Master Chief meets Scrum
Topic: general|
The MasterChief in Halo3 may very well be *exactly* the way you want Him. That is because He might be developed using the Scrum method of agile software development. Checkout the excellent article on Gamasutra titled “Paper Burns: Game Design With Agile Methodologies”. It articulates the huge advantages of Scrum over the traditional Waterfall method.
The article nails the problem with the Waterfall model (shown above):
The traditional methodology, often called Waterfall, isn’t dissimilar to an assembly line, with the beginning of the line starting the process of piecing together the product while the end of the line waits to add polish. The wait is what creates the problem. Designers and publishers are never able to get a real feel for the game, for example whether their initial assessment of mechanics was right, or the implementation of features doesn’t end up to original specifications. Factors like these are what degrade product quality.
An assembly line might work well for hardware development where the design is made once and there is hardly any change beyond that. OTOH, software development has twists and turns at every possible moment. An assembly line (Plan-Plan-Plan-Design-Design-Design-Code-Code-Code-Test-Test-Test) is too rigid and linear a process to deal with the changing requirements in software (game or enterprise).
Scrum (shown above) advises an iterative non-linear (Plan-Design-Code-Test..Repeat) approach for software developement. In each iteration, every team, Designers, Developers, QA, Doc and Prod Mgmt has a say on the progress. This makes a true team development and ultimately a product that is exactly what the market wants. Non-linear over linear.
One obvious advantage of iterative development is the chance to innovate at every iteration. This is possible because of the non-linear approach where there is room for innovation during the Plan and Design phase.
Conversations are initiated, questions are asked, dialogue and cross department problem solving occurs organically. Assumptions that lead to wasted time and effort are checked at the door, and a collaboration can be reached that gets the best game out in the most efficient way possible.
The other not-so-obvious outcome of iterative development is the blossoming of true teamwork. The triumph of Courage over Fear.