wfmag.cc \ 33Distributed game development: the future?Toolbox
and as such, communication can suffer between
these different locations. For this reason, the
work done at each studio is normally broken
down to reduce the communication required.
One studio may work independently on a
single-player mode, for instance, so the people
collaborating on that part of the game are still in
the same building.
This doesn’t solve the problem, but it reduces
the negative impact substantially. It can,
however, have a negative impact on the finished
product, where there are noticeable differences
in aspects of the game that were worked on in
different locations.
FOLLOWING THE WORK
While the games industry has grown at a great
rate, it’s still relatively small. Employees often
have to move, sometimes to other countries,
to follow the work they want to pursue. Also, as
an artefact of the industry being fairly new and
having grown so fast, companies are still figuring
out how to create games while still ensuring
long-term stability for their workers. It’s not
uncommon to hear of companies having to let
some of their workforce go once a project’s
complete. The industry’s generally good at
making new opportunities available for those
who do lose their jobs, but again, this often
requires relocation for workers.
For some, this is exciting, and they use it as
an opportunity to travel around the world, meet
new people, and face new challenges. This is,
however, a small percentage of the workers in
the industry; many of us have families, with kids
in school, or just really like where we live and
don’t want to relocate.
So what are the options if you don’t want to
move? You could leave the industry – something
that lots of people do at some point in their
careers. That’s a real shame, and we lose some
great talent when people make that choice.
You could set up a small indie studio. You may
just want to write code or draw pictures.
What other options are there?BETTER COMMUNICATION
Suppose that we could fix, or at least greatly
improve, the issues we face with communication.
Could we allow workers to work wherever they
want, and still get the product made to the same
quality, in the same time, with the same budget?
I think we can. On a small scale at Ultimatum
Games, we’ve built systems and procedures
which allow us to work collaboratively as a
distributed team. As a result, I feel just as
productive (if not more so) than at any other
time in my career.
As previously discussed, communication
is the biggest barrier to distributed game
development. The first step in solving this is to
identify when communication needs to happen,
and then what method should be used for
that communication.
There will be cases where a worker requires
information so that they can complete their
current task, and they choose to ask someone
else to get the answer. When this happens, the
person who replies will be interrupted from their
work, causing them to switch context, which
often has a much greater cost than the time to
have the conversation. You have to add the time
it takes for that person to get back into what
they were previously doing. Critical Charm is a new indie
studio based in Helsinki where
some of the staff work on-site.FURTHER
READING
The book REMOTE: Office
Not Required, written by
the creators of Basecamp,
is an essential read if you’re
considering remote working,
both for the worker and also
for managers who want
to understand how you
should manage a distributed
workforce. Many industries
are already embracing
remote working and the
benefits that it offers, but the
games industry is currently
lagging behind. This book
acts as a great primer to
allow you to catch up with
the benefits that others are
already enjoying. A practical guide to remote
working, written by the very
successful distributed company
37signals (now Basecamp).