Feature: Minimizing Risks In Large Productions

Author: by Staff

In a follow-up to a previous feature, Troy Dunniway of MMO developer Globex Studios delves into several different kinds of risks in the Gamasutra feature article, "Small Developers: Minimizing Risks in Large Productions - Part II." For example, Dunniway notes schedule and project management risks. He warns, "No matter how you handle it, you will incur a tremendous amount of risk to a project if you don't schedule your projects, and you will also incur a lot of risks if you schedule poorly, fall behind, or make bad decisions in your scheduling." Other specific areas of game development carry risks. Outsourcing, for example, can be beneficial for a studio, but there are potential drawbacks. "Some cheaper teams without a lot of experience can be seen as particularly risky, but even these teams can have a majority of their risks mitigated by some best practices and proper management," he writes. "If you have never worked with an external art team, it can be tough," Dunniway adds. "There can be time zone issues, communication problems (either due to the time zones or language barriers), technical problems, art quality problems and much more to deal with." Another risk area is programming. "The game programming team runs the biggest risks in choosing the right engine and technologies to use," Dunniway says. "If the team decides to create a new engine, it will take on a huge risk. If the team is going to license an engine, there is still a lot of risk, especially if few on the team have used the engine before." "So, to minimize the risks, the programming team needs to spend an adequate amount of time evaluating and learning the tech and all possible choices, before committing to anything." While Dunniway says that's it's important to avoid risk from the outset as well as know what to do when you inevitably encounter it, he says some risk is natural and important in the creation process. "Some risk in a project is a good thing, since if you have no risk at all, then you probably aren't innovating and trying to make the game as great as it possibly could be. If you find yourself saying there aren't any risks in your game, you are either really lucky, or just blind to reality," he writes. For a more in-depth look at minimizing risks within smaller development teams, read the full Gamasutra feature, available now.