According to a market report by Newzoo, their latest forecast shows that there will be 3.2 billion gamers across the globe by the end of 2022. Being present in the lives of more than 40% of the entire population and considering that, on average, 25 games are released daily on Steam, the gaming market is indeed gigantic.
In return, their presence has created the need for continued game development to meet the wishes and demands of every kind of gamer out there. Seeing great success among software developers, project managers around the world, looking to increase their teams’ performance, have shifted their attention to the Agile game development approach.
If you are not familiar with these terms, don’t worry, because we will guide you through Agile’s definition, its core values and explain in brief some of the best Agile practices in game development.
What exactly is “Agile development”?
Agile refers to the approach to project management and software/game development that allows teams to deliver products and value with greater speed. Instead of relying on a flawless, but delayed game launch, Agile teams usually function by incrementally delivering projects of smaller scope (called “features”) in a “sprint”, a period spanning multiple weeks of intense focus and work during which said features are developed.
In other words, you can think of Agile game development practices as an iterative process where many teams work on smaller projects instead of working towards the game as a whole, which is assembled piece by piece. Usually, even features are broken down into bite-sized tasks for individuals to work on autonomously.
This practice allows game development teams to evaluate requirements, plans and feedbacks continuously through regular short meetings, which happen many times a month to discuss their status, progress, updates, feedback, issues and so on. The main point of doing this is to get everyone on the same page as to how other teams are progressing.
At the end of each and every sprint, there is another meeting to review the last sprint, gathering important feedback for each team member, and plan the next one. And then the process starts anew however many times necessary until the final product is ready to be launched.
To give you a better understanding of what Agile development really entails, let’s walk you through the key Agile concepts.
The four Agile concepts
First published in February 2001, the Agile Manifesto is the work of 17 programmers/developers who observed a need for an alternative to the Waterfall methodology, a sequential development process in which each step depends on the deliverables of the previous one.
The four concepts outlined in the Agile Manifesto are as follows:
– Individuals and interactions over processes and tools: while having the best possible tools and the most efficient processes is valuable, the people behind them are even more so. Instead of micromanaging their team members, project managers should focus on supporting them instead by assigning the right tasks to the right people and giving them enough autonomy to do their job well;
– Working software over comprehensive documentation: there is more value in getting all parts of a software to work properly before writing a detailed documentation;
– Customer collaboration over contract negotiation: get your client deeply involved in your development process, allowing them to give you feedback from time to time by continuously delivering their project. This way, you can deliver a work that will more closely resemble whatever your client has envisioned;
– Responding to change over following a plan: when working with quickly developing technologies, chances are you will have to make changes to the project as it is built – sometimes even when it’s almost complete. When following Agile principles, having the ability to pivot and change direction whenever needed is an important trait for teams to have.
What are some Agile methodologies used in game development?
Kanban
The Kanban methodology is the simplest one to understand. It was originally created to be a visual scheduling method, but Kanban enables everyone to see the progress of the current project and what the next steps are.
In short, it focuses on taking a task and breaking it down into small pieces, which are then tracked on a board divided into three columns: “To do”, “Doing” and “Done”. However, since the Kanban board keeps track of the entire product’s development steps and milestones, the work is not separated into weeks-long sprints, instead giving developers an entire overview of what has been done and what’s coming up next.
It can, however, be combined with other Agile methodologies – Scrumban, for example, is the amalgamation of both Scrum and Kanban.
Extreme Programming
Centered on engineering principles, the Extreme Programming framework uses sprints to focus on continuous development and delivery. It also makes extensive use of pair programming (when two developers work together behind a single machine), continuous design (getting feedback from the customer and using it to improve the project while it’s still being developed) and real customer involvement (an end user of the game/application being developed is also part of the development team).
The core values of Extreme Programming are as follows: communication, courage, feedback, respect and simplicity.
Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
Created in 1994, the DSDM focuses on the full project lifecycle and follows eight core principles: focus on the business need, deliver on time, collaborate with stakeholders and empower team members to make decisions on their own, never compromise quality, build incrementally from firm foundations, develop iteratively by taking feedback, communicate continuously and clearly through short daily meetings and informal communication, and demonstrate control.
Scrum
Scrum is currently the most widely adopted Agile framework, in which teams work in short sprints (usually spanning two to four weeks, but both shorter and longer sprints are better depending on your game) and every team member has a very clearly defined role – one “Product Owner”, another “Scrum Master” and the rest make up the “Development Team Members”:
– Product Owner: they are the representative of end users and stakeholders (and sometimes even a stakeholder itself) who understand the users, marketplace, competitors and trends very deeply. Product Owners are also responsible for controlling the profitability of the game, task prioritization and the approval of work results.
– Scrum Master: this is the person who leads a scrum – short daily meetings in which the team shares the progress made in the previous day and plans for the work ahead. It’s common for teams to have a fixed Scrum Master, but in some teams everyone gets to take on the role.
Being a highly dynamic role, the Scrum Master strives to protect the team from external distractions, removes obstacles impeding the team’s progress, helps everyone stay focused on the work and ensures there is a consensus in the daily scrum. In some cases, the Scrum Master is the one responsible for assigning the tasks to team members, which is done with their help.
All in all, the role of the Scrum Master requires good soft skills and is akin to a catalyst for the team.
– Development Team Members (“Team”): they are the qualified professionals responsible for the development of the game itself. Using their technical knowledge of the game development industry, they design and create new functionalities or improve existing ones, and also test prototypes and perform quality assurance (QA) tasks.
Development Team Members also collaborate with each other to map out milestones and plans for accomplishing them – which can be done on a daily basis or with every new sprint.
Agile practices in game development: wrapping it up
Keep in mind, however, that these descriptions are short and very generic. Since there is nothing stating that teams must follow everything to a T, the usage of Agile principles to hasten game development is extremely flexible. In fact, most teams around the world don’t follow all core values/principles of their chosen methodology, often incorporating only the ones that showed the best results overall.
Other companies opt for an even more modular approach: by combining the most relevant traits and benefits from many methodologies, they create a hybrid approach to project management that might work even better for your game development team.
That said, remember there is no silver bullet when it comes to creating games following Agile principles. It’s a matter of trial and error, which is one of Agile’s key values: making mistakes, learning from them and adapting quickly.
In any case, working with qualified professionals is hands down the best way to get a high quality game up and running. At Main Leaf, our staff of 70+ talented designers, game developers and artists can create the game of your dreams for you – like we’ve been doing since 2010.
If you are interested in developing your game with us, then make sure to request a game quote by going to the top of this page. We’ll respond within 24 hours!
