Pipeline & Process Fundamentals for the Next Generation Olivier GOGUEL [email protected] First presented at GDC Europe (London, September 1st 2004)

Pipeline & Process Fundamentals for the

Next GenerationOlivier GOGUEL

[email protected]

First presented at GDC Europe (London, September 1st 2004)

on behalf of Argonaut Games PLC

Quote of the Day

• « Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so »

• -- Douglas Adams

Talk context

1995 20152005 2008

Cottage Industry

Movie-like industry

Next-gen transition

1995

• Development Process– games can be signed based on a sole game design,

little differences between pre-production and production

• Management– Small organized teams (10 max), with graduates

gradually replacing autodidact people

• Pipeline– Everything written internally (tools & run-time)– Code-driven development

2005

• Development Process– Playable demo to sell the game. Once the game is

signed, the team rushes into production

• Management– Medium to Large team (30-100) – not very large

• Pipeline– Common tools, mainly for content creation– Middleware usage is common, but most of the

technologies are still developed internally– Moving slightly from code-driven to content driven

2015

• Development Process– Movie-like pre-production & production

• Management– Very large team (300+)– On-Demand Team Members– Unions

• Pipeline– Main technical issues solved– Industry-wide framework – Dedicated tools for our many needs– Fully Content driven

The more, the merrier ?

• More pre-production

• More people

• More tools

• More data

Common sense, but things are moving exponentially from now on

TRANSITION

2015

1995

Challenges for the next gen

• Those impacted by this exponential transition• Those we can try to anticipate right now

– Real pre-production phase– Very large team management– Tools integration– Managing the data being produced– Keeping your team on track

• Mainly producing/management challenges as technical issues would be manageable

Pre-production

• Critical to the success of game development

Company Strategy- Market Position

- Catalogue- Ambition and Means

Market- Competition

- Evolution- Trends

Team- Skills and Wills

- Methods and tools- Size and Structure

Game Definition- Genre / Audience- Size and Quality

- Technology

PreProduction

Without Pre-production

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Team

head

co

un

t each

mo

nth

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

To

tal

man

-mo

nth

s

Per Month Total

Production

© www.solidgame.com

With Pre-production

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Team

head

co

un

t each

mo

nth

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

To

tal

Man

-mo

nth

s

Per month Total

Production

© www.solidgame.com

1 4 7

10 13 16 19 22

1995

2005

2015

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Tea

m s

ize

Month

Team Size Comparison

1995

2005

2015

FPP vs. Pre-production

• Developers need to demonstrate a first complete level (FPP) in order to be able to sign a deal

• Going into production just after the game is signed does not mean that you’ve finished your pre-prod!

• FPPs are going to kill a lot of games (and companies) : – Cost is entirely up to the developer– Demonstrate gameplay elements only– Feasibility and profitability are not guaranteed

FPP AND Pre-production

• Needs 2 different tools & processes– to show a lot to publishers at a reduced

cost: need prototyping tools– to organize the production (organisation,

pipeline, schedule, risk management, …) : need to formalize the pre-production process

• Need to bring in experts from the movie industry who know what real pre-production means

Very Large Team Challenges

• Can’t have them on the same floor• Can’t have them permanently

– Your HR budget will explode– You won’t need most of them during pre-prod

• Can’t have every expertise required internally

• How to build such a very large team ?• How to manage them ?

Team composition

• On-Demand team members is the key– Contractor– Outsourcing companies

• Facilitated by– A proper pre-production– Standard tools and soon a common framework widely

used through the industry– Contractors and outsourcing to companies are

already good practice• New profile needed:

managing contractors & external companies

Involvement & Accomplishments

• Less creative impact on the final results from the individual

• Acceptance of the change fromold school people– Not possible to do a game on your own– Not possible to know everything

• Does not mean you can’t be proudof the final result

• New comers to the industry will have less problem : need to bring new blood!

Managers vs. experts

• Need to keep permanent experts in key fields – Design, Architecture, Animation, Pipeline, Online

• Need to have some manager to organizethe production– « A manager is not an expert »– Can't just keep promoting your best people– Loss of expertise & work

• Peter’s principle – “People tend to be promoted to their level

of incompetence”– Corollary ???

Lack of managers in the industry

• 50 persons team :– 35 permanents, 10 contractors + 5 managers

• 200 persons team :– 75 permanents, 100 contractors + 25 managers

• Will need another management layer (manager of managers)

• Will be much harder to promote/hire/train 20+ managers if not anticipated by the studio

Build a new culture

• Recognize non-technical qualities (listening, leadership)– Train your potential managers – Encourage trainers, coaches, mentors– Do it before they’re being poached by your

competitors!

• Bring in managers from other industries

Tool challenges

• Increasingly game complexity– Requires a specialist for each domain– Requires a tools for each domain

• Saving time by choosing the right tools– Modelling, animation, light maps, material, shaders– Path finding, AI, physics, network– Asset management, source control

• Next challenge : integrating all those tools

Level Compositing Framework

HUB

Animations

Game

Lightmaps

Models

Materials

Particles

(…)

Exporter

Behaviours

Invest in a integration tools framework

• Spend your effort on the framework, not on proprietary tools!

• Options– Have an internal team to develop the

framework– Buy a middleware technology

Does not necessarily mean you have to buy out your favourite middleware company!

Managing data produced by a very large team

• Challenges– Cannot rely on simple build process (eg. fixed build

time)– Cannot use the latest version of your data– Cannot stop the team (especially contractors)– Must show some continuous progress

• Proposed solution : release frequent proven build– Reference code/data– Synchronized data for the porting teams– Regular progress review

Build vicious-circle

Local editing

Integration & Build

Test for proven build

Local test for integration

How to make sure your build works ?

• Asset management solution is key– More than just a check-in/ check-out feature!– Allow multiple development at the same time

• Break the circle by having 2 branches– Proven branch : only approved data is added– WIP branch : people can keep on working while

the version is being built

• Balance your effort between both branches• Automate your build process

Keeping your team on track

• « I love deadlines. I specially love the swooshing sounds they make as they fly by »

• - Douglas Adams

Best practices to keep your team on track

• Set bi-weekly milestones– Result oriented (not task!)– Use your competitors as a benchmark

• Measure what has been produced against the expected quality – “What is not in the build is not in the build”– Don’t overachieve

• Update your objectives accordingly– Focus your efforts on the right features

Conclusion

• « Don’t panic »

• -- Douglas Adams

DON'T PANIC!

• Best practices for the transition – pre-production !– Train/Hire managers – Invest on the integration framework– Have a formalized build process– Focus on result, not on tasks

• identify your strengths and leverage – Where’s the added value of your company ?– Which permanent people do you need?

• Do it now!

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Time for some Q&A

Contact:

[email protected]