LF08 Leadership Track

The sessions in the Project Leadership Track will focus on the nuts and bolts of game production.

Sessions

Session Descriptions

Making Lots of Small Games Without Going Crazy

- J.C. Connors – Studio Head, Griptonite Games

Small games can be both a blessing and a curse. They often mean small teams, small budgets and short schedules. Shipping multiple small games is a delicate balancing act between managing scope, client expectations and team morale in order to deliver the best quality game possible. This session will offer practical advice on how to manage these projects and keep your sanity (mostly) intact.

Learning Objectives:

  • Tips for multi-tasking and keeping your sanity when your focus is divided between 3, 4 and sometimes more projects all at once
  • Tips for managing scope and client expectations
  • Overview of designs that work well in small games – delivering the most bang for the buck

Applying User Testing During Development

- Curtis Creamer – Senior Producer, Bungie Studios

This presentation will focus on the relationship between Production, Game Design, and User Research (Usability). What it takes to prepare game builds for User Research, what the goals are for the usability test, and what Production and Design do with the results. Halo3 will serve as the primary example.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the role of the producer in User Research and Design
  • Explore production specific issues for User Research
  • Appreciate the importance of User Research for making great games

Project Management Idea Swap

- Host: Jason Della Rocca – Executive Director, IGDA

This fully interactive group driven session is like speed-dating for ideas on project management. Tables will focus on different project management and production related topics (determined by conference participants ahead of time). Several group/topic rotations will be done so participants can explore various topics of interest, and interact with many different peers along the way. Room-wide report outs and summaries will close out the session. More participation details to be provided in September…

Learning Objectives:

  • Ask and answer project management questions most relevant to you
  • Meet and learn directly from peers in a semi-structured format
  • Identify new ideas and info for further investigation

Methodology Cases: PMI / Agile / CMM PSP

- Moderator: Heather M. Chandler – Executive Producer, Media Sunshine
- PMI: Karin Groepper Boosman – Localization Project Manager, Aspyr Media
- Agile: Rich Vogel – Co-Studio Director, BioWare Austin
- CMM PSP: Tobi Saulnier – CEO, 1st Playable Producions

Unlike the ad hoc processes (aka chaos) that dominated game productions for so many years, producers are now taking a much more rigorous approach to project management. While agile methodologies like scrum are all the rage, other methods have been successfully applied to game development as well. This panel will cover case studies on three methodologies: Project Management Institute PMBoK, Agile, and Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Personal Software Process. The case studies will be followed by audience Q&A and discussion amongst the panelists.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the application of three different methodologies
  • Apply real-world examples to your own project challenges
  • Identify new ideas and info for further investigation

Level of Detail for Project Planning

- Mat Hart – Head of Production, Ninja Theory

What is the key purpose of a project plan? How much detail is too much? Or too little? This presentation will explore the considerations project planners really ought to make in order to build effective schedules that work. Using real-world words and phrases like “too much”, “too little” and “just right” this presentation will provide definitions of the various levels of detail for planning before going on to explore the ups and downs of each. After talking about stakeholder considerations and working out how to build a schedule that satisfies their needs, the session will conclude by showing how to set up an .mpp file to allow for proper layered planning.

Learning Objectives:

  • Defining the three key levels of detail for planning
  • Identifying key stakeholders and their requirements specific to the project schedule
  • Setting up a project file to allow for proper layered planning

Myths of Scrum

- Clinton Keith – agile coach

This session takes an unabashed look at the reality and real world experiences of Scrum from the trenches. As the developer who introduced the game development industry to Scrum and has become the first dedicated agile game development coach, Clinton Keith has seen a large number of successful and unsuccessful adoptions of Scrum and will share some of the common signs of what works and what does not work for game projects using Scrum. As the cost of developing a modern video game skyrockets, teams are turning to agile methods as a reaction to the overwhelming waste and overtime associated with traditional waterfall methods of making games. Unfortunately the hype and misunderstanding of agile has led to many false starts. Teams adopting Scrum, the most commonly used agile methodology, expect it to solve all their problems automatically or they take apply a couple of half-hearted steps towards adoption and bail out at the first sign of problems.

Learning Objectives:

  • Attendees will receive a full dose of hope and fear about using Scrum
  • Leave equipped with what a successful scrum adoption should look like
  • List of the many warning signs of adoption problems and how to address them

Game Prototyping And New Product Science

- Jamie Fristrom – Technical Director, Torpex Games

Current popular wisdom is that during pre-production you build a release-quality vertical slice and if you’ve failed to find the fun with this expensive endeavor you kill it and try something else. Although this step is important, with such a small fraction of even shipped games being successful, we have to wonder if this is a truly cost-effective way to innovate. What is cost-effective is, before you get to that vertical slice, making many cheap prototypes – here, if we can find one truly fun game out of a dozen attempts, our money and time is well-spent. This approach comes from new product science and the way innovation is pursued in other industries. These smaller prototypes are created in short time frames – possibly just a week – by tiny teams – possibly just one person – and need not have good art or sound as long as they demonstrate fun and “catch fire.” Game development, like new product development, should not be a straight path but a funnel in which many ideas get winnowed to fewer prototypes, fewer still vertical slices, and just one shipping game. These methods can be applied not only to whole games but to the components within large games: game mechanics, levels, enemies, boss fights and the like.

Learning Objectives:

  • An understanding of one possible approach to prototyping and proving concepts
  • Understanding the “new product funnel”: This process is usually de facto and haphazard at game publishers (weak products get cancelled) – how to structure it so there are fewer surprises
  • A list of things that can go wrong in the prototyping process and what to do about them

Communicating Vision

- Tom Smith – Creative Manager, THQ

It’s fairly common practice to generate a vision statement for a new project. But once you have your clear concise statement of purpose, what should you do with it? Just creating the vision is not enough – you need to know how to use it to guide development. This talk discusses multiple practical methods to apply vision thinking throughout the project, including crafting creative means to spread and indoctrinate the vision amongst the team and outside the company, creating separate mini-vision statements for individual features, and applying vision to make everyday decision-making easier. Put your vision to work for you!

Learning Objectives:

  • Using vision in daily production and decision making
  • Ways to spread awareness and promote use of the vision
  • Applying vision in new ways to individual features and content

Working with Licensed IP

- Michael Waite – Studio Head, Amaze Entertainment

The game industry has a love-hate relationship with licensors. A top tier brand can bring the promise of blockbuster sales figures. But this often comes at the cost of much pain and suffering (approval delays, ungameable subject matter, crippling design restrictions, etc.). Michael will discuss strategies for cutting through the obstacles to grow a licensed game business that is both lucrative and sane.

Learning Objectives:

  • Creating a structure and pipelines specific to licensed games
  • Performing as a service organization
  • Establishing win-win business scenarios along with setting/managing clear expectations

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“The IGDA Leadership Forum has, without question, the highest quality of content of any game industry event I have ever attended. As far as “”bang for the buck”" it is the best conference for producers and managers in our industry. Any studio looking to upgrade its production and management techniques should make this a must attend event for their studio’s production and management leads. The annual IGDA Charitable Foundation dinner is also not to be missed.”

- Tom Buscaglia, The Game Attorney


“I’ve had the pleasure of attending the IGDA Leadership Forum for 2 years now. The conference is small and focused, which is its greatest strength. Not only does it offer an excellent schedule with high quality speakers, attendees have many opportunities to connect with other developers. This networking and sharing of ideas is what gives someone the additional tools, and perspective to be better at their job. The IGDA Leadership Forum has had a huge impact on my career. Every year, I’ve come away with new friends and mentors, and new inspiration that I can immediately apply to create positive impact within my company. For such a low cost with such high return, I ask you this: How can you not afford to send yourself and your employees to the IGDA Leadership Forum?”

- Kim Sellentin, Associate Producer, Blizzard Entertainment


“I’ve attended the Leadership forum every year since its inception. It’s my can’t miss conference each year for a couple of reasons… 1. It’s a very personal conference, small enough to get to know everyone and large enough to attract great speakers. 2. The game industry tends to build leaders from with in, but being a great developer does not make a great leader. The Leadership Forum provides a wonderful opportunity to develop those traits and learn how others have gotten there. 3. Unlike some large events, this is a very focused conference. The topic is narrow enough to attract a lot of like minded people and broad enough to cross disciplines. I can’t recomend the Leadership Forum highly enoughto any producer, leader, or simply those in our industry seeking to be the best at their craft. ”

- Chuck Hoover, Studio Production Director, Schell Games


“If you’re a manager in the games industry, or you have managers reporting to you, you owe it to yourself to come out or send them to the IGDA Leadership Forum next year. Your competitors are out here trying to figure out how to get better at capturing the lightning and putting it in a package to ship out to customers. We desperately need better trained leaders in the industry, and this is a proven place where they can come and improve their skills. This year I found an insight in every talk to make me better at my job, and to help my reports become better at their jobs. I really don’t feel like I can afford *not* to go. Can you?”

- Brett Douville, Lead Systems Programmer, Bethesda Softworks
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