Sorry, I'm going to dig into something boring, but I don't think it's been touched yet.
The biggest reduction in the pie chart is in the production department. It looks like over half of that piece is gone. Based on the description I take this to mean project management. Is this reduction due to the fact that there isn't the overhead of a production company like EA, or does that simply mean the folks in charge of production have more on their plate? If it's the latter that brings me to worry are they spread too thin.
In my life in the corporate programming world (as much as that might apply) I've seen both managed vs unmanaged projects, and while unmanaged is generally much more enjoyable the product either has a lot more bugs or the timeline falls off the cliff as someone wanders off the path. Say creating a feature that isn't fully fleshed out causing the gaming experience to be less than stellar. I see that overall quality really is a function of the project manager as well the qa's if he/she/it is doing their job.
An example of a problem game is Elemental: War of Magic one of the big things they contributed to the fact the game was steaming pile of something and bugs was the fact they weren't using enterprise standards/project management. Since I had hopes for that game, and have hopes for this one I'd hate to see obsidian follow Stardock's mistakes.
It is very much a balancing act where process and administration can overwhelm to the point it's counterproductive. Also the PM can't be pushing for an arbitrary date, or that just creates more problems.
Considering the limited amount of data from a pie chart and the experience of the team all this might (or probably) has already been considered thoroughly. However, due to the scope of any crpg, this game in particular, I think properly implemented project management is essential.
Update #30: How Stuff is Made
in Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News
Posted
Sorry, I'm going to dig into something boring, but I don't think it's been touched yet.
The biggest reduction in the pie chart is in the production department. It looks like over half of that piece is gone. Based on the description I take this to mean project management. Is this reduction due to the fact that there isn't the overhead of a production company like EA, or does that simply mean the folks in charge of production have more on their plate? If it's the latter that brings me to worry are they spread too thin.
In my life in the corporate programming world (as much as that might apply) I've seen both managed vs unmanaged projects, and while unmanaged is generally much more enjoyable the product either has a lot more bugs or the timeline falls off the cliff as someone wanders off the path. Say creating a feature that isn't fully fleshed out causing the gaming experience to be less than stellar. I see that overall quality really is a function of the project manager as well the qa's if he/she/it is doing their job.
An example of a problem game is Elemental: War of Magic one of the big things they contributed to the fact the game was steaming pile of something and bugs was the fact they weren't using enterprise standards/project management. Since I had hopes for that game, and have hopes for this one I'd hate to see obsidian follow Stardock's mistakes.
It is very much a balancing act where process and administration can overwhelm to the point it's counterproductive. Also the PM can't be pushing for an arbitrary date, or that just creates more problems.
Considering the limited amount of data from a pie chart and the experience of the team all this might (or probably) has already been considered thoroughly. However, due to the scope of any crpg, this game in particular, I think properly implemented project management is essential.