Using Agile Methodologies To Make Games?

simoniker writes "Using Agile methodologies for programming is a concept that's been around for a while now, but some firms are now applying the concept to video game development." There has been a lot of talk lately about what the 'next big thing' in development will be. Could this be it? Or is this just another step along the way? From the article: "Agile puts the emphasis on producing demonstrable iterations of a game almost immediately into production, creating prioritized vertical slices that iterate on the most critical elements and features. The method also puts great emphasis on the organization of teams and the relationships therein, as well as the cycles in which teams must plan and carry out their project objectives."

Comments

'agile' is neat, but ...

[bunions]

as everyone else pointed out, it's mostly just a name for what people have been doing for a while when upper management leaves them alone.

That said, I've found the hardest part of the process to be finding a client who is willing to put up with the constant back-&-forth and interminable beta testing. Customers generally just want to tell you what they want, go away and then have you magically deduce what they actually need, and can be irritable when you tell them you really can't do that because ... you know ... agile!

Re:Managers

[SatanicPuppy]

I know it's tired old hat, and probably flameworthy in this environment, but a real manager doesn't need to know what the hell you're talking about to make a good descision. All he has to do is know his people, and be willing to listen to their experience. By the same token, the most knowledgable manager in the world can still screw everything up by trying to make everyone do it the exact way he would do it if he was doing it all himself.

You need to find someone who can keep the final goal in sight, and who is flexible enough to reorganize whenever the requirements change. Agile, Waterfall, Iterative, whatever, it doesn't matter...These are ideas put together so that mediocre managers will have some kind of method that may bring decent results. They can all work great, and they can all work poorly, and it all depends on who is doing the oversight.

Management actually is a pretty solid skill if you can do it. Too much of the flaming comes from people who've never had the good fortune to work with a good manager. I myself have never worked with one who was the total package...Either they understood the work and the clients and they couldn't deal with the higher ups, or they dealt well with the higher ups but didn't understand the work or the clients.

This 'agile' thing has a different goal

[Weaselmancer]

From the blurb:

Agile puts the emphasis on producing demonstrable iterations of a game almost immediately into production

So what this does basically is get something that just barely works up for review as quickly as possible. Like throwing a lump of clay on a table and saying, "There's a vase in here, somewhere."

This IMHO will do two things. First, it will give SW managers a warm feeling caused primarily from too much optimism. "All the engineers have to do is shape that clay a bit, and it's a vase! We're ahead of schedule!" Two, since they will think they're ahead of schedule, they'll report to their superiors about how they already "have a working prototype of a vase" and that'll bump up the schedule.

The engineers who actually have to implement things will know better. And they're the ones who will get stuck with the deadline. The agile pony show where you show your manager something that boots but doesn't have 98% of the functionality in it will bite you in the rear later on.

This method doesn't seem well suited to making software. However, it does seem well suited to making managers feel good. I'd avoid it.