Moving and Game Production Part2

In my last blog, I talked about the similarities between moving and game production. Since I talked about the planning that goes into moving and how similar that is to pre-production, it follows that I should talk about moving and the production cycle.

When moving out of your apartment, after you have done your research and know for sure that you are moving, it is time to pack your things and move them on out! The actual packing and moving portion of the relocation process does not require as much planning as the earlier part but still needs to be well thought out. During the planning part of your move, you should have taken packing materials and moving equipment into consideration. Establishing an efficient way of getting recurring tasks done is important to saving overall time (and money).

During the early parts of game production, you should have established work pipelines that you are just polishing to achieve maximum efficiency during the full production cycle. A pipeline can refer to any work cycle that goes on in the company because there are many people that may have to work on a certain aspect of the game. The work pipelines aren’t the only things that are polished at the beginning of the production cycle, it is at this time that the schedule, feature list and target market are also finalized. When production gets into full swing, everything should be set up so that the development team can create a game with few non-technical snags.  This means problems like confusion on game features or lost assets should NEVER arise during the production cycle.

When in the packing phase of moving, it is like the early stages of production. If a pipeline for packing you belongings has not been set up, then the packing phase could take longer or could just seem impossible. For example, if you didn’t think to get boxes or newspapers, then packing could take a very long time. It may be possible to pack dishes and glass items with no newspaper to wrap them in, but it may create problems down the line that will create more work (like shattered dishes).

After you finished packing all of your worldly belongings, it is time to move them to your new place. This portion of moving can also be very negatively affected by a lack of planning. If you have furniture, it is almost impossible to move without a truck. If you live alone, you would probably need someone to help you lift your 300LB armoire. If you did not plan for these things, then moving would either take much longer or be impossible. If you planned properly for this portion of the move, it will be a snap (except for the aching back). You can almost move through the whole process with little or no thought, just pick up boxes from one place and move them to another and repeat.

The moving part of the relocation process is like the actual production part of game development. In this part of the development cycle, your work pipelines are set up and you know exactly what game you are making and what is going to happen in the game. You know when certain aspects of the game will be made (because your schedule is finalized) and all you have to do is make sure everything runs smoothly. During this part of the cycle, your development team will make assets, create code and record voiceover. You may even create a localization kit and receive localization materials to integrate into the game.

The last part of moving involves unpacking. As with every other portion of the process, this is a lot easier when properly planned out. If you organized belongings into boxes in a logical way and marked them then your things will be very easy to find when unpacking.
In game production, the unpacking portion of moving can be compared with the QA cycle and localization integration. These two portions of production are about cleaning up and finalizing the game. Also, these are often the hairiest times in the development cycle because the game is close to launch.
Anyway, I am in the unpacking portion of the Pet Pals 2 development cycle and just don’t have time to write anymore!

Cheers,
Natascha Thomas