Who Wouldn't Want to be Agile?
One of the most interesting recent developments in game production is the very recent application of systemic analysis to production methodologies. This is still very new, but is a natural result of the application of academic analysis to game creation, and the simple fact that we now have enough production methodologies to actually warrant comparative analysis.
A recent paper written by computer scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands uses UML diagram mind-mapping to compare four different production methods. The paper is titled "Developing a Reference Method for Game Production by Method Comparison," and is a fascinating visual treatment of the differences between historic production methods, including those presented by Erik Bethke, those in IGDA Production SIG Chairperson Heather Chandler's 2006 Game Production Handbook, S. Rabin's Introduction to Game Development and observational data from the production of a casual game in Netherlands-based Zylom.
This kind of analysis represents a fascinating step forward in the study of game production methodologies. While discussion of the methodologies in places like the IGDA Leadership Forum is extremely important for the internal development of those methodologies, from an outsider's standpoint, and from the perspective of a developer wishing to understand the production process, formalized distillation of these concepts hybridizes software development science with the game industry's unique concerns. The advantages should be comprehensive and will be exciting to watch.
What the Method Comparison paper most notably does not include is the Agile or Scrum-based production methodology, which certainly has been all the rage in the game industry for the last couple of years. Agile's concepts would radically alter any of the compared production methods, and a method for comparing its process to traditional methods would be exceedingly valuable. But the Utrecht paper is a valuable starting point, and discussion on its methods will be the subject of this month's next column.
Book Learnin'
I deliberately left out links to the books mentioned above so that I could include them in consolidated fashion in what will be the Inside Job's only bibliography. This is by no means comprehensive, but represents a starter library for anyone interested in game production. The IGDA Production SIG's knowledgebase provides a reading list as well, but it is much longer, and fair warning that actually engaging a game producer on these subjects may result in a conversation that on its own will last until you grow old and die. These are the books I have individually heard developers swear by.
Game Production:
- Erik Bethke's Game Development and Production
- Michael John and Mark Cerny's Cerny Method
- Heather Chandler's Game Production Handbook
- Clinton Keith's Agile Game Development website, which has its own bibliography
Software Development:
- The Mythical Man Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Frederick Brooks
- Deathmarch, Edward Yourdon
- Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules, Steve McConnell
- Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, Tom DeMarco
And the leading edge, containing Inge van de Weerd's paper:
One thing is for sure: From its humble beginnings as a tacked-on luxury in the game development process, game production has grown into a full contact sport worthy of independent study. Varying opinions are legion (calling each production method a "cult" would not be far off the mark), but no one denies the importance of looking at these issues, preferably with the briefest meetings possible.
