4 replies to this topic

[Swordsman]

Firstly, hi, I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to take the plunge and sign up.

I've been programming for a while but have never made anything (with the exception of mods) past the simple stuff like Tetris, Pong, Breakout clones etc. I have recently decided that, as I want to make a career out of it after I finish my studies, I should really learn about the whole game development process.

I already know enough of a plethora of languages to get through but have decided to concentrate my efforts on C++ wholely. So now armed with a new Torque license, I thought I'd get to work on making something. Obviously, the intention isn't to make a huge complicated MMORPG or anything, I just want to build something now to get used to Torque and Game Development as a project.

That brings me nicely on to my question. Which Software Development Life Cycle do you guys prefer working on? In past projects (mods etc), I have worked within the spiral model but as I am working on a solo project, I don't really have a clue how to plan everything out as although I have an end goal, I'm not sure I like the rigidity of that particular model.

While searching for other threads along this line, I was impressed by the Game Development Life Cycle that was posted here. Do you guys work off of one in particular or do you not plan in that great detail?

Thanks in advance,

SM

[SpreeTree]

It's been quite a while since I posted on here (about 9 months!), but since I am heavily involved in game development life-cyles at the moment, it seems like a good place to start :sneaky:

I read the Game Development Life Cycle post that you mentioned (shame I missed that one!) and it def. throws up some idea's, though quite a few I don't agree with :whistle:

Professionaly (since I don't develop in my spare time anymore), me and my Project manager use the Scrum Development model for various reasons. It also lends itself well to XP, which I am a big fan off (well, some of it!).

As mentioned in the Game Development Life Cycle post, game requirements are constantly changing, usually at the whim of a group of people actually removed from the development cycle. Scrum let's us deal with that by stopping us going to far ahead, and in essense, stops us wasting time on things that will change next month.

Also, as I am the technical lead of 3 teams (but actually working on one of them full time) Scrum allows the development management be distributed across the teams, rather than requiring me to be in constant control 100% of the time!

But for hobby projects? You definatly do not need something as rigid as the sprial or waterfall method, why tie your-self to something that might end up leading you down a path you don't want to go!

Agile development definatly seem like the way to go too me, if you want to stick to a specific development cycle at all. Since your on your own, you can work on what you want, when you want, and change it as you see fit.

[Swordsman]

I do take your point about Scrum, and will look into it a bit more.

Mainly, I like to use specific development cycles even in hobbyist work. Firstly, it seems to streamline the whole process and lets me keep control of it, secondly, I want to get used to working within them again in Software Development. Finally, I'm just usually more organised when I know what I am doing that particular time :happy:
I'll have a good look into Scrum, XP and other agile development cycles and make a decision though I must admit the chances of me going with XP while on my own are zero to none :w00t:

[GroundKeeper]

Agile processes is best adjusted for the small teams. But for a one person project you could argue that a process is too much. Since you don't need to communicate your ideas to anyone else you don't need to formalize it. You would be much better of just document and plan before hand (practice Software Engineering).

[SpreeTree]

I'll agree with the last poster and say again you probably don't need a formal design process for your project but I disagree that agile is only suitable for small teams but can be usedd in larger teams comprised of smaller groups.

Event working on your own I would recommend looking at some aspects of XP as it will def. help you out and can look very good on a future demo CV :)