2. Please Note  There is a ton of useful information in the notes of these presentations.  Please download these presentations and enjoy them in MS PowerPoint locally.  Thanks!

3. Production  The thrilling world of workflow

4. When is production?  When you’ve got:  A plan/GDD  A budget  A prototype/VS  A timeline  Tools  Fun!

5. Level Design

6. Workflow/Pipeline Image courtesy of rickzrickz

7. Why Bother?  Who wants red tape?  Save time  Avoid frustration  Control iteration  Manage budget  Avoid crunch, delays

8. The Frontlines Pipeline

9. The Handoff

10. The phases  Phase 0: it exists  Phase 1: it’s got stuff in it  Phase 2: even more stuff!  Phase 3: The GM says it’s done  Not all bad: as a designer, it’s kind of fun!

11. Why did it happen?

12. Our current process

13. Stages  Contain steps  Time boxed  Clear deliverables  Approvers  Responsibilities

14. What is locked?

15. The Process  Research & Concept  Blockout & test  Iteration & Vetting  Refinement & Playtesting  Optimization, Art content, bug fixing

16. A less crazy document

17. How’s it going?  - Time estimates off  + collaboration improved  + No cut maps

18. Key Ingredients  Unambiguous goals  Defined stages  Established approvers  “The courage to be clear”  It’s not about feelings

19. Single player process Image courtesy of max_westbymax_westby

20. Process breakdown

21. The Swarm

22. Positives  Focus  Team work  Coherency  Specialization

23. How do we do it?  Unreal – architected for sharing

24. Submaps

25. The tangled web

26. Map Lead  Produces known-good builds  Insures seamless linking between sections  Handles save/load issues

27. Drawbacks  Loss of mission ownership  Technically challenging

28. Will it work for you?  Does it fit your game?  Can your tools support it?  Will it work for the developers?

29. How’s about Fallout 3?  Take it Joel

30. 55 Ayleid Ruins 57 Imperial Forts 24 Mines 09 Sewers 19 Oblivion Realms 91 Caves. 255 Dungeons What Came Before? Oblivion Staff 1 Dungeon Art Lead 4 Dungeon Artists 3 Level Designers (late) 8 Busy Individuals OblivionDungeons

31. How do 8 people build 255 dungeons/levels? Build Kits in 3ds Max Clutter/Light/FX “Warehouse” Layout & Populate Ship it!* *Some exceptions may apply Major Locations Got More Love

32. 13 Metro Tunnels 12 DC Neighborhoods 26 Office Buildings 06 Vaults 15 Other 8 Caves 68 “Z” Cells. 148 LD Locations What Now? Fallout3Staff 6 Level Designers (peak) 4 Environment Artists Fallout 3 Spaces

33. Fallout 3 LD Workflow Iterative Passes, Formal Collaboration Pass 1: Basic Layout Pass 2: Refine, Populate, Script Art Pass: Lighting, Detail Clutter Pass 3: Polish for Ship Pass 4: Bonus Polish Time 1-5 Days per pass, depending on Size Passes Scheduled to match dependency Shared ownership, one party accountable

34. In Conclusion  Production is hard  Develop a pipeline  Communicate concrete goals  Stay flexible

35. Contact  forrest.dowling@kaosstudios.com forrest.dowling@kaosstudios.com  @stuckbug