Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
the writer, the art director has no images or words to impress the client or to guide the model creation team.
The producers and production managers have their eyes on the overall picture; every day, they look at what
was accomplished and revise their perception of how effectively the whole system is performing. Although
estimating the cost of producing creative designs is dificult, a great producer knows how to weigh those intan-
gible factors into their budgeting processes and can diplomatically keep the whole studio on time and on budget.
3.3.3 “B
uild
i
T
o
nCe
” p
rojeCT
d
eVelopmenT
W
orKfloW
Anyone familiar with the tidal changes on a seaside harbor has observed that as the tide comes in, there will
be lots of swirls and eddies in the water, all surrounding the main direction of the tidal low. Project develop-
ment takes the same sort of shape, conceptually speaking; there are many side circles of development going
on, which all contribute to the overall push in the direction of the goal. In the world of software development,
there is a term called
Agile development
[2], which has been adopted by the “Lean Startup” business move-
ment to deine the process of iteration and incremental development as a productive and successful approach
to creating a new business model [3]. This approach has merit in the process of designing a new virtual
environment as well.
In Figure 3.8, the project development worklow chart, you will see that the central low of the project is
surrounded by “Agile Cycles.” On the right side are the verbal elements of the environment; on the left are
the visual elements of the environment. As the project progresses up from concept through development to
creation, each level will contain a cycle of iteration and incremental change that is fed into the mainstream for
overall construction. This is necessary because each new element added into a virtual environment will affect
the overall balance, the load on the server, and the accessibility to its visitors. Of course, there are limits; no
one can build a house if the brick maker keeps redesigning the bricks. Most of the cycling will be done in the
concept and preliminary phases. These will spin very fast, changing daily, if not hourly. Further up the ladder,
the cycles of level design, model making will spin more slowly as changes to those elements take more time
and effort. In the center of it all are four important correlated systems: the 3D/2D designing, the coding/script
writing, the optimization, and the sound design. All of these systems have an impact on each other, and the
members of these groups need to be in constant communication regarding their needs and the impact of other
work on their constructions. Finally, at the top of the chart, in synch with the creation of the inal virtual
environment, will be the creation of the video trailer and website to advertise and promote the new build.
Let's zoom in on one of the Agile Cycles. Figure 3.9 shows how it works in detail. In the center is the itera-
tive/innovative cycle. It follows the “creation/rest/test” format that a global-based design group can provide.
While members of one team are creating and testing, members on the team located many time zones away are
resting and will pick up the creation and testing cycle when they return to work the next day. Of course, it is
optimal to have the global teams close enough so that they can actually have a meeting in real time once a day.
The other important part of this Agile Cycle is the client approval cycle. If your design studio is working
with a client from a large company, it is likely that the client will have several levels of approval within their
company for each major step in the project. If your immediate client approves something without traveling
through his or her own company approval cycle, you may end up having to delay or cancel your project, so
watch out for that. With a diplomatic approach, try to learn about the hierarchy of approval in your client's
company, so you know what their process is.
3.3.4 o
rganizaTional
s
TruCTure
for
a
l
arge
d
esign
o
ffiCe
Eventually, your build group, design company, or school may ind the need to organize a large group of
people for a project. This can be a real challenge to worklow if productivity and creativity are hampered
