An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
research.microsoft.com
An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
1–10 of 59 posts
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#2>utilize prototypes as
a method of proving features and concepts before committing
them to your design. Third, don’t be overly ambitious
in your design. Be reasonable, and take into account your
schedule and budget before adding something to your design.
Building off of that, don’t be overly optimistic with
your scheduling. If you make an estimate that initially feels
optimistic to you, don’t give that estimate to your stakeholders.
Revisit and reassess your design to form a better
estimation.
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#3This is excellent for the history and for the examples of what worked and what didn't. But the interpretations are a little dubious:
Takeaway: Game developers should create a well-defined concept before beginning development as opposed to an ad hoc method of game design.
This would exclude Dota, for example. Gamedev is a world of exceptions.
In general, it's best to playtest every idea you come up with and cut whatever isn't fun.
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#4This is excellent for the history and for the examples of what worked and what didn't. But the interpretations are a little dubious: Takeaway: Game developers should create a well-defined concept before beginning development as opposed to an ad hoc method of game design. This would exclude Dota, for example. Gamedev is a world of exceptions. In general, it's best to playtest every idea you come up with and cut whatev…
Dota was a user made mod originally, so I don't think that counts.
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#5This is excellent for the history and for the examples of what worked and what didn't. But the interpretations are a little dubious: Takeaway: Game developers should create a well-defined concept before beginning development as opposed to an ad hoc method of game design. This would exclude Dota, for example. Gamedev is a world of exceptions. In general, it's best to playtest every idea you come up with and cut whatev…
Dota was a user made mod originally, so I don't think that counts.
Mods have been some of the most successful types of games, which seems like a pretty persuasive reason they should count. Some of the biggest names in the history of gaming started out as mods: Counterstrike, Team Fortress, etc. Valve's success is arguably because they find user-made mods and make them triple-A.
Also, the advent of engines like Unity and UE blur what "modding" means. The WC3 engine was flexible enough to be made into Dota, which was then implemented on the Source Engine as Dota 2. But why was the original Dota a mod, whereas Dota 2 isn't? It's hard to come up with a definitive answer to that.
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#6> When looking at games developed for one platform versus
games developed for multiple platforms, we found a few advantages and disadvantages to choosing one over the other.
First, 46% of developers that used multiple platforms listed
art as something that went right, while only 33% of developers that used a single platform listed this. Additionally, 15% of the developers that used a single platform listed this as something that went wrong, while only 17% of developers that used multiple platforms listed art as having gone wrong. Therefore, the evidence shows us that games developed for multiple platforms may be more likely to have better game art.
I didn't quite understand the correlation between development for multiple platforms and quality of art. May be those who want to release for multiple platforms in general care about quality more?
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#7Funny sidenote: the paper mentions a game titled Age of Ornithology under 5.1.g (Scope). Naturally I got excited at the idea of a game where you play some kind of bird collector, or an intrepid late 19th-century magnifying-glass-and-butterfly-net explorer and cataloguer of birds.
But unfortunately this title is some kind of cruel joke:
http://www.phobe.com/sfi/ornithology.html
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130925/schandenfreudia...
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#8This is excellent for the history and for the examples of what worked and what didn't. But the interpretations are a little dubious: Takeaway: Game developers should create a well-defined concept before beginning development as opposed to an ad hoc method of game design. This would exclude Dota, for example. Gamedev is a world of exceptions. In general, it's best to playtest every idea you come up with and cut whatev…
This advice is super generic.
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#9This is excellent for the history and for the examples of what worked and what didn't. But the interpretations are a little dubious: Takeaway: Game developers should create a well-defined concept before beginning development as opposed to an ad hoc method of game design. This would exclude Dota, for example. Gamedev is a world of exceptions. In general, it's best to playtest every idea you come up with and cut whatev…
This advice is super generic.
No more generic than "Make something people want" or "Listen to your users." And yet most companies get these wrong, just like most game companies fail to playtest their ideas.
Re: An Analysis of 155 Postmortems from Game Development [pdf]
#10> When looking at games developed for one platform versus games developed for multiple platforms, we found a few advantages and disadvantages to choosing one over the other. First, 46% of developers that used multiple platforms listed art as something that went right, while only 33% of developers that used a single platform listed this. Additionally, 15% of the developers that used a single platform listed this as so…
Maybe "having your art under control" is a prerequisite for "being big and seasoned enough to work on multiple platforms at once". If all your games look like trash, nobody's going to give you the funds to scale up to the point where you can easily develop on multiple platforms.