Learning from Postmortems (slides adapted from Michael Mateas) UC Santa Cruz CMPS 171 – Game Design Studio II ejw@cs.ucsc.edu 7 February 2012

Lab Update Chair issue update

Upcoming Events Chelsea Howe: More Than A Feeling: Affective Design and the Future of Games Wednesday, February 8 11am, E2 180 (Simularium) February 28: Visit by Microsoft Studios Game crits by staff from Microsoft Studios Discussion of career opportunities

Upcoming deadlines Thursday: no class Friday (February 10) Jim attending Inside Social Apps event Friday (February 10) Team status reporting Thursday (February 23) Sprint 2 ends Game playtesting plan Web site framework

Postmortems Game postmortems are a regular feature in both Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra Focus on 5 things that went right, 5 things that went wrong Reading postmortems helps you to recognize good and bad development patterns happening on your own game Doing your own project postmortems solidifies lessons for future projects

What went wrong: testing Not leaving enough time for testing – end up focusing on stability rather than gameplay details of levels and enemies http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 Beta too late to have any real impact http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensembles_Age_of_Empires.php Insufficient communication between QA and development Didn’t take early advantage of automated testing Testing with the wrong audience http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3939/postmortem_singaporemit_gambits_.php?page=4

What went wrong: design Mistakes in level design Not progressing game mechanics and obstacles along with the story Not adequately melding design styles from multiple designers http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4 Design decisions (like temporal variety) that multiply content needs http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=3 Balancing AI quantity (handling many units or characters) and quality (AI looking good when focus is on a single unit) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 Lack of specified design lead to divergent efforts during balancing and tweaks Lack of focus on controls http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.php Lack of high-level vision http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs_Infamous.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3 Overloading player with new concepts and systems http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4010/postmortem_square_enixs_the_.php?print=1

What went right: design Prototyping http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs_Infamous.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25002/InDepth_Inside_The_Making_Of_KingsIsles_Wizard101.php For level-based game, focusing from the beginning on level design http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.php Early establishment of physical metrics for player character/world interactions http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2 Nailing the gameplay mechanic before content development http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=2 Playtesting provides feedback on difficulty arc and gameplay and builds a fan community http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php Sticking with 2D http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3903/postmortem_riverman_medias_.php?page=2 Physics-based gameplay http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=2

What went wrong: project management Grossly underestimating the amount of work http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=4 School projects versus full development http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3 Adding stuff at the last minute Didn’t investigate outsourcing companies sufficiently leading to bad experience http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=4 Positive feedback leads to feature creep http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=4 Crunch http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4041/postmortem_gaijin_games_bittrip_.php?page=3 Inadequate analysis and planning for technical risk http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_in_arms_.php?page=4

What went right: project management SCRUM http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25799/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Brutal_Legend.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_in_arms_.php?page=2 Internal art person had great art community connections, leading to good outsourcing experience http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php Empowering creativity across the team http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/22710/InDepth_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Far_Cry_2.php

What went wrong: tools and tech Networking code started too late http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=3 The lure of shared technology http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2 Loosing iterative design time due to refactoring http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=3 Inefficient art pipeline http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=3 Custom tech (driven by unique gameplay features) leading to inefficiencies (“transformation tech too expensive”) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees_grimm.php?page=5 Physics problems http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3

What went right: tools and tech Successfully building on tools from last project http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php Custom engine supported experimentation and fast turnaround http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=2 Using an existing, well-established engine allowed focus on design http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4188/postmortem_wadjet_eyes_the_.php Good use of middleware http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees_grimm.php?page=3