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Individual Presentation, Karim Sacre 04/20/12. Game and Software Engineering Practices. Outline. Gaming Challenges Development Stages Scrum in Games Electronic Arts Rovio : Angry Birds USC Video Game Program Conclusion . 2. Gaming Challenges.
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Individual Presentation, KarimSacre 04/20/12 Game and Software Engineering Practices
Outline • Gaming Challenges • Development Stages • Scrum in Games • Electronic Arts • Rovio: Angry Birds • USC Video Game Program • Conclusion 2
Gaming Challenges • Every game has a peek then the popularity will drop • Technology / Market changes • Too many platforms to be satisfied • Game has to be fun and NOT buggy • Games might run over budget • SEQUEL Games: • Keep up with technology • People expectations go higher • Deadline is very strict • Highly competitive business 3
Development Stages • Concept • Ideas are generated • Prototype • Green Light Approval • Pre-Production • Explore what are the fun aspects of the game • Create levels • Iterative and Incremental stage • Production • Game Statistics / Development • Post-Production • Testing • Shipment 4
Scrum How does Scrum Help with Game development? • “How does a project get to be a year late?One day at a time.”– Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month • Sprint Burndown • Better Productivity and Quality of Game • Better Team collaboration • Worth the overhead effort NOTE: Realized the delay => Removed 160 hours of low priority features *http://www.agilegamedevelopment.com/Articles/GDC2005/gdc2005_ClintonKeith_final.pdf
Electronic Arts • Who is Electronic Arts? *http://lanyrd.com/2011/jax-london-autumn/sgqbp 6
Electronic Arts Shortfall Why is EA stumbling? • Did not catch up to the mobile industry • Players are looking more for FREE online games • “EA to cease development of Battlefield IOS game” • Badly developed game / Very Buggy system • EA decided to cut its losses by removing the game from the iOS App Store • Not enough game testing. EA rushed to publish the game Why is EA called the “Evil Empire” (John D. Carmack)? • “The company that crushes the small studios” • Maxis (1997), Westwood Studios (1998), Playfish (2009), PopCapGames (2011) 7
Electronic Arts Agile "The stumbling is gone, the execution is there.“ (John Riccitiello, EA CEO) *http://lanyrd.com/2011/jax-london-autumn/sgqbp 8
Electronic Arts Agile • EA (UK) Stock market goes up significantly during the month of Feb 2011 till Aug 2011 * http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EA 9
Rovio: Angry Birds Reason for Angry Birds Success: • Used older technology (COCO 2D) • Focused on making the game FUN and User friendly • Released a prototype that was FREE • Very cheap (0.99c) => More downloads • 300 million downloads so far * http://www.redmondpie.com/angry-birds-is-coming-to-facebook-on-valentines-day • Started on 1 platform and expanded to other platforms • Used Agile/Scrum development • Divided team to smaller sub teams 10
USC Game Development Classes USC Teams: • Use Agile method during entire project • Divided into groups of 5-8 people • Have weekly tasks assigned by the project leader: Google Docs What makes USC number 1 in Video Game Design? • Professor Scott Easley Experienced • Professor Michael Zyda Veteran • Full Hands on practice • High Success Rate Measured 11
Conclusion • Agile and Scrum are the best Practices for Game Development • In the case of Big Companies: Divide Team into smaller sub teams and apply Agile and Scrum • Software Engineering Practices Help with Game Success • The world has shifted to a new Game Environment: Mobile Gaming • Takes less development time and has fewer requirements • It should be a User friendly game • On the go: Can be easily paused • Most important aspect of a game is: “SCOPE” (Scott Easley, USC) 12
END THANK YOU