Distributed Game Development

Tim Fields has been in the game industry since 1995 as a producer, project manager, design lead, and business developer. Tim has helped small studios and top publishers like EA and Microsoft run teams that create great games. He has worked on shooters, sports games, racing titles, and RPGs using talent and teams from North America, Asia, Europe, and the UK.

• Distributed Game DevelopmentIntroductioni. Overviewii. Who is this document for?Preamble on Distributed Developmenti. Why would you have distributed development?ii. Who we will meet in our case studies, and why we care about what they have to say.Chapter 1: Organizing Your Teamsi. Types of Distributed Collaboration: How to Know what you needii. How to pick external collaboratorsa. INTERVIEW: Fay Griffith - Head of outsourcing and external development, Electronic Arts. On How to Select Partnersiii. How to pick an external teamiv. Insourcingv. Roles & Responsibilitiesa. INTERVIEW: Sergio Rosas - Studio Head CGBot, Monterrey Mexico. On Tailoring Creation Teams for Different Clientsvi. Subcontractorsvii. Quality Assuranceviii. Localizationix. Infrastructurex. The contract and other legal issuesxi. Failure Study: When the Organization phase went wrong.Chapter 2: Getting off on the right footi. Defining project parameters1. Scheduling Goals, Techniques, Milestonesii. Make sure you have a shared vision.a. INTERVIEW: Bill Byrne - Freelance Motion Graphics Editor. Setting project tone through visuals.iii. Kickoff Meetingsiv. Scheduling Types & Tactics1. SCRUM/AGILE vs. WATERFALLa. INTERVIEW: Everett Lee - Producer, Sony Entertainment. ?How to lead great teams through more agile planning.v. Failure Study: When the schedule is wrong.vi. Failure Study: When your vision is clouded.Chapter 3: Maintaining the organismi. Establishing & Maintaining Trusta. INTERVIEW: Kyle Clark - VP Production, ReelFX. Delivering content to spec for motion pictures & television.ii. Progress Checkpointsiii. Milestonesiv. How to deal with product goal or design changesa. INTERVIEW: Rhett Bennatt - Project Manager, Aspyre Entertainment. Nimble projects for maximum profits.v. Cross Pollinationvi. Finaling and product submissionvii. Planning for your next dateviii. Failure Study: Feature Creep and the carnival of design changes.Chapter 4: Site Visitsi. Site visitsii. Who to send & whyiii. When to go?a. INTERVIEW: Michael Wyman - Founder, Big Splash Entertainment. Distributed development for Casual Games.iv. Representing your company and the project while on site.v. Communicationvi. Language barriersvii. Dealing with distractionsviii. Cultural Differencesa. INTERVIEW: Frank Klier - Senior Technical Director, Microsoft. Coordinating technical solutions across cultural boundaries.ix. Regional Conditionsx. Helpful Tools for staying in touch with home basexi. Failure Study: What happens when communication between home base and the field goes awry.Chapter 5: Common Situationsi. Hot Potato Projectsa. INTERVIEW: Mark Greenshields - President, Firebrand Games. Delivering quality products on time.ii. Crisis Managementiii. The constantly moving targetiv. Bug Counts / Defect managementv. Localizationvi. Central Content Teamsvii. Central Tech Groupsviii. Sense of Urgencya. INTERVIEW: Dave Hawkins - Managing Director, Exient LTD. How to select projects for your development team.ix. Failure Case: When the bugs eat you.Conclusions:i. Wrapping it upii. What the future holdsiii. Where to get more informationiv. Helpful templates