Working as a game designer in Europe, it's (increasingly) obvious to many of us that the way that game development is and should be are two entirely different things. We are moving (albeit slowly) towards a more efficient, smarter working model, shared ironically, with the movie industry.
Ironic in that they are two different art forms, however, to further draw the contrast, you don't need a key grip for every day you are in production on a film. The same holds true for game development. We need to shed our rigid software development upbringing and recognize the nature of what we do. While rooted in software, games extend beyond the model applicable to spreadsheets and databases.
The need for several key resources (design lead, prg lead, art lead, etc) throughout the development of a title is obvious, however, how often is it that the artists or programmers or sound engineers must wait for the next phase of development to actually begin their work? Too often. How many resources ($$) are wasted during this time, wasted resources that could be used to make the game that much more refined, that much more playable, that much more polished? Perhaps the question should be: "how many start-ups do we need to go through before we realize that teams should and need to bring resources in as the title demands and remove them when their work is done?"
Given the somewhat seedy underside of game development, I know many talented people who'd prefer this model.
Mod this up or down, but it's logically The New Way.
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Working as a game designer in Europe, it's (increasingly) obvious to many of us that the way that game development is and should be are two entirely different things. We are moving (albeit slowly) towards a more efficient, smarter working model, shared ironically, with the movie industry.
Ironic in that they are two different art forms, however, to further draw the contrast, you don't need a key grip for every day you are in production on a film. The same holds true for game development. We need to shed our rigid software development upbringing and recognize the nature of what we do. While rooted in software, games extend beyond the model applicable to spreadsheets and databases.
The need for several key resources (design lead, prg lead, art lead, etc) throughout the development of a title is obvious, however, how often is it that the artists or programmers or sound engineers must wait for the next phase of development to actually begin their work? Too often. How many resources ($$) are wasted during this time, wasted resources that could be used to make the game that much more refined, that much more playable, that much more polished? Perhaps the question should be: "how many start-ups do we need to go through before we realize that teams should and need to bring resources in as the title demands and remove them when their work is done?"
Given the somewhat seedy underside of game development, I know many talented people who'd prefer this model.
Mod this up or down, but it's logically The New Way.
j game designer adventurer