Spore: Preproduction through Prototyping

A Brief History of Spore

Spore Team Size

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Tea

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Concept Development Preproduction Production

Disclaimers

• Spore hasn’t yet shipped!

• Mostly not my work!

• Many of the mistakes are mine.

Framing

• Most applicable to new IP-preproduction

• Take the work of others for granted– Cerny’s “Method”– LeBlanc’s Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics– Several others…

• This is an advanced talk, skipping foundations

• Except one…

What Is Preproduction?

• WHAT you are going to build,

• HOW you are going to build it

• Convince others that concept and team are worth the risk of full production

A Virtuous Preproduction Cycle

Clear DesignProgress

Motivated Developers

Team-wideOwnership

A Virtuous Preproduction Cycle

Clear DesignProgress

Motivated Developers

Team-wideOwnership

Describing Design With Words

A: “I think that when the player manipulates torso they should be moving around the spine and scaling each of the vertebra.”

B: “No way! That’s too complicated. We already have enough nouns for the player to be moving around in the creature editor.”

A: “But it’s the perfect analogy! It…”

B: “No it’s not.”

A: “Yes it is.”

Describing Design Via A Prototype

Decomposition

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Describing Design Via A Prototype

Polish Matters

Polish Matters

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Watch Out For Inappropriate Questions

A Virtuous Preproduction Cycle

Clear DesignProgress

Motivated Developers

Team-wideOwnership

Integrate Only When You Must

Not So Bad…

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Integrate Only When You Must

Ouch…

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Delight The Team

Delight The Team

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Delight The Team

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

A Virtuous Preproduction Cycle

Clear DesignProgress

Motivated Developers

Team-wideOwnership

Cultivate Experimentation

Cultivate Experimentation

Cultivate Experimentation

Increasing Investment

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Increasing Investment

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Increasing Investment

Aesthetics

Kinesthetics

Technology

GameMechanics

Enable Tight Iteration...… For Everyone!

Q & A