游戏项目生存测试问答

英文版 游戏项目生存测试问答 在此感谢xuebinh

测试内容来自《游戏开发与制作》Erik Bethke著

The Game Project Survival Test

As you read through the questions below, score 3 points if you are comfortable answering yes, score 2 points if you feel your team is partially addressing the question but more work could be done, and score 1 point if you really want to say yes, but it would be a lie. If the question is referring to something that occurs mid-project, answer the question according to your current plans.

Game Requirements

___1.Is there a clear, unambiguous vision statement for the game?

___2.Do all team members believe that this vision is realistic?

___3.Does the project have a reasonable expectation of being profitable for both the publisher and the developer?

___4.Has the core gameplay and user interface of the game been fleshed out so that everyone clearly understands what the game is and why it is fun?

___5.Do the team members think the game will be fun?

Planning

___6.Does the game have a detailed, written game design document?

___7.Does the game have a detailed, written technical design document?

___8.Does the game have a detailed, written art production plan?

___9.Do you have a detailed, integrated project schedule that lists all of the tasks that need to be performed, and have the dependencies between various team members been indicated?

___10.Does your project schedule include tasks like press tours? E3? The Game Developers Conference? Installer? Auto-patcher? Submission to hardware manufacturer approval?

___11.Were the schedule and the budget for the game officially updated and discussed between the publisher and the developer at the end of the latest milestone—even if to say, “Yes, everything is on track”?

___12.Are the features of the game tagged with core, secondary, and tertiary levels of priority to facilitate feature trimming if necessary to maintain the schedule?

___13.Does the game have a written quality assurance plan? Does it handle beta testers? In-house testing? Automated test suites?

___14.Does the game have a detailed milestone plan? Does it clearly describe what will be delivered and reviewable at each milestone?

___15.Does the schedule allow enough time for balance, tuning, and tweaking of features to ensure that it is fun?

___16.Does the schedule account for sick days, holidays, and vacation time? Are the developers tasked at less than 100 percent? Are the leads tasked at less than 75 or 50 percent depending on their responsibility sets?

___17.Has the game design, technical design, art production plan, QA plan, and all of the rest of the composite game development team signed off on the plan?

Project Control

___18.Does the game have a single executive—the project leader or lead designer or producer? Whatever you call the job at your shop, has this person been given full authority, responsibility, and accountability for the success of this game? And is the person enthusiastically embracing this authority, responsibility, and accountability?

___19.Does this project leader have the right workload? Does she have the adequate amount of time to perform at her highest level of project management?

___20.Have the milestones been laid out with clear, measurable deliverables that can easily be quantified as done or not done?

___21.Are the milestones being delivered to the publisher in such a manner as to make it easy for them to review the milestones and measure the progress of the project for themselves?

___22.Do the developers have access to an anonymous communication channel where they can report problems without fear?

___23.Does the game project plan have a written plan for controlling feature creep in the game?

___24.Does the game project have a clearly defined method of how changes will be reviewed by development team leads such as the art and technical directors?

___25.Are all of the game design, technical design, schedule, art production, QA, and all other planning materials easily accessible to all development team members? Are they encouraged to read the material?

___26.Is all source code under version control software?

___27.Are all of the binary assets such as textures, models, music files, and sound effects also stored under version control software?

___28.Do all of the team members have the tools to do the job such as workstations, PS2 and Xbox development kits, 3D Studio Max or Maya seats, bug tracking software, and scheduling software?

Risk Management

___29.Does the game project have a written risks document with possible solutions?

___30.Is this risks document updated at the completion of every milestone?

___31.Does the game project have a risks officer who is encouraged to scout ahead for risks on the project?

___32.If the project is using subcontractors, is there a written plan for how to manage the subcontractors? For each subcontractor is there a single member of the development team who is responsible for that subcontractor?

Personnel

___33.Does the game development team have all of the expertise needed to complete the game?

___34.Does the game development team have a management team that is experienced with managing game development? In other words, are the developers able to concentrate on developing rather than worrying about the state of their game development shop?

___35.Does the game have a lead programmer who is capable of leading the programmers of the team to making a kick-ass game?

___36.Are there enough developers to do all of the work?

___37.Do all of the development team members get along with each other?

___38.Is each team member committed to staying with the game until it successfully ships?

Calculating Your Project’s Score

___Subtotal: Add the points above (ranges from 38 to 114).

___Development team size factor: If your game project has fewer than nine full-time developers, including all artists, programmers, designers, QA, and audio people, use 1.5. If your team has fewer than 19 full-time developers, use 1.2.

___Grand total: Multiply your subtotal by the team size factor.

What Does My Score Mean?

Scores: 102+ AAA—Your game has every possible resource, tool, and plan it will take to make a hit game on time and on budget.

Scores: 91-101 AA—Your game is being managed on a level much higher than the industry norm and is most likely to be a successful project with only a minor amount of difficulty in schedule or budget. Anticipate cost and schedule overruns of at most 5 to 10 percent above baseline.

Scores: 68-90 A—Your game is being managed better than the average game project. Significant challenges will pop up from time to time; however, you stand a strong chance of mastering these challenges. Anticipate cost and schedule overruns limited to 25 percent above the baseline amount.

Scores: 45-67 B—This is about the typical level of management a game project is provided with. This game will certainly face significant challenges at some point. The project will be run with unnecessary risk, frustration, and stress. Some degree of team burnout will occur. Anticipate some turnover at the end of the project. It is without question that the project will be over budget and will take considerably longer than planned at the start of the project. Anticipate cost overruns between 50 and 100 percent of the baseline planned.

Scores below 45 C—Games with these scores are at high risk of being cancelled by the publisher due to poor progress visibility, feature creep, and cost overruns. Only a team without financial concerns will be able to plow through these challenges without being cancelled. These types of projects always result in developer burnout, and some turnover will occur at the end of the project and to some degree in the middle of the project. These projects are advised to get serious planning and management happening immediately or be cancelled and save the industry from one more crappy game.