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 Features
The Pros and Cons of Licensing
 Try to figure out what your problem areas are and schedule around them. I know this seems about as useful as saying ‘just find out the problem and fix it,’ but if you are working on a sequel, or working with a publisher/licensor you have a history with, you may have a good idea going in what gets hyper-scrutinized and what gets the blind eye.
Frontload you schedules accordingly, but do it internally, not externally. The publisher doesn’t need to be privy to the fact that you don’t need the character orthos until next month. It’s safe to assume they aren’t in the business of keeping you in the know, so apply the pressure (you know you won’t get what you ask for on time in any case).
- Get a prototype up and running as soon as possible and test out all your written dialogue. This also seems like a no-brainer, but when you have voice talent running quadruple union scale, paying for and scheduling a pick-up session is like pulling teeth. It also seems to be the industry standard that, no matter what your development cycle, VO is always recorded two months too early.
Test out your dialogue trees (if you have them) and try and ferret out where you are going to need incidental VO. You never know when you might get a call from your producer saying that the A, B, or C-list actor you are using is no longer available in July, so the VO must be recorded in May. It also isn’t a bad idea to keep a running list of useful phrases that you can update and use across many games - simply tweak it based on character/gameplay and submit that along with your regular VO to try and cover any oversights.
SpongeBob Squarepants: Lights, Camera, Pants!
- Do not count on any existing assets to reduce your development time. It’s all too easy to be sweet talked into cutting months off your schedule with promises of pre-existing character models, music, backgrounds, reference, etc. Don’t buy into it. Usually the music will end up not getting clearance, and the backgrounds and other reference will arrive just in time for beta. Assume and schedule for complete build out, and use any time gained by using pre-existing assets to take a weekend off once in a while.
- Finally – and most importantly – become an expert in the property you are working in. Scrutinize your own choices and make sure you are comfortable that they are to brand, or have precedent - even if your producer doesn’t seem to care.
There is good cause for this concern. Producer turnover rate is notoriously high, and more likely than not you will eventually find yourself given a new producer halfway into a development cycle. This new producer will probably want to assert him/herself, and the easiest way to do that is by challenging decisions made by the outgoing producer (or by you) months ago. If you are versed enough in the title to be able to justify and defend these decisions, it will save you mountains of redundant work.
The Game’s the Thing
Treating a license gingerly is a sure way to make a mediocre game, and this attitude is all too prevalent, especially if the license has clout. Most publishers don’t care about the bad reviews their titles get in print and online, because the people they’re targeting don’t read reviews. They are aiming at those they see as the uninformed – either people who don’t play games enough to read up on them or young children.
This seems like short-sighted reasoning to me. Licensed titles often serve as gateway games for people who have never gamed before. This should matter to the entire industry - if your first gaming experience is a bad one, you may very well be turned off to the enterprise for life. I think most people would rather play a game that fails miserably at trying to be original, or at least well-crafted, than one that succeeds brilliantly at being pedestrian or ill-contrived. Astoundingly, conventional wisdom does not support this view – at least for licensed titles.
The fact is you don’t need to play games every day to be able to tell an exemplary game from an unremarkable one. As an industry, we should give more credit to the casual gamer than that. So when you get the call asking you to develop a game based on the next big thing, try not to get stars in your eyes. Don’t let the title dictate the gameplay, don’t pander, and, most importantly, don’t be suckered into a six month development cycle… hold out for seven.
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