[casual_games] Production and project management Tools/Process

[Jameson Hsu]

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.

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.

--
 
:\\ 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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