Software engineering and game development.
Author
Greetings everyone,
I''m in the process of preparing a masters research in software engineering, the subject of which being the adaptation of a development process for computer games. I''m looking for existing documentation on the subject. I''ve already browsed through the books section of gamedev.net, but while I''ve found some pretty good software engineering material, most of the books touching the particular discipline of game development have not been rated.
Is there any book or documentation you would recommend? What other documentation, not particularly specific to video games, would you recommend?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Cheers, nickel.
[Edited by - nickelplate on August 18, 2004 2:28:18 PM]
Honestly, I''m afraid your research ends about here. There is a lack of proper software engineering process in the industry, much less of game dev. I don''t know you can gonna fill a master thesis with those info. If you look for software engineering as in general, there are many like Extreme, Agile etc.
Look around the Usenet groups like comp.software-eng or
http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_project_mngt.html
Look around the Usenet groups like comp.software-eng or
http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_project_mngt.html
Game Architecture and Design.
ID and Blizzard demonstrate the theroy in the book (among other companies), some of the most successful game companies use a pipelined software-factory method.
Carmack works on the engine for the next game while younger programmers put the finishing touches on the current project. This way the artist and other talent have a more consistent stream of work and the most talented developer(s) can focus on the more important or difficult work. With a one-project-at-a-time mentality, you don''t need artist all the time, only during later half of project. And eventually there''s not much work for the programmers to do (if all goes well
), except play-test the new content that is being generated by the artist.
Blizzard is an example of using the same core technology on mutliple titles, (IIRC) StarCraft and Diablo used the same isometric engine.
Now, that may not seem software engineering related, but those business architectures place demands and constraints on what you need to do with the software development. Meeting deadlines is no longer an arbitrary milestone, but means keeping other people working.
ID and Blizzard demonstrate the theroy in the book (among other companies), some of the most successful game companies use a pipelined software-factory method.
Carmack works on the engine for the next game while younger programmers put the finishing touches on the current project. This way the artist and other talent have a more consistent stream of work and the most talented developer(s) can focus on the more important or difficult work. With a one-project-at-a-time mentality, you don''t need artist all the time, only during later half of project. And eventually there''s not much work for the programmers to do (if all goes well
), except play-test the new content that is being generated by the artist.Blizzard is an example of using the same core technology on mutliple titles, (IIRC) StarCraft and Diablo used the same isometric engine.
Now, that may not seem software engineering related, but those business architectures place demands and constraints on what you need to do with the software development. Meeting deadlines is no longer an arbitrary milestone, but means keeping other people working.
I too am doing a master''s thesis on games. I''m focusing on software architecture in games though.
One book you may want to look at is "Game Architecture and Design" by rollings. Half of the book is about process. Something else you may want to do is contact some real world developers and get the hands on of what they are actually doing. I know some companies are switching to somewhat agile processes.
Drop me an email sometime, we can exchange our thesis proposals.
jeffrey.plummer@asu.edu
-Jeff
He''''s a bad motha - Shut yo mouth.
One book you may want to look at is "Game Architecture and Design" by rollings. Half of the book is about process. Something else you may want to do is contact some real world developers and get the hands on of what they are actually doing. I know some companies are switching to somewhat agile processes.
Drop me an email sometime, we can exchange our thesis proposals.
jeffrey.plummer@asu.edu
-Jeff
He''''s a bad motha - Shut yo mouth.
Did you read the article on the front page on Game Unified Process? It''s actually a pretty realistic idea of how a process develops in an environment with heterogeneous skills, game dev or no.
ld
ld
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
