CASE STUDY—GAME PRODUCTION CYCLE 441
Completing Localization
Refer to Chapter 21 for more information on localization. Supergame Studios
has completed localization and consults their checklist to confirm that they have
completed all the major localization tasks. Figure A.34 (located below) is the
localization checklist.
A.4.4 Production Scenarios
The following are two production issues that may occur during the development
cycle on Justice Unit. Refer to Chapter 18 for some specific production tech-
niques to deal with these scenarios.
Scenario #1
The design team is ready to start scripting the levels, but just found out that
the copy and paste functionality has not been added to the tool yet. This is a
feature that engineering agreed to add to the scripting tool since it would save
the designers a lot of time. The lead designer based the design schedule on the
assumption that this functionality would be in the tool. Now that it’s not imple-
mented, it is going to the take the designers 25 percent more time to script
the levels in the game. This is going to have a negative impact on the overall
schedule and will definitely jeopardize the ship date. The lead designer goes to
the producer right away with this issue so they can work out a solution.
The producer first talks to the lead engineer to figure out when this func-
tionality can be added and who is available to do the work. The lead engineer
wants the engineering team to finish up some work on the graphics engine first,
and then he says he will have one programmer available who can complete the
feature in two days. The lead engineer estimates that the tool will have the fea-
ture working in about two weeks.
The producer relays this information to the lead designer, and they look at the
design schedule to see if there are some other tasks the designers can work on in
the mean time. The lead designer decides to keep half of the design team on the
original tasks of scripting levels, and assigns other designers to work on the next set
of mission walkthroughs. This allows them to stay on schedule, because when the
scripting tool is finally ready to use, over half of the missions will be designed on
paper and ready for prototype scripting. The lead designer also puts in a request
for an additional designer on the project. If he can get someone on the project dur-
ing the last six months of production, the lost time can easily be made up.
Scenario #2
Justice Unit is at beta and is asset complete. The game is right on schedule for
the final submission to Microsoft. Digital Fun, Inc. informs Supergame Studios
that they are close to finalizing a deal with Coca-Cola for in-game advertising.
442 THE GAME PRODUCTION HANDBOOK, 2/E
PRE-PRODUCTION Y / N NOTES
TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Does game support unicode?
Are all language assets in an easily accessible directory in the game?
Will subtitling functionality be needed?
Are localized keyboards supported for player input?
Will several languages ship on a single CD ROM?
Will localized versions be multiplayer compatible?
Do boxes in UI scale to accommodate different size text strings?
Is any additional software needed to aid in localization?
Are international currency and date/time formats supported?
Has a version control system been decided on for the localizations?
Has the localization pipeline been decided on?
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Will the localized versions ship simultaneously with the English version?
Has the asset overview form been filled in and sent to the translator?
Have the languages been determined?
Will external vendors be producing the localizations?
If so, are the bid packages prepared?
Has the budget been completed and approved?
Has the level of localization been determined for each langauge?
Has the overall schedule been completed and finalized?
Are there development resources available for the localizations?
Has a method for integrating text assets been determined?
Has a method for integrating VO assets been determined?
Has a pipeline been determined for fixing bugs?
Have the appropriate measures been taken to comply with all of the
international ratings boards?
Have the third party publishers been contacted about the localized versions?
Will PAL support be necessary for console versions?
Is there enough hardware for functionality and linguistic testing?
PRODUCTION
Has a detailed schedule been completed and communicated to the team?
Has the localization overview document been sent to the localization
coordinator or translators?
Has all the pre-production game documentations been sent to the localization
coordinator or translators?
Has the latest English build of the game been sent to the translators?
Have the text assets been organized for translation and sent to the
localization coordinator?
Have the voiceover script and character casting notes been sent to the
localization coordinator?
Have the final English voiceover files been sent to the localization
coordinator?
Have all the art assets to be localized been sent to the localization
coordinator?
Have all the cinematic assets and time codes been organized and sent to the
translator?
Are the translations for the text assets completed?
Have the localized voiceover files been recorded and processed?
Have the text and voiceover files been integrated?
Have the cinematics been localized?
Have the localized versions been sent to the appropriate ratings board for
approval?
Does the master contain demos from other games that were requested by
marketing?
Is functionality testing completed?
Are all functionality bugs fixed and has the game been code released?
Is linguistic completed?
Are all linguistic bugs fixed and has final linguistic approval been given?
Have the localized versions been sent to the replicator (PC) or submitted to
the third party publisher (consoles and cell phones)?
WRAP-UP
Have the manual and box text been sent for translations?
Does a localized demo need to be produced?
Have localized screenshots been taken for the manual and box?
Has a closing kit been created for all the localized versions?
If necessary, have all patches been localized and made available?
FIGURE A.34 Localization Checklist for Justice Unit.
CASE STUDY—GAME PRODUCTION CYCLE 443
They want to add Coke signs to all the levels in the game, and possibly build a
drink stand where your character can purchase Coke as part of a health boost.
This deal is worth $1 million in ad fees to Digital Fun, so they are really pushing
for it, but on the other hand they also need the game to ship on time.
The producer discusses this feature request with the team leads to get an
idea of how much work is required to implement the feature as requested by
marketing. Adding Coke signs throughout the levels doesn’t take too much
time, as long as the team is able to get pre-rendered art assets in the correct
size and resolution for the signs. If the team has to create the signs, it will take
one artist five days to complete. In addition, the team needs specific instruc-
tions on where the signs are to be placed in the level and information on how
many signs need to be added to each level. The schedule is pretty tight, so even
the few days it would take to implement a few 2D signs in the level will impact
the level of polish on the game.
The request for building a drink machine for a health boost is more complex
and would impact the engineering, art, and design schedules. Since the game
doesn’t already include a health boost drink the game, design has to spend some
time prototyping this functionality to figure out how to make it work in the game.
Art needs to prototype some drink machines and drinks, and engineering needs
to figure out how to implement this functionality in the game. In addition, the
animator may need to create a new drinking animation and an animation of a
character getting a drink out of the machine.
After reviewing the production schedule, the producer writes up a proposal
that details the feature request and the impact that implementing it would have
on the game. He concludes that adding three 2D signs in ten levels, while not
ideal timing, could be done without putting the schedule in jeopardy. This is
contingent upon:
■
Receiving the final art assets for the signs from the publisher or licensor by
June 27, 2009. The art team does not have time in the schedule to create
these assets.
■
Getting final approval on the in-game logo placement in five business days.
Supergames Studio will have a build ready for review around July 15, 2009
and needs to get the approvals quickly so the game is ready for the code re-
lease process.
If the team does not get the appropriate art assets from the licensor, it is
highly unlikely this feature request can be accommodated. In this case, the
production team might be able to create a splash screen with the Coca-Cola logo
that can be displayed while missions are loading.
The request for a drink machine cannot be accommodated at this time with-
out having a huge impact on the gameplay and schedule. This is a feature that
can be considered for the next version of the game. If this feature is absolutely
444 THE GAME PRODUCTION HANDBOOK, 2/E
required, the team will have to cut a mission out of the game to free up a de-
signer, and will have to pull one engineer and one artist from bug-fixing. This
means the final game will not be as polished as it could be, and there is still no
guarantee that the drink machine feature will work correctly in the game and be
done on time. Given all these factors, the producer strongly recommends not to
pursue this feature at this time.
A.4.5 Completing Production
Supergame Studios has completed production and consults their checklist to
confirm that they have completed all the major production tasks. Figure A.35 is
the production checklist.
PRODUCTION CHECKLIST Y / N NOTES
PLAN IMPLEMENTATION
Is game plan clearly communicated to team?
Is game plan in publically accessible place?
Can plan be easily updated with changes by producer?
Does everyone on team have the necessary resources to do their work?
Is process in place for controlling feature creep?
Is risk assessment happening on a regular basis throughout production?
Is process in place for managing task dependencies?
PROGRESS TRACKING
Is there a game plan to track progress against?
Is process in place for producer to track all task progress?
Is progress posted in visible areas in the team rooms?
TASK COMPLETION
Does each task have clearly defined exit criteria?
Are these exit criteria publicly available to the team?
Are all stakeholders in agreement on what the exit criteria are?
FIGURE A.35 Production phase checklist Justice Unit.
A.5 TESTING PHASE
Supergame Studios begins testing with a small QA team around alpha. The QA
lead has been on the project since pre-production, so she is very familiar with the
game and has written up the test plan and other testing documentation. A few
more testers are added to the team with each major milestone, and by the time
the game hits code freeze, there is a full QA team checking the game. The code
release process is scheduled to begin July 27, 2009, and the game is scheduled
to be code released on August 17, 2009. Testing is covered in more detail in
Chapters 22 and 23.
CASE STUDY—GAME PRODUCTION CYCLE 445
A.5.1 Testing
The QA lead writes up a detailed test plan for the game. She is working on a
rough draft of the test plan in pre-production. As the development continues,
the test plan is updated. The design documents are the basis for the test plan,
and she also works with the other leads to clarify any questions about the game
so they can be accounted for in the test plan.
The QA lead also writes up documentation on how to correctly write bugs
for the game. She will use this to train new QA testers. She also works with the
leads to establish a well-defined process for fixing and regressing the bugs. The
bug-fixing process will go more smoothly if everyone understands the process of
how a bug is entered into the database, fixed by the team, and the assigned back
to QA so the fix can be verified. Finally, she is involved with working with the
producer on milestone checklists. These are the QA checklists used to compare
the milestones against the producer’s milestone deliverable list. The QA team
needs to know what the expectation is for each milestone, and then confirm
if the game actually fulfilled all the milestone requirements or not. Testing is
covered in more detail in Chapter 22.
The testing plan is written in two parts. Part one is a test plan that is written
in the pass/fail format. This is useful for checking if the levels are loading cor-
rectly, if the music and sound are playing correctly, and so on. Figure A.36 is an
example of a pass/fail test plan for Justice Unit. Part two is written in a checklist
format and is useful for checking the various combinations of characters, weap-
ons, and difficulty levels in the game. Figure A.37 is an example of a checklist
test plan for Justice Unit.
A.5.2 Code Release Candidate
The code release process is covered in more detail in Chapter 23. July 27, 2009 is
the date the producer plans to have the first code release candidate (CRC) ready
for review. Only the CRC for the console version needs to be ready on this date
because it still has to go through the console submission process. The PC CRC
doesn’t technically need to be ready for final checks until September 25, 2009.
However, the producer is trying to keep all the platforms on a similar schedule if
possible, so that people can take some time off and then start working on another
project as soon as possible.
The QA department has a complete testing plan and process in place for the
code release candidates. This process checks the code, assets, and gameplay on
the potential gold master. The process also checks that the correct languages
display for the localizations and that the correct customer support information is
listed for all versions, and that all the legal text and other information is correct.
Figure A.38 is a code release checklist that details the main areas the QA depart-
ment will double check in this process.
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