1. Lecture 6 CS171: Game Design Studio 1I UC Santa Cruz School of Engineering www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps171/Winter2010 michaelm@cs.ucsc.edu 23 Feb 2010

2. UC SANTA CRUZ Postmortems  Game postmortems are a regular feature in both Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra  Focus on 5 things that went right, 5 things that went wrong  Reading postmortems helps you to recognize good and bad development patterns happening on your own game  Doing your own project postmortems solidifies lessons for future projects

3. UC SANTA CRUZ What went wrong: testing  Not leaving enough time for testing – end up focusing on stability rather than gameplay details of levels and enemies  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4  Beta too late to have any real impact  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensem bles_Age_of_Empires.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensem bles_Age_of_Empires.php  Insufficient communication between QA and development  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensem bles_Age_of_Empires.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensem bles_Age_of_Empires.php  Didn’t take early advantage of automated testing  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensem bles_Age_of_Empires.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensem bles_Age_of_Empires.php  Testing with the wrong audience  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3939/postmortem_singaporemit_gambits_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3939/postmortem_singaporemit_gambits_.php?page=4

4. UC SANTA CRUZ What went wrong: design  Mistakes in level design  Not progressing game mechanics and obstacles along with the story  Not adequately melding design styles from multiple designers  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4  Design decisions (like temporal variety) that multiply content needs  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=3  Balancing AI quantity (handling many units or characters) and quality (AI looking good when focus is on a single unit)  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4  Lack of specified design lead to divergent efforts during balancing and tweaks  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4  Lack of focus on controls  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.ph p http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.ph p  Lack of high-level vision  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs _Infamous.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs _Infamous.php  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3  Overloading player with new concepts and systems  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4010/postmortem_square_enixs_the_.php?print=1 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4010/postmortem_square_enixs_the_.php?print=1

5. UC SANTA CRUZ What went right: design  Prototyping  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=2  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs _Infamous.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs _Infamous.php  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25002/InDepth_Inside_The_Making_Of_KingsIsles_Wizard10 1.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25002/InDepth_Inside_The_Making_Of_KingsIsles_Wizard10 1.php  For level-based game, focusing from the beginning on level design  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.ph p http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.ph p  Early establishment of physical metrics for player character/world interactions  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2  Nailing the gameplay mechanic before content development  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=2  Playtesting provides feedback on difficulty arc and gameplay and builds a fan community  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php  Sticking with 2D  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3903/postmortem_riverman_medias_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3903/postmortem_riverman_medias_.php?page=2  Physics-based gameplay  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=2

6. UC SANTA CRUZ What went wrong: project management  Grossly underestimating the amount of work  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=2  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=4  School projects versus full development  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3  Adding stuff at the last minute  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3  Didn’t investigate outsourcing companies sufficiently leading to bad experience  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=4  Positive feedback leads to feature creep  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=4  Crunch  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4041/postmortem_gaijin_games_bittrip_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4041/postmortem_gaijin_games_bittrip_.php?page=3  Inadequate analysis and planning for technical risk  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_in_arms_.php?page=4 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_in_arms_.php?page=4

7. UC SANTA CRUZ What went right: project management  SCRUM  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25799/Postmortem_Behind_Th e_Scenes_Of_Brutal_Legend.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25799/Postmortem_Behind_Th e_Scenes_Of_Brutal_Legend.php  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_i n_arms_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_i n_arms_.php?page=2  Internal art person had great art community connections, leading to good outsourcing experience  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys _darkest_of_.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys _darkest_of_.php  Empowering creativity across the team  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/22710/InDepth_Behind_The_Sc enes_Of_Far_Cry_2.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/22710/InDepth_Behind_The_Sc enes_Of_Far_Cry_2.php

8. UC SANTA CRUZ What went wrong: tools and tech  Networking code started too late  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=3  The lure of shared technology  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2  Loosing iterative design time due to refactoring  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=3  Inefficient art pipeline  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=3  Custom tech (driven by unique gameplay features) leading to inefficiencies (“transformation tech too expensive”)  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees_grimm.php?page=5 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees_grimm.php?page=5  Physics problems  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3

9. UC SANTA CRUZ What went right: tools and tech  Successfully building on tools from last project  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.ph p http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.ph p  Custom engine supported experimentation and fast turnaround  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkes t_of_.php?page=2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkes t_of_.php?page=2  Using an existing, well-established engine allowed focus on design  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4188/postmortem_wadjet_eyes_the_.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4188/postmortem_wadjet_eyes_the_.php  Good use of middleware  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees _grimm.php?page=3 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees _grimm.php?page=3