Dec 29, 2018

Proper project scheduling is underappreciated in indie and hobbyist developer circles. It is usual to read comments encouraging users just to get started and figure it out as they go. Many people also assume that a formal project plan means your team is going full waterfall – a term that carries some negative connotations in game development, which is one of the reasons behind the crunch culture still prevalent at some studios.  However, traditional project scheduling has an essential place for established game developers and hobbyist that want to take the step up to full-time indie.

In this article, I will explain why project plans, scheduling, in particular, are useful, how to integrate them with modern (agile) development practices, and finally, I will provide a template that readers can download.

Nov 15, 2018

I have just returned from Blizzcon2018, where I had the opportunity to ask a few questions to several Blizzard employees on how their teams work and what project management frameworks they use to develop their content. This article is my humble attempt to stitch their comments, publicly available information (other articles, job postings), my knowledge of modern development and a healthy dose of speculation to give you all a window into how Blizzard creates – in their own words – the most epic entertainment experiences ever.

Oct 9, 2018

The case for robust pre-production

Game development is always a time consuming and expensive endeavor – even if you are a scrappy indie you are losing a ton of money in terms of opportunity cost: you could be working a steady day job for a salary. It is common for Indies and AAA game studios to embark into a long 24+ month development cycle and realize midway that something doesn’t feel right.  Maybe the initial concept is just not that fun, maybe management realized that the target market is too narrow to make economic sense to continue development, or maybe the team is not well matched to the scope of the game. Regardless of the cause, producers have a responsibility to their team and backers to pull the plug early.

Jul 1, 2018

Hi everyone!

I wanted to update you on my progress on my 2018 resolutions, my objectives for the rest of the year, and what it means for the blog.

Mar 11, 2018

I recently watched an outstanding production presentation from GDC 2015, and I wanted to share with you his videos and my main takeaways. Pro-Tip: Constantly check GDC’s YouTube channel, they frequently release videos from past GDCs, and there are many hours of fantastic production videos.

The presentation is called “My To-Do List: Organizing a Producer’s work” and was given by Bernard Yee, a producer at Oculus and former producer at Bungie and PopCap.