Milestones and Glass Houses: Protecting Your Development Schedule From Shattering

By David Mullich
Presented at the CGDC
April 1997

Computer Game Developers Conference
Milestones and Glass Houses
Introduction
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Conclusion



It's a pathetic scene all too common to game development. A week's worth of pizza crusts and coke cans litter the office. Artists and junior programmers nod off in their cubicles, exhausted by a stretch of all-nighters. The project leader paces back and forth, annoyed that the game is long past schedule and worried about whether money will come in time to make the next payroll. Throughout the day a dozen pairs of angry eyes bore into the back of the lead programmer, who continues to plod on. Finally, he turns to face the rest of the team and nods wearily. Frantic hands grab the freshly burned CD-ROM, stuff it into an envelope and rush it off to the local Federal Express office just minutes before it closes. The next day, the project manager telephones a dozen times before getting in touch with the publisher. The news is not good: the game won't run and a new milestone will have to be submitted.

As a producer and former programmer, I hate having to reject a milestone. I have too many painful memories of living the hand-to-mouth existence of a poor developer, having to beg a publisher for speedy processing of an advance check. So, as penance for all the milestones I've rejected in more recent times, I've written this paper. It looks at the process of developing games funded by publishers through milestone advances, the many reasons why milestones are rejected, and what, if anything, the developer can do to avoid re-doing work unnecessarily.
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