KB/Tools and Assets Management/Assets Pipeline and Management

[edit] Assets Pipeline & Management

[edit] Overview

[edit] The Necessity for a Good Asset Pipeline

There is no need to stress the necessity of establishing a good asset pipeline early in the development process of any decent size game.

Increasingly, the game development process is complicated by factors such as:

• Proliferation of multiple platforms for the same game
• Team size increase, leading to an augmentation of communication and validation issues
• Increased technical complexity of the Next Gen consoles
• Exponential increase in graphic assets volume and quality

Without the establishment and maintenance of a clear, properly defined pipeline we quickly encounter the following issues:

• Assets falling in cracks, being forgotten and overlooked
• Non-reliable validation process
• Assets going through all the production stages due to a lack of adequate validation, and having to be redone from scratch. This in turns has a negative effect on the planning and morale of the team members.
• Lack of managerial visibility on the true state of the project
• Lack of automation of repetitive tasks leading to unnecessary loss of time

And while these issues may seem of little consequence at the beginning of a project, the hours gained can make all the difference at submission time or in case of major unforeseen changes.

[edit] Asset Pipelines:Overview

There are complete books on the subject of Asset pipelines (see list below), so we will not attempt to reproduce their contents here. The goal of this page is rather to

• Cover the basis to be taken into account when defining and maintaining an asset pipeline
• Gather all links and references on the subject in one same location
• Allow anyone interested in the subject to contribute based on his/her experience or to ask for advice

Please note that this coverage of assets pipelines is mainly intended as support documents for producers and other managers. Technical directors will want to refer to more specific technical references.

Asset Pipelines are described as 'The path that all the game assets follow, from conception until they can be loaded in the game. Game assets include everything that is not code' (Optimizing the Content Pipeline, N. Llopis)

A well designed and efficient pipeline should optimize the development process so as to allow easier and faster creation, validation, modification and debugging of the game assets. Badly designed pipelines will only create bottlenecks, cause frustration and ultimately be bypassed by the users.

[edit] Designing the Pipeline

The art process pipeline includes:

• The definition of the building of assets in software
• The way files are saved in directories
• The method of exporting to the game asset folder
• The testing of the assets in the game environment
• & the method of reviewing assets

(Common methodologies for Lead Artists, D. Davies)

[edit] Pipeline & Asset Management Tools

See Assets Pipeline & Management Tools

[edit] Testing the Pipeline & Asset Management Structure

See Functional Tests These links need to be fixed/changed.

[edit] Asset Pipelines:Best Practices

While some of these Best Practices may seem obvious, we all know of cases where they were not applied and of the costs (human and monetary) that ensued.

• Link the Asset Pipeline to an Asset Management Tool
  • Why:Otherwise you have no way to validate that it is actually used, and efficient. It also alows the automation of the validation and approval process.
  • Pros:You will recuperate more easily if the resource doing your follow-up leaves the project (no multiple Excel sheets and arcane personalised follow-up system)
  • Cons:As for now, i am not aware of a tracking system that is 100% adapted to the Game development process. But this will evolve with time, experience & demand. See Asset Pipeline & Management Tools
• Make it simple and train the users
  • Why:Complex pipelines are not understood and therefore not applied. Users have to be able to recognise their tasks within the process immediately and without any doubt.
  • Pros:A pipeline that will actually be adhered to :-)
  • Cons:Pipeline definition process will take some time and iterations
• Make sure the people who will be using it are involved in its design
  • Why:Who else is better placed to know that they need? Encourage communications: A little discussion on pipeline efficiency at the beginning of the project may save you from a total war at the end. Whenever possible, base it on the existing workflow.
  • Pros:Facilitate adoption of the pipeline by its users, ensure that pipeline fits the actual needs of the users
  • Cons:Will complicate the process of elaborating the pipeline, but well worth the time
• Automate
  • Why:Any process that can be automated should be.
  • Pros:Gain of time, reduction of frustrations, more stable process that can be more easily analysed and reproduced.
  • Cons:It takes some time to automate any process, so this is often overlooked
• Use Metadata
  • Why:Tag files in your asset system
  • Pros:You can then set tools so as to search the db and automaticaly sort corresponding data.
  • Keep in mind:Make it easy and then ensure that users can't wrk around the process. Ideally, you should use pre-defined values.
• Avoid bottlenecks
  • How:Make sure that alternate resources are defined in case of absence or overload of your critical path resources
  • Pros:Production should not stop to a stand-still because your DA or one of your lead is sick, on vacation or over-loaded
  • Cons:Have to make sure that replacement resources are in synch with the vision and advancement of the project. The best way to insure this is the case is to have few resources assigned to each stage of the approval throughout production.
• Make it robust
  • Why:Pipelines should not break down due to faulty data. Make sure that these data are reflected in error reports and do not stop the creation of your build.
• Test it
  • How:Ideally, art pipelines must be tested by the art director and the technical director before start of production, then by a member of each team. However, this is rarely the case, due to time constraints or lack of vision. It is also a great idea, whenever possible, to test it on a previous game's data.
  • Keep in mind:A pipeline that will look functional with a low volume of assets and participants might cause incredible bottlenecks as production progresses. So in fact, it is recommended to include a metric re-evaluation of the pipeline at each major production milestone. This will also allow for modifications due to events and processes that were not known during pre-production.
• Consult other games' postmortems
  • Why:Learn from their mistakes, keep abreast of new methods and ideas.

[edit] Pipelines:Checklist

• Ensure that the building environment is the same for each artist (including reference parameters)
• Define the data structure. be prepared to modify it in case of technological modifications, change requests and based on experience.
• Communicate that data structure: better yet: automate so as to enforce its usage!
• Is your data creation process optimised? Do you recycle data whenever possible?
• Did you establish a memory budget for your data? (including sound, effects & cinematics)
• Identify the areas of your pipeline that are risks, potential bottlenecks. Concentrate your attention on these.
• Did you back it up, set up a data restoration plan

[edit] Pipelines:Useful Links

[edit] Pipelines:Book References

- Digital Asset Management, David Austerberry

 Digital Asset Management, Amazon.com

- Game Asset Pipeline (The), Ben Carter

 Game Asset Pipeline, Amazon.com

[edit] Pipelines:Articles/White Papers

- The Game Asset Pipeline:Managing Asset Processing (February 21, 2005)

 http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050221/carter_03.shtml

- Optimizing the Content Pipeline (August 3, 2004)

 http://www.gamesfromwithin.com/articles/0408/000027.html

- From the Ground Up: Creating a Core Technology Group (August 1, 2003)

 http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20030801/keith_02.shtml

- Common Methodologies for Lead Artists (December 4, 2000)

 http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20001204/davies_02.htm

[edit] Pipelines:Sample Documents