Online Game Development Planning 2

Abstract: This is the second of two lectures focusing on ways and means to plan for online game development. 

Emphasis is directed at how best to plan for 

• conceiving
• prototyping
• play testing 
• marketing and deploying 
• community managing, and 
• maintaining future online games 

• small versus large game development teams
• small teams for casual, mobile games, limited sim games, GVWs
• large teams for action/FPS, real-time strategy, role-playing games, sports, complex sim games, MMOGs
• single-site versus multi-site development teams
• single site when centralized control over game design and artwork preferred
• multi-site when decentralized control and division of labor across game functionality or artwork is preferred
• globally distributed game development communities
• loosely-coupled, mostly autonomous game development with small group of core game developers/architects and large dispersed internationally dispersed community of game development contributors 
• works well with free/open source game software/artwork development approaches

Game conception  

• small game development teams 
• most highly innovative game concepts (including games as contemporary art, or new media artwork) are done by small teams!
• Example game art portal, SelectParks.net
• commercial success or financial reward is not central motivation, but original/creative expression is
• may choose to distinguish themselves through development of new/innovative games that employ:
• new/non-traditional user interfaces or interface devices
• GPS-based cell phones with embedded Web browser for geo-referenced game play synchronized with online (PC/Web) game.
• Example: Unexceptional.net featuring multiple user interfaces and interface devices
• bare-hand or touch-free user interfaces (example: EON Touchlight video demo)
• new game play modalities
• mixed reality games
• augmented reality games (example video) or game interfaces (example video)
• first commercial ARG released by Sony, The Eye of Judgement (promotional video)
• "flash mob" games
• small teams may experiment with multi-core processing, but primarily for R&D purposes, rather than for commercial game development
• large game development teams
• may choose to distinguish themselves through development of games that employ:
• new/non-traditional user interfaces or interface devices
• Nintendo Wii controller
• Guitar Hero "guitar" controller
• User interface devices such as these and others (Dance, Dance Revolution floormat user interface) provide for a unique supplement (or strong product tie-in) to game content and revenus stream (devices are also sold separate from game)
• multi-core processor platforms
• game consoles (PS3, XBox 360)
• large teams generally have small number of people involved in envisioning overall game design
• to maintain a "single vision" of what the game is suppose to be, and how best to develop and deploy it
• large teams also allow for division of labor (or task specialization) across game production, marketing, deployment, and community management
• single-site development teams
• similar to small or large development teams
• multi-site development teams
• similar to small or large development teams
• globally distributed game development communities
• generally weak in envisioning new game concepts
• free/open source game software development better suited for relatively well-understood game design concepts and game play experience
• best suited for educating/training next generation of game developers who can employ game design concepts provided by experienced game design "mentors"
• also well suited for development of free/open source game engines, game software and content development environments

Prototyping

• small game development teams
• often start with game modding (very low barrier to entry into market)
• game modding approach most likely for prototyping or development of GVWs
• start with something that works, or something that some other group has created and shared as some form of "open source"
• may be limited to open content sharing and modding, while underlying GVW engine is closed or proprietary 
• many small teams also engaging in use or development of free/open source game engines and content development tools
• other teams experience with these game engines may serve to demonstrate game prototyping or development capability
• some developers of independent or casual games use Flash for game prototyping
• Sample GVW prototype in Flash where multi-core processing and heterogeneous user interfaces are employed.
• large game development teams
• often focusing on providing new or custom game play features or functions that must first be demonstrated via game prototyping
• game prototypes help development teams "earn" external financial investment or publishing deal
• either will "build or buy" a game engine and supporting software development kit (SDK)
• use of existing, operational game engine and SDK enables game prototyping
• custom-built game engines usually done to support development and commercialization of multiple games
• game engines evolved across versions and game platforms (from PC to console, to Web, to mobile, but rarely to MMOG)
• previous versions can always serve to support prototyping, as can new version of the game engine
• prototyping tools from other software application domains also support user interface interaction simulation and replay
• single-site development teams
• same as small versus large game development teams, above
• multi-site development teams
• similar to use of multiple teams to create computer-generated imagery (CGI) or "special effects" in the feature film industry
• all independent teams are now expected to provide pre-visualization prototypes before formal commitment (funding) to production is made
• multi-site prototyping enables (or reinforces) a modular decomposition of the game design and game play experience
• game play mechanics may span multiple game modules
• modular design and prototyping enables parallel or concurrent development of game content or software modules, which in turn can shorten total development time (though not development cost or effort)
• modular prototyping also allows for multi-national development, where a site can focus effort on development of its assigned modules or cross-module features (example, multi-lingual user interface internationalization)
• globally distributed game development communities
• can be same as multi-site development teams
• free/open source game software and content prototyping can be performed independently semi-autonomously teams, who in turn can demonstrate the results of their efforts to other developers
• this collective and shared prototyping activity collectively advances the game design/prototyping knowledge of all those developers who participants (or observe)

Play testing 

• small game development teams 
• most likely to focus on "family or friends" of independent game developers for play testing
• may be leveraged through early dissemination of game versions on independent game portals, to elicit end-user feedback
• Indie game portal examples: Independent Game Festival , Independent Game Source, and Indie Games
• large game development teams
• game testing is often the first activity to be cut or downsized when development schedule or budgets are exceeded!
• may be able to exploit use of end-user beta-testers (who get early and free access to a commercial game before release)
• single-site development teams
• same as small or large game development teams
• multi-site development teams
• may be well suited to employ end-user beta testers in different national markets (U.S., Korea, China) 
• may require game development studios/offices located in different countries
• alternatively, may be able to engage multi-lingual game developers in one country, if available--this may be unlikely
• globally distributed game development communities
• best suited to enable continuous game play testing via continuously available versions of the game while in development
• common technique employed when developing free/open source game software and game artwork

Marketing and deployment 

• small game development teams
• very limited ability to independently access international markets
• opportunity for formation of new venture focusing on creating a global brand/portal that offers "internationalization" services and independent games across languages/cultures
• multi-language or multi-cultural game design hueristics 
• large game development teams
• moving away from developing games for U.S./English-only markets
• some game studios opening game development offices/studios or establishing partnerships with game developers in Asian (Korea, China) markets
• seeking early focus on internationalization and cross-cultural access to end-users in different global markets to enable "market sensitive" game design
• Example: Red 5 Studios (started by former lead developer of World of Warcraft; international financed; studios located in Southern California and Shanghai)
• single-site development teams
• typically focused on games for single natural language, or
• small number of games for small number of languages (via user interface internationalization)
• multi-site development teams
• see large game development teams, above
• globally distributed game development communities
• can excel at articulation of cross-cultural knowledge about game play, game development practices, and end-user collaboration patterns that have been successful
• can be mobilized to support both proprietary and free/open source game software development
• games can be developed and distributed in both commercial and open source ways
• games may be commerically marketed in one natural language market, and made available as open source in another market

Community management and maintenance

• small game development teams 
• leveraged via participation in independent game developer community and community activities
• Example: Independent Games Festival (in conjunction with the annual Game Developers Conference)
• hosting independent games on common game portals
• game mod sites
• builds visibility and reputation (good/bad)
• casual game sites
• large game development teams
• leveraged via production and operation of game development studio portal site
• hosts community information on current games (bug reports, software updates, etc.) 
• hosts community information on upcoming games in development (preview game artwork, etc.)
• leveraged via offering end-user collaboration support environment 
• discussion forums, end-user feedback on new game features, etc.
• single-site development teams
• same as small versus large development teams above.
• multi-site development teams
• generally, large game development teams or large game development studio
• community infrastructure well leveraged through common end-user collaboration environment
• internal/proprietary game developer collaboration infrastructure used to discuss common development problems, solutions, or work-arounds
• not visible or accessible by end-users or other competitors
• unclear how best to exploit multi-national or multi-cultural end-user communities
• game development teams in one country (e.g., U.S. or Korea) may setup end-user collaboration environments by natural language of end-users (English, Korean)
• little crossover of end-user culture or language
• some Korean games are translated in "KorEnglish", which is often frustrating (or embarassing) to game players and game masters in different cultures
• large end-user communities for KorEnglish games may be outside of U.S. (example: Turkey/Middle East), and their end-user collaboration environment may be limited to (partial) English, thereby frustrating game developers and game masters trying to best support and grow the end-user community
• globally distributed game development communities
• may be small or large development teams
• small global teams usually bound to single Web site for sharing information, source code, artwork, advice, etc.
• common in free/open source game software development communities (example: OGRE)
• large global development teams uncommon, but more are anticipated
• similar community support requirements to multi-site development teams