2. Clinton Keith CTO, High Moon Studios Agile Methodology in Game Development: Year 3

3. What We’ll Talk About: o Why use Agile? o Background on “Agile Methodology” at HMS and in general o Overview of “Scrum” o Agile Planning o We’ll touch on eXtreme Programming o The results of using Agile at High Moon o Application to game development o What were the lessons/benefits o Where to go for more info? o Q&A This is about what we experienced, not the “Right Way” to make games

4. Why Adopt Agile? To find the fun first! Especially in Pre-Production Reduce wasted effort Especially in Production

5. History of Agile at High Moon o Used Scrum in last year of Darkwatch o Helped keep the project on track o Have adopted XP and Agile planning practices on new projects over the last year

6. Simple Complicated Anarchy Complex Close to Certainty Far from Certainty Technology Close to Agreement Far from Agreement Requirements Source: Strategic Management and Organizational Dynamics by Ralph Stacey in Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle. Wasted Effort Can Come From “Noise” …and it influences what processes we use Preproduction - Agile Production - Lean

7. Knowing the product value

8. What is Agile Development? The Agile Manifesto: o Individuals and interactions over processes and tools; o Working software over comprehensive documentation; o Customer collaboration over contract negotiation; o Responding to change over following a plan;

9. Scrum o Scrum is commitment-oriented o Scrum is results-oriented o Scrum is disciplined

10. Origins of Scrum o “The New New Product Development Game” in Harvard Business Review, 1986. o Studied companies that were able to rapidly develop successful products o Borrows the term from Rugby in which the ball gets moved up field by the entire team. o Adopted for Software Development and used since mid 90’s

11. Gfx Overview Camera NPC 30 day cycle Prioritized Game Features Tasks New version of the game Daily Meeting (Product Backlog) (Sprint) (Scrum) Review and Planning

12. The Scrum Cast Team Scrum Master Customers Product Owner

13. Product Backlog 30 day Sprint 24 hours Product Backlog As prioritized by Product Owner Sprint Backlog Backlog tasks expanded by team Potentially Shippable Product Increment Daily Scrum Meeting Estimated for planning Broken down into stories that can fit in a sprint

14. Sprint Backlog Sprint Product Backlog Sprint Goals Sprint Backlog broken out by team New Game (Vertical Slice)

15. No changes to the goals allowed during a Sprint in effect Sprint User Stories Tested Game Change

16. Sprint Review and Planning Sprint Product Backlog Sprint Goals Sprint Backlog broken out by team New Game (Vertical Slice) Review and Planning

17. Daily Scrum 24 hours Product Backlog As prioritized by Product Owner Sprint Backlog New Game Daily Scrum Meeting Sprint Backlog broken out by team 30 day Sprint

18. 8 16 8 Mon. 8 Tues. 8 16 10 0 Wed. 0Write widget tester 4Test middle tier 4Create widget asset 0Code the widget Thurs.Task 3 16

19. Sprint Backlog Burndown Chart Dropped Story Slope = Velocity Drag works against velocity

20. The War Room

21. Scaling Scrum - The Scrum of Scrums Teams Support services Functional Leadership

22. Other Agile Practices o Agile Planning o eXtreme Programming (XP)

23. Agile Planning o You can’t plan away uncertainty o You have to execute to reduce uncertainty o Planning is spread out over the entire project o Shifts the emphasis from “the plan” to planning o Shifts from “completion of activities” to “delivery of features” o Creates plans that are easily changed & encourage change o Plans are focused on releases of the game. Works well for pre-production. Production should be predictable.

24. Sprint Release Priority High Low Future Releases Value Cost Risk Knowledge Release Planning

26. eXtreme Programming (XP) Design Development Alpha/Beta Time Cost Of Change

27. XP Builds on Good Practices TDD Programming PairRefactoringUnit Testing Automated Build and Test Source ControlContinuous Integration

28. Agile Game Development o Lessons learned o Benefits o Where to go for more info?

29. Lessons Learned Getting Started o Start small o One Scrum team doing a prototype would be ideal o Do what the book says from the start o Company dysfunctions can creep in otherwise o …but Scrum is meant to be modified (eventually) o Agile planning is harder to start than thought o But XP was easier o Coaching was critical o Onsite and CSM o Publisher buy-in wasn’t difficult o Get them into reviews and planning

30. Lessons Learned… Overtime value is limited but intensity is raised Old Habits Die Hard Over-design Delayed integration Seating by discipline Command and control Testing needs to be pushed Waterfall Project End Waterfall Project Start Iterations Normal Velocity Overtime Velocity

31. Benefits o Improved … o Productivity o Reliability of build o Quality of game o Morale o Ownership o Team work o Communication o Enables low-cost executive awareness o Which means you don’t have to work hard to find out what’s going on

32. Where to go for more info? o www.agilegamedevelopment.com www.agilegamedevelopment.com o Books o Mailing lists o AGD Blog

33. Questions?