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Game Design and Production Frequent Problems in Game Development

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Game Design and Production Frequent Problems in Game Development Game design and production Frequent problems in game development By: Ylva Sundström Candidate exam essay: 15p Course: Examensarbete i speldesign Gamedesign and graphics, vt 2012 Mentor: Adam Mayes Abstract This essay is about common problems that can arise during game development projects. It is focused around the production cycle and how the game industry treats the game development pipeline. It mainly describes issues with communication within game development teams, problems concerning planning and how the design process affects members of the game development team’s work process and efficiency. It includes an analysis of common problems that I have found during my studies of literature describing the game industry, a short research study of post mortems written by game developers and a survey about game design documentation and communication sent out to game developers and game design students. 1 Sammanfattning Den här uppsatsen behandlar vanliga problem som kan uppstå under spelprojekt. Den är fokuserad kring produktionscykeln och hur industrin behandlar produktionscykelns olika delar. Den beskriver framförallt problem rörande kommunikationen inom team som utvecklar spel, problem kopplade till planering av spelprojekt och hur designprocessen påverkar spelutvecklares arbetsprocesser och effektivitet. Den inkluderar en analys av vanliga problem jag har funnit då jag studerat litteratur som beskriver spelindustrin, en kort studie av post mortems skrivna av spelutvecklare och en undersökning om speldesigndokumentation jag skickat ut till spelutvecklare och spelstudenter. 2 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Background – game design .............................................................................................................. 5 2.1. The game design and the development team ..................................................................................................... 5 2.2 The game and the publisher ................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 The game design documentation .......................................................................................................................... 6 3.0 Purpose and questions ..................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Limitations ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 4.0 Method ............................................................................................................................................. 9 4.1 Validity and reliability .............................................................................................................................................. 9 4.1.1 The survey ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 4.1.2 Post mortems ................................................................................................................................................. 10 4.1.3 Literature and other data collection .......................................................................................................... 10 5.0 Theory – common problems in game productions ......................................................................... 12 5.1 Design documentation and pre-production ...................................................................................................... 12 5.2 Lost vision and unrealistic scope ......................................................................................................................... 14 5.3 Communication issues and group behavior ...................................................................................................... 16 6.0 Analysis............................................................................................................................................ 19 61.1 Display of results from the survey .................................................................................................................... 19 6.1.2 IM channels ................................................................................................................................................... 19 6.1.3 Design documentation and communication ........................................................................................... 20 6.2 Display of results from the post mortems ......................................................................................................... 26 6.2.1 Scope, bad planning and lack of design documentation ...................................................................... 26 6.2.2 Communication and group dynamics ...................................................................................................... 29 7.0 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 31 7.0 Sources ........................................................................................................................................... 33 7.1 Books ....................................................................................................................................................................... 33 7.2 Electronical sources ............................................................................................................................................... 33 7.2.1 Post mortems: ................................................................................................................................................ 33 7.2.2 Other electronical sources: ......................................................................................................................... 34 3 1.0 Introduction Creating a game can be a complex process. Hundreds of ideas should to be tied together, transformed into pieces of a game and put together before they can be turned into a complete product. Many game projects starts, games get developed but then never distributed and sold (Moore, Sward 2007:671). Many game projects get cancelled early in development by a client that might not estimate that the game will be a financial success (Irish 2005:228). Some of these productions however fail because of problems with delivering in time and on budget, which as an effect means massive delays in production and conflicts between those who pay for the product and those who make it. Joystick.com put together a list of 8 major titles that were supposed to be released in 2012, but now have been pushed to 2013 or to an unknown date. Among the titles we find popular games such as Tomb Rider, BioShock and DMC – Devil May Cry (De Matos 2012). Despite 12 years to development time (Diablo III), Diablo III still has major issues and the game is continuously being improved after the release (Gera 2012). Why are these problems taking place and more importantly, exactly what type of problems are common within game projects during the making of a game? In this essay I will try to find out more about these problems and also try to find reasons to why they occur. 4 2.0 Background – game design 2.1. The game design and the development team To make this essay a little bit more understandable I shall first define the concept of game design. Game design is deciding what should be in a game. How the game will work mechanically, what rules there are, how it will look, and how it will feel to the person playing it (Schell 2008:24). To create game design, ideas need to be communicated. The word communication means: “…the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.”(Communication). Why is communication so essential in game projects? All people involved in building the game has to work together to create the game. The designer that is responsible for the game design has to facilitate the knowledge of the team and communicate the design to them and then back from them. The designer needs to understand how the team thinks and why they make certain decisions (Schell 2008:34 – 35). A typical game production team usually contains other people than just a designer. You will often find the following roles represented in a game project (Betke 2003:39); programmers, 3D artists, 2D artists, animators, a lead game designer, assistant game designers, sound creators and usually a producer that is responsible for the team, the budget and the overall process of the development (Irish 2005:41). At larger companies there can be groups with up to 200 people working with the same game project (Irish 2005:1). (Because of this, there is a significant amount of other roles represented in game projects across the world that I have and will not mention in this essay due to space and time). Some of these teams also have external contractors or auxiliary personnel (Betke 2003:183), (Moore, Sward 2007:213) working from somewhere else with specific tasks, such as creating 200 3D models. (A 3D model is a virtual representation of a character, object or other property in a three dimensional space) (3D Models – Definitions, Examples, Resources). These people are not part of the
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