? Or something.

That said, AAA is not a value judgment. Just because CoD is AAA, I will not necessarily enjoy it. I think there is an element of popularity with the AAA label, but not necessarily of quality (aside from the polish).

('Indie', I feel, has a ludicrously simple definition: you're independent of a publisher :P. But when it becomes a value judgment, people try to ascribe more characteristics to it than this.)

#9 That's why "wizard" and "ninja" needs to be the new terms for gaming excellence.

#10 I believe that Jonathan Blow brought up a good definition in a speech he gave a few years ago. So called "AAA" developers are often publicly held companies, and as such are legally obligated to act in the best interest of their shareholders. That results in big budget, mass-appeal games. That's the best definition of "AAA" that I've found.

#11 Wow - very useful insights ! Okay, so perhaps I should have asked "what makes a game polished ?" I know console games have lot checks, for instance. What exactly does that cover ? And is there a checklist of things to watch for when polishing a game for release ?

#12 A polished game is something that looks and plays above average. There should be no glitches or obvious developer shortcuts taken. The presentation should be fluid. Anything that distracts from the experience is indicative of an unpolished game.

You don't need a AAA studio to put out a polished game, but you do need to know your own skills. Consistent quality is more important than one or two awesome elements among a sea of mediocrity.

#13 AAA = An Astronomical Amount of $
AAA = Asstastically Amazing Amplitudes of $
AAA = All your bases are belong to us because you don't have enough money a(eh?)!


AAA = An Aplillion Apples would cost less [/fail]

#14 I consider it a grading system, really. The three grades are for graphics, sound and the amount of money it cost to make. Gameplay? What gameplay? :)

#15 > I consider it a grading system, really. The three grades are for graphics, sound
> and the amount of money it cost to make. Gameplay? What gameplay? :)

Read: Call of Duty. XD There are some amazing indie FPSes (TimeSplitters and Brink come to mind), but most of what you get these days is """expensive""", mass-produced garbage.

#16 When GarageGames was first building the InstantAction website, there was a lot of focus on reaching a certain quality level in the games. This was most commonly described as:

"We are building small, indie games for the web with AAA artwork"

Everyone we told this instantly understood our intentions and got what we were trying to accomplish. I think this is fairly telling about what the most common understandings of "indie" and "AAA" are (even though there is a ton of wiggle room in both terms).

#17 AAA games versus indy games is equivalent to Holywood Blockbusters versus Sundance film festival films. Indy development generally lacks in funding which means using the Havok, Euphoria, and other high-end tools/engines are not feasible. That is not to say that an Indy game cannot become a AAA tile for lack of money.There have been sundance films which have gone on to earn places in theaters all across the world and have raked in loads of money.

The problem with indy game developments is dedication. Indy team members must be truly dedicated towards creating the product since losing a member part way through development means delays. Delays can ruin a project. Large game developers find no shortage of qualified individuals to work on their projects.

As a game designer/developer I had considered going independent. The problem was that Finding 100 people (even from across the world) who are dedicated enough to devote time and energy into joining a team and working on a project until its completion.

#18 AAA = Lots of money for Marketing, a big team, and a couple of years to get the product out of the door!

Indie = No money, working during free time as gotta have a Real job to pay the bills, and hoping to get the thing ready for prime-time before the ole' lady kills you because you spend too much time on your computer!


The term 'AAA' is purely a Marketing ploy. I have seen some Indie games that were a LOT more fun than some AAA titles. Now these Indie games might not have as many features, or the quality may not be as high, but the game play is usually what makes up for those. Don't worry about making a AAA title! The thing about being an Indie is you can do what YOU want, and add the features that YOU want to add. Just because your an Indie doesn't mean your game can't make lots of money. This again boils down to Marketing. All you have to do is look on sites like BigFish, Yahoo! Games, etc... Most of those games were created by Indie teams, and some of them are down right fun! Make your game Fun, pleasant to look at, and with nice sounds/music. Look at games like Portal....graphics weren't anything special. That game is Fun, and has a unique game play that sets it apart. That is what you should be worried about rather than trying to compete with the Big Budgets. Make your game Unique, and FUN!!!

#19

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I consider it a grading system, really. The three grades are for graphics, sound and the amount of money it cost to make. Gameplay? What gameplay? :)

But would that mean; if you got great graphics and sound that would make it AAA. But if you've spent lots of $ on it it would be a AAC?

So if I got good grapich, bad audio, spent lots of $$, and the worst gameplay ever I would get ACDC? :3

#20 I agree with Lonnie. There are so many great indie games out there that are fun, more than some AAA game :P