[casual_games] Production and project management Tools/Process

[Duncan Gough]

On 1 Nov 2005, at 00:32, Jameson Hsu wrote:

> We're not game developers, but I think we're all in the same boat  
> when it
> comes to writing code, organizing assets, and having collaborative  
> reviews.
>
>
> The best solution that we've worked with has been Trac
> (http://www.edgewall.com/trac/).  It's an all encompassing solution  
> that
> manages our source control (SVN & TortoiseSVN), bug tracking, ticket
> assignments, milestones, and collaboration. Trac is open source so  
> it's
> totally free and there are a lot of plug-ins
> (http://trac-hacks.swapoff.org/) that can be added on to enhance the
> product.
>
> The only downside of Trac is the complexity of setting it up.  If  
> you don't
> have a skilled sys admin then I'd suggest using a hosted service  
> like Wush
> (http://www.wush.net/subversion.php).  We started off with them, but
> eventually set up our own repository.

I'd second Trac and I've got the scars to prove it. If you can set it  
up, it does seem worth it.

However, as you've mentioned, it is very code focussed. We're still  
trying to find something that offers much more in the way of sales/ 
developer/project tracking.

Being split across the UK and Australia means that we really need  
something that does a bit of everything, although I'm coming to the  
conclusion that we won't find one solution, rather lots of  
modularised ones. The old unix 'do one thing and do it well' approach.

> In comparing Trac to Basecamp I would say that Trac has been a much  
> better
> solution for our particular needs.  We don't interface with clients  
> much so
> we don't need the slick and polished interface that Basecamp  
> offers.  Trac
> is much more robust in managing the development process from front  
> to end
> and we could manage our entire process in one system so that was  
> the biggest
> draw for us.  One of the greatest benefits that we have used is the  
> ability
> to cross reference bugs and tickets with source revisions.  It's a  
> life
> saver when trying to document new builds.

This is a good point. I'd love to hear about how people use their  
project management tools as much as what they use. For us,  
communication is going to be the key factor - anything that helps us  
keep ideas flowing is going to be worth a lot to us.

--

http://www.millionsofgames.com
http://www.suttree.com


>
> --
>
> :\\ Jameson
>
> The MochiBot Team
> http://www.mochibot.com
> A product of Mochi Media
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games- 
>> bounces at igda.org]
>> On Behalf Of Wade Tinney
>> Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 3:15 PM
>> To: 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
>> Subject: [casual_games] Production and project management Tools/ 
>> Process
>>
>>
>> Hi all-
>>
>> Over here at Large Animal, we've spent the past year cleaning up and
>> revamping our production processes and I'm curious to hear which
>> tools/processes other folks are using to produce casual games.
>>
>> I'll go first: we are currently using Fogbugz as both a project
>> management and bug tracking tool, mediaWiki for reference material  
>> (such
>> as the design plan and production schedule) and related discussion,
>> SVN/Tortoise for source control and Word/Excel for other sundry  
>> tasks.
>> For sharing assets with clients/publishers, we've developed our own
>> web-based tool called Yessum for posting files, collecting  
>> comments, and
>> getting approval.
>>
>> For other communications, we're an Outlook shop. Although we don't  
>> have
>> an exchange server installed, so we're thinking of using something  
>> like
>> this to sync up our calendars: http://schedules.4team.biz/ Has anyone
>> used it?
>>
>> We've tried using instant messenger in the past, but concluded  
>> that it
>> was mainly a productivity sink-hole and did not create a clear and
>> easily usable record of communication like email does. In general, it
>> only fits into the workflow of the person *initiating* the  
>> conversation,
>> and is a distraction for everyone else. Other opinions?
>>
>> As for process, we have a quick (20 minute) morning meeting every day
>> that is akin to an Agile Development SCRUM. We generally use an
>> iterative design process, with very early prototypes and a lot of
>> pre-production in general. Someone recently introduced me to the  
>> idea of
>> "Feature Driven Development". Somehow I'd never heard of that, but  
>> after
>> reading a bit more, it sounds pretty much like the approach we  
>> take when
>> planning a project.
>>
>> That's the overview for us. I can go into more detail on the above if
>> anyone is interested, but what I want to know is what are other folks
>> doing? Did any of you come over from larger (traditional) game
>> developers and bring useful production techniques with you?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>>
>> Wade
>>
>> Wade Tinney
>> partner, game designer
>> Large Animal Games
>> http://www.largeanimal.com
>> wade at largeanimal.com
>> 212-989-4312
>>
>>
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>
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