Just Cause Developer Adopts Hansoft Management Tools

Project management and QA tools vendor Hansoft announced that Just Cause maker Avalanche Studios has adopted its tools for project management and defect tracking with Agile/Lean development. Stockholm-headquartered Avalanche Studios just set up a new development house in New York last month, and released its first XBLA/PSN/PC title Renegade Ops in September. The company is currently developing three games for both original and licensed properties, using its own proprietary technology for open worlds. Hansoft's tools are designed to bring Agile, Lean, scheduling, bug tracking, workload coordination, and portfolio/document management together to give developers an overview of their projects. They're built around ideas like team empowerment, increased communication, transparency, and collaboration. Avalanche Studios's senior producer Dan Thronstrom said adopting Hansoft was a "major turning point" when working on Renegade Ops. The tool company worked with Avalanche Studios to help it structure and get an overview of its work, which Thronstrom said was "immensely helpful." "No studio wants to end up doing a death march," says Hansoft CEO Patric Palm. "Where other tools fall short providing only flat lists of things to fix, Hansoft helps teams achieve a more proactive and structured approach. It's no silver bullet, but certainly gives the team a better shot managing their production successfully."