Fill in the Blanks - When to Release

[D.A.Lewis]

Can anybody fill in the blanks?

When you are (A=BLANK) months away from game completion, that means you still have to do (B=WHAT) inorder to go to gold.


.......A ............B
1)..12.............?
2)...6..............?
3)...3..............?
4)...1..............?

[D.A.Lewis]

Serious response (my guess)
1) finalize features, straighten out play balance
2) secure final reports from playtestors, iron out bugs
3) iron out hopefully small bugs
4) finalize game manual, check for bugs, start patch for late bugs, start puplic relations


What someone told me
1) Hire people to complete project
2) Fire people to increase profit
3) Tell the industry its ready
4) Plan wrap parties

[WPD]

1) Promise to start working on it next month...
2) Promise to start working on it next month...
3) Start working
4) Announce expansion pack

[Blackhawk]

Can anybody fill in the blanks?

When you are (A=BLANK) months away from game completion, that means you still have to do (B=WHAT) inorder to go to gold.


.......A ............B
1)..12.............?
2)...6..............?
3)...3..............?
4)...1..............?

In my experience:

1) Lots. Too far out for a specific list, because development orders vary.

2) Make final feature cuts and decisions, make a playable test game which you can use to ensure that everything works the way it is supposed to, and adjust that which does not. While I'm using your numbers, 9 months would be better for this in most complex games.

3) Finalize art and sound assets (it is hilarious playing a late alpha in which all of the briefing voices are done by staff as placeholders!), create a form of the game essentially identical to the final except for tweaking, with bugs from the test game squashed, begin work on secondary/outsourced materials (manuals, cutscenes, etc). Test, test, test.

4) Tweak. Most of the bugs should be squashed, all of the assets and features present, and so forth. You now just need to ensure that all of the changes you made in bug killing and adjustments since 3 haven't broken anything or ruined the balance.

[D.A.Lewis]

Good Blackhawk, although having a playable game 9 months out seems if not late at least cutting it close. I dont doubt you, but if I it takes me about two months to finish a completed game then 9 months doesn't seem like a lot of time to handle any major bugs or play balanceing issues that might come up. But then again the release dates aren't written in stone.

[Freezer-TPF-]

+ 0 weeks = release buggy game 75% complete
+ 2 weeks after release = publisher wipes forums of negative comments
+ 3 weeks after release = dev. issues patch to fix a few major bugs
+ 6 weeks after release = dev. announces next project although they never finished their last one
+ 2 months after release = fans issue patch to fix more major bugs
+ 4 months after release = fans issue patch to finish the game

[Pyperkub]

Can anybody fill in the blanks?

When you are (A=BLANK) months away from game completion, that means you still have to do (B=WHAT) inorder to go to gold.


.......A ............B
1)..12.............?
2)...6..............?
3)...3..............?
4)...1..............?

1) work for 12 more months and it will be complete
2) work for 6 more months and it will be complete
3) work for 3 more months and it will be complete
4) work for 1 more month and it will be complete

you've kind of setup a logic fallacy. A game is *never* complete, it just gets to the point that more work isn't improving it at an appropriate rate relative to the launch window and cost and expected sell through numbers. It is darn near impossible to determine that point.

Our old definition of Beta was "feature complete and no known crashes". Most games don't even get released in that shape nowadays, because the launch windows are so small. Example - would Far Cry and Painkiller have sold half as well if they had come out the week after Doom 3? Doom 3 HL 2? At some point you have to ask yourself (if you are the PM) if you are really going to sell enough extra units for that last bit of work to make it worth it - esp if you are going to miss Xmas, or another launch window. for an AAA title Blizzard can do that, but for other games with smaller publishers/developers?

Additionally - your window above will vary according to the complexity of a game. 12 months to go for an adventure game, and you might not have the game coded, only have developed the art and audio assets and story line/branches/puzzles, but 12 months to go on WoW, and you probably have over 100 beta testers already playing one version of the game, other more complete versions being tested in house, and are working on balance, netcode tweaks and final regression testing. You are probably very close to code lockdown for large portions of one game whereas the other might only have skeleton code and placeholder routines.

[Kraken]

Ideally or realistically? For strategy games, this is a good plan:

12 months out: Core design complete, prototyping well underway, marketing begins.
6 months out: Core gameplay implemented, design locked, press tour begins.
3 months out: Code lock. Beta testing begins.
1 month out: Content lock, Release Candidate testing begins.

Realistically, I've seen this happen:

12 months out: Original design scrapped. Heads roll, redesign begins.
6 months out: Programming realizes they are never going to make it. Occasional overtime begins. Programming schedule drives features list.
3 months out: Desperation sets in as the core game is still unplayable. Expendable features now being cut. The deathmarch begins.
1 month out: Management begs for more time as the exhausted team prays for closure. Code is locked, reopened, locked, reopened.... All bugs lower than class "A" are marked "In Shipping Version" and closed. Bitter and disillusioned beta testers start leaking bad reviews. The team is too busy to pay attention to them. Some staffers burn out and quit.
1 week out: Release candidates begin. Core team is working 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Everybody hates the game and just wants it to go away.
Gold date: "Good news!" Publisher grants more time. The deathmarch is extended.
1 month late: Developer admits that they would need at least 6 more months to make the game fun. It's as stable as it's going to be and the minimum feature set is working, so they might as well ship now. After a weeklong break, nonessential heads roll and work starts on the patch.
3 months after release: Sales indicate that an expansion is worth doing. Team members realize they will be working on this damned game for the rest of their lives. More defections.