Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
the weekly burn rate of a gigantic team can be many hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars, it
'
s not the main motivation. While I worked with Microsoft, I learned that the
manufacturing schedule of our game was set in stone. We had to have master disks
ready by such and such a date or we would lose our slot in the manufacturing facil-
ity. Considering that the other Microsoft project coming out that particular year was
Windows XP, I realized that losing my place in line meant a huge delay in getting the
game out. Console games can have the same problem. If you miss your submission
date to Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft, you get to go on
waiting for another
empty slot so they can test your game for technical standards compliance.
While things like manufacturing and submission can usually be worked out, there
“
standby,
”
s
another, even bigger motivation for shipping on time. Months before the game is
done, most companies begin spending huge money on marketing. Ads are bought
in magazines or television, costing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
You might not know this, but those special kiosks at the end of the shelves in retail
stores, called endcaps, are bought and paid for like prime rental real estate, usually on
a month-by-month basis. If your game isn
'
t ready for the moment those ads are pub-
lished or those kiosks are ready to show off your game, you lose the money. No
refunds here!
This is one of the reasons you see the executives poking around your project six to
eight months before you are scheduled to ship. It
'
s because they are about to start
writing big checks to media companies and game retail chains in the hopes that all
this cash will drive up the sales of your game. The irony is, if the execs didn
'
'
t believe
'
you could finish on time, they wouldn
t spend the big bucks on marketing, and your
game would be buried somewhere on a bottom shelf in a dark corner of the store.
Oh, and no ads either. Your best advertising will be by personal email to all your
friends, and that just won
t sell.
The difference between getting your marketing pressure at maximum and nothing at
all may only be a matter of slipping a few weeks, or even a few days. What
'
t cut it. In other words, your game won
'
'
s worse,
this judgment call is made months before you are at code complete
—
a time when
your game is crashing every three minutes. Crazy, huh?
Probably the best advice I can give you is to make sure you establish a track record of
hitting each and every milestone on time throughout the life of your project. Keep
your bug count under control, too. These two things will convince the suits that
you
t choose
schedule slippage at the last minute. If you must slip, slip it once and make sure you
give the suits enough time to react to all the promises they made on your behalf. This
is probably at least six months prior to your release date, but it could be even more.
'
ll ship on time with all the features you promised. Whatever you do, don
'
