Update #67: What's in a Game?

[jzed]

Enjoyed the update. Coming from another sw development domain, it is very interesting to see how things are different in game development... and also how they are familiar (like eschewing bulky project mgmt tools and just using excel to get **** done. Bravo compadre.) 

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I'm a bit surprised by how bureaucratic the process is--though on reflection I shouldn't be. Updates like this assure to me the level of competance I already ascribe to Obsidian. I look forward to this game dispelling remarks about this company's ability to deliver. Bully!

[Gorth]

Estimates... the fine art of guessing

 

(I hates them)

 

Nice update. What does the team do to stay awake when pulling "all nighters"?

[makryu]

Great update! Definitely want more like this.

 

I'm left wondering here if you guys have an estimate/guess of how much work, if any, goes to the garbage bin with areas that are completely scrapped or heavily modified? It seems to me that those early passes play an enormous role in avoiding such a thing, if it happens as I imagine after all.

 

In the subject of important yet obscure aspects of development, I'd like to suggest an insider look at AI programming.

[BAdler]

 

Enjoyed the update. Coming from another sw development domain, it is very interesting to see how things are different in game development... and also how they are familiar (like eschewing bulky project mgmt tools and just using excel to get **** done. Bravo compadre.)  

Heh... I love myself some Excel. We use SharePoint (and Asana to a much lesser extent) for task and issue tracking, but nothing beats a good spreadsheet in my opinion.

[ManifestedISO]

K column ... the K Column is almost upon us! Oh how long have we waited for values to be added to the K COLUMN!!   

 

Thanks for the update!

Edited November 13, 2013 by ManifestedISO

[BAdler]

Estimates... the fine art of guessing

 

(I hates them)

 

Nice update. What does the team do to stay awake when pulling "all nighters"?

We haven't had too many nights of crunch just yet. While we never avoid it completely, it's always best to avoid as much crunch as possible.

 

Crunch tends to come in the last few months of the project.

[BAdler]

Great update! Definitely want more like this.

 

I'm left wondering here if you guys have an estimate/guess of how much work, if any, goes to the garbage bin with areas that are completely scrapped or heavily modified? It seems to me that those early passes play an enormous role in avoiding such a thing, if it happens as I imagine after all.

 

In the subject of important yet obscure aspects of development, I'd like to suggest an insider look at AI programming.

A lot of the earlier areas have been heavily modified. This isn't unusual, though. As the pipelines mature and we figure out better ways to do things we normally have to go through and clean up the older stuff.

 

I am not sure I could give an estimate on that, though. I could figure it out by going through all of the info, but I am feeling lazy right now.

[Lephys]

You should label all the offices, cubicles, and meeting rooms with column-row identifiers, for funsies. I can see that happening when things get hectic.

 

"And can you go tell G7 that he needs to put the new cover sheets on his DPS reports?!"

 

"Sir, his name is Henr-"

 

"YOU DARE QUESTION THE SPREADSHEET?!"

Edited November 13, 2013 by Lephys

[BAdler]

I'm a bit surprised by how bureaucratic the process is--though on reflection I shouldn't be. Updates like this assure to me the level of competance I already ascribe to Obsidian. I look forward to this game dispelling remarks about this company's ability to deliver. Bully!

Trust me... it is much better to have this process than to wild west the development. When I was working in mobile software, they fought against this kind of process and it created products of inferior quality that cost WAY more than they should have.

[Zeckul]

What a delightful and interesting read! I would love to learn more about your development processes. Do the developers adhere to any specific methodology (SCRUM, XP, etc)? How iterative is feature design across various areas (gameplay systems, UI, area design, dialogue, etc)?

[BAdler]

What a delightful and interesting read! I would love to learn more about your development processes. Do the developers adhere to any specific methodology (SCRUM, XP, etc)? How iterative is feature design across various areas (gameplay systems, UI, area design, dialogue, etc)?

Every project is different, but there is no specific methodology. Mostly waterfall with heavy amounts of agile thrown in. That said, we are trying to get all of the projects under one set of processes.

 

One thing that I find to be helpful on our larger projects are feature strike teams. As an example, on Alpha Protocol we had strike teams for things like AI, cutscenes, and areas. The strike teams are a collection of people from different disciplines that are trying to create a specific feature. When a strike team is first created a person is designated as the strike team leader and they are in charge of creating a step plan (milestone independent steps to get a feature from zero to complete). The strike team leaders also direct the team and hold the vision for that feature set.

 

Eternity uses strike teams for some features (areas), but it is much more difficult with a small team because people wear many hats. If we used it for every feature then most people would end up on most of the strike teams.

[Flow]

The little details in that room are pretty incredible. If that level is maintained in all areas, I'm a little concerned I'll be too busy staring at the backgrounds to actually play the game.

[Zeckul]

The little details in that room are pretty incredible. If that level is maintained in all areas, I'm a little concerned I'll be too busy staring at the backgrounds to actually play the game.

Yes the level of detail is out of this world. Why can't I be playing this game now? 

[curryinahurry]

Great update, thank you.

 

As the game develops, I hope we get more of these types of updates along with reveals on gameplay mechanics.  These little insights into the game design process are one of the true pleasures of the crowd-funding process for someone like me.

 

Cheers

[Karkarov]

This was a very interesting update if for no other reason than that it confirmed map size for us.  It is always nice to get a look at the creative process as well and I especially liked seeing the blockout vs mostly done version of that one area.  I did think it was sort of odd in your original blockout you only had one door exiting the entry hall (other than the door you came in) but seeing it upped to 3 doors at the later version made me chuckle.  Guess I was reminded of ye olden times in my design and architecture classes....

 

I do have to admit though the end of the article takes a disturbing twist and almost sounds like a lead in to "And now you know why we are behind schedule by 6 months!" announcement.

[Sensuki]

Fantastic update, a lot of effort put into it too.

 

Thankyou.

[aratuk]

I love this kind of update. Insight into the process itself is much more interesting to me than the results of any specific design decisions, which would be spoilers anyway. Try not to tell us too much that we will find out anyway when we play the game. Tell us things we would otherwise never know. The how and why of the content, not the what.

 

I'd been curious to know more about how projects such as this are managed, especially since I've witnessed the results of some other Kickstarted games attempting to stick to a schedule. It somewhat amazes me to see other, experienced developers so grossly miscalculate the amount of time it will take them to finish a project. Maybe in a future update it would be interesting to illustrate how things can end up deviating from your expectations.

 

Thanks for the update!

[BruceVC]

Very interesting update around the logistics of creating a game 

[Sensuki]

I have a question about the interior screenshot. What is Level_Loaded_Object ? Is that a 3D object in the area?

 

Also on the screenshot it says that you plan to Outsource an medium-sized Exterior Area(s). In Hector Espinoza's Q & A he mentioned that he critiqued outsourced work.

 

It would be interesting to hear about that.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Sensuki

[Adam Brennecke]

I have a question about the interior screenshot. What is Level_Loaded_Object ? Is that a 3D object in the area?

 

Also on the screenshot it says that you plan to Outsource an medium-sized Exterior Area(s). In Hector Espinoza's Q & A he mentioned that he critiqued outsourced work.

 

It would be interesting to hear about that.

 

It's a script object that calls functions when a level is done loading. It doesn't have any "physical" appearance in the game.

[Tagomika]

 

Also on the screenshot it says that you plan to Outsource an medium-sized Exterior Area(s). In Hector Espinoza's Q & A he mentioned that he critiqued outsourced work.

 

 

Thats the area for the Backer-Beta. So no parts of the final PE would be revealed to the testers before the Game ships. 

[Silent Winter]

Great update - very interesting

[Sensuki]

 

 

Also on the screenshot it says that you plan to Outsource an medium-sized Exterior Area(s). In Hector Espinoza's Q & A he mentioned that he critiqued outsourced work.

 

 

Thats the area for the Backer-Beta. So no parts of the final PE would be revealed to the testers before the Game ships. 

 

 

I assume that if you have that knowledge you're part of the team or you're working on it. It's definitely a good idea.

 

 

 

It's a script object that calls functions when a level is done loading. It doesn't have any "physical" appearance in the game.

 

Cheers

Edited November 13, 2013 by Sensuki

[Archmage Silver]

Good update, thanks for taking the time to shed some light on how these decisions are made.

 

I hope for no large delays though!